group discussion

In the scene where Jaime storms out of the class he is unable to see beyond his own frustrations and exhaustion to be as effective as he had been in the past. During a class problem the students all came to the same answer; Jaime insisted the answer was wrong and stormed out of the class. This is one of the few instances when Mr. Escalante's teaching was ineffective. We later come to find out that his stress overcame him and led to a heart attack.

Audre Lorde's essay

Audre Lorde has a very charismatic way of illustrating what people are like. Her descriptions of her experience with "Miss Teacher" give the reader a feel for the teacher's personality.

Lorde illustrates Miss Teacher's frightening attitude and lack of understanding by stating, "All of a sudden the air around her hand beside my notebook grew very still and frightening...Her voice was sharp...There was a moment of icy silence, and I knew I had done something terribly wrong...She broke the silence with a wicked edge to her voice."

The way Lorde describes Miss Teacher's tone of voice shows her cruelty toward the child.

  

What makes for good teaching?

I find today that students are just bodies in a class, test scores to provide more funding for the school, little programable instruments.....

A good teacher focuses on students individually, can asses their personal needs, and builds on the strengths of the student; not focusing on their weaknesses. Patience and understanding are important values in a teacher; students can be resistant to the education the teacher intends to impart to the student. The ability to be patient and understanding toward each individual can help a student find their best way of learning, and can really help the student to achieve success. In elementary school there are "guidance" counselors, whose jobs are to find the "right" classes for the student, and asses their grades to place them in the "proper" programs. Teachers and students should be able to work together to figure out the best plan to help the student achieve their goals.
A good teacher should be open to individuality and creativity of their students.

What was the main idea?

The biggest point I intended to make in my formal paper was that language can open you to many opportunities. The chance and ability to learn new languages brought life long friends into my life. The experience didn't only provide new friendships for me, it opened up the world!

I was able to gain understanding and insight into other cultures and beliefs through the languages I learned, and through the experience of learning them. Language is not just words, it's expression. Through language you can communicate the important pieces of yourself to others. Language connects us and lack of understanding divides us.

Go learn a new language, you will not regret it. : )

Formal Paper#1....The LOVE of Language!

Language provides many opportunities to meet new people and make life-long friendships!

In New York, where I was born and raised, the schools have many programs for bi-lingual students. The state has an abundance of Spanish-speaking people, many students who attend elementary school for the first time in America need to transition from Spanish to English language, so the program incorporates both languages into the classroom while progressing more toward English. This assists students in learning to speak the predominant language in America. My elementary school was Meadow Hill; it was a "GEMS" program school, that stands for Global Explorations Magnet School. Diversity and cultural awareness were very important aspects in the school.

"Meadow Hill Global Explorations School's school of choice theme is Foreign Languages and Cultures. Our theme allows students to learn about places around the world, the languages they speak and the cultures that make those places unique."-Meadow Hill GEMS webpage.

I learned a second language early in life, thanks to the programs at the elementary school; my Spanish classes started in grade 3. The bi-lingual and Spanish learning/speaking classes were where I met my two best friends, Shirley and Kim, with whom I still am "besties" today. : )

Trish&Shirley

The Three Amigas

Trish&Kim

My choice to attend Spanish class and a few bi-lingual classes as well, opened many doors for me. Being friends with Kim and Shirley helped integrate the language into my life; Kim's parents are from Peru and Shirley's mom is from Mexico; at that time they spoke very little English. Spending time at their houses was beneficial to acquire the Spanish language. I am lucky that I was able to take Spanish classes all through jr. high and high school as well; that really helped to keep the language in my memory instead of forgetting it after elementary school like many people do.

After high school I took it upon myself to keep learning new languages. When I worked at an outlet store in NY, I met many foreigners who loved to shop there. By working there I was able to pick up on Portuguese, which is very similar to Spanish so learning it was fairly easy. I used an online "program" called LiveMocha.

Once I got the hang of Portuguese and was comfortable assisting the Brazilian customers in their own language, I moved on.

Next I learned Mandarin Chinese from a c.d. program, Pimsleur. This so far was the easiest way to learn for me. The c.d. says a phrase in English, then in Chinese and you repeat the phrase back out loud in Chinese. With each new disc you build upon the lessons, and before you know it you're speaking Mandarin! The majour problem with this program is that Mandarin does not use Arabic letters as English does, it uses Chinese characters so learning to read the language is difficult. But once you work through the discs you are able to speak to people in Mandarin, which is pretty cool. Imagine ordering your dinner from a Chinese restaurant and asking for Peking Duck (DELICIOUS) in Mandarin, they get really surprised that an American can speak their language. : ) Like Spanish, it was a friend who helped and inspired me to learn Chinese, Jin Mei You.

My love for language has proved beneficial in my life. My step-son is deaf and wants to learn sign language. I am currently taking ASL1 at OC, and he is thrilled that I can share what I learn with him. This language (ASL, American Sign Language), is by far the most fun one I've had the pleasure of learning, I cannot wait to continue and learn more of it!

With each new language I learn I find that I acquire the ability to communicate with new people of many different backgrounds. However, Language is not just language, it is not just words, learning a new language brings about the chance to learn about a new culture, and experience a new view of the world and its people. Learning a new language breaks barriers and opens you to so many new opportunities in life.

Freewrite: how did you learn?

In New York schools there is a program for bi-lingual students. The state has an abundance of Spanish-speaking people, many students who attend elementary school for the first time in America need to transition from Spanish to English language, so the program incorporates both languages into the classroom while progressing more toward English. This assists students in learning to speak the language.
My elementary school was Meadow Hill; it was a "GEMS" program school, that stands for Global Explorations Magnet School. Diversity and cultural awareness were very important aspect in the school.

I learned a second language early in life; my Spanish classes started in elementary school, grade 3. The bi-lingual and Spanish learning classes was where I met my best friend, Kim, with whom I still "besties" today. : )

My choice to attend Spanish class and a few bi-lingual classes as well, opened many doors for me. Being friends with Kim helped integrate the language into my life; her parents are from Peru and at that time they spoke very little English. Spending time at her house was beneficial to acquire the Spanish language. I was able to take Spanish classes all through jr. high and high school as well.

After high school I took it upon myself to keep learning new languages. When I worked at an outlet store in NY, I met many foreigners who loved to shop there. By working there I was able to pick up on Portuguese, which is very similar to Spanish so learning it was fairly easy. I used an online "program" called LiveMocha.

Once I got the hang of Portuguese and was comfortable assisting the Brazilian customers in their own language, I moved on. Next I learned Mandarin Chinese from a c.d. program, Pimsleur. This so far was the easiest way to learn for me. The c.d. says a phrase in English, then in Chinese...repeat the phrase back out loud in Chinese. With each new disc you build upon the lessons, and before you know it you're speaking Mandarin! The majour problem with this program is that Mandarin does not use Arabic letters as English does, it uses Chinese characters so learning to read the language is difficult. Once you work through the discs you are able to speak to people in Mandarin, which is pretty cool.

Mike Rose "I Just Wanna be Average"

Mike Rose's essay "I Just Wanna be Average" is both similar and different in comparison to Malcolm X's writing "Learning to Read". They both discuss their personal feelings and experience in their educational adventure, and they both describe the hardships they faced in acquiring their knowledge. Both essays are more like a story being told rather than a cut and dry, step-by-step, "this is how I did it" type of paper or blog.
They differ in that Mike Rose delves deeper into his experience and discusses so much about his life during the time of his attending school; Malcolm X describes his situation, being in prison, but focuses on the actual learning and process of doing so.
Mike Rose's essay is so far my favourite reading in this class, it hits home for me. His description of his school and his experience in it reminds me so much of my own school. The separation of "slow learners" and the "elite students" is too common an attribute of schools in the United States, as this also took place in my high school in New York. I was in the "Advanced Placement" and "Honours" classes throughout my jr. high and high-school experience, of course I was always only after that extrinsic reward of receiving an "A", and I wonder now, after reading Rose's essay, if I truly learned enough.
My high school, like many American schools I imagine, was driven to achieve academic excellence. Standardized tests and "advanced placement" were pushed on students like a lemon juicer and we were the lemons. In order to get more funding for the school, it had to be ranked high in academic excellence. Similar to Mike Rose's experience in high school, many student fell through the cracks and the education was impersonal.
This essay is a very strong and excellent example and model to use for writing my own paper on my educational experience.

successful pre-writing

In high school pre-writing skills were a very large part of graded assignments. First there were the brainstorming lists or diagrams, depending on the topic of the assignment at hand, this is the base of your paper. After writing a rugged list of ideas and concepts you'll use in the paper, you form your first rough draft; this will be the first "building blocks" from the brainstorming list.

I always nabbed a friend or parent to read over my first rough draft and help me improve upon the writing in it. After receiving some constructive criticism on my rough draft I begin making revisions, and write a second draft. The second draft should be very similar if not the same as the final paper.

Once I have read over the revised draft and am comfortable with the writing, I can begin the final paper. This may be a long process to write one paper, but it has worked through high school papers and  assignments such as book reports or research papers and the like.

Malcolm X's article

Using Malcolm X's article for a model to write my own paper on an educational experience will be easy. His inspirational words provide beneficial guidance. The article is very different from the other two articles we read. The structure and writing style differ greatly; he is more personal and less professional than the other two articles in his writing. Malcolm X inspires with his perseverance and determination to learn to read. He takes it upon himself to pick up a dictionary and dive in. Even when the task at hand became tedious and heavy he did not give up.

"In my slow, painstaking, ragged handwriting, I copied into my tablet everything printed on that first page, down to the punctuation marks.

            I believe it took me a day. Then, aloud, I read back, to myself, everything I’d written on the tablet. Over and over, aloud, to myself, I read my own handwriting."

He discusses his personal struggles and the difficult hurdles he had to conquer in his learning experience. I can take this deeply personal style of writing into account when designing my own paper. I can also take not only the style and structure of his writing into account but the content of the article. His determination in learning to read leads me to want to write more personably about my own educational experience and to think more on what else came from my own experience.

Malcolm X discuses the many doors that opened to him when he learned to read; what could have come from my own experience that perhaps I have not thought about? I will have to use the article as inspiration to think on these things before writing my own paper.