Rough Draft of paper #2

            I’m almost 40 years old so thinking of a teacher that is great or bad isn’t an easy task to meet. But I fortunately have a teacher that no matter how old I am I will never forget. I have chosen to write my paper about my 9^th and 10^th grade math teacher, Mr. Babani. He was an excellent and dedicated teacher because he cared about his students, he was always there for his students and he wanted his students to learn everything they needed to learn. He was also a very patient person when it came to teaching.

            Mr. Babani cared about his students in many ways. The time that stands out in my mind is when my best friend committed suicide. I had not returned to school since that tragic day and I received a surprising phone call from Mr. Babani at home. He didn’t call me to talk about math or when I was coming back to school. He called me to see how I was doing and to let me know that his thoughts were with me. He told me that what I was dealing with was a really hard thing to deal with, but that I would get through it in time. He also gave me his home phone number and told me that if I needed someone to talk to that I could give him a call at home. I was very grateful for that. I couldn’t believe he took the time to call me and try to help me feel better. None of my other teachers did that for me. I could tell in his voice that he really cared how I was doing. I just kept thinking what a great teacher he was for showing me how much he cared.

            Mr. Babani was always there for his students. The time that I remember him being there for me was the first day returning back to school after my best friend had passed away. Mr. Babani was aware of how mean other kids were being to me, and the one’s he knew or had in his class he would talk to. He would lecture them about the proper way to deal with me and that the way they are acting towards me is not the proper way. He would make sure everyone understood that asking me questions about her death was not a good thing to do. He not only dealt with the kids that were being mean, but he would keep checking on me. He constantly told me that he was there for me to talk to if I wanted or needed someone to talk to. He would also check on me when I was in other classes by asking my other teachers how I was doing. It seemed as though every time I turned around he was there for me or checking on me. I thought it was pretty awesome how much he cared for me as a person, not just one of his students. I was more than a student. He really cared how I felt and was there for me in many ways. He also gave me many pep talks when it came to dealing with my friend’s death. That doesn’t even count any of the pep talks when it came to understanding what he was teaching us. He was always there for all of his students. He would have done the same for anyone else too. It wasn’t just because it was me. It could have been anyone and he would have done the same things.

            He always wanted to make sure that his students learned everything they needed to learn. There were several times that I can remember meeting with him after school and before school. He would meet with students before and after school when they weren’t getting something in class. But, even in class he would go over things as many times as we needed him to. He would also try several different ways of doing something. If there was more than one way of doing something and the class didn’t understand what he was doing, he would try a different way. He would try all the ways until we got what he was doing. I remember one particular time that I stayed after school to have him go over something I just didn’t understand. He had shown us a couple different ways in class and I still just wasn’t getting it. I felt so bad. I was so frustrated at myself, but not him. He was determined to have me understand it. He showed me the couple of ways he had shown in class and I still wasn’t getting it. I was starting to feel so bad that I wasn’t getting it. But yet again, he wasn’t getting upset at all. He just kept showing me different ways to do the problems. It was amazing at how many ways he could come up with ways to do the problems. I couldn’t believe it. Then out of nowhere I started getting it. Finally, after 2 hours of working hard I was finally understanding it. He wanted to make sure that I was really getting it so we worked on several other problems for the next hour. I was getting it. We were both so happy. So, finally we were done. We both went home and when class began the next day he gave me some of the problems I was having trouble with and I was still able to do them. He was so happy for me. I was amazed that he never gave up on me.

            So, needless to say, Mr. Babani was a very patient man. He was the most patient person I have ever come across in my life. He was a teacher that I will never forget no matter what other types of teachers I encounter. I was and still am very grateful for everything he ever did for me. He was an outstanding teacher. I wish that there could be more teachers like him in the world. If there were more teachers like him in the world it would be a much different place.

Day 2 of Dead Poets Society

I am very glad that we got to watch this movie as well as Stand and Deliver. I think that both movies will help us greatly to write our own papers. Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante have a lot of the same style of teaching. They both use humor as well as being serious. They are also both fun teachers.
I think that it is wrong when Mr. Keating is being questioned, and told that he is to teach rules and poetry and nothing more. He couldn't teach them anything that has to do with life and finding themselves. According to the headmaster, they aren't able to find themselves. They are to follow rules and not have any fun in the meantime.
I think that the Welton school for boys is very strict and could change a little bit for the better. They should have more teachers like Mr. Keating. They need to learn about life too, not just all the different subjects. The kids took to Mr. Keating and it was great when they stood up for him at the end. When they all stood on their desks and said, "Oh Captain, My Captain." They all came together and did something together that Mr. Keating taught them. He taught them to stand up for themselves.
I was very sad at the end of the movie when Neil shot himself. I can totally relate to how everyone felt when Neil did that. My best friend committed suicide in high school too. It isn't an easy thing to deal with. Neil's father should have listened to his son and maybe he would still be here. His father was way to strict and didn't care about Neil's feelings or what Neil wanted. Neil was great in the play and his father couldn't even tell him what a good job he did on the play.
Overall, I think that the movie was a very good movie and I'm glad we had a chance to watch it. I think that it will help us with our own papers.

Dead Poets Society

I am finding that Dead Poets Society is much different than Stand and Deliver. The Helton school for boys is completely different than Garfield High School. The surroundings, the environment and the teachers. The kids from Helton are all high society people where as the kids from Garfield are all low society kids. The kids at Garfield come from low income families and the kids from Helton come from high income families. Another difference is the teaching. At Helton all the teachers are very strict and expect a lot from the students, where as most of the teachers at Garfield didn't have high expectations for the students. Even though they are both very different, they are both very good schools. The teaching at Helton is very strict teaching, and there are a lot of rules to follow.

paper #2 thesis and one paragraph

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            I have chosen to write my paper about my 9^th and 10^th grade math teacher, Mr. Babani. He was an excellent and dedicated teacher because he cared about his students, he was always there for his students and he wanted his students to learn everything they needed to learn. He was also a very patient person when it came to teaching.

           

             He cared about his students in many ways. The time that stands out in my mind is when my best friend commited suicide and he called me at home to see how I was doing. I’ll never forget it. I wasn’t at school and I got a phone call from Mr. Babani. He didn’t call me to talk about math or when I was coming back to school. He called me to see how I was doing and to let me know that his thought were with me. He told me that what I was dealing with was a really hard thing to deal with, but that I would get through it in time. He also gave me his home phone number and told me that if I needed someone to talk to that I could give him a call at home. I was very grateful for that. I couldn’t believe he took the time to call me and try to help me feel better. None of my other teachers did that for me. I could tell in his voice that he really cared how I was doing. I just kept thinking what a great teacher he was for showing me how much he cared.

Thesis on Stand and Deliver

Mr. Escalante was a dedicated teacher, because he no matter what he never gave up on himself or the students, he pushed his students to their potential, and he stood up for his students.

Mr. Escalante went to the education testing service to get answers of why the board thought that his students cheated. He walks through the door wearing his average everyday clothing and the two board members are wearing suits and ties. The two men in suits carry themselves as they are federal agents. Mr. Escalante once again does not let the board members intimidate him. When the board was not cooperative, Mr. Escalante kept pushing the board members to show him the answers from his student’s tests. All the board would tell Mr. Escalante is that all of his students got the same answers wrong and that the students could take the test again to prove they did not cheat. The men are still giving very short answers and virtually no explanation. Mr. Escalante then started arguing with the men that if this were to have taken place in Belair and his students were white they wouldn’t even be having this conversation right now. All the men had to say to this is if we don’t single them out people call it discrimination and if we do it is called discrimination as well. By the end of the conversation he told one of the board members that if “I see you on the street I am going to kick your ass.”

Final thoughts on Stand and Deliver

Mr. Escalante was an excellent teacher. He truly cared about his students and had high expectations for them, which pushed them to do their very best. His way of teaching was great. He would explain things so you can totally understand. He raised the bar with his students. Mr. Escalante can get through to the kids that most other teachers can't get through to. He just doesn't give up on them, he keeps pushing them. He is a very inspirational teacher.He is also a very dedicated teacher because he never gave up and he never gave up on his students. He even stood up for his kids when it came to the educational board telling him that all his students cheated. He went to the board to get the test results from the board and they wouldn't give him any of the results.I found this movie to be an excellent movie for many, many reasons.

Stand and Deliver

A new teacher comes to a school and is supposed to be teaching computers but ends up teaching math instead. He comes into the class for the very first time and all the kids are sitting all over the place and are talking among themselves. He asked everyone to take a seat and finds that there are several students that don't speak english sitting at the back of the class. He told those students to move to the front of the class and has the other students move to the back of the class. He is a teacher that isn't going to take shit from anyone, he's not going to stand down to anyone. He comes to school dressed like a chef and has parts of apples on the desks and asks a few students how much apple they have. Most of the kids couldn't answer. Then he uses his fingers to show a kid his 9 times tables. He has the kids repeat over and over, " a negative times a negative = a positive." Then he stops Lou Diamond Phillips from getting into a fight. He kind of takes to Lou Diamond Phillips and goes out of his way to help him. The teacher helps Lou Diamond Phillips by giving him 3 books, 1 for his locker, 1 for at home and 1 for the classroom. He does this because Lou Diamond Phillips can't have anyone see him carrying any books around. The teacher gives Lou Diamond Phillips a lot of chances and doesn't give up on him. This particular teacher tells the other teachers that they don't have high enough expectations for the students. From what I saw today, I think that this teacher is going to be a really good teacher. He is not going to give up on any of the students and he is going to go out of his way to help them. He truely cares about the students. I have enjoyed the movie to this point.

I found that todays portion of the movie was a lot of the same except for one big complication. The teacher was caring, humorous and wanted to kids to do well. He even thought that the kids could learn calculus and that they could take the advanced placement test and that they would do well. So, that's exactly what he did. He taught them all calculus and they all took the advanced placement test and all passed. He was so happy that they all did so well. All the kids had confidence that they never had before. And then the people that do and grade the test came back and said that they are did so well and all missed the same problems so they must have cheated. They stood their ground for a while telling them that no one cheated but the people wouldn't believe them, so they all took the test again. We'll have to see tomorrow how well they did on the test again. But in the meantime, I am finding that this movie is a very good movie. It shows you that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. It is a very inspirational movie. The teaching is excellent.

Audre Lorde's story

Audre Lorde's teacher sister Mary was one of the meanest teachers I have known. The ways sister Mary was mean was the fact that she sent a note home with Audre asking her mother not to dress her in so many layers so that Audre could feel the spanking she needed to get every now and than according to sister Mary. Another way sister Mary was mean was how she split the class up into the Fairies and the Brownies, and Audre spent a lot of time in the Brownies. Audre wound up in the Brownies for not knowing her numbers. Instead of teaching Audre her numbers sister Mary would just have her be with the bad kids. And why were the Brownies never called up to the front of the class to read. Everyone should have the chance to read, not just the good kids. And why should Audre get in trouble for breaking her glasses. That is no reason to put her into the Brownies. Another time that sister Mary was very mean to Audre was when they had the homework to make a sentence out of newspaper or magazine and bring it in Monday morning. Sister Mary said that the sentence that Audre made could not have been made by her so she must be lying. There was no way that someone like Audre could make a sentence like that, it was too good for Audre. How can sister Mary think something like that. That is a horrible thing to think of a little girl. Audre had no reason to lie to her. Sister Mary was also mean by having all the kids say a prayer for Audre because she broke her glasses. Unfortunately young kids break their glasses. It happens, and it is just something that we have to deal with as adults and parents. I can just picture what sister Mary was like. Audre Lord's story is very vivid and clear. It makes you feel like you were Audre and going through everything she went through.

Paper #2 topic

I am going to write my paper #2 on my 9th and 10th grade math teacher. He was an excellent teacher. He cared about the students very much. If we weren't understanding something he would go over it until we did understand it. He also cared about our lives and what was going on in them and sometimes he would even share about his life. He was a very patient and kind man and I learned a lot from him.

Ed Narrative draft

I remember the summer before my freshman year like it was yesterday. I remember all the fun I had, but I also remember how scared I was to go to high school. That was the year they started busing people to different schools. Instead of going to school near my house, I was bused several miles away from my house. I remember thinking that it was going to be very different than junior high. A lot of my friends went to other schools, so I wasn’t really going to know anyone in high school.

            That first day was so scary. It was so much bigger of a school that I was really overwhelmed. I didn’t know how I was going to make to all of my classes on time. The worst part about it was not knowing anyone and not having anyone to talk to about how scary it all was. I made it to all of my classes and notice that there were a lot of really nice people in my classes, so I was hopeful that I would find and make some new friends.

            That first week I noticed that there was this one girl in a lot of my classes. Her name was Kristen, and in a couple of classes we got put together for projects and we totally hit it off. She was fun and silly but could be very serious too. We both opened up to each other right away. We started doing everything at school together. We took breaks together, ate lunch together and worked on projects together. Then we started doing things outside of school together.

            Her and her family invited me on a trip to Ocean Shores and that was where our friendship grew to more than just being friends at school. We told each other everything about our lives and there wasn’t anything we wouldn’t do together. After the trip our friendship just kept growing and growing. She was the best friend I ever had.

            We made it through our freshman year and we were really excited about our sophomore year because we were going to have more classes together. We had 6 different classes and 5 of our classes were together. The one class that I had and she didn’t was orchestra. She didn’t play a musical instrument. But she thought it was great that I did and loved to hear me play. I played the flute at the time and I was wanting to play the oboe but didn’t have the ability to play it because my mom couldn’t afford lessons. Kristen kept telling me that I should teach myself how to play the oboe. I kept saying yes, sometime I will do that. All along thinking that I could never teach myself something, but she seemed to think that I could do it.

            Kristen was a very messed up child. She was adopted and had a really hard time with that. But she would talk to me when things got hard and she needed to talk about it. She was a wonderful person. She always put other people first, before herself. We had so much fun together all the time. Something else that was great about our friendship was that we never had fights. We always got along. I thought that was amazing. We never even had little fights, nothing at all. We got along all the time and we couldn’t be apart.

            We were getting through our sophomore year together and having a lot of fun while doing it. We still did everything together. We even got our driver’s license together. We did homework together and anything else we could think of doing. We went everywhere together, if I wasn’t driving she was. We even helped each other with our boyfriend problems. That’s another thing that didn’t happen with us. Boys didn’t get in the way of our friendship. Usually boys come between friends, but not with us.

            Everything was going great. The world was ours to take. But then one Saturday morning I got a call from Kristen’s mom. She asked me if my parents were home and told me to sit down. Right there I knew it wasn’t good at all. Then she went on to tell me that Kristen had shot herself the night before at her boyfriend’s house. I told her mom that she had to be lying to me that just couldn’t be true. But it was true and I couldn’t make her come back to life.

            I thought my whole world was going to end. I wanted it to end. She was my best friend. What was I going to do without her. I just wanted her back in my life. When this happened I stopped going to school for a very long time for several reasons. Mainly because I missed Kristen and I couldn’t be where we were always at. Plus, kids are very mean. They would come up to me and ask me how big of a whole did she put in herself when she shot herself. They would tell me to just get on with my life and forget about her. But I couldn’t do that. We had way too much to just forget about her.

            So, a couple of my really good teachers got in touch with me about school and told me that if I didn’t come back I was going to fail 10^th grade. That hit me hard and made me realize that I better get back to school. I didn’t want to fail. Kristen wouldn’t have wanted that for me. She would have wanted me to do good and finish school. So, I did. I went back to school and kids were still mean to me about her death. I couldn’t believe how rude kids were. But I just ignored them and went on with my life.

            I also decided to do what Kristen always wanted me to do and teach myself how to play the oboe. When I wasn’t at school or doing my homework I was working on teaching myself the oboe. I had a lot of fun doing it and before I knew it I was great at it. Good enough to take first chair. I was amazed at how easy it was once I started doing it. I know Kristen was looking down on me and telling me that I was doing a great job and that I sounded great. She was probably also telling me, I told you so. I told you, you could do it. And she was right, I could do it.

            So, everyone should cherish those friendships from high school that are great because you never know when they are going to end. I am almost 40 years old and have never had another friend like Kristen. I don’t know if I ever will. Sometimes I think she still watches over me. It was because of Kristen that I went back to school and finished the 10^th grade.

Difference between Malcolm X, Franklin and Rose

I found that Malcolm X’s, Franklin’s and Rose’s essays were all very different. Malcolm X’s was very easy to follow and was very inspirational. I had no problems with reading it or understanding it. However, Franklin’s and Rose’s were both very hard to read and follow. I had a really hard time following theirs. Franklin and Rose both had a lot of details, but was somewhat confusing. Franklin’s was the hardest to follow because of it being written like it was in his day.

I would have to say that Malcolm X’s essay was my favorite one. He gives you determination and hope. His writing is also very inspirational. His accomplishments are amazing and he did what he had to do to complete his goals. He set out to learn to read and write and that is exactly what he did.

Mike Rose paper

It seems as though Rose’s life in Voc. Ed. was all a joke. It seems as though his teachers didn’t care if the students learned anything or not. I thank god my schooling was never like his schooling. The poor students will get nowhere in life. They won’t ever achieve anything because the teachers didn’t care enough to actually teach them.

Rose and his fellow students got to the point where they didn’t care about school either. School became a joke to them. It became to be all about them and who they were, not learning anything. It didn’t help them intellectually, emotionally or socially at all. Rose couldn’t get caught up in math because he didn’t know what was going on.

School is very disorienting to students because you are being thrown into a pool of all kinds of kids. Everyone has a different background and different thoughts of what school should be. And if you are thrown into a school like these kids went to I don’t blame them if they act out and get in trouble. What else are they supposed to do?

I wouldn’t say that college is disorienting but maybe nerve racking. There is a lot of information to learn in a very short time. It can be overwhelming but not disorienting. I suggest that students just take a deep breath and take all the information in. Listen to everything that is said very well. Have the mindset that it will be okay and everything will come together.

My education was a great education. I had great teachers that cared about the students and weather or not they learned anything. I had a couple of teachers that didn’t seem to care, but none as bad as Mike Rose’s teachers.

I think that Rose’s paper can help us with our narrative paper because he had a lot of detail. His paper shows how and what kind of detail we should have in our paper. I think his paper was very informational and helpful when it comes to the papers we have to write.

Pre-writing

The types of pre-writing I have used in the past is, free writing, journals and brainstorming. I have done some of the others but found these 3 to work the best for me. But for some reason no matter what type of pre-writing I use I seem to still have problems writing. I just think that writing is not my best subject. I always try to do my best and hope that I do what the professor was looking for.

Malcolm X

This story about Malcolm X and the way he learned how to read and write was interesting and inspirational. I think that it is great that instead of just waiting his time out in prison, he took all the spare time he had to learn to read and write. And the most amazing thing is that he did it on his own. He taught himself. That it always amazing to me when someone can have the will to teach themselves something. I find it amazing that he wrote everything down out of the dictionary, even the puncuation. Reading this story about Malcolm X reminds me of a time in my life when I taught myself to play the oboe.
I really wanted to learn how to play the oboe and my mom didn't have the money for lessons. I wasn't going to let that stop me. I got a finger chart and a whole bunch of beginner books and went to work. Every minute I had to spend on playing the oboe I did. I came home from school and did my homework and then started learning the oboe. I learned all the notes and where my fingers had to be. Then I was able to start actually playing songs. Small easy songs at first, but then they got harder and harder and before I knew it I was ready to play my oboe in the band class I was in. I did really well, but could still use some work so I took some lessons from the kid who sat in the first chair. I was second to him, but he was willing to teach me for nothing so I took advantage of that. After a few short months I was doing really well, well enough to take first chair. I was so amazed. I was very pleased with myself that I had done this all by myself.
I think that Malcolm X was an amazing person and we could all learn from him and how he learned. He had a lot of very important things to say and to get across to the world. I find it really sad that he was killed and people couldn't continue to learn from him and his teachings.

narrative handout

I feel that writing is my worst subject. I hate to do it and never feel that I am doing it right. I always feel like I don't understand what is wanted, what am I supposed to do. Especially since it has been 20+ years since I have been in school. Most of the time I wish I didn't have to take any English classes. Like in my English 98 class, I always felt like I was doing a horrible job on all my papers, and when it came to the portfolio I thought I was done for sure. But when all said and done I end up doing just fine and even finish the class with a 3.3. I couldn't believe how well I did. I was sure I did just horrible. I still don't feel very comforable at all. I don't know if I ever will feel good about my English classes. I guess I will just keep doing what I have been and maybe I will continue to do okay.

Me

I am a 39 year old woman that has recently started ife over and decided to go back to school so that I can provide well for my son. About 3 years ago I left my husband and our business so that my son and I could have a better life. I found that there wasn't really any good work out there to support my son and I, so I decided that going back to school and getting a career was the best thing that I could do for us. So, I haven't been in school since I graduated from high school in 1990. This is my second semester and it isn't going to be an easy one. I'm taking a total of 3 classes, all of which I have beeen told by the professors that it isn't goig to be easy at all. Taking 3 classes in the summer I hear is going to be rough. But I have faith in myself and so does all of my family. I want to be able to give my son the things he needs and wants in life and be able to send him to college. I don't want him to be like his mom and not go to college. I wish I had gone to college out of high school. But maybe this was my time to go back to school and get a career. Everything happens for a reason.