Please post on this prompt for the Oct. 21 and 26 classes. You can comment on the film we watched in class,
Stand and Deliver, how it illustrates what we've been covering in our textbook readings, and/or compare it to other films about education, such as
Freedom Writers, Dangerous Minds, Akeelah and the Bee, Dead Poet's Society, Notes on a Scandal, Good Will Hunting, Mr. Holland's Opus, Lean on Me, Music of the Heart, To Sir with Love, Blackboard Jungle, and others.
See you soon.
After watching this movie, it made me started thinking what's teaching math is all about. I was a math tutor for more than a year, and I taught many different types of math students from grade 6-grade 11. In school (westernize schools), teachers teach math by explaining and letting students what's math is all about; and how's it related to real life. However, the way Chinese teaches it is practicing. For example we give them assignments and ask them to work at home. If they do not know how to do it, we explain it and/or teach them different ways of doing it. However, we rarely tell them how it is related to real life.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, if someone wants to be good in math, one must practice a lot. I came to Canada when I was in grade 8 and that was how I built my math foundation. Even when I was studying my grade 12 math and AP Calculus, the way I did it was to practice and more practice. It was until I got into university I started to understand concepts like derivatives and how it can apply in real life explanation. I believe, both methods can have good results to students. The question that teachers should be asking themselves is which way should be applied in different kind of situation and topics.
I personally never had a teacher who would push me to do something for my own advantage. I am not saying my teachers were irresponsible but maybe it only happens in movies where teachers are so passionate with what they do. I haven’t seen any other movies related to teaching besides Akeelah and the Bee. I enjoyed that movie too because in the movie, the coach was using different methods and strict scheduling to aid his student to their full potential. He believed in Akeelah and didn’t let her quit. He was supporting her physically and mentally. I agree, in both movies, both the instructors brought their own values and beliefs to the class. It is not wrong; it just shows they have their own opinions and compassionate to others. One question discussed in class was whether or not other teachers in the AP school seem to be uncaring or hold negative views. In my opinion, her perception was not wrong either; there are many methods teachers can use to teach or look at things. Some are relaxed whereas others are persistent. For this week’s reading, we looked at technology can aid as a teaching tool versus other teachers would use conventional methods. I think the worries these other math teachers had are important as well and must be considered. We cannot be too extreme and force the students do something we think is good for them. They are their own autonomy and by encouraging and supporting them to do what you see potentially benefit them is what all teachers goal should be. As students, we have nothing more to ask for but this.
ReplyDeleteThe movie we watched in the class was really interesting for me. Even though it was filmed almost 20 years ago, I think it showed an important factor between a teacher and students. It is interpersonal communication. The film showed good teacher’s interpersonal skill can create reliability with students. If recent teachers use exactly same way as the film showed, it would be a problem, but knowing each students is pretty important for good teacher. Even if they cannot do same thing as movie, teachers should at least well communicate with students to know each other. One sad thing for me was a same discrimination occurs these days as well. In the movie, there was a scene that students were distrusted only because they had been “bad” students. It still happens these days and I think it affects society. Since such students cannot gain support by others, they start not attending classes and starting using drugs and so on. To overcome this situation, supporting by adults surrounding them is crucial.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of reading of Tuesday class, my personal opinion is teachers should have flexibility to treat kindergarten students. In kindergarten, kids start touching to education and the primary role of teachers is teaching kids how interesting studying is rather than the strict “orders” or concepts. During students path through education systems, teachers teach strict materials and then, finally they should be flexible again when they implement social related classes. There was a discussion about the social related classes in high school. I agree that we should have social related class, but the timing should be concerned. To notice how our knowledge is applicable to society or how different it is, we need fundamental education. So, such classes should be implemented last half of education curriculum (I mean in high school or junior high school). However, high school or junior high school age students sometimes think that the education they are taking is not useful in real society because they cannot notice how the concepts they are learning is used. Then, the worst case is they quit studying. To prevent this, social study works. So, even though it is hard to figure out, teachers should determine when the best time for their students to take such class is.
I found myself in tears during Stand and Deliver, watching a teacher dedicate his life to his students when everyone else in the world has given up on them is truly inspiring. I also learned a lot from the strategies he used in the classroom, being very firm and discipline mixed with humour. He started a relationship with his students by giving them respect that he wanted in return, which allowed him to built a rapport with each of his students. Another strategy shown in the movie which I used in my line of work is using real life examples in order to help the student’s understand the concept being taught.
ReplyDeleteThis movie is very similar to other movies like dangerous minds, in the sense that a teacher changes the student’s lives by assessing their needs and planning strategies for teaching these students and setting them up for success by believing in them and giving them the opportunity they need. As teachers we need follow similar steps which was portrayed in the movie in order to have a successful relationship with our student’s, therefore, resulting in a higher success rate.
In regards to the last class I would like to discuss the essay presented on social networking sites. I found this topic very interesting because I am addicted to face book. I not only have it on my computer at home, on my laptop but I have it on my phone. I find that this lack of interaction between people is bad for social skills to develop especially for young students who resort to many of these sites on a regular basis as opposed to interacting in face with their peers. Although many people may argue this and say that they are a good form of communication for people it is a problem when people resort to these sites as their social life. People need the face to face interaction to develop, learn and grow.
ReplyDeleteI also can relate to the Google generation because as we all know the blackberry and phones are the phones many people of my generation carry around. I always use Google which seems to be the answer to many of my arguments and disagreements between my friends, family and boyfriend. When we disagree Google will usually settle it, even though the sites may not be as reliable as many of us may think.
Stand and Deliver was an amazing movie. I am really glad that we got to watch the end in class.
ReplyDeleteThe film definitely portrays an effective and passionate teacher.
One question that came up during the class discussion is whether or not the teacher crosses student-teacher boundaries. In today's society, focusing on the school environment, I definitely think that it would cross student-teacher boundaries. Just because we live in the western world where everything is a bit more formal. When I say formal, I mean that if a parent so much as grabs his or her child's hand it may be considered physical abuse, or when a teacher and a student seem 'too close' there might be something off. However, in Europe it is not like this. Students and teachers, if the teacher is passionate about his/her job, then it is very normal to be 'friends' with your teacher.
When it comes to the bullying question, one must consider that this movie was made in the late 80's. I remember when I was in grade 4, which was not too long ago (1996-97) I remember my teacher hit me with a book over my head. I remember I was angry that she did that; however, it seemed normal, in the sense that it was nothing out of the ordinary. However, if a teacher did that to a student today, and the student complained, the teacher could lose their job.
Overall, really great movie, and it would be very beneficial if all teachers were as passionate, and caring as the main character in the movie.
I see that there are a few comments about social networking sites above, so I would like to say a few things about that.
I believe that social networking sites, such as facebook are a great way to interact with your friends and family. I have many relatives who live in Europe, Australia and the US. Since I do not go there on a monthly basis, the best way to interact with them, and the cheapest, is thru facebook.
On the other hand facebook can be very time consuming.
Stand and Deliver is an inspiring film. Although it came across as a little too contrived, the end results spoke for themselves.In each successive year the number of pupils passing the advanced calculus exam exceeded that of the years before. While the other teachers in the school seemed to believe, and to perpetuate the myth, that their pupils were "losers", we should be understanding of why they held this (albeit wrong) view. It was the wider society that had stereotyped these Hispanic students as fodder only for the lowest paid work. In fact, it may well be that is precisely what they required them to be. The students therefore reacted with understandable aggression to their plight, while their teachers - at the receiving end of their anger as establishment figures - were too worn down to conceive of how the situation might ever change. We are all susceptible to stereotyping groups who we know little about. "Truisms" do not always have a basis in fact but may well be born of a desire to manipulate our thinking about certain groups. History has provided many sad examples of this. These students showed a remarkable will to succeed, and overcame tremendous odds because someone treated them with the respect they deserved, and not the derision that had been constructed for them.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching the film Stand and Deliver. I find that after watching movies where the ‘under dogs’ have to work hard but eventually over come each obstacle and obtain their goals, motivates me to work harder. Personally, this movie is not only about working hard but also over coming your own personal prejudices and stereotypes. When a teacher believes in their students, it encourages students to make an effort, gain confidence, expand their knowledge and understanding as well as to help them step outside of their comfort zone. As students gain confidence in themselves they will continue to succeed because they are willing to take chances and are not focused on failing or disappointing themselves. This is especially important when students allow stereotypes and prejudices to define who they are and what they can achieve. I now realize how lucky I was to have teachers who would encourage student opinions and feedback, who would push students to work harder and who would embrace different perspectives in order to make students comfortable and create a safe learning environment.
ReplyDeleteAfter reflecting on the class discussion and the readings, it conformed my belief that technology can be useful or harmful to education. If a teacher relies to heavily on new technology in their teaching methods and curriculum, it could encourage students to also rely on technology rather then having the skills to be able to work through problems on their own. One of my teacher’s use to refer to educational movies as ‘the babysitter’, claiming that only lazy professors would focus class time on watching videos rather than discussion. On the other hand technology has allowed for people around the world to gain access to current and innovative teaching methods. It has also helped students in remote areas access schooling through satellite schools. Schools would be seen as outdated if they did not incorporate technology, but there is a fine line between using technology as a teaching aid and letting technology become the focus of the teaching curriculum.
This week someone presented a paper on Facebook or social networking and education. They were raising discussion and concern about the educational impact of these sites. I am not trying to glorify the good-old-days but there is one thing about the information highway we are on right now that makes me cringe. It demands this notion of immediate responses and patience and mindfulness get disregarded between the text messages, emails, instant messaging and status updates. Patience and mindfulness are things I cherish but I often find myself eagerly awaiting responses and assume the world is ending is someone takes more then a few days to return an email. How is this changing the classroom?
ReplyDeleteI also wonder what is the impact of things like pdf’s versus books or print. I find when reading on the computer I often forgot information much more quickly then if I print off an articles, read it and write notes in the margin. This interaction is crucial if I need to remember in detail the information in the article. Are we going to missing this deep, critical thinking in the future education system? How do we please the increasingly shorter attention spans with complex challenging thoughts that take time to process?
Stand and Deliver demonstrates a lot of key concepts needed for effected teaching and learning. Some of which are: teacher-student relationship, safe learning environments, relevant and meaningful learning. Teacher and student relationships are very important in both the effectiveness of the teacher and the learning outcomes of the students. Teachers need to be friendly, approachable, responsible, caring, and friend-mentor. They must earn the students respect by respecting the student’s needs and concerns, in the same way they expect to be respected. They must understand that student’s lives don’t start and end with school and that their academic achievements or lack there of is not always a reflection of their abilities but rather can be the result of many other factors that are not so obvious. Through a strengthened teacher-student relationship a safe learning environment is created, where all students are respected, their individual’s needs are met, and they are encouraged to learning from their mistakes and overcome their weakness by working harder and not giving up. When classrooms become safe learning environments facilitated by caring teachers learning can then become fun and meaningful. When a teacher has a strong relationship with his/her students he/she is able to better understand their weakness and cater the lesson to meet the individual needs of the students. Through a strong relationship the teacher will become aware of his/her students interested and can explain lesson plans in ways that become relevant and meaningful for students. The biggest lesson the movie teaches us is that everyone has the ability to learn given the proper learning conditions, it is not our place as teachers, administrators and even parents to deny access and help to students because we are blinded by the assumptions we hold about the student’s abilities.
ReplyDelete“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” – Albert Einstein
We must co-design educational goals with our students by strengthening teacher-student relationships to create a safe learning environment where students can explore, work together and make connections to their own experiences in this way learning can become meaningful and relevant for all students. We need to create learning communities that realize learning comes from passion, not discipline; one that guides students’ learning not dictates it. We need educators, parents, administers, and students to unite to create a new educational system, one that connects the world and acknowledges the role of the individual as a complex social being and recognizes students as active agents of their own learning.
This comment is in response to Allan's comment regarding teaching math and whether or not a comparison to real-life situations should be applied to the learning style. Math was the one subject that came fairly easily to me in elementary school--high school was a whole different situation, but that's another story! I think the reason why it was so easy, is because a lot of the work was very repetitive, and I actually ended up memorizing a lot of the answers. For example, 4+5 "just equaled 9". I could picture the answer without needing to count it out, etc. This memorizing technique worked well for me until the questions began to get a little bit harder and memorizing so many answers was very difficult. Nevertheless, after practicing, and practicing some more, and some more, I could do just fine. What really threw me off balance, though, was when word problems were thrown into the mix. Applying math to real-life situations stumbled me so much that I gave up. I just couldn't do it. Math didn't seem to me like it would ever apply to the real world; it was just a bunch of numbers. After the implementation of this type of problems, my progress in math began to rapidly decline, and I hated the subject. The point of this story is that sure, a student can practice endlessly until they understand how to solve a type of problem, but without applying it to the real world--without understanding WHY it works that way, is the student really learning anything? Is learning math doing anything for them to help them in their life, or are they merely learning how to solve a problem listed on an exam? The teacher in "Stand and Deliver" reached out to these seemingly helpless students by showing them that math was all around them; it's not just an abstract set of meaningless numbers.
ReplyDeleteThe film, Stand and Deliver, inspired me and demonstrated what a good teacher should be. After watching it, I concluded that the characteristics of an ideal teacher are loyal, passionate and understanding. In the film, the dedicated teacher, Jaime Escalante, inspired his dropout students to learn calculus and to build up their self-esteem. I truly admire his loyalty to his students when the school board investigators accused his students of cheating the Calculus exam. He believed his students and confronted with the investigators because he truly cared about them. In the real world, I found that rare, because usually teachers are afraid of authority and losing their jobs. They eventually lose the passion about teaching instead they treat teaching just like a profession so they make enough money to survive. The other admiring trait is that he took his time to understand the background of the students, which is not a easy task. He put himself into other's shoes. He knew the students were struggling with life, but he still engaged the students in the class and learning. Since he had the same background as his students, he managed to find an effective way for teaching. Overall I really liked the film and it was very inspiring.
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