HW 47- Class Film Preparation 1

Please compose a colorful list of 5-10 ideas that should be considered for inclusion in your section's version of the "Savior/Teacher" film. You could address plot, character, theme, tone, cinematography, dialogue, key images, tropes, references, or our collective process of making the film. Indicate which of the ideas are most important to you by putting an asterix by the one or few which you think are most compelling. Due the morning we return from Spring Break.

1. Trying to fix something that's not broken (Sam's Savior/Teacher film idea) where the teacher comes in with a "Lets save the students mentality" but the students are fine and there isn't anything really to save

2. Referencing Dead Poets Society- The teacher gets inspirational *cue inspirational music* gives a speech about going to college and tell the students to stand on their chairs. The students stare at the teacher and slowly stand on their chairs. *still standing* after a few moments, students are still standing on chairs *music stops* one student asks "now what?" teacher smiles and says "Just feel the inspiration." *music countinues*

3. Tone parody/satirical/silly

4. Trope- Blackboard Jungle- the teacher coming to talk to principal.

Parody version-

P: "I like what you're doing with the kids"
T: "I'm going to have them read Hamlet"
P: "Okay, sure if that's what you want."
T: "You can't stop me!"
P: "Okay..."
T: "These kids can do it I believe in them!"
P: "Okay, go for it."
T: Uh...what? You're okay with it?
P: "Yeah"
T: "Oh. Okay."

5. Cimenatography- Shot of cars or the brooklyn bridge (trope), have a shot of the school from the outside. Subway ride shot.

6.Trope- talk about death. The kids are on the roof, Teacher tells them to look around them. Asks them what they see. They say pigeons, buildings, a garden. Teacher tells them they're wrong, that its part of it, but what they see is the world that they're going to live in and to look carefully and things like that.

7.Go outside on a field trip

8. Shoot how school really is, with more than one class in a documentary style.
-have teacher interview or commentary about what they think about school and their classes
-have students interviews
-just one teacher so its not all over the place

HW 45- More Thoughts on Schools

1. Do these theories contradict each other? Intellectually, emotionally, practically? In what ways do they? Could they be adapted to work together? Hirsh believed that students need to know a certain amount of background knowledge to be able to understand certain texts or passages. He emphasizes knowledge in terms of memorizing and remembering. Sizer was more focused on the community and the environment of the students and the teachers so students can develop their intellect. He wanted to focus more on depth than coverage. He wanted to push students intellectually to what they were able to do. Hirsh was more focused on the practical knowledge of school that there were certain things that students needed to learn in order to be able to understand things in this society and that this information was background knowledge that would help students understand more detailed text. I think though it is practical, because rote memorization and drills are useful, it neglects the emotional aspect of school, from community and relationships. I think these two theories could work together. Students can learn a wide arrange of knowledge that is considered (by whom?) neccesary and delve indepth in certain points of these, while in an environment that always pushes them to do better and think intellectually like Sizer proposes to have.

2. Which of the two theories do you find more resonant in your own experience? Has your education at one of Sizer's schools (he not only inspired SOF, he also came and visited) taught you to use your mind well, to be intellectually alert, to be able to think about important aspects of your life and society? Have you had any teachers that seemed inspired, now that you know about it, by Hirsch? For instance, would you say that the chemistry class's focus on molarity and ions and the periodic table of elements create an emphasis on knowledge?

I think math classes in general is more inspired by Hirsh, or it always has been that way even before Hirsh, because in my experience from elementary especially, we needed a background knowledge such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division before we were able to understand more complex equations. I learned much of this through rote memorization and flash cards (like the multiplication table). But it was even more useful when I was able to practice it after I had a basic understanding of it. I think I experienced Sizer's method of teaching in third grade, where the teacher is like coach to the student, because third grade, out of the other classes in my elementary school was one of the hardest. The teacher would always push us to learn and teach us more things. But at the same time he developed a relationship with his students and we really respected him because he would share things that he liked like Motown, or Hannah Barbara cartoons. He was strict but that was balanced because he was also fun. So there was a community aspect to it. Also the course was simple in the way it was laid out. It was clear what we had to do in each lesson so it wasn't haphazard or confusing. We had incentives, because on fridays, if the class was good, which it almost always was, we would be able to watch Hannah Barbara Cartoons (I don't know if this would work with high schoolers but in elementary it worked well). I think in SOF, there is good sense of community among the students and teachers. I can see how it was inspired by Sizer. I do think though, there was some sense to Hirsh's emphasis on basic knowledge, because in math and science we should memorize certain information but because we don't need to, we don't. I think, I've always been a bit contrary, especially last year, I would often overanalyze and over think things, I don't think I do this as much this year because I have been trying not to. I think its more of my personal choice, than of my schools, because I was influenced by my contact with other people that led me to this conclusion. Sometimes though...I want rote memorization, because I have more of a clear goal, I have to do x in order to understand y.

HW 44- Big Expectations for School

Obama Speech
It presents education as a chance to discover ourselves and contribute to society. The basic message of his speech was that "Education is the road to sucess" and if you want to go somewhere in life, you have to have a good education. This is our society's basic answer for getting job, a career, and learning about what we want out of life.

In Obama's Speech, he addresses student responsibility to their education and wants students to put their effort in it. I don't see any harm in it, if you are using education to get a job, which most people are, you may as well put effort into it and be good at what you do. That is the basic premise of having an education in this country, that with good grades and a degree, it'll get you the career you want.

"We have a responsibility to ourself to discover what it that is" and find out what we are good at, which is something that going to school and doing well in it is supposed to help you do. Which I think it does along the subject areas we take in school because we find out what we like and develop our perferecnes. I feel like education is taken for granted, perhaps because it is so freely given it doesn't seem like a priviledge anymore, because it wasn't a choice, it was something we have to do, people usually value things more when they actually had to invest something to get it or if they feel like they chose something for themselves. "There is no excuse for not trying." He says that by not putting your effort in your education akin to letting yourself and your country down that's because education is our society's answer for what roles we are going to play in our lives.

Thomas Friedman
Education is in part capitalism--or at least it is partially what it is for. We see school as a place for learning and what are we learning for? To get a job. According to Thomas Friedman, traditional schools trains students to become employees and there should be an alternative school for entrepeneurs. It sets schools as the standard to having a prosperus society and that it needs to improve on school to help fix the current rate of unemployment. This is like what we said in class about people trying to fix institutions to fix society or in this case the economy. That perhaps if we created a new school that catered to entrepeneurs it would benefit students who wanted to be the bosses of businesses rather the employees. If they are focusing on the structure of schools and the way its structured and creating a more military structure with more emphasis on memorization, I think it'll be more like schools in Asia, that focus more on rote memorization as well. I don't know if having a school like this would automatically mean the creation of more jobs, but it might help. I think though if a school like this were to exist and work, parents would choose to send their kids there rather than a regular school because they would perfer if their kid was a boss rather than an entrepeneur. Its easier to attempt to fix the smaller problems through institutions and hope that by doing that there is a trickle up affect than to attempt to fix the larger problem by itself because fixing an institution is a more viable step for people.

Deborah Kenny
I think the top priorities of schools should be to try to foster a love of learning in their students, because once they accomplish that, the rest would be made much simpler if they actually want to learn and want to get better and grow as people and individuals. I think that's what this article is about, how this woman, Deborah Kenny, tries to create an environment where this is possible. Since this is a society that relies on this sort of system economically, socially, and in some ways mentally, then we should make this an institute worth going to and where kids can actually learn from. She focuses on developing good teachers, in addition to the cirriculum. Realistically, its not going to be perfect, but I do think having that sort of environment does affect the students and encourages them to try because students feed off the teacher and vise versa. In the summer, I got a job working with kids and part of the job training I had was be aware of our attitude, because our attitude affected the childs. We should try to encourage the kids to play in a group game, by wanting to play ourselves and being enthusiastic, because if a child sees you have a "oh this is boring" attitude, they'll copy you and adopt it and not play, but if you get up and do it, they'll copy that instead. Kids are very influencable, especially when they're younger, but even when they're older they're still like that. They can read what you're giving off. So, I think this is reasonable, that is something school is able to do, its not going to correct all the problems of our society, but at least it can get kids to learn.

HW 42-Significance

I've been in America for a very long time. I guess this is one of those "what if" scenarios for me. What if I had stayed? What kind of person would I be today? Would I be more studious? My mom often told me that when I was younger, I was the first grandchild and everyone doted on me. When I visit my family in China, they're very affectionate towards me but I wonder if I would be closer to them if I lived there. So I wonder about this scenario too. What if I went to school in China? Would I be better in math than I am now? Would I like math more as a result? How would this kind of schooling affect me? The math and science levels in Asian countries is higher than it is in America. In 3rd grade they would be learning 5th grade math with respect to America and it is always 2 or 3 grades ahead in terms of math and science. I also know the methods of teaching are different too. Rather than Socratic discussions it is more based on textbook learning and reciting. So while I don't dislike my current scenario, I want to find out more about the different ways the two countries educate their students and satisfy my curiosity, because I'll never know this "what if" scenario for real and researching this is probably the closest I'll ever get, even if on a superficial level.

I know that in the future, our countries' economics and "progress" is dependent on the schooling institutions that these institutions have provided our students as it is from these crop of students come the future leaders, scientists, and innovators. With globalization, people are not only competing state to state but country to country, each trying to be the most innovative and cutting edge, we can see this form of competition from car companies like Ford and Toyota. People are looking to schools to educate their young to prepare them for the future job market. If we are looking at this from the global perspective many companies are hiring from other countries because the same resources and brains are available at a cheaper cost. International Capitalism creates global competition in a free market economy. It shows where each country's priorities are. Understanding the economic factors to how these institutions have formed is like understanding where they are going to take it. By looking at their motivations and their wants you see what they're trying to do and what they're doing now to get it. That to me is rather interesting and comparing what they have so invested in and how well they have prepared their students for this task.

HW 41- Initial Internet Research on Schooling: Edited

Student Ethics Correlation with School Structure

Kassab, Monica. "Cultural Exchanges" Honors Today: Crossing Borders. University of Buffalo, December 2009. 13-14.

Its a first person account from an American English teacher in Japan. Monica Kassab talks about what she learned from the experience her three years in Japan as an English teacher. The dual perspective of an American teacher is helpful in comparing how students in Japan are treated and how they behave in comparison to how the American students are treated and behave and highlight cultural values that these methods of teaching are based on. It shows how the students work are influenced by the teaching method.

"Chinese students more organized, less imaginative than American counterparts". University of Florida. 22 August 2006. http://www.physorg.com/news75480082.html

It's a study done by Florida University that basically says that Chinese students prefer to have a more organized learning environment while American students want flexibility and creativity. It includes a little about gender learning preferences in different countries, similarities and differences in learning style preferences in different countries.

I think these statistics reveal a little bit about how the cultural values affect the way things are taught and the student's preferences in learning.

Wan, Guofang. "The Learning Experience of Chinese Students" College Student Journal. March 2001.

This article reports a case study on the cross-cultural learning experiences of two Chinese students in American universities. It described their experiences in the following areas: motivations for learning, frustrations and satisfactions, strategies used to cope with language inefficiency, assumptions of the impact of their learning on their lives, and awareness of cultural differences in classroom and daily life.

This study is helpful identifying the differences in culture, language, and social and political system between China and the United States and how it impacts the experiences of the student.

"Education reform in China: An interview with Aibe Chen". Kappa Delta Pi Record. FindArticles.com. 25 Feb. 2010.

It's an interview with Professor Aibe Chen who is from the Beijing Institute of Education in China. China is trying to adopt an American styled education so it will be less focused on exams and more "quality-orientated".

Aibe talks about the differences between American and Chinese Education and how he hopes the reform will help change the schools in China. I think this interview will help identify the styles and ways each country generally teaches in school.

My mom

She went to school in China and also went as a college student in the US. I think she can give differences in the external structure of the classroom because she knows how it is different, for example in China, the students stay in one classroom and the teachers change and go into the room rather the other way around like it is in the US. I think she can also give her experiences as a student as well.

Dillon, Sam. Study Compares American Students with Other Countries. New York Times, 15 Nov. 2007. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

A study called Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or Timss, that tested foreign countries. The article compare US scores to these of other countries, specifically science and math.

I think the test can correlate to how much each subject is emphasized on to the students in the respective country that took it and I'm planning to research the hours and the study time that students in other countries use to relate to the test scores.

Friedman, Thomas L. A Word from the Wise. New York Times, 2 March 2010. Web.
3 March 2010.
Talks about the lack of U.S. is lagging in developing the next generation of scientific talent as well as the lack of incentives to induce big multinationals to create lots more jobs here when compared to China.

I think this can bring to focus, China's emphasis on Math and Science as compared to America. It displays the cultural values in some ways and how the U.S. is now in terms of teaching subjects in that area.

Education Statistics by Country. Nationmaster.4 March 2010. http://www.nationmaster.com/cat/Education-education
This site give an abundance of statistics on education and a number of other things by country. For example Student Attitude was one of them and the percentage of students that found school boring.

I think I can use this to compare U.S. and China in different areas and find facts and statistics that might contribute to finding out about the education and the students in different countries.

HW 40- Five interviews and What are some things you would change about schools if you could? The freedom of rights. They limit that. What doSynthesis

Middle School Student
How do you feel about school as a student?
Its okay.

What are some things you would change about schools if you could?
The freedom of rights. They limit that.

What do you mean?
Like. You know.

No, I don't. If you make grandiose statements please back them up.
Like when you're in trouble you don't really get to say what you want to say, they're just like oh, too bad and don't listen. Like this kid's watched beeped and my math teacher was like "Get out" and we're like what? its only a watch beep.

You're saying some teachers abuse their power and overreact?
Yes

What rights specifically are they limiting?
They are limiting our rights to speech.

So what would you do to change it?
Nothing. Nothing can be done.

Why do you say that?
Because no one will listen to a kid. They'll believe the adult of course.

SOF student- Henry
What have you learned from school?
Well I have really learned the most about social graces and how to interact. I have learned about the balance between work and socializing and how sometimes it isn't always crystal clear and honestly I think that a lot of the time the classes are an afterthought because it's all about the people

What are some things you might change about school that you think would make it better?
Well, I really think that's it's not the school so much as it is the student. School needs to have a consistent format and it needs to teach you certain things you might not like learning about because at the end of the day you don't always know what's best for yourself and the system works for the majority of people. If anything, I would say that the classes need to be more open, like more choices. More, shorter classes would expand people's horizons a lot and teach them more in the end if done right

Do you think fewer days per week at school would be more conducive to student learning or more detrimental?
Well I think that it could be either, and that depends on the student. It can work fantastically if the students pays attention and can keep up, but can crash into a wall if the students don't bring their A game. I also think that if this were done, you would need to have school until 5 or so, because a certain amount is needed

In terms of years, is the time spent at school too long and dragged out or is it fine as it is for the amount we learn?
I think that it is dragged out in a way. If you made school more specialized earlier you could teach the stuff that is really important to the people that would need it, while others might not. So somebody who wants to be a physicist could learn science and math while the writer would learn English and history. This would make things more concise in the long run.

How do you feel about school?
I like it. I have always liked it, because at the very least there is something that I find interesting in my day and I surround myself with people that keep it enjoyable. I feel happy about it for the most part. There is nothing that outright bores me or annoys me

Bard Student- Reggie
What are some things you might change about school that would improve it?
Take some of the years off i.e. middle school. Seriously, I learned nothing in middle school. They reviewed everything in high school. Take a year or two off elementary too. I mean how long does it take to teach kids to add and subtract? We spend enough time in school as it is and it just keeps getting longer.

Do you think fewer days per week would be more conducive to student learning or detrimental to it? It would be better. We'll have more time to get things done and sometimes my mind just needs a break and the ratios are retarded too, I mean 5:2?

How many days a week do you think school should ideally be?4:3. 4 days in school 3 days out

How do you feel about how school has changed?
In today's society you can’t really accomplish much without education. Now it’s all about the brand name colleges.

Do you think education focuses on the wrong things, i.e. tests and quizzes?
Yes, some schools base their entire course on regents but that's dumb b/c the regents really doesn’t cover all that much

College Student- Brian
What has school taught you? How to sit down for four hours without moving writing an essay. School teaches you discipline and work ethic.

How do you feel about school? It is a necessary part of society. That said it takes too much of my tax money and gives too little in return.

What are your feelings on middle school and high school? You're going to look back and realize that the days when you had no responsibilities at all were wonderful.

What type of school would you send your child and why? Private school where there are no teacher unions, where the acceptance rate is in the single digits. Unions are a general bane in American society.

Are there any flaws with the educational system? Moral integrity.

What do you mean? A lot of countries have classes teaching their students how to be good citizens and we don't, that’s why they end up being drunken idiots.

What is it doing right? Uhhhh..... well... we have really good literacy rates so obviously our kids can read and write which isn't that bad of an accomplishment.

What have you learned in school? High school or college?
HS be polite to people, you'll make enough enemies don't need to add more just because of rudeness

College? No one gives a crap about you so you better learn to stand of your own two feet. The professors don't give a crap about your excuses, you could be bleeding crawling to the door and the professors will mark you absent.

SOF Teacher- Melissa

How do you feel about school as a teacher?
I feel very conflicted about it. The whole emotion of school, I guess from my own personal experiences as a student and working as a teacher at SOF. I guess it is such a big contrasts. Hopes more opportunity for meaning making in school. I thinks Andy’s class is good for that. I think in some classes it’s not as easy as a Humanities class but I think the teachers in this school try to make it meaningful for students. I definitely feel the structures in school is very flawed. How stuck it is. So many hoops you have to jump through and things that confine you. At least in our world here fluid, we push the envelope even though it doesn’t always work. So much time is wasted experiences that you have to go through. I feel it’s important to question because we always know when it is happening when we’re having these experiences. Having awareness then trying to find ways to make them not occur or shift them in a way that feels more real.

How has your experiences effected your teaching?
So much, one of the reasons I went into teaching. There was no place to think about my own learning in school. My experiences also have shaped my career path and have informed my passion for being in a school where we try to not differentiate from students and put labels on kids and we just learn and grow from each other. I was raised in a tradition stuck setting where you have to muddle through one way. So I feel very strongly that there is not just one way, there are different ways, different entry points for kids to learn, and that will always be my passion for my career.

What is something you would change about the educational system if you could?
Oh my gosh, there’s so much I would change. Flexibility on schools supporting the needs of the student. I don’t think every school should be the same. What makes us successful is that we’re unique and students choose the school. A lot of times it’s the right one for them sometimes its not. I think it’s important for schools to have a vision, to create a diverse community of learners, from all backgrounds and socioeconomic situations and its starts from the schools. Because school is where students become young adults and if you’re in an environment with lots of people who are different from you. It demystifies it. It helps chip away those barriers because you form relations and see how other people live day to day. Its one of the most important aspects of school and I don’t think its valued enough where people learn from differences. That’s why we still have a lot of schools that are so segregated. It’s pretty pathetic.

Synthesis
I think I got a pretty varied responses but for the most part people seem to agree that there are certain parts of school that are not needed and things that could be changed because its not perfect. I did different ages and schools, mostly students to see what they thought about it. I think the most interesting insight was from the perspective of a teacher. To see what they thought about it and why they do it. One insight, that made sense to me was that by choosing our schools we're kind of choosing what learning style that we want and that different students will learn differently there is no one set way to doing things. I think most teachers do care a lot more than we think they do about teaching and they want students to be able to learn from them. All the interviewees were in a consensus that school has become a necessary part of our society, their reactions were interesting. Most excepted it, and even if they didn't want to, they dealt with it in one way or another. Some people like that and some people don't. It seems that its easier to point out the flaws than to say what it is doing right.

Hw 39- First School Assignments

Part A:
Ideas
-People go to school just to have something to do even though they don't like it
-We become socialized through school
-People base their success in school with their success in life.

Questions

-When did school become the main route to success in our society?

-What types of schooling is better, homeschool, public, private, charter, boarder, or unschooling? Where would we be without school?

-What ways does school make us smarter and what ways doesn't it?

Experiences

-At moments I enjoy it, though now, I'm kind of looking forward to the next step already and feel like its been prolonged.

-There are the teachers, and then the students who all the other students go to for help to for class

-I get to know different people from school and mannerisms from school and learn social cues

Part B:
Please explore one aspect or moment of school in a 2-4 paragraphs. Show us what's strange or great or awful about it. Talk about how you feel about it - how do you think it came to be - what consequences it produces.

One theory I heard in class that was interesting was Rachel's theory that school is the government's way of civilizing us so that we will fit into society. Perhaps that wasn't the original intention but that is certainly a byproduct of school, becoming "civilized" and taught the right and wrong way to behave according to the rules of our society. Children are taught to behave and be compliant with authority figures. We learn the conducts of behavior. This relates to what Beatrice said about school being "a big kid day care center" which is what it feels like sometimes because we are always here during the day, out of our parents way so we're not left at home alone and we're given something to do and looked after by the teachers. Jakob said about school serving two purposes- to occupy and condition, which relates to what they both said. We're conditioned to fit into our society, we're socialized to get along with people, and school occupies our time while doing all of the above and more.

The way society is set up, school is the main option available to us because we can't get fully paying jobs without a high school diploma and studies show that the degree that you get is directly correlated to your salary; so its set up that the main way to succeed in our society is by going to school.