Final Draft Argument Paper

 

Being a teacher is hard work when you are put into a very rough disruptive environment. It is always hard for new teachers especially. You go in with a great mind and ideas and then you see what the class is really like. And most likely it would be very unexpecting how insane the class might end up being. I would try to make my students feel so comfortable and not cause too much stress. I wouldn’t want to just be a teacher who was there to teach. I would want to have them consider as a friend, mentor, role model and so on. I would want them to get attached to feel open to ask any questions they need too, not to be nervous. Because Education is a very important thing in life and you want to be successful throughout grade school because it affects your possible future career. “Grit is one of the characteristics of successful people. Here’s a list to others: self-control, zest, social intelligence, gratitude, optimism, and curiosity.”(Jerry Large Seattle Times Columnist, 2). This not only applies to students. It also applies to myself.  As a teacher I would want to show that I’m compassionate, caring, fun, and would reach down to their level to show that I can understand the tough situations they may go through.

Behavior is such a key factor when being a teacher, yourself as the teacher and then along with the students behavior as well.  I would not so much be as strict with my students, as I would be interesting. I would sink down to their level and really relate and connect with the students. I would provide lessons that they found very interesting.  I would get them interested in learning just like Mr. Escalante did in the film “Stand and Deliver”. Those students were in a very rough environment and he taught in many ways to calm them down and learn. Taught them to be responsible and want to be in school. That is what I would want to do with my students. If there were rude students I would show them that their attitude does not bother me and would handle it in a professional manner.  I wouldn’t ever yell or be strict with them. In the film “Chalk” Mr. Lowry a brand new teacher has difficulties controlling behavior in his classroom he deals with really rude students. He has to develop new ways as he goes a long and that would also be what I do. I would show that I care a lot about them and would definitely try and get them interested in learning. It’s kind of hard to tell if I would be successful at this. You go in thinking one thing and always go out with something else going through your head.

Strategies really tie into your behavior as a teacher. It’s the things you would do to help the students become successful.  Some things I would do to help the students pay attention and get involved would be to tell jokes, tell stories of my past, even make things up that might interest them. I can tell when some people do that just to help you learn. You would provide examples to help them better understand the learning material provided.  Another strategy I would use would that I would provide as much help as possible to the students. I would want to show them how much compassion I have for teaching. If a teacher cares about them like Mr. Escalante did, they would be more likely to calm down and want to learn. Mr. Keating from the film Dead Poet Society cared for his students the same way he even went to one of his students plays and stood by them.  I kind of look at them like role models. I would ask questions to the students during class and provide time after school to help them learn and better understand the lessons.

Materials you would provide in the classroom, blends together with behavior and strategies really well. I would try to provide as much regular everyday materials for the students at the beginning of the school year as I could. I would do this to help the students not feel so stressed about purchasing some things our classroom may need. Such as paper, pencils, pens, binder, journal, folders and so on. I would make the classroom be a really fun environment with decorations and very homey. If the classroom doesn’t look boring the students might not be so bored as well. As a teacher I would try to teach to everyone’s learning abilities. I would want to cover visual, audible, hands on learners etc. I would want to teach some way that everyone can learn. And let them know that they are open to ask questions if they want to be taught a different way. I would ask the students what works best for them. Some lessons I would provide would be films, documentaries, group projects, some readings and so many more. I would mix it up as much as I could so the students never get bored. One of my main things would be I would relate lessons to real life to show how this stuff I was teaching comes into effect in the “real” world. I wouldn’t want to be a teacher that just assigned reading for every homework assignment. I don’t like doing everything over and over again in my classes. It makes me hate doing them and just somewhat fall behind and begin to lose my mind. I know that if I mixed it up with assignments I would get a better turnout of grades and students attention in my classroom.

As a school teacher I would try extremely well to have the best behaved class possible. But sometimes that doesn’t always work. You can try to control a classroom the best ways that you knew how and then you would develop new ways as you went along. It is hard to determine how successful I would be as a teacher in a disruptive classroom environment because you do learn more things as you go along. Just as in any job. I currently work retail and have so as a 2^nd job since June and I still come across different ways to react to rude customers. I would always find new ways to help make my class be successful and well behaved students. Above I have mentioned ways I would try to adapt and handle a very difficult class environment and how I would be a good teacher towards my students. Compassionate, caring, fun and really connecting with my students is overall what I would be to deal with that.

Works Cited

Stand and Deliver. Dir. Ramon Menendez. Perf. Edward James Olmos(Mr. Escalante). Warner Bros. Entertainment, 1988.

Dead Poets Society. Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. Robin Williams. Touchstone Pictures, 1989.

Chalk. Dir. Mike Akle. Perf. Troy Schremmer, Janelle Schremmer. SomeDaySoon Productions, 2006.

 

Large, Jerry “Gift of Grit, Curiosity Help Kids Succeed” Seattle Times. Seattle Times Company, 2012. Text. 26 September 2012

 

 

 

 

Art is important!

Arts curriculum can help students in so many ways. School systems should never ban art programs.  Students interested in the arts, that is how they show their creativity and express their feelings.  It helps them focus on other subjects when doing something they love. People ever involved in any kind of art program will most likely have a great interest in it. This would be the class that made them look forward to during the day and to help them survive the rest. It also helps students pursue their dreams, they can go off to college to pursue a career in the arts. One of the biggest things I think that helps the students is that art can really express their feelings. They can show a passion for it and enjoy it so much. It is their time to break away from other stressful courses and can even motivate you to accomplish the others. Art programs in schools also help you get better at what you may love to do as a hobby therefore they can pursue it as a career. Which will help them become successful.

Against School

I agree and disagree with a lot of what John Gatto wrote in his essay, “Against school”. Towards the beginning of his essay I don’t agree that all teachers can be boring. It really just depends. Also a lot of their attitudes are so down either. You see about 50/50. Then I do agree with what he thinks a teacher should be like. He had great ideas there but then again didn’t think they were all that possible. “We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness - curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight - simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids to truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then.”That’s what he states on how teachers should be.

Later on in the article he then goes in writing real deep into and about history. Which mainly all that I did NOT agree with. He starts using, Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and Franklin for a references about how they didn’t get a very long education with school and how they were very successful.  He compares that to how we most likely don’t need to be in school K-12. But most people way back in history did not attend school. Education back then wasn’t a very common thing. People just wanted to work for a living. I think now days the education has made several people successful and I believe we need it. I have seen someone who dropped out in the 8^th grade and no offense but they appear to be pretty stupid in many different ways. It kind of shows that they didn’t finish schooling. They don’t really mature after they drop out of school, nore really go anywhere in life. I know their may be come exceptions but I am telling what I have seen.

Johns Gattos essay had me up and down a lot. And I think he rambled way to much about history education.

Cause and Effect and Argument. How it helps.

For our third formal paper it is an argumentative paper. Therefore cause and effect, and argument readings would come in very handy. When you right a persuasive and argument piece it is good to know the cause and effects of things to prove your points. You want to have a list on how something effects something or someone else. The readings also gave you examples of ideas to put in your own paper, how to apply these strategies to your own writing. With cause and effect it tells you how to approach them in several different ways. That would help you stay more organized.  You could even do the exercises to help you practice using these strategies. With the argument reading it provides a sample thesis statement for an argumentative essay. It provides a poor, mediocre and a good thesis to help you be strong in writing your thesis. I think all this will definitely help with writing our third paper on critiquing education.

A real education

I think Greenbergs ideas from the article A real education by Barry boyce, are an incredible way to help children behave and learn better. I agree with so much that he talked about. He really cares and shows compassion for the children. And how compassion is a thing they need to learn as well. “Kindness, caring, empathy, being able to de-center from your own point of view and listen deeply to others—these are values that should be cultivated in our classrooms,” This was said by Mark Greenberg. He is the director of promotion of human development at Penn State. He makes very great points of child development. Yoga is a great way he states to get them ready to learn for the day. It helps calm them down and de stress them. Greenberg wants to promote positive qualities like empathy, citizenship, and strong friendships. That is his goal. Who wouldn’t love these ideas? He states that mindfulness can increase peoples awareness of their emotions and feelings and how to deal with them regularly. He wants to reduce anxiety and depression. I am glad someone is not only trying to make a difference but with the parents as well. Parents should know how to handle their children.  And learn to focus on their feelings and understand them. I think the classes would really help but is kinda abnoxious to have them do this and try to change the kids so much. But I think it could show some real improvement in the children.  

Gift of grit

Jerry Larges ideas were very vague. He didn't explain anything in much detail. Basically his idea of grit is children that are only babied for their first few years and then sent free. I think his ideas need a lot of improvement and more explaing about the Toughs book. "Grit is one of the characteristics of successful people...self control, zest, social, intelligence, gratitude, optimism, and curiosity" All these qaulities doesn't mean these kids weren't babied a lot throughout life. A person can be successful pretty much no matter what. He shows some proof when he talks about the KIPP academy and what it does for the kids. But then again, he really didn’t explain anything about the academy. Everything they mention about what most parents do is wrong, that isn’t necessarily what they do. Every child turns out different. Every child has a chance of being successful. I know someone that was babied through their whole life so far pretty much and they turned out to be successful and know what they want in life. Large mentions in the article that poor families in the KIPP academy show great test scores. Tough believes people that come from low income families wont be babied as much and somewhat distant from their children compared to upper income families. They may have done some tests but I don’t think all this is necessarily true. Every child can be successful.

Compare and Contrast final

     There are so many things that make up a good teacher, being compassionate, genuine, organized, helpful, patient, knowledgeable and so much more. Good teachers are those who can really make people learn, and cover everyone’s learning abilities. Everyone learns in different ways. A good teacher is a teacher that really helps you understand what you are trying to learn. The way they teach can affect if you pass the class or not, even graduate.  If they aren’t a good teacher it can affect you all threw your schooling and even throughout life. Henry Brooks Adams states “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” I will be comparing two teachers that I was not very fond of along with other students. They were not a “good” teacher. Teachers make up our everyday lives as students; they are role models that represent how it affects our education for the rest of our life, a role that my past English and Marketing teachers did not achieve. My past English and marketing teacher did not achieve that role.    

     I had an interesting English teacher last year in college. Our first impression of her was “wow is this women really a teacher?” She did not put off a professional vibe at all. And she kept that image all quarter. She was pretty laid back and we never accomplished anything during the two hours of that class. We would have bullshit discussions that never related to English what so ever. For example we talked about things that were going on in the world, really controversial topics, such as video nasties, sex images with Brittney spears & video game characters, racism, kony 2012 etc. The class would always get in a debate about something. A big thing that struck and irritated the class was that she was pretty rude to students. She acted really immature and in no way acted like a professional teacher. According to Dan Brown in his article, What makes a great teacher? He states, “It’s crucial that teachers form professional learning communities to share and incorporate best practices” This would be something that my teacher needed to do. She would call things out to students and kind of make fun of them in front of everyone. Also she would give them feedback on their work in front of everyone, even announce their grades on things in front of the class. Teachers aren’t supposed to do that. There is a thing called privacy and a thing called “some things are better left unsaid”. “There's a time for daring and there's a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for,” John Keating states from the film Dead Poets Society. We were a college class and she treated us sometimes and told us we acted like we were in high school. Everyone agreed that that was extremely wrong of her to say. Considering many of us had been in college for a while. She said that we shouldn’t be late too class and that we weren’t in high school anymore. Well everyone can be late to a college class, we pay to be there. Rachel our English teacher would also have high expectations for our papers and give us feedback that never made any sense. No one would ever understand her instructions. You never did anything perfect, there was always something she would go on about within our papers we had to write. She would criticize every little thing she could. “Students will rise to the level of expectations,” Mr. Escalante states in the film Stand and Deliver. She had expectations but didn’t enforce them, so we only rose so far. A teacher is there to make you feel good about yourself, not pick you apart and change you. You don’t want a teacher that would piss you off. Overall, she was not professional and that is opposite of what a teacher should be.

      As a teacher you need to be really knowledgeable and be able to explain your assignments in detail to where any student can understand. My marketing teacher seemed to be so sweet. It was my second time taking a class of hers I thought it would be super easy like the first class with her…but I was wrong. We had to create a marketing plan in her class for our future or current business and we broke it up into pieces for each assignment. Well everyone had trouble understanding the assignments. She never taught us much about them. We were taught stuff about marketing but not each thing included within our plan. So according to the teacher, every student was doing it wrong. She would always send them back to us and have us redo them. A teacher should either explain them to the full extent or not assign them. I came to the assumption that she just didn’t know much about the assignment. I could definitely tell that she didn’t create the assignment herself or do much research on it. Her expectations were so high it was unbelievable. She wasn’t ever willing to work with you. Also you would think if the whole class was doing it wrong, something was wrong there and you probably went overboard and shouldn’t have such high expectations. She tended to pull the dumb blonde card a lot. A good teacher would figure out a solution for the whole class or work with us more and provide examples. Paolo Freire states, “Education thus becomes an act of depositing in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor.” This quote makes a lot of sense and has relation to my marketing teacher. She would need to communicate with us and let us fully understand everything. Another issue was that she didn’t appear to be very organized and that was a big concern of mine because she had lost a printed version of my plan I had turned in. She thought I hadn’t turned it in on time but I had my plan done for a while already. Thankfully she took my word for it and I gave her another printed copy and it all got worked out. Being knowledgeable and organized is a key factor when teaching a business management class. She didn’t seem to fit a lot of the qualities needed for that position. She was a nice person, just didn’t necessarily get the greatest teacher vibe from her. It was hard to do well when no one can understand quite what to do for the assignments.

      Here I compared two teachers that I particularly found that were not good teachers. It is so important to be a good teacher and be outstanding in these qualities because it does affect your schooling overall. Dan Brown states, “Many people possess the dispositions needed to be a great teacher.” Both of them had the abilities just needed some work. If teachers don’t teach well, meaning they aren’t knowledgeable, organized and professional, that will affect your school performance, from learning, low grades and frustration with school. Bob Talbert states, “Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost more.” You might not want to do school if you have problems with your teachers. You want to like them, and have them be great in all those categories because it helps you achieve as a student. Therefore teachers do play a very important role in our lives as students that will affect us throughout our life in education. They have to do well to have you do well.

First paragraph of rough draft

        Teachers make up our everyday lives as students; they play a very important role that represents how it affects our education for the rest of our life. They teach us almost everything we know. They are our mentors. They have to be good role models towards us. There are so many things that make up a good teacher, being compassionate, genuine, organized, helpful, patient, knowledgeable and so much more. Good teachers are those who can really make people learn, and cover everyone’s learning abilities. Everyone learns in different ways. A good teacher is a teacher that really helps you understand what you are trying to learn. The way they teach can affect if you pass the class or not, even graduate.  If they aren’t a good teacher it can affect you all threw your schooling and even throughout life. I will be comparing two teachers that I was not very fond of along with other students. I believe they were not a “good” teacher.

Mr. Escalante and Mr. MacFarland so similar.

Mr. Escalante and Mr. MacFarland have so much in common. They both push a lot of school work on the students and really get through to their heads. They both teach in ways to help them learn and understand. Mr. MacFarland was also teaching to troubling difficult students. Who were hard to keep in line. I agree with Rose when he states “Though a lot of guys groused in the schoolyard, it just seemed that giving trouble to this particular teacher was a silly thing to do”. They shouldn’t ever tease or take their anger out on the teacher. That won’t end well. If you already do it on others in the schoolyard don’t do it to the teacher as well. A teacher that may be pushing a lot of work on you but he is helping you become very successful in the future. I also love the fact that Rose began reading again and he hadn’t since he was in elementary. The fact that the teacher could have that affect on him is great, Just like Mr. Escalante did on his students. Rose says that Mr. Macfarland had “hooked him”. He got him interested in things again. He states..”He gave me a way to feel special by using my mind.” This is exactly what Escalante did with his students. H e showed he cared , made them feel special compared to what other teachers had done to them in the past. . Mr. Macfarland helped him go to college and that is somewhat Mr. Escalante had done. He wanted them to take the AP Exam to make them want to go.  I never found too many differences  between the two teachers. Just the schools subjects of course. I find them so much a like it was unreal. He really helped the students improve

Stand and Deliver Part 2

Overall I thought Stand and Deliver was a wonderful movie. It told a great story. I was so happy to hear and a little shocked that every student that took the AP exam had passed.  I hate that they questioned them and thought they had cheated. They would not have done that to another school. They showed a lot of racism during that and that was not okay. They went off of them being troubling kids and mainly all Mexicans. I think that was great that they got a second chance to take the test. I was also happy that they all wanted to retake it to prove them wrong. They all passed again and did so excellent. Mr. Escalante did over work himself though. He needed to slow down and having a minor heart attack told him that in a way that was dangerous. He worked so hard with those kids to prove a point to everyone. He was so successful and more and more students passed that exam each year. If those first kids wouldn’t have passed they woulda became angry and felt like they couldn’t go off to college. They even showed anger when the testing center thought they had cheated. Mr. Escalante did great with teaching those kids. I love that this is a true story. It all really made a great difference in education. Makes you believe in more and is very inspirational.

Stand and Deliver Part 1

Stand and Deliver seems to be a really great story/film so far. I have really enjoyed it. The whole story just keeps shocking me on how far Mr. Escalante is going with these high school students. At first he seemed very frustrated to not be teaching computer science. A lot of teachers weren’t teaching what they were hired to be teaching. People were somewhat mean to him at the beginning and weren’t intimidated by him what so ever. But then started to really listen to him and obey him. He really got into these kids brains and had them learn so much. He users humor and speaks down to their level to get them interested in learning math. The students already have made so much progress. A lot of them do seem ready to take the calculus AP exam for a college credit. And I love why Mr. Escalante is doing this to them. He believes they can do can learn it and do well, he also wants them to get a college credit so they can believe they can actually go to college. Because a lot of those students had no intention of going to college. They just wanted to start making awesome amounts of money then. But he was trying to get through to them that they wont go places in life without all this education. Which I thought was a great thing for a teacher to do. He is so compassionate about teaching and puts so much time and effort into going so far with these students. He even taught over the summer and winter break with them. His teaching ways were different but seemed to really help with those group of students. He didnt teach in the best school district in the area and he quit his other job to work there. That shows how much he cares and I really value that. Especially when he was hired to teach a completely different subject.

What I value in a teacher

Several things make a great teacher. What I value in a teacher is a very tough question to answer. I would have to go real deep in thought. One thing I value is compassion. Teachers need to have a love for what they do and want to actually be there to help you learn. They need to show they care and help you as much as they can. I also think teachers should try and teach in a way that everyone understands. I have had some teachers that I just never understood what the hell they are talking about and that made it really hard to learn. I also don’t approve of real strict teachers either. When you are mean too students that does not help them learn, it makes them scared and upset, sidetracked and frustrated. They then can’t think about the school work. I also don’t think lecturing is a great source of teaching, not everyone is audible learners or good note takers. I also value when they are really knowledgeable about the stuff they are talking about. I have had a teacher that never made any sense about what she was saying. She needed to back them up with facts. I also like a teacher that is organized and dependable. I don’t want them loosing work and giving us the wrong grade. I don’t know there is just several things I value in a teacher. Its hard to say unless I have a teacher right now that I have a problem with.

Audre lords mind illustration

Audre Lorde is really good at illustrating pictures in your mind. She goes into great detail when describing what her teachers and school looked like. It made me feel like I was really there. I love how she learned to talk from Mrs. Baker reading to her and it made me happy that her mother was real impressed as well. I love how she describes each story she was read too, names the title and everything. I was happy to read that her moms annoyance seemed to disappear and that their was no more ear pinching. I love how she tells the story by topic to topic, very good order of events. She really progressed over the time period. It was nice for her to tell us about the teachers punishing her, how they didn’t treat her right, they would always become frustrated with her because she had trouble learning. She uses such great amount of detail to tell what her teachers were like, what they look liked to how they treated her. She really paints a good image into your mind of her life with education.

Brainstorm for Paper 2

There are several thoughts running through my head about what I am going to write about for paper 2. I am thinking about the similarities and differences between two college teachers I have had. They weren’t the best kind of teachers.  Or I will describe one bad teacher I had in college and one I really enjoyed having. That could show the good qualities of a teacher and then the bad qualities as well. I would want to show and give examples of what people look for in a teacher. I want a teacher that can really make me learn. I don’t want someone that lectures all the time, shouts at you and makes you feel very scared of them. Or a teacher that is rude to the students and doesn’t show that they care. I want someone that shows great compassion for teaching, is not too strict and really helps you understand what it is that you are trying to learn. The roles teachers play in your lives represents how it affects your education throughout college and so on. Also how they teach reflects on if you will pass the class or not. If you don’t understand their teaching method it is very hard to do well in a class. I have struggled with some teachers that have high expectations and the whole class doesn’t understand what is going on. That can make it tough to do well. So yes lots of thoughts running through my head about what I am going to write about.

Final Draft

I started living with my grandparents in the fifth grade. My family wasn’t very stable so I thought that would be the best thing for me. When I still lived with my mom, she would receive my child support checks from my dad. She didn’t necessarily use the money to support me with it to the full extent that she needed too. So after living with my grandparents for a while they began to receive my child support checks. They would let me have the money for things I wanted and needed. Some toiletries and extra food I may have wanted in the house. They would not make me buy everything I needed but for example I would buy my own things that I preferred a certain kind of such as deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste but not toilet paper, cotton balls, and Q-tips. They wanted me to start learning to buy my own things and care for myself. It is good to teach someone that young because it has a great affect in the future.

It was nice being able to have my own spending money. My child support was my only source of income at that age. Most people at the age of 12 and 13 didn’t have a source of money. Just money their parents would give them such as allowance. My friends were a little bit jealous of me because their child support wouldn’t get given to them directly.

Having this money at this age started to teach me a lot about handling and saving money. My grandparents were always very strict with me when it came to anything. That helped me become the responsible, successful person that I am today. They obviously wanted to have me learn young about the responsibilities of growing older. That really does reflect who I am today. I believe it is a great life lesson experience learned in my past.

Years and years went by and I would start paying for more and more things. I started to pay my own cell phone bill, buy people Christmas presents even my own laundry soap. My grandparents didn’t always like me using up their stuff. I went through high school buying all my own clothes, presents extra food, etc. I also had to try and pay for school things I may have needed/wanted, such as dance, sports, ASB.

When I was 16, almost 17 I got my first job at Oaktable, a restaurant. That started to become my main source of income. My mom moved in with us for a couple years and messed up my child support, so I was no longer receiving that before I turned 18. That first job of mine only lasted a couple months then I had the summer off before I started a new job in September, which is when I began my second job at Windermere Real Estate. I became the weekend administrative assistant, and still work there to this day. My life really started to change, my weekends were then gone. This felt like more of a real job, also more of the right job for me. I enjoyed office work a lot. I started making good money for me at the time and had to really learn how to start budgeting myself on expenses for the month. I wouldn’t want to become broke. Family was real good at helping me achieve that goal. I would always try to put at least something into my savings account. It took some getting use too, getting paychecks, getting my first checking account, and doing direct deposit.

Living with my grandparents was tough but they were strict with me and really got me use to buying and paying for my own things. After graduation I got my license and my first car. I had saved up $1,000 for my car and my dad paid the other $2,000. This helped me make a big step in life. I needed to get around much easier and not have to rely on others for rides. It took a big burden off my shoulders. I was then on my grandparents car insurance policy and began paying for that myself. Since then I have been paying my cell phone, car insurance to them. I also have lots of medical and dental bills and try to help with paying those. I am still under their medical and dental and I am very grateful for that. Right now I am making payments to my dentist to help pay of a big dental bill. I wasn’t going to let my grandparents pay for that. I decided to take this on myself and set up a payment plan with them. This shows an effect on how my grandparent taught me to handle money and pay for things myself.

Since I started buying my own things I have always had an interest in it. I enjoy shopping for things I need and want. I always thought it was strange that after my boyfriend graduated his mom still bought him so many things, a lot of things in which I had been buying myself for many years. We come from very different lifestyles.

In high school and college I have also taking personal finance classes that have helped me become successful with money. I also plan to own my own business someday and learn in school and from my godfather as my role model. I enjoy learning how to budget, and learning new things in general about spending wisely. Spending young on things I need really effects how I am in the future and that is the point I am trying to get across.

I now recently moved out with my boyfriend. We split the cost of everything, and our slowly easing our way to fully growing up. It’s better to move slow then jump right into a bunch of bills and such. My grandparents have taught me so much with handling money. This all has been a huge life lesson educational experience for me.

Learning to spend young and how it affects who I am today

I started living with my grandparents in the fifth grade. My family wasn’t very stable so I thought that would be the best thing for me. When I still lived with my mom, she would receive my child support checks from my dad. She didn’t necessarily use the money to support me with it to the full extent that she needed too. So after living with my grandparents for a while they began to receive my child support checks. They would let me have the money for things I wanted and needed. Some toiletries and extra food I may have wanted in the house. They would not make me buy everything I needed but for example I would buy my own things that I preferred a certain kind of such as deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste but not toilet paper, cotton balls, and Q-tips. They wanted me to start learning to buy my own things and care for myself. It is good to teach someone that young because it has a great affect in the future.

It was nice being able to have my own spending money. My child support was my only source of income at that age. Most people at the age of 12 and 13 didn’t have a source of money. Just money their parents would give them such as allowance. My friends were a little bit jealous of me because their child support wouldn’t get given to them directly.

Having this money at this age started to teach me a lot about handling and saving money. My grandparents were always very strict with me when it came to anything. That helped me become the responsible, successful person that I am today. They obviously wanted to have me learn young about the responsibilities with getting older. That really does reflect who I am today. I believe it is a great life lesson experience learned in my past.

Years and years went by and I would start paying for more and more things. I started to pay my own cell phone bill, buy people Christmas presents even my own laundry soap. My grandparents didn’t always like me using up their stuff. I went through high school buying all my own clothes, presents extra food, etc. I also had to try and pay for school things I may have needed/wanted, such as dance, sports, ASB.

When I was 16, almost 17 I got my first job, it was at a restaurant. That started to become my main source of income. My mom moved in with us for a couple years and messed up my child support. So I was no longer receiving that before I turned 18. That first job of mine only lasted a couple months then I had the summer off before I started a new job in September. I had some money saved from that job to go visit my dad over the summer in Eastern Washington. I then began my second job at Windermere Real Estate in September 2009. I became the weekend administrative assistant, and still work there to this day. My life really started to change, my weekends were then gone. This felt like more of a real job, also more of the right job for me. I enjoyed office work a lot. I started making good money for me at the time and had to really learn how to start budgeting myself on expenses for the month. I wouldn’t want to become broke. Family was real good at helping me achieve that goal. I would always try to put at least something into my savings account. It took some getting use too, getting paychecks, getting my first checking account, and doing direct deposit.

Living with my grandparents was tough but they were strict with me and really got me use to buying and paying for my own things. After graduation I got my license and my first car. I had saved up $1,000 for my car and my dad paid the other $2,000. This helped me make a big step in life. I needed to get around much easier and not have to rely on others for rides. It took a big burden off my shoulders. I was then on my grandparents car insurance policy and began paying for that myself. Since then I have been paying my cell phone, car insurance to them. I also have lots of medical and dental bills and try to help with paying those. I am still under their medical and dental and I am very grateful for that. Right now I am making payments to my dentist to help pay of a big dental bill. I wasn’t going to let my grandparents pay for that. I decided to take this on myself and set up a payment plan with them. This shows an effect on how my grandparent taught me to handle money and pay for things myself.

Since I started buying my own things I have always had an interest in it. I enjoy shopping for things I need and want. I always thought it was strange that after my boyfriend graduated his mom still bought him so many things, a lot of things in which I had been buying myself for many years. We come from very different lifestyles.

In high school and college I have also taking personal finance classes that have helped me become successful for money. I also plan to own my own business someday and learn in school and from my godfather as my role model. I enjoy learning how to budget, and learning new things in general about spending wisely. Spending young on things I need really effects how I am in the future and that is the point I am trying to get across.

I now recently moved out with my boyfriend. We split the cost of everything, and our slowly easing our way to fully growing up. It’s better to move slow then jump right into a bunch of bills and such. My grandparents have taught me so much with handling money. This all has been a huge life lesson educational experience for me.

My favorite!

I enjoyed Malcolm X’s educational narrative the most. It was the easiest to understand. He writes similar to me and kept me so interested. His story was so inspiring. The fact that he wrote down every single thing in the dictionary is just so shocking and amazing. I envy him to have that much patience. That was probably the thing that struck my attention the most and the fact that he then began to love reading to a great extent. He loved it so much that he would even read when he was suppose to be asleep in bed and would hide it from the guards. He made me feel like I could love something as much as he did if I put my mind to it. I don’t so much have a hobby anymore. I wish I liked to read more and comprehended better. Or maybe was good at drawing. Those seem like good uses of your time as a hobby. “Anyone who has read a great deal can imagine the new world that opened”…this quote I loved because it then related to him so much. Once he learned how to read it changed his life forever. His world opened up, and he had read a great deal. He read a whole dictionary! I really enjoyed his story a lot compared to the others. I fully understood it and it was so interesting and inspiring.

Similarities and Differences

There are so many differences of all three of the narratives. The biggest one to me was the way each one was told, organized, language and so on. The style of each one was just so different. Malcolm X’s was very easy for me to read and very understanding and was probably my favorite. I found it so interesting and it really caught my attention. Benjamin Franklins was somewhat harder to understand because it was from a way different time era. His went into a lot of detail and was based over a longer period of time then Malcolms was. Then Mike Rose’s was written very differently and was harder for me to understand but all of the narratives were similar because they are were basically based in the school setting. Malcolm taught himself to read, Benjamin struggled here and there in school subjects but fell in love with reading like Malcolm did. And Mike Rose had a lot of problems in school. They all were based on life changing events. Malcolms learning to read was so memorable by the way he learned how and how it changed his life forever. He was always reading even when he shouldn’t be. Benjamin Franklin got an amazing job and became an apprentice and started to build inventions, had such a love for that. And then Mike Rose went to a vocational school and for any student that will change there life because of how terrible the setting is. They weren’t treated right and didn’t believe they could go anywhere in life. That could change them emotionally and intellectually. All three narratives are very similar and different in so many ways.

How I am using my blog

 

When writing blog entries it has helped me trigger some thoughts for my paper and also put me back in the writing mood, since I have been out of school since spring quarter. Using my blog when writing entries that involved the other educational narratives it helped me brainstorm ideas for mine. They have made me think about how I want to organize and ideas to put into my paper.

I also use my blog to get feedback from others on ideas for my paper and my writing skills. I always love getting feedback. And I also enjoy reading others blogs to get inspiration for maybe my own or my paper.

Mike Rose Questions

Mike Roses narrative was way more confusing to read than the others. I am not the best at reading, I did my best to understand it. It was definitely different than the others.

1.  Describe Rose’s life in Voc. Ed. What were his teachers like? Have you ever had experience with teachers like these?

His life in Voc. Ed all seemed very interesting, so random and different with the teachers he had to the friends he made. He of course was placed in a lower education which is unfortunate but he also had a memorable experience going to that school.

Mike Rose’s teachers seemed to be terrible. They would treat you poorly and not act like teachers really at all. I would also say that they all were pretty random as compared to one another.  They would punish there students and didn’t show to have any self control with their students. The teachers also didn’t show to care about their education, which is ridiculous. No matter what school you go to you should care about students education and don’t punish them in outrageous ways.

I have never really had any teachers of this sort, that punishes this terribly, not that I recall.

2.  What did Voc. Ed do to Rose and his fellow students? How did it affect them intellectually, emotionally, and socially? Why was it subsequently so hard for Rose to catch up in math?

I believe it affected them in so many different ways. For some students it might have not been the right environment for them. Students ended up not wanting to do the work by the way they were treated and once they found out what the teachers and that school system thought of them. That they were “slow” and that they might not go anywhere in life. These students just felt like they should cheat and not fully take the time to understand the problems.

3. Why is high school so disorienting to students like Ken Harvey? How does he cope with it? What other strategies do students use to cope with the pressures and judgments’ they encounter in school?

Ken Harvey shows that he stuggles a lot and would fall behind in his education. High school was really hard and there was a lot going on, he was a person that would get sidetracked in all the other crap that went on in high school. They would fear all the hard things and get involved in a lot of things that did not matter. To cope with these sorts of things you just have to try and set all the “crap” beside and focus on whats best for you and have good faith that you will do well. He realized that you had to fight your fears basically. That is all to the best of my knowledge from my past and from the reading,

4. Rose explain in paragraph 16 that high school can be a “tremendously disorienting place”. What, if anything, do you find disorienting about college? What steps can students take to lessen feelings of disorientation?

College is way more laid back than high school. I find it less hard that I was expecting but I am also going to just a community college. The only thing I trouble with is time management. I go to school and work two jobs so it is really hard to make time for homework. I can fall behind very easily. Time management is one of the biggest steps a student can take to become successful in college because college students always have something else going on in life such as two jobs like myself. Also all students have to study and work really hard.

5. How does your experience of education compare (or contrast, or both) to Mike Rose’s?

My experience seems to be very different but yet similar to his. I never had to go to a vocational school, I was never really considered “slow” but I did have to take some extra classes throughout my schooling in elementary and middle school that gave me additional help in reading or math. I also never had any trouble with teachers and punishment. I always loved most of my teachers. That would be the just of it, I could go on and on how my experience with education my whole life differs from Mike Rose’s.

Cause and Effect

       When I was younger and in Junior High my parents had me start buying things myself such as some toiletries, extra food I would want and things like that. I lived with my grandparents and I got my own child support to spend on things I wanted or needed. The cause of learning how to spend was they wanted to teach me young to be successful in school and the future in general, etc…The effect is that it really did make me become successful in the future. I have been good with my money and learned how to buy my own things. I looked at others when I was still in high school or just graduated and some peoples parents still bought them everything. My parents would help me out if I really needed it but otherwise I would buy a lot of my own things when I was still in grade school. This had a great effect on me in life. And now I have two jobs, going to college and just recently moved out and am living on my own with my boyfriend. We don’t spend too much too often, and still have plenty of money leftover before the next pay day :) I also would spread my knowledge to him because is started buying a lot of my own things way younger than he did. The effect of all this has also made me grow up faster and mature easier. I seem to get along with older crowds compared to people my age.

Prewriting that I use

       Prewriting is a very important and common thing for writers to use. Most people will prewrite and some don’t even realize you are doing it. There are so many different forms of prewriting. The one I use the most is mainly jotting things down into a list form. Topics I will provide in my paper along with subtopics that go with those and supporting facts and things like that write down. I also may do research and write down things I find online along with their sources.

       I have used prewriting successfully in the past several different ways. I have made lists, used the bubble method, made outlines that outline my whole paper, mentally put images into my head, I have even used brainstorming before I have even thought of ideas for a topic to write about. I would just make a list of different things I could write about then I would narrow it down. I also like to outline how I will put things in order within my paper.

       I also like to have someone peer edit my paper. When I write I always like someone’s input before I turn it in. This always makes me feel better.

       Prewriting is a good thing to use when you begin thinking about a paper to write.

Benjamin Franklin!

Benjamin Franklin’s narrative of course is way far different from Malcolm X’s. Its from a way older time and is written very different as well. Benjamin was a very smart man and didn’t of course spend prison time. His narrative was hard for me to understand but I understood that he would start in a school and progress very quickly. He seemed to become head of his grammar school very fast. But then when he went onto arithmetic he did not do so well in. I love how Benjamin explains what else was going on his life at the time. Their stories were similar because they both had a love for reading. Benjamin was so interested in project books involving how to build/invent things. (Makes sense for Benjamin Franklin) He became an apprentice at the company and then had better access to books that he was too love. His stories talked a lot about his life and how he became successful. It was inspiring along with Malcolm X’s. It’s hard for me to say much about this because I am not the best reader and comprehender but I do know that he was a much different man compared to Malcolm X.

MALCOLM X

Malcolm X’s story was just so spectacular. Ever paragraph I seemed to read left me wanting to read more and was just so shocking. I found it so interesting how he learned how to read. I understand he was in prison and could become very bored, but to have the patience to sit down and write everything on every page in the dictionary is just so incredible. I also envy him for writing everything and picking up on it all. He actually learned it and remembered it. I think that is such an awesome way to learn how to read, such a basic simple way it seems like. Definitely not close to how we learned how to read. I could go on and on about how amazing his story was and how it really touched me. This story is way different compared to Feross’ story on how he learned to program computers. It was organized different and also took place within a prison. They both are from different lifestyles as well. Malcom X’s explained how it changed his life, how reading books made him a different person. He always had a book in his hand, even in the middle of the night with hiding it from the security guards in the prison. He explains how reading really opened up to him and he explained how passionate he was towards it. Feross did the same thing. They both put their mind to something that they wanted to try and ended up learning so much and going so far with that hobby. It really inspires me and will help me write my first paper. Malcolm X showed me different ways I could go into detail, and sparked some past memories of mine on how I learned to do something’s. I think later on when I refer back to this I’m sure I can use it for many ideas to come.

Feross' Summary

I really liked Feross’ story.  It was very inspiring towards myself and I’m sure many others. I love how he showed screen shots of his websites he created. He really explained and showed how if you really enjoy something and stick to it, you can learn and create a lot and that you can go really far with something if you put your mind to it. I am not really sure what I am going to write about for paper one yet but I do know how I can use this story as a reference. I can refer back to it and look at how he organized his story in step by step formation. I can explain things in details really well and use pictures to go a long with it, also give examples like he did. A way of organization I really liked from his story is how he divided it into topics, such as “My first website, My first project, Lots of studying and reading”. Those caught my eye a lot and kept me reading as well. They were big bold font and made the story not look to long. That’s a good eye catcher for a story and am considering using that organizational skill if I can. I know there is several stories I can tell as an educational narrative and whichever I choose I know I can refer back to his story on he learned how to program computers. I know it can help me organize and give me ideas for my own narrative.  

Education in America

My thoughts are all over the place about education in America. I think now days students are educated very well but then again very challenging. Some people dislike what goes on in schools now but some agree. Plus also every state and school is different on requirements for schools. The US I believe has very great school systems compared to South and Central America where Mexico schools can’t even afford to educate the children.

What is being taught in schools has changed a lot of the years. I look at my little brother and sisters homework now and they are learning stuff in Elementary that we didn’t even learn until later on such as in Middle school or such. What is being taught in elementary schools is advancing a lot. They are making these kids smarter and smarter.  Which I’m not sure what to really think about. I guess it is a good thing because I have learned things that my parents never even learned which is still cool to know but then again they teach the kids a lot of things that you don’t even really use or need to know in life. If It has to do with a career you want someday then you should have a choice to take it, just like you do in college.

What really bugs me about education is that when you don’t move on or get into something because you didn’t do well on a test.  A lot of people have test anxiety. You cannot get into certain colleges because of test scores. There should be other things to test someone’s ability to do something. Just look at their overall grades among other things. I also don’t see what the state tests do for the schools. No one likes those state tests and a lot of people do poorly on them. Also, I think most students should be allowed to start off in a college if they are paying for it. My grades improved over the years they seem to get better and better.

Another problem I have noticed is the separation between church and state, some schools haven’t been good at keeping those two topics separated. When I was in high school history there was a lot of talk about religion that a lot of students didn’t like and I’m sure some parents wouldn’t appreciate their children getting taught things of that sort. There are private schools to learn information about religion. Then there is state schools which are suppose to keep religion out of it. There was a time when those were both combined. But then they noticed that that caused a problem. I think schools need to be a little stricter to teachers about talking about those subjects. Personally the talk of religion doesn’t really bother me but I know it is a problem in schools. I just like laws to stay intact.

I think schools are very well funded and a lot of people care about their local schools and do what they can to help out. But then again certain things can be a rip off. Like when we pay taxes and our money gets put into those schools.  And then all the different fees you have to pay for your child to go to school, from ASB to dances to sports. I think fundraisers are the best ways to have schools make money. Towns also decide to build new schools when yes they might not need it but they do spend way to much money on them when its not necessary. And that money comes from out taxes.

I’m still not sure what I totally think overall about education in America because I honestly have never really thought about it that much before Or really have ever paid attention to other states schools. Every state and county is different for the way they do schooling. Its hard to say much about overall in all of America. But in central and south America I think it is nice to do what we can to help them have a good education and not always be selfish in the US spending unnecessary amounts of money.