My reaction to Mona Lisa Smile

The film Mona Lisa Smile seems to be more of a romance/drama film and focuses on students relationships outside of school. Wellesley College is an all women's arts school; the students and faculty are under close supervision and are to follow strict guidelines. Ms. Watson definitely stands out among both the other teachers and students, being more independent of authority. "Let us try to open our minds to a new idea," Ms. Watson says after displaying a new piece of art that isn't on the syllabus. Ms. Watson wants to make a difference in her class, she wants to catch her students off guard with a more original course of study. There is a particular group of students from Ms. Watson's class that the movie follows. Giselle has her own opinions and is more liberal than some her classmates, as well as dating a professor at Wellesley. Betty is the complete opposite of Giselle and is much more conservative, similar her mother. Betty writes an editorial in the school paper attacking Ms. Watson for influencing women to choose their own paths in life, instead of becoming a wife and mother. I think the students will start to appreciate Ms. Watson and consider her advise in school and in life. She might even persuade the entire school to make adjustments to the standard curriculum; giving educators the option to create their own syllabus.        

In class exercise- using examples

1) In the film "Stand and Deliver" there are a few scenes that portray Mr. Escalante as my definition of a good teacher. In my "What Makes a Good Teacher"blog I explain how a good teacher challenges their students and pushes them to work hard. For example, in the film Mr. Escalante pushes his students to succeed; he challenges them by having the students work overtime. The class was at one point was working hard to learn calculus during there summer vacation. There were far more examples in my blog post that did not relate to Mr. Escalate's teaching methods. In my post I explain that a good teacher needs to push there class to achieve without over working them and stressing them out. In the film we see that Mr. Escalante pushes the kids to stressful levels. For example, Mr. Escalante convinces the class to retake the test; making them work consecutive hours straight to study for the retake. I also state that a good teacher needs to be friendly with the class. Mr. Escalante's relationship with the class started off a bit rough and didn't have a very friendly environment. However toward the end of the film the class and Mr. Escalante share a unique relationship. At one point during the film he has a heart attack and the class is then under the supervision of a substitute teacher. The class realizes they miss Mr. Escalante and don't know what to do without him.

2) In the handout, "What Makes a Good Teacher", Brown's criteria relates to Mr. Escalant. In the beginning of the handout Brown asks the question "are great teachers born or made?" From what I saw in the film I believe Mr. Escalante was born a teacher. During the film is seemed teaching and helping other was a part of who he was. He had a passion to help others succeed and get kids on the right track. He would go out of his way to make sure his class was going to persevere. For example, during the film he at one point was working around 60 hours a week, helping students. This shows his dedication and the idea that being a teacher is more than a job. In the film it was easy to notice that teaching was engraved in him. In the handout Brown's first classroom experience didn't go well. The students were able to walk all over him; testing his authority. Brown didn't know what to do, unlike Mr. Escalante.

3) Ken Robinson's criteria for good teaching is to let students express their creativity; don't dismiss the obvious signs of a students ability to do things differently. Just because they can't succeed in math or english doesn't mean they don't have a capability to do great things in art. Schools need to figure out that art related courses are an important part of the curriculum. This could help a student discover a hidden talent, who has been distracted with unappealing courses schools require to graduate. Ken makes a great point as he talks about a young girl who couldn't sit still in class and was thought of having ADHD. He goes on to talk about the real reason she had this problem was because she and others like her have to move to think. This is a excellent reason why students should always have the opportunity to learns arts in public schools.

4) There are a few things Ken Robinson says that give me an idea of what he would think of Mr. Escalante's teaching. Robinson would admire the way Mr. Escalante handled his class, putting on different acts to play along with the students games. He had to be creative with his teachings; trying to entertain the class with his sense of humor to get their attention. For example, the scene in the movie when he singles out the "finger man". His teaching was unique and didn't have the normalcy most classes experience. Robinson would probably rate Mr. Escalante's teaching as effective and creative.  



   

Mona Lisa Smile notes

-Catherine Watson is our main character/ takes place 1953
-Art history teacher/beginning a new school year/history of art 100
-She teaches at a all women college
-Watson seems to be very nervous on the first day; warned not to show fear
-Some of her students already understand numerous subjects that Watson had presented/They are all prepared/reading all the text/very opposite to Mr Escalante's class
-Watson is not cut out for the job/the school is beyond her experience
-The faculty is hard on Watson; she is warned they don't like independence.
-She catches the students off guard/presenting a subject they aren't for once familiar with
-Watson is aware of contraceptives
-She begins to drift away from the "normal" curriculum the students are used to
-Watson focuses in on a particular group of students; becoming involved in their lives outside of class
-She teaches the class modern art and goes against the schools traditional teaching methods (free-thinking)
-Similar to Mr. Escalante, Watson goes the extra step to help her students, for example she practically fills out a college application for a student
-Her personal life starts to compromise her job
-Betty gets married and misses a few classes and is told by Ms. Watson to attend class
-Watson gathers with the students outside of class and tells about her life
-Watson splits up with her fiance, she believes life should not revolve around marriage which Betty believes
-A slide show shows women filling the roles society encourages, something Watson would rather see change and see women improve their education.
-Watson becomes angry at the colleges influence on the women
-She wants the students to look beyond the traditional life most women go after
-Watson tries to convince Jonnie to go to school instead of becoming a housewife
-The college invites Watson to return to teach, but only by their rules. Their syllabus
-Betty gets a divorce and moves to NY with Giselle and goes after her own dreams
-Ms. Watson declines the schools invitation to come back and goes to Europe

Paper #2 Brainstorming

I haven't figured out which two educators I will be discussing in my compare/contrast essay. As I try to come up with two teachers who would work well for my topic, I brainstorm my options, be it fictional or real-life. One of my first thoughts was to use Robin Williams character from the film Good Will Hunting, Sean Maguire. Sean is a therapist who evaluates several things going on in Will Hunting's life. The relationship between Will and Sean is very interesting and the dialogue is great. Another educator I was thinking of using was Ben Sobel, who is a psychiatrist in the film Analyze This. Ben plays a similar role to Sean Maguire, however, these two therapists are approached by two very different clients. They have similar and different ways of helping their client resolve their issues. If I were to drift away from the idea of using two fictional teachers than I would consider using two educators from my K-12 years. The two teachers I have in mind were both very talented. One made sure to use humor in the classroom to loosen things up; helping the students relax and not stress. This made it easier to focus, he taught in way that the curriculum made sense. I remember after he would give a lesson he would always dumb it down for the class; making sure the kids who were struggling would understand. The other teacher I had in mind was my chemistry professor; she was a bit more serious and was very professional. She expected students to succeed and had little tolerance for any misbehavior. She wasn't lenient when grading, which pushed me to understand a subject and to always pay close attention during a lesson. 

Audre Lorde

Once Lorde began going to school she encountered two teachers who used a lot of disciplinary action in there classrooms. "Ability had nothing to do with expectation," this quote from Lorde's essay best describes her kindergrarten teacher, who didn't acknowledge the fact that Lorde's understanding of the given assignment surpassed the expectations of Miss Teacher. Instead of the teacher recognizing the extra effort Lorde put into her work, she only focuses on the fact that Lorde can't follow directions. Miss Teacher embarrasses Lorde for not following the instructions. Lorde's first grade teacher, Sister Mary of Perpetual Help, used physical punishment in her class, "...She sent a note home to my mother asking her not to dress me in so many layers of clothing because then I couldn't feel the strap on my behind when I was punished." MPH was insensitive and didn't bother considering the students feelings. MPH had no sympathy for students who struggled to learn the curriculum and their punishment wouldn't go unoticed; being placed in a group called the Brownies. "One was put into the Brownies if one misbehaved, or couldn't learn to read," says Lorde. MPH was basically labeling the students in her classroom. Similar to an experience Lorde had in her kindergarten class, she had turned in an assignment for her first grade class that exceeded expectations. Her teacher refused to believe she had done the work herself, dismissing the fact that Lorde was a smart student.    

WS sections 28-30

After reading sections 28-30 I understand some important steps to take before constructing a essay. For my next essay I will be writing a compare/contrast essay that will be a thesis driven paper. Unlike my last essay assignment I will create a thesis that relates to the topic of my paper and addresses the reader of what my paper will be about. For instances, "I have experienced all sorts of different teachers throughout my school years, in particular two teachers who's teaching styles were similar and different." This could be a start to developing my thesis. I also will be using a standard essay structure for my paper, which is explained in section 29. I will begin the essay with a introduction paragraph followed by a few body paragraphs, which will reflect on my thesis. I will use examples in the body of the essay to support my topic. The paper will close with my conclusion paragraph where I will restate my thesis. In section 30 the book displays an example of outlining an essay. This could be a great pre writing exercise to organize my points. I learned in section 29 that I will need to ask myself a few important questions before starting my paper. Who is my audience? What is my purpose? These questions will help generate ideas about my topic. In this essay I won't be targeting a specific audience, but my purpose is for whoever reads my essay will have a clear understanding of the differences and similarities of two educators.     

What makes a good teacher?

In my opinion there are a few important aspects a good teacher has to offer. Having the ability to challenge your students and push them to do well is great, but a teacher needs to be able to do this without stressing out there classroom. You want to keep a friendly and respected relationship between yourself and the students; this helps a student believe you're there to help them no matter how lost they feel in class. A teacher needs to be able to adapt to a new classroom of students. They need to be able to recognize students who are going to need more help, approaching them more often than others to see how they are doing. This goes along with knowing how to grade a student. Each student begins the class with a different level of education and improves at a different rate. When you grade an individuals assignment you might need to consider the tools they had coming in to the class and grade on how much the student has improved. A good teacher will also notice hard work and dedication from a student. Even though the student might learn at a slower rate the teacher will see effort from someone who is really trying their best to achieve.