hw #52

I believe that in terms of humans being the way they are, relationships friendships, and any other kind of ship that might exist, as humans we force a lot of things. We know that about 99.9% of the time, you might hook up with someone who isnt worth it or might hurt you and we continue it. It could mean getting hurt and learning, or it just could be stupidity. It's a part of life, we naturally cannot change. The same thing goes for friendships, we know we all have many fake friends, well actually just about everyone is fake, because we all act differently around people, wether its for a job, school, or to just maintain a positive image in the world. I think the part of the world and just about everything about it that interests me the most is how we have so many different ethnicities, and all kinds of different people. I like how every set of people have their own beliefs and how to practice certain things. A mixture of two races can make the most beautiful babies. I think we should all live the way we live now, I dont think we should change anything, because if we did we would probably think to change things to the way they are right now. In the end, this world has its flaws, but we must appreciate the beauty behind the world, and the meaning of life.

hw # 49

For my class film, I made little to no contributions at all. In our class we went with our big master mind. Mr. Victor Santos was chosen to represent our class with his film. It was actually pretty good too. He brought some ideas that maybe some people would not have thought of.

I think that the message and tone that this film might make is a sense of double salvation in a way. The point of the film is not to directly save the teacher but rather save through a different path. The movie is going to portray maybe a new theme to use.

FOR THE REST OF MY POST I WILL DO IT ON ESTER'S VIDEO

hw # 48

In our class movie, the teacher is going to be the one being "saved". In the movie the kids are going to be the ones saving this teacher. In my own point of view, I can see a movie like this in which maybe the setting is like some beat up school, but with students who don't neccesarily get the opportunity that other kids in "better" schools get. The teacher can be one of the teachers who goes into work with no kind of excitement or motivation.

I see in our movie that we will have scenes where the main character, either the teachers, or one of the main students involved in the transformation of the teacher, will have their own personal scenes. Without the class, at home, work, whatever it might be. We will show their own personal struggles. We are going to show that even if someone seems like they have the perfect lives, in someone else's point of view, they still do go through their own personal struggles and they manage to work through them.

Another scene I see happening is a moment in which the teacher and the students, either as a whole or individually, open up to each other and help each other out with each other's personal struggles. The teacher will be against it originally, but the students slowly, but surely, get to the teacher. They get through a dramatic scene in which they build a friendship, which isnt usually found in a student and teacher, and it expands throughout the entire class, and school over time.

extra credit

3. Compare and contrast the school in the film with your experience of SOF. What are crucial similarities and differences? What should SOF change in light of the insights you've gained from this movie?

I feel like the way the students act in this movie can kind of relate to how SOF students act, but in the smallest ways possible. We might act this way with a real annoying subtitute, which is rare. The students in SOF seem to have limits which they know they cannot pass, they have respect for teachers and for the most part students around them. I think Soulymane is actually a really good student, just stuck in what for him might be somewhat of a loophole because he wants to be the guy thats the tough guy and the class clown.

In SOF, we are for the most part lacking teachers who actually care. There's honestly like one teacher and thats sad, but then again thats just how it is in all the movies we watch right? The other teachers just show up and collect their paychecks, and sometimes pretend that they care. But they never really do. I've gotten into big trouble early in the school year and there was a teacher who I actually felt comfortable telling my problems to and I was told if I needed help I knew what to do. It was a good feeling because I haven't had a teacher who actually cared in quite some time. Sixth grade to be exact. I feel like me a Soulymane can actually kind of relate in a way, like sometimes we are both too shallow in a way, to just do our work and not care what people think.

While watching the movie I noticed that maybe the relationship between the teacher and student was maybe TOO close, whether it was in a good or bad way. In SOF teachers do try to have things one sided and make it so that they can call us stuff or do things that we cant back. But I highly doubt any teacher in our school has gone as far as calling students skanks. And if they were to do it, they wouldnt confront them about it in front of all their classmates. I think that the teachers having student reps in the meetings is pointless and only started controversy.

If there's one thing the students are doing well is sticking together. They defend each other even though they all get at each other. The teacher on the other hand, I really do not understand how he can go from one side to the other and keep switching up as if it is nothing. For instance, one second he is arguing with the student, the next he is defending them behind closed doors.

The last scene gives a glimpse of how the SOF world is, where teachers get along with each other and pretend to care.

#47

1. teacher attempts to be like all the other teachers in the movies but gets killed.
2. teacher acts like he's helping students to everyone on outside but is really negatively influencing them.
3. bad teacher which, GOOD students transform.
4. teacher reaches to kids heart, who has some disease he hid from everyone (cancer or something)
5. teacher tries hard, but then kills students

#45

After reading the small article that compares both Hirsch and Sizer's theories on education, realized that both these guys are to thank for some sort of form of our education. Which even though most people would say differ, really dont.

Ok, so technically they are different Sizer says "Students should leave school as well-informed skeptics, able to ask good questions as a matter of habit" while Hirsch says "Students should be able to read and know the basic number facts by the end of the first grade" This shows us that not only do the focuses on different grade leves in school "Hirsch worries motly about elementary schools, while Sizer about high schools" but they focuse on different ways of learning, different parts that make a school good.

With this in mind though we can agree that both Sizer and Hirsch goal was just to make education better, the way THEY saw that it would be able to help us grow as students. This is something I believe they have in common, that "drive" to sorta make a difference.This shows us that though these theories arent like two peas in a pod (alike in anyway), they can be like strawberries and cherries (both rich in color and flavor) lol.

Based on my experience in S.O.F i would say Sizers theory does help us think better, use our minds and what not, its almost as i said in my last post, we have it within our reach, but we dont grab onto to it, we let it fade into the back , not realizing how helpful it can really be.

hw # 44

Reading Obama's speach was actually touching in a way. The way he speaks sounds so convincing and you get this feeling like everything that he says is either a) right or b) wrong (but sounds right). Everything he says, and the best part is that he tries to relate it all to the young people. He knows which way to set up his words, he stresses to us how important school is and then relates to us and acknowledges that us, as teens go through many things ourselves. Our lives aren't always the easiest, but we have to prosper through all of that, because there's other kids who got the same problems, maybe even worse, and they make the best out of their situation.

He keeps everything as honest with us as he can. Speaking on how we can't rely on being a basketball player. He keeps everything as honest and believable as he can. He gives us some type of hope. Or an emotional boost of some sort, maybe we CAN make a cure for AIDS or Cancer. My favorite part of his speech was when he gave us some "did you know" facts. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." " This literally made me go on my facebook and put in the Michael Jordan quote, and that same day I bragged, acting like I knew random facts and threw in the one about JK Rowling

hw # 42

http://elias4loko.blogspot.com/2010/02/hw-41.html

hw # 41

http://www.helium.com/items/290100-effects-of-teacher-bias-on-high-school-students

"I am a high school teacher and believe my students' performances are directly related to my expectations of them. I have see, first hand, the power behind believing in a student that no one else has. I have seen students who actually believed they were dumb, because that is all they have ever been told directly or indirectly. Teenagers are able to read body language quite well, and even though a teacher may not tell a student what they think, that student will read it in their features. Stereotyping students is not only unfair, but it truly deprives deserving students from reaching their potential"

This just proves to what I was previously saying about teachers and them being biased. They know what they are doing, in corrupting the set grading system. Teacher's usually set these really high expectations for certain students, and with the expectance of them doing what they are "supposed" to do, they favor them, grade them with the nicer scale.

Then theres those students who think, "hey, if he/she doesnt have hope in me, I know he/she is going to fail me." It just isnt fair. The worst part of everything is that theres no way this kind of thing can even fixed.


http://vivirlatino.com/2006/05/11/racist-teacher-canned-in-chicago.php

"According to witnesses, the teacher became angry last Friday during an art class when someone stained her jacket with paint.
It was then that she said, according to the same sources, “all Mexicans are criminals” and “you were born to scrub floors”."

This hear shows a different aspect of what I meant when I spoke about teachers taking race into account when grading. A lot of teachers, as well as any given human, have these ideas that they initially get about people. Certain types of people even, they come up with all sorts of things they can call them or things to assume about them. In America, everybody has this stereo type about mexicans, and how they work for minimum wage, do the "dirty" jobs, and are criminals, but most of us dont actually SAY things like this. Maybe its because we know its wrong, both morally and socially. It's just not something you say.


http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/jshindl/cm/Teacherpower.htm

"By virtue of the fact that the teacher is in the position of “the teacher,” they have power. The governance of the school places each teacher in a position of responsibility for the management of the students in the class. So, in one sense, it is not so much earned as, it just is. Likewise the role of teacher assumes that they have power. There is no other person in the classroom that can fulfill the duties of the teacher. We could use the term “in loco parentis” (i.e., in the role of the parent) to describe this type of power. The teacher, in addition to their role as educator, is the sanctioned authority in the room.

One the one hand, unlike the other forms of teacher power, position power is not so much earned or cultivated, it exists by default. On the other hand, we can do a better or worse job of projecting that we deserve this role. This is especially true of new and substitute teachers. Those who expect to be given respect, usually are. Position power may come essentially from a contract, but it is also projected in an air of legitimacy and confidence. Those who project an affect characterized by illegitimacy or a doubt that they belong in the position, will suffer from a limited amount of position power, and the problems that come with it."



This is where the teacher power comes from, and well explained. In the second paragraph it is said, "...Unlike the other forms of teacher power, position power is not so much earned or cultivated, it exist by default." First off, I want to start by talking about the title of this chapter. Position Power. Meaning, that the power is only given by... "default" plain and simple. It's definately not something that was earned, as it should be. Teachers expect this aura of respect to be given to them off the bat, but no teachers, thats not how it should be. You SHOULD be able to earn this "Position power" I mean, it's only fair isnt it? Because thats the way it is for the opposition.

The example they give about substitute teachers are on point. Substitute teachers are usually initially given NO respect. But you usually see it that those substitute teachers who are always called on and build some type of relationship with the students, are the ones who are liked and earn the respect from the students. I say we implement a new wave of education, teachers get a one week cycle per class, then we alternate. Let's not let them get too comfortable now.

hw # 40

In terms of student success, why do you think so much of a students failure is blamed on the student, and rather not the teacher?

Christopher Roldans response:

"I dont think that failure is pointed towards the student rather than the teacher. I think that it is reverse. A students hardwork in a classroom reflects on a teachers success in (some bullshit). Its easier to fail a student, than it is for a principal to have to fire a teacher, thats why they get more problems (more money more problems, you already snow).

Stephanie Adames response:

"Because they way schools are designed, teachers like almost right. They have the higher authority. To me it would make sense to blame the teacher, because if so many students are failing the class, it must be the teachers fault. But nobody every questions the teachers authority on that aspect, so we tend to just leave it at that, that its the students fault."

Maxiel Jimenez response:
"Well I guess its because in some ways, the teachers don't like to be wrong. Its not always the students fault, because teachers often only grade us on what THEY think is logically correct, even though it might not be. They are biased. They forget about the original grading system and incorporate their own, in-just opinions."

Andy Snyder's response:

"I think everybody sees things differently. Your parents are more likely to blame you, because they see you and they see you not doing work. Teachers are blamed for failing students if they fail above a certain percentage, in other ways there's acceptable failure rates. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the principal thinks, it's the teachers who enter the grades.

my response:

The teachers are always given this higher authority, when I, personally, do not believe they should have so much. Yes, they should have some, but not the amount that they do get. Also, they really do grade according to what they feel is right, they factor in favoritism, prejudice, sex and even rascism into the equation for grading. I say we get robots!


Synthesis


To elabortate more on what I just stated, I believe that teachers really do go on physical appearance, as well as other aspects on a student. For example, when a teacher see's a student with a durag on, baggy jeans , and of african descent, the worst always goes through their mind, as it would to any other person. Now lets say this student is really bright, just stuck in a bad situation, since the teacher already has very low to no expectations at all for the student, his chance of being successful in that class are low.

Now, let's say an asian walks into class. The teacher starts thinking (ahh A+) another one of those students. Even if their work is garbage, or average, they get graded as above average to excellent. Now imagine if the teacher is asian, then think about the kind of advantage those asian kids get then. So have I caught your attention yet? Hope so.

hw 39, first school assignment

Why do kids stay in school?

Why do we have to have so much respect for these teachers, but they have almost none for us?

Do teachers enjoy failing students on purpose?

Every year, dozens of kids fail and we always say it's the teachers fault. Sometimes they are though, I believe a lot of teachers favor many students and judge them strickly on character, rather than the work they turn in. I know it's definately happened to me this part semester. I did way more homework assignments then most students, yet they passed and I failed. I wonder why the government makes teachers have this almighty high authority over the students, when they shouldn't. I mean well, yea they should have some, but they swear they're like Gods/Goddesses compared to the students.

HW 38 Art Project COOL

Untitled from Stephanie Adames on Vimeo.

1. What insights about cool does the art integrate? What do you hope people will realize or question from their encounter with your art? In our video we wanted to intergrate the "cool guy" being a total dick. He treats everyone like crap, not caring about anyones feelings.


2. Describe the process of making the project - how'd you do each step? If it was a group project, what did you contribute?

we wanted to make a video where we could make people laugh and also be like, "yo this guy is really a dick". My personal contributions were just ideas, and always how to set up our acting and where to put our actors.

3. Does making art seem cool to you? Why or why not?

Sometimes I find art cool, but most times often than not I dont. I dont think theres any type of significance behind it, its just not something that appeals to me right away. Maybe theres some type of art i have yet 2 experience that will blow my mind, but I have yet to run into it. Maybe thats all i need..

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