Karl Adams a new high school teacher, just finished with his studies, with only 2 years of elementary education for experience, has applied to work at Williams high school and got the job. He is now the new science teacher and everything seems to be fine but hes having trouble with one class. The class doesn't really listen to him and doesn't seem to want to do the work. He tries to take control but each days passes by without any good results. The elementary students he tutors after school sometimes behave better than his high school students.
Then he gets a great idea, he brings the elementary students he tutors in the class and have them sit in the front while he teaches class, and he then points out in a very mocking tone that elementary student are better well behaved, and continues on praising the younger kids. The lesson end with his high school students feel embarrassed and offended. The next day the students will actually be more calmer, not completely but a lot more.
The teacher and students finally start becoming close, especially after he save a student from an abusive teacher. The teacher tries to make the teaching system not as corrupt, and and he might not succeed in doing so, but he might change the people that teach the students, with the students help of course. And the ending might be like a goodbye scene, either the students graduating or maybe the teacher just leaves because he feels he accomplished something, and that his work there is done.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
HW# 45
Sizer:
"Schools, he argued, should abandon one-size-fits-all educational methods like standardized tests, grading and even the grouping of students into classes by age."
i agree with sizer that schools should change the ways they teach student, though i do not enjoy or agree to having to do exhibitions. But i think that "Setting these kinds of standards leads to "unfamiliar places"" would be more interesting to students than the regular standard version, which can get dull after a while. Having teachers that are so devoted to teaching and smart and willing to let their students take some charge, would be better to have, because thats what we teenagers want, to have some power in what we do, and to be able to do that in school seems more interesting than having to do whatever the teacher wants and just like every other kid.
Hirsch:
I think having younger kids do the standard method is good, because they're just starting school, and need to learn the basics, and get use to them, so i agree with that part of what Hirsch thinks. though i think as the kids get older or once they know the basics and are good at them, they can start the Sizer plan, because now they're older and have already gotten use to the Hirsch method, now they should try something different so that they dont get bored of school, and start not doing their HW or doing things, i think they should change method repeatedly.
"Schools, he argued, should abandon one-size-fits-all educational methods like standardized tests, grading and even the grouping of students into classes by age."
i agree with sizer that schools should change the ways they teach student, though i do not enjoy or agree to having to do exhibitions. But i think that "Setting these kinds of standards leads to "unfamiliar places"" would be more interesting to students than the regular standard version, which can get dull after a while. Having teachers that are so devoted to teaching and smart and willing to let their students take some charge, would be better to have, because thats what we teenagers want, to have some power in what we do, and to be able to do that in school seems more interesting than having to do whatever the teacher wants and just like every other kid.
Hirsch:
I think having younger kids do the standard method is good, because they're just starting school, and need to learn the basics, and get use to them, so i agree with that part of what Hirsch thinks. though i think as the kids get older or once they know the basics and are good at them, they can start the Sizer plan, because now they're older and have already gotten use to the Hirsch method, now they should try something different so that they dont get bored of school, and start not doing their HW or doing things, i think they should change method repeatedly.
Monday, March 8, 2010
HW#44
1) http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2009/08/liberal_arts_education_why_it.html
Liberal arts education is useful for some i guess, but it seems kinda of like everyday normal high school classes, learning a bunch of different stuff, so this seems like for a person who actually enjoys learning more then one thing, like shakespeare, biology, and art, just like being back in high school just when shorter time. But it seems ideal for someone who doesnt like change of paste, or just doesnt know what to pick to learn.
I guess i can understand how some people would be kind of upset or offended with how underestimated liberal arts can be, since it doesnt seem like a course that'll get you a good job in the future, though learning more then one thing does seem more useful than just focusing on learning one specific thing, because just incase you cant get a job based on what you learned, you could always get another.
2) http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/
Its people like these that throw into peoples head, that if you go to school, then you'll be successful. This speech didnt really seem that special, its was just another "celebrity" life story, and how people should try their best for a better tomorrow, to fill our life with hope, but its really no different then the stories you hear your parents tell you about how, "oh i never got to graduate high school [because of so and so reason] and because of that look where im working". Though some might actually be inspired by this speech, the majority probably would be like "oh wow, thats a really good speech" and then forget about it the next day and continue now to their normal day.
Not the people shouldnt try to inspire other, but at this point all the speeches are kind of same, i think to actually be able to change your views, you have to witness the type of life you dont want, whether your experiencing it, or not. Though i cant disagree with the president when he mention how you might not even know what you like until you experience it, which goes against my idea of just focusing on one type of lesson, i guess thats why we get different types of lessons in school before we get to college, so we can know what we like. Though sometimes the things you might be good at or interested arent taught at high school.
Liberal arts education is useful for some i guess, but it seems kinda of like everyday normal high school classes, learning a bunch of different stuff, so this seems like for a person who actually enjoys learning more then one thing, like shakespeare, biology, and art, just like being back in high school just when shorter time. But it seems ideal for someone who doesnt like change of paste, or just doesnt know what to pick to learn.
I guess i can understand how some people would be kind of upset or offended with how underestimated liberal arts can be, since it doesnt seem like a course that'll get you a good job in the future, though learning more then one thing does seem more useful than just focusing on learning one specific thing, because just incase you cant get a job based on what you learned, you could always get another.
2) http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/
Its people like these that throw into peoples head, that if you go to school, then you'll be successful. This speech didnt really seem that special, its was just another "celebrity" life story, and how people should try their best for a better tomorrow, to fill our life with hope, but its really no different then the stories you hear your parents tell you about how, "oh i never got to graduate high school [because of so and so reason] and because of that look where im working". Though some might actually be inspired by this speech, the majority probably would be like "oh wow, thats a really good speech" and then forget about it the next day and continue now to their normal day.
Not the people shouldnt try to inspire other, but at this point all the speeches are kind of same, i think to actually be able to change your views, you have to witness the type of life you dont want, whether your experiencing it, or not. Though i cant disagree with the president when he mention how you might not even know what you like until you experience it, which goes against my idea of just focusing on one type of lesson, i guess thats why we get different types of lessons in school before we get to college, so we can know what we like. Though sometimes the things you might be good at or interested arent taught at high school.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Hw#42
Students nowadays are just not as interested in school as they use to be/should be, the school just teaches us what they, the adults, think is important for us to learn, which is to grow up smart, and get into a good college/school, and get a good paying job. Yet students are always complaining about how they're never going to use what the teachers are teaching in their life, so why don't schools start teaching things that we're going to need to know, thats important to know?
In other countries, like japan for example, they teach students home economics, here in NYC, not many school (nor any that i know) teach home economics, yet use teenagers always rant on how we cant wait until we move out of our parents place, and be free and independent, but when that comes, we need to know how to cook, clean, iron our clothes, because we probably wont have the money to keep sending it off to the cleaners since we're going to be new at the whole independent thing. Some students need that, sure we might know the basics, like scrambling and boiling eggs, and we need more than eggs, and cereal to survive without wasting our money away at some restaurant or store. Home economics, also helps with finances, which would be very helpful, because most teens don't really know where to go to get the best price, and if we did, they'd be able to save more money, for like bills, and rent.
Schools should be more like college kind of, where we get to pick the classes you want, because not all of us want to work in a job that has to do with biology, or chemistry. It'd probably more interesting that way, because we students get to choice for ourselves, and thats what we always want, to make the choices in our life. We dont want to just do whatever people tell us to do, we want to do things that interest us, and what sucks in learning about something we actually are interested in and maybe want to pursuit as a career.
In other countries, like japan for example, they teach students home economics, here in NYC, not many school (nor any that i know) teach home economics, yet use teenagers always rant on how we cant wait until we move out of our parents place, and be free and independent, but when that comes, we need to know how to cook, clean, iron our clothes, because we probably wont have the money to keep sending it off to the cleaners since we're going to be new at the whole independent thing. Some students need that, sure we might know the basics, like scrambling and boiling eggs, and we need more than eggs, and cereal to survive without wasting our money away at some restaurant or store. Home economics, also helps with finances, which would be very helpful, because most teens don't really know where to go to get the best price, and if we did, they'd be able to save more money, for like bills, and rent.
Schools should be more like college kind of, where we get to pick the classes you want, because not all of us want to work in a job that has to do with biology, or chemistry. It'd probably more interesting that way, because we students get to choice for ourselves, and thats what we always want, to make the choices in our life. We dont want to just do whatever people tell us to do, we want to do things that interest us, and what sucks in learning about something we actually are interested in and maybe want to pursuit as a career.
Monday, February 22, 2010
HW# 41
http://www.savingadvice.com/blog/2009/02/09/104053_home-economics-not-what-they-taught-me-in-high-school.html
In this blog, the women is ranting on how, back than home economics was more was becoming a servant to your husband, doing the cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids, and how to set the table neatly. But she states how what she best is, is at saving money, and making sure its not all spent, and how she had a hard time learning this skill, since it was never taught it to them in school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_education_in_Japan
It mentions how students are required to do home economics, because the government is trying to get them to be more aware of the importance of family life, the responsibility, the roles, and the cooperation, since family is important to them. Which reminds me of last school year, how most people put family first or second on making our life more meaningful, yet even though we say family is important to us and how most of us plan on having a family of our own when we get older, most new york city school don't have home economics, not even as a after-school activity. The last time i did any like home economics was elementary school, where i did cooking after-school, and in tenth grade, when we took care of a plant as if it was our "baby" though it was more of learning about plants than actually learning how to take care of a family/kid.
In this blog, the women is ranting on how, back than home economics was more was becoming a servant to your husband, doing the cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids, and how to set the table neatly. But she states how what she best is, is at saving money, and making sure its not all spent, and how she had a hard time learning this skill, since it was never taught it to them in school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_education_in_Japan
It mentions how students are required to do home economics, because the government is trying to get them to be more aware of the importance of family life, the responsibility, the roles, and the cooperation, since family is important to them. Which reminds me of last school year, how most people put family first or second on making our life more meaningful, yet even though we say family is important to us and how most of us plan on having a family of our own when we get older, most new york city school don't have home economics, not even as a after-school activity. The last time i did any like home economics was elementary school, where i did cooking after-school, and in tenth grade, when we took care of a plant as if it was our "baby" though it was more of learning about plants than actually learning how to take care of a family/kid.
HW# 40
Part A
What do you think about school?
Alex - "its ok, i dont really like having to deal with all the work though, some is fun but most of it is so boring, plus i like seeing my friends, and boyfriend"
mom - "its important, it teaches you what you need to learn for the future to get a good job, i dont understand why you kids skip school"
Naomi - "It's stupid, and so annoying, you go there to learn a bunch of bullshit, things im never going to use in my life, I'm glad i left"
Oscar (8 yrs old) - "I think school should die! i like the other kids, but i cant play mario because of all the work"
Me - "its tiring, with all the work and then more work at home, and getting up early, but i do enjoy it sometimes, when i get to talk with my friends"
What would you change about school?
Alex - "i'd change the time we go to school in, its so tiring get up so early, also i'd make it so we dont get hw, because I'm already tired from going to CAT, than i gotta do my homework too"
mom - "i dont know, nothing? the schools seem to be doing fine"
Naomi - "I'd make it so there would be no school, but if there had to be i'd make it so it was more interesting, by making them teach interesting topics, instead of all that boring stuff"
oscar - "no homework! and longer lunch! and no work, just playing!!"
me - "i'd change the time school starts, also add in nap time, and make them teach things that i'll actually be able to use in life, like cooking, sewing, and other things, beside the things i know i wont remember when i get older, especially since i dont remember it now"
Part B
based on the interview, it seems that most people only like school because they get to socialize with the people they like to be, and how there are very little interest in the things we are taught. Like my mom was going on about how we need to stick with school to learn, because it'll help us survive when we're older, yet its not like probabilities will help me much when im older, i dont even remember it right now, and most of what we learn dont interest us, yet we still go to school even though we state its not worth it. We'd rather do over things that don't even help us with the future either, even less than school. Also alot of us say we'd change the time we start school, which shows how getting up early for school is not worth it, because having to get up early to do schoolwork is so tiring, yet we dont do anything about it, though some of us do skip.
What do you think about school?
Alex - "its ok, i dont really like having to deal with all the work though, some is fun but most of it is so boring, plus i like seeing my friends, and boyfriend"
mom - "its important, it teaches you what you need to learn for the future to get a good job, i dont understand why you kids skip school"
Naomi - "It's stupid, and so annoying, you go there to learn a bunch of bullshit, things im never going to use in my life, I'm glad i left"
Oscar (8 yrs old) - "I think school should die! i like the other kids, but i cant play mario because of all the work"
Me - "its tiring, with all the work and then more work at home, and getting up early, but i do enjoy it sometimes, when i get to talk with my friends"
What would you change about school?
Alex - "i'd change the time we go to school in, its so tiring get up so early, also i'd make it so we dont get hw, because I'm already tired from going to CAT, than i gotta do my homework too"
mom - "i dont know, nothing? the schools seem to be doing fine"
Naomi - "I'd make it so there would be no school, but if there had to be i'd make it so it was more interesting, by making them teach interesting topics, instead of all that boring stuff"
oscar - "no homework! and longer lunch! and no work, just playing!!"
me - "i'd change the time school starts, also add in nap time, and make them teach things that i'll actually be able to use in life, like cooking, sewing, and other things, beside the things i know i wont remember when i get older, especially since i dont remember it now"
Part B
based on the interview, it seems that most people only like school because they get to socialize with the people they like to be, and how there are very little interest in the things we are taught. Like my mom was going on about how we need to stick with school to learn, because it'll help us survive when we're older, yet its not like probabilities will help me much when im older, i dont even remember it right now, and most of what we learn dont interest us, yet we still go to school even though we state its not worth it. We'd rather do over things that don't even help us with the future either, even less than school. Also alot of us say we'd change the time we start school, which shows how getting up early for school is not worth it, because having to get up early to do schoolwork is so tiring, yet we dont do anything about it, though some of us do skip.
Monday, February 8, 2010
HW#39
A)
three interestings about school i've experienced:
Questions:
1)Why dont we have naptime and recess, when adults complain how unfocus we are, and how kids are becoming more overweight?
2)Why do we have to do homework? why cant we just do it in class like everything else?
3)Why do teachers care that we skip school
ideas:
1)I think teachers get mad at students for skipping, because they think it's a waste of time to go teach if nobody wants to show up.
2)I think school is both a good and bad thing, like we its good for us, but also affects us negatively as well.
3)I think the only reason we dont get naptime anymore is because adults want us to be able to go through things, regardless of being tired, because when we're older, we're not going to be able to just take a nap while we work, so i guess they think they're helping us.
experiences:
1)having to take the math and english regents in 10th grade, when from what people told me, we arent suppose to.
2)having to get up early in the morning, getting ready to for school, even though im exhausted.
3)having to do homework, when we could just do it at school
B)
When i wake up early in the morning, im so tired and so energy-less, and even though i dont want to, i go to school. Once i get home i just want to get some rest, lay down and sleep till next week, but i cant because i have to do my homework/projects, and that take me a while since im too tired to concenrate, and there are things around that distract me alot. Usually i end up falling asleep while doing my homework, and i wake up like around dinner time, and it take me a while to finish, and when i do finish its like 9-10 since i liked eatting my food cold, and i have to stay up later since i didnt finish my homework yet, and when i do go to bed, i cant sleep because my mind is still running, so i stay up even later, and i usually wake up at 6:30am, so im yet again tired in the morning, and the whole process repeats itself.
If we didnt get homework, us students would probably sleep better, and we can be more relaxed. Homework should be something we do during classes, [changing it to classwork], so that way we dont have to sweat over it at home, and if we dont get it, we can just ask the teacher since they're right there, instead of doing the work wrong, which doesnt help us, and instead of emailing, cause sometimes they dont reply, and this way our grades wont drop just b/c we're not doing HW. So why cant we just not have any HW, and just do it during class?
three interestings about school i've experienced:
Questions:
1)Why dont we have naptime and recess, when adults complain how unfocus we are, and how kids are becoming more overweight?
2)Why do we have to do homework? why cant we just do it in class like everything else?
3)Why do teachers care that we skip school
ideas:
1)I think teachers get mad at students for skipping, because they think it's a waste of time to go teach if nobody wants to show up.
2)I think school is both a good and bad thing, like we its good for us, but also affects us negatively as well.
3)I think the only reason we dont get naptime anymore is because adults want us to be able to go through things, regardless of being tired, because when we're older, we're not going to be able to just take a nap while we work, so i guess they think they're helping us.
experiences:
1)having to take the math and english regents in 10th grade, when from what people told me, we arent suppose to.
2)having to get up early in the morning, getting ready to for school, even though im exhausted.
3)having to do homework, when we could just do it at school
B)
When i wake up early in the morning, im so tired and so energy-less, and even though i dont want to, i go to school. Once i get home i just want to get some rest, lay down and sleep till next week, but i cant because i have to do my homework/projects, and that take me a while since im too tired to concenrate, and there are things around that distract me alot. Usually i end up falling asleep while doing my homework, and i wake up like around dinner time, and it take me a while to finish, and when i do finish its like 9-10 since i liked eatting my food cold, and i have to stay up later since i didnt finish my homework yet, and when i do go to bed, i cant sleep because my mind is still running, so i stay up even later, and i usually wake up at 6:30am, so im yet again tired in the morning, and the whole process repeats itself.
If we didnt get homework, us students would probably sleep better, and we can be more relaxed. Homework should be something we do during classes, [changing it to classwork], so that way we dont have to sweat over it at home, and if we dont get it, we can just ask the teacher since they're right there, instead of doing the work wrong, which doesnt help us, and instead of emailing, cause sometimes they dont reply, and this way our grades wont drop just b/c we're not doing HW. So why cant we just not have any HW, and just do it during class?
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