Ranking Large, Gilyard, Boyce, Aronson, and hook

1) Barry Boyce’s idea is to cultivate values in our classrooms by adding yoga classes and parenting classes at pre-school age. The yoga will help children focus and parenting classes can help with the whole family unit. Boyce supported his ideas with research from Mark Greenberg, director of the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development at Penn State University.

2) Keith Gilyard suggest that all the after school programs that are being cut will have a devastating consequence on our children and on our economy. He highly recommends that we spend more on education, and for the humanities to be included not just S.T.E.M.  Gilyard supported his ideas with the works of Du Bois and Joseph Stiglitz.

3) Deb Aronson idea is to support programs that work, not close them. The Mexican American Studies was a program created to help more Mexican American’s graduate and continue on to college. The program was discontinued due to political opposition.  Aronson supported her ideas by compiling information she gained from everyone involved.

4 )Hooks idea is to have more dialogue and collaboration in the classroom. She was a big fan of Freire. She uses a lot of his works for her support.

5)Large's idea is to be more affectionate with our children when they are younger. He supports his ideas with research done by Paul Tough.

 

I rank Boyce as #1. I have seen the life changing effects of yoga. It works and has so many positive side effects. The parenting classes are a big one. I did not take parenting classes until late in life. I learned so much. I use what I learned with my grandchildren, makes life so much easier. I was lucky I had some very vocal daughters and I learned everything I was doing wrong from them. I would often not notice or be totally unaware about the huge life changing events that they were going through. At a time they needed me the most, I was busy being a part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Gilyard #2. I believe extra curriculum at school is the key to keeping our children from getting bored and ending up in our judicial system. If our parks, schools and communities work together we can do a lot of great things for our kids, without a huge financial burden.

#3 Aronson; needs may vary, and some districts may create unique programs to accommodate the needs of the kids in that community, especially less affluent school districts.

#4 is hooks. I agree with so much of her work. I think we need to be free to express ourselves in school and to be able to discover who we are through expression, but everything above will help us reach that point.

#5 Large. Even though I agree with Large it is not realistic for many children. The children that need the extra help and extra programs, most of them never had an affectionate parent and never will. Most have quiet the opposite.

Paper #3 What's Important After All?

What’s Important After All?

     In our English 101 class this quarter we were introduced to an abundance of great writers, like Mike Rose, Malcolm X and Audre Lorde, just to mention a few. Most recently we had the opportunity to read the writings of Gatto, Black, Freire, and more of Rose. I really enjoyed reading about their insight and found it very interesting that over a period of 100 years, there were many common flaws in our school systems that we are still dealing with today.  After summarizing the movies we viewed and the articles we read, I could see many areas where our public schools could better support today and tomorrow’s students.  Our public school system needs a complete over-haul, from adding pre-school classes to changing how we decide what grade a student should be in. This should not be a one class fits all. Students need a voice and should be free to make choices in their education decisions.

     In chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed written by Paulo Freire, his ideology consisted of the “banking concept of education”. He described the teachers as the depositors and the students as the depositories. One alterative Freire offers is “They must abandon the educational goal of deposit-making and replace it with the posing of the problems of human beings in their relations with the world. "Problem-posing" education, responding to the essence of consciousness -intentionality -rejects communiques and embodies communication. ” (Freire)   Every student should be able to have a voice, should be heard, not be oppressed. Where there is dialogue between two people there is education.

     Boredom in our schools, teachers, staff and students, is a common theme in the articles, books and movies. In John Taylor Gatto’s “Against School”, How public education cripples our kids and why; Gatto points out boredom is the #1 issue in our public school system and that public school is not a great fit for all students.  Gatto’s advice;

 “School trains children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventurers.  School trains children to obey reflexively; teach your own to think critically and independently. Well-schooled kids have a low threshold for boredom; help your own to develop an inner life so that they'll never be bored. Urge them to take on the serious material, the grown-up material, in history, literature, philosophy, music, art, economics, theology - all the stuff schoolteachers know well enough to avoid. Challenge your kids with plenty of solitude so that they can learn to enjoy their own company, to conduct inner dialogues.” (Gatto)

 

     Most kids will never have this opportunity. There are many reasons for boredom in the classroom. If a student is in a classroom where he is not being challenged, or if he cannot understand the information that is being given to him, then he cannot be a part of the conversation, he will be bored. The way to avoid boredom would be early education, assessing students at least once every year, give students a bigger voice, and adding extra extracurricular activities.

     In her book Zami, Audre Lorde shares of an experience where her teacher shames her and humiliates her. I have had the same experiences in school and all it did was teach me to be afraid to be wrong. After those experiences I always had a fear of being called on or raising my hand. So it was many years later until I learned how to take risk. Bell hooks sums this one up very well in her first book Teaching to Transgress. She states “to teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin.”(hooks)  The classroom needs to be a place where we can be free to be us, and be free to be wrong or to have a different opinion.  

     As I read the handouts, watch the movies, and videos, I think of my grandson who is in the 4^th grade. He is very bored in school. His teacher gives him work separately from the other students because he is ahead of everyone else. In math he is on 8^th grade level and reading a 10^th grade level. He is a very curious boy and will ask you a million questions. Google, you-tube and Khan Academy are his favorite pass times. First question he will ask when he comes over is “do you have math homework I can help you with” and the second question is “can we play scramble.” Not only does he use his knowledge and skills when playing board games, but he is a great strategist. If he is not learning, playing sports, or doing an outdoor activity he is bored. Compare him to my other grandson who has a father and mother who both have been in and out of prison, dealing with their drug addiction. He is 13 and cannot do basic math. He loses interest in a lot of the activities that we do because he does not understand most of it. His only interest is football and video games. Now that he has a permanent loving home it will be our job to help him get caught up. Not the school. This is where so many of our children our lost. They do not have the support they needed to succeed so they get into crime and gangs to support themselves and to survive.

     In today’s world most children live in a home with two working parents or a single working parent. If a child is placed in a daycare that provides a learning environment, they are more likely to be ready for school at an early age.  Many parents, especially low income, single parent homes cannot afford this type of daycare. They depend on family members, baby sitters or a daycare that will sit their children in front of a TV, or in a play area to play with other kids, with no educational activities. If these children are not being educated at home they will start school behind the others. Once the children are placed together in school, this is where challenge begins. We have students who are ready and we have students who are not ready. The teacher will spend the majority of the time working with the students who are behind and the rest of the class is bored and just hanging out.  The movie Stand and Deliver was a great example of this. In this movie one person made it his mission to teach students who others said were unteachable, but one person cannot do it alone. Is there a solution?

     We need to add an early educational program to the public school system, for all children before school age.  There is some funding for head start programs and there are a few churches in our communities that help with this but not enough. Our public schools should be managed more like a college. All children should take an assessment at the beginning of school and at the end of school. A student is placed in an appropriate class based on knowledge, not age. Summer classes should be offered to all students. I think our community centers and schools should join and share space or be in a very close proximity. A great example of this would be Garfield High School in Seattle. The high school, community center, track and football field, park with a playground are all on the same block. When I see how much my children and grandchildren learn before the age of 5, I feel bad for all the kids out there who do not have that same opportunity.

     Summit, a k-12 school in Seattle, gets the importance of the Arts in our schools. All programs are funded through fundraising. I think they may have the record for the most extra curriculum activities in this school. You would never find a bored kid in this school.  But these schools are now being closed, and programs are being cut. In an article in the Presidents commentary, Children, Arts, and Du Bois, written by Keith Gilyard these issues are all addressed. “I predict doom for the students” (Gilyard ) If we invested as much money in schools as we did prisons, we would be a very educated country. Instead we are average, or below average. It does take a village to raise our children and if we can work together with a common goal we can raise them all to be well educated and well centered. Teach them the importance of giving back and this experience will get passed down through generations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

                Freire, Paulo, PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED by Paulo Freire. New York: Continuum Books, 1993

                Gatto, John Taylor, Against School, How public education cripples our kids, and why, 09/2003 Harper's Magazine

               Burke, B. (2004) ‘bell hooks on education’, the encyclopedia of informal education,  www.infed.org/mobi/bell-hooks-on-education.htm.

                Gilyard, Keith, (2012) Children, Arts, and Du Bois, President’s Commentary, pg 19.

Rose and Black similarities and differences.

Similarities

Both Rose and Black agree that we spend too much money in the wrong area.

 On the resolution list, resolution #3 Rose states that we need to stop looking for the structural or technological magic bullet – whether it’s charter schools or value-added analysis – that will improve education. Just when you think the lesson is learned – that the failure of last year’s miracle cure is acknowledged and lamented – our attention is absorbed by a new quick fix.
 In comparison Black referred to the Kennedy school in L.A. Cost 580 million. In a area that has the highest drop out rate. Unemployment is at 12.3% and the state is broke, but yet they spent 580 million, on a school. Blacks solution is to put money into the schools we already have, give more challenging curriculum and more one on one help to students, not new schools. Black also gives us his view on Charter schools, let's fix the schools we have before starting new ones.

 #9 also fits into this as well:  9) To rethink, or at least be cautious about, the drive to bring any successful practice or structure “to scale”. Of course we want to learn from what’s good and try to replicate it, but too often the notion of “scaling up” plays out in a mechanical way, doing more or building more of something without much thought given to the fact that any human activity occurs in a context, in a time and place, and therefore a simple replication of the practice in one community might not achieve the same results it did in its original setting.

Resolution #6: To ensure that people who actually know a lot about schools will appear on Oprah and will be consulted by politicians and policy makers. When President Obama visited my home state of California, the person he met with to talk about education was Steve Jobs.
A few examples of this is when Black refers to NBC's week long special Education Nation. In his opinion the people involved with this week long project really knew nothing about education. He also pointed out that the suggestion of walking in to a school and  asking how I can help is absurd. And then there was the reality show where Tony Danza was a 10th grade English teacher, someone who is not qualified to teach.

Differences

I think that Rose offered more solutions and took a more serious note, where Black is using humor to reach his audience on this topic.

Rose always gets deeper into the whole system, and backs up his claims with facts and numbers.

Black, Rose, Gatto and Freire/Chalk

1.       In Pedagogy of the oppressed, chapter 2, the banking concept: This process was presented quite often through the movie. One example occurred in the middle of the school year. Mr. Lowery had the students repeat everything on the board until they memorized it. This is similar to the statement in the third paragraph “The student records, memorizes, and repeats these phrases without perceiving what four times four really means, or realizing the true significance…..”. Mr. Lowery lacked experience and passion; therefore, he was not able to teach the students. He talked at them. He did not engage his students in the conversation or topic.

 

2.       In one scene a student was a few seconds late and the teacher did not discipline him for this action. Coach Webb is very controlling and felt that everyone should follow the rules. She felt her students needed to know yoga and she was also the hall monitor and felt that the teachers were setting a bad example and should follow the rules. I thought it connected with the Gatto's "The reason for school" a)To make good people. b) To make good citizens. c) To make each person his or her personal best.

 

3.       In Mike Rose’s Resolutions on Education, his number one resolution states “to have more young people get an engaging and challenging education”. Our example is the first day of school in Mr. Lowery’s class he writes his name on the board and he calls on a student to state his name and asked what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of history. The students sit blankly with no response.

 

4.       In Education in America, Black referred to the Kennedy school in L.A. They spent 580 million dollars on a new school with manicured lawns, swimming pool and more. In the movie Chalk there was a scene where they had a meeting to discuss finance’s but no discussion of students or other challenges at the school.

What I think High School is for and what I would like to see change.

I think high school is about preparing for the next journey. Whether it be college or the work force. It should be a time for setting goals and having the guidance to make those goals happen. Being able to select classes that will help achieve these goals.

One thing that I see happening with my Grandson is he is in the 4th grade, he is on a 8th grade level, so his teacher gives him separate work from the rest of the class. Half of the students in his class can not speak English and some of them are drug dealers. Remember this is 4th grade I am talking about here.

 My grandchildren will be moving to a new school beginning January if they get their new home. My hope is that both of my grandchildren will be tested and put in the grade they belong in based on skills and knowledge and not age. What I would like to see is the same system that a college uses, assessments. If a student is ahead then move him ahead. Put students in a class where they can learn. Then the teacher can focus on the students that need the extra help.

My five examples of how Chalk ......

My five examples of how chalk illustrates the charges Freire, Gatto level against education.

1. The student-teacher relationship: In the film Chalk, Mr. Lowery is a new teacher, his subject history. He has no connection with his students and does not begin to connect until the end of school. He also has no passion for history. Passion is what gives us our drive and enthusiasm, which then gets passed on to our students. Freire talks about this extensively in Chapter 2 of his book "The Banking Concept". The first five paragraphs of this chapter really describe this school very well. Especially the first line of the second paragraph "The teacher talks about reality as it were motionless, static, compartmentalized, and predictable". This statement reminds me of Mr. Lowery in almost every scene before spring break.
2. Gatto talks about boredom a lot in his article "Against School: How Public Education Cripples our kids, and why".  In the second paragraph of Gatto's article he states "Boredom is the common condition of school teachers". This school represented in the mockumentary, Chalk, was boring from the Principal down, everything about it was boring. The teachers rarely asked the students what their interest were or picked subjects that would peak their interest. For example: when the gym teacher, coach Webb, had her students doing yoga in what looked like a closet or cramped hallway. Yoga might be great stretching technique after a fun activity or before, and in the gym or outside, not in a cramped room.
3. Coach Webb had a very controlling nature about her. She was a person who played by the book and followed the rules. in one scene a student was a few seconds late and the teacher did not discipline him for this action. Coach Webb is the hall monitor and felt that the teachers were setting a bad example and should follow the rules. I thought it connected with the Gatto's "The reason for school" a)To make good people. b)To make good citizens. c)To make each person his or her personal best.
4. Problem-posing method: I thought the scene in the end when Mr. Lowery was rapping with the kids was a great example of this. Freire states that "Through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with student-teachers."  Freire goes on to state that "The teacher no longer merely the one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who is in turn teach while being taught". This is a perfect example of this process.
5. The banking process: This process was presented quite often through the movie. For example how Mr. Lowery would write everything on the bored and then had the kids read it with him. 

How will what I read on page 32-37 of my Writing Simplified book help with paper #3?

I am a very unorganized person, that includes my writing. If I follow some of the simple steps in this chapter I will be able to present a very neat and organized paper. I am very good at finding similarities but not the differences.  Even when I think I have found a difference, it turns out to be a similarity. I can see a difference since I started this class, so I am improving.