Paper 3 Rough Draft

Pearson, the world's leading education company, conducted an analysis of the top 50 education systems, the United States' education system ranked 17th out of the 50 countries involved in the study. This result was not too surprising to the people who were already aware of the problem, but many people, including myself, did not realize how much our nation was struggling to keep up with other countries and their education systems and how serious the problem really is. We are supposed to be a "Superpower" yet we are barely in the top 20 when it comes to education. There are many areas where our education system needs help, but I think a big problem with our education system today is the lack of actual "thinking" we as students have to do to succeed in school. Our education system is missing the fact that it needs to teach the students to be critical thinkers, not "simple" thinkers. As young kids, we were all critical thinkers. Kids are always wanting to know why, and how; they are always asking questions, but as the system is now, as students advance to jr high and high school, they are essentially taught not to think or ask questions.

Most of the curriculum in high school consists of listening to the teacher and retaining what they teach for just long enough to regurgitated it back out to pass the test at the end of the chapter and move onto the next one. It is based on short term memory; memorizing what is taught instead of learning it and being able to use critical thinking or thinking in general to understand it and apply it. John Gatto explains this in "The Banking Concept of Education" by stating "The outstanding characteristic of this narrative education, then, is the sonority of words, not their transforming power. 'Four times four is sixteen; the capital of Para is Belem.' The student records, memorizes, and repeats these phrases without perceiving what four times four really means, or realizing the true significance of 'capital' in the affirmation 'the capital of is Belem,' that is, what Belem means for Para and what Para means for Brazil." The way a lot of students get through high school is to "cram" as much information as they can into their memory before a test. Usually it works out alright, it worked pretty well for many of my classmates and I, but the downside to this method is a month, or less, later, you can not remember hardly any of the material. The US' education system, essentially, is just "cramming" students with the material that they decide is going to be taught. The teachers teach it and the students memorize it. This method of teaching does not encourage "thinking" it encourages obedience and conformity.

Wikipedia states, "Critical thinking clarifies goals, examines assumptions, discerns hidden values, evaluates evidence, accomplishes actions, and assesses conclusions." These are skills that are very important and crucial for individuals to be able to do no matter what profession or career path they choose. With the many different types of jobs that are available today it is much more difficult for our education system to prepare us for most of the jobs out there. Because of this, it is more important than ever for students to be critical thinkers in order to adapt. In "Critical Thinking", Bell Hooks describes critical thinking by saying, "In simpler terms, critical thinking involves first discovering the who, what, when, where, and how of things-finding the answers to those eternal questions of the inquisitive child-and then utilizing that knowledge in a manner that enables you to determine what matters most" (9). What this means is critical thinking encourages us to dig deeper into a topic, understand the "why" and "how" not just the "what" to a problem or question. Generally, our education system trains us to be "simple" thinkers, to just look at the "what". We are expected to give an answer to a question but often were not shown why or how the answer is "A" instead of "B".

In the film Mona Lisa Smile, Miss Watson applied a "critical thinking" type curriculum instead of the assigned lesson plan. When she first came to her art history class she realized that all her students had already memorized the entire syllabus, not really learning anything though. So instead of teaching from the syllabus, she made new lesson plans that encouraged the students to think and come up with their own ideas and views instead of just regurgitating an answer that meant nothing. If teachers engaged their students like Miss Watson did it would make a big difference in our education system. In Mike Rose's "I Just Wanna Be Average", he touches on the importance of critical thinking in education. He writes, "through exceptional teachers...students learn to develop hypotheses and troubleshoot, reason through a problem, and communicate effectively - the true job skills" (2).  Critical thinkers dig deeper into a problem or question and keep an open mind unlike "simple" thinkers who just do something because that is what they are told to do. Critical thinkers question information and points of views instead of just accepting it. This type of thinking encourages students to be creative, to come up with their own ways of solving a problem or issue. In his lecture on education, Sir Ken Robinson states "creativity in education is as important as literacy". If our education system created more critical thinkers, as a result, we would have more creativity in our schools.

There is a long road to recovery for our education system that is going to require many steps and hard work from a lot of people. In the past, people have thought that if we just throw more money at education it will get better. We have proved that is not the case, funding is important but more important is how the students are taught. If our teachers encouraged more critical thinking, students would become better problem solvers and learn to analyze a problem or question in a whole different way than they do now. Critical thinkers don't look for the easiest or most obvious answer, they use knowledge, background, questioning, formulas, hypothesis, and other information to solve the problem and come up with the best solution.

Chalk: Notes

50% of teachers quit within the first three years.
None of the students seem like they want to be there. They are not really participating at all.
One of the teachers (Mr. Lowrey) is first year history and you can really tell he is new and isn't comfortable. He doesn't have control of his class room and he gets flustered easily. Divorced for almost 2 years. He won the spelling hornet, a competition where teachers spell slang words chosen by the students. He is not sure if he will come back the following year.
Mr. Stroope is 3rd year history and you can tell he is a good teacher. He wants to be teacher of the year. He is outdoorsy and goes out shooting to relieve stress. He didn't win teacher of the year. He wasn't very happy about it...looking back he regrets how he reacted to losing the election and freaking out in front of his students.
Reddell is first year Assistant Principal and it is more work than she expected. Her two best days of the year have been when she substituted for teachers.
Coach Webb is the 2nd year PE teacher, she seems to get along pretty well with her students. She comes on very strong and opinionated to her coworkers.

As the movie went on you could see how the teachers grew close to the students and improved their teaching. The movie showed how hard it is for a rookie teacher and that an inexperienced teacher can easily lose control of their class and not be able to teach them because they do not respect a timid teacher.

Waiting for Superman: Notes

In 1999 there was a documentary on public school teachers. They had the idea that public school can work. When there is actually a public school that is successful there isn't room for everyone so it is up to "luck" for who gets in and who doesn't.

Daisy from LA already knows what she wants to do when she grows up and she has already written a letter to the college she wants to attend. She is still in Elementary. Both her parents are trying to find jobs.

Since 1971, reading and math scores have not improved but we're spending twice as much money per student.

The nation's worst scores for reading were in D.C. but all states were under 35% proficiency.

Only 3 out of 100 students from Roosevelt High school will graduate with good enough grades to go to a 4 year college. 57% won't graduate at all.

Over 2000 high schools with more than 40% that don't graduate on time (drop-out factories)

Maybe the cause of failing neighborhoods is failing schools, not the other way around.

$33,000 per year for a prisoner, which is more than the cost for a private school education.

There are too many smaller education "committees" that are conflicting with state and national regulations.

According to the contract, teachers can not be paid more or less based on their performance.

Students in the US ranked 21st and 25th in science and math but #1 in confidence.

The movie showed that there is some hope but it is a long road ahead if we are going to improve our education system.

Rough Draft Paper 2

Throughout elementary, middle school and high school I have had many different teachers and educators, some better than others. Even though some teachers were definitely better than others, none of them really stand out to me as "life-changing" or "inspiring". For a teacher to really make a difference in a students life, the traits that teacher should have may vary based on the students needs. However, a great teacher should love teaching and educating their students, they should be motivators, and they should have high expectations of their students. Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver and Katherine Watson in Mona Lisa Smile both showed that they have those traits.

In the movie Stand and Deliver, it was very clear to the viewer that Mr. Escalante absolutely loved teaching. He loved it so much that it literally almost killed him. Not only was Mr. Escalante teaching his high school math class at a level far above the administrators expectations, he was also teaching night time classes to adults as well, despite his family's wishes for him to stay home and spend more time with them. As a result of the added stress Mr. Escalante had a heart attack. Some people may call that being a workaholic but Mr. Escalante just loved to teach people and that is a very important trait for a great teacher.

Miss Watson loved to teach as well, she didn't want to teach just anywhere, she wanted to teach at Wellesley College because she was passionate about teaching the young women of her time. As soon as she started teaching, she realized the students had memorized the syllabus already. Instead of just teaching from the syllabus anyways, because she wouldn't be teaching them anything they didn't already memorize, Miss Watson began to teach the students modern art and found new ways to teach them.

Mr. Escalante had different ways of motivating his students. One way was to create a close relationship with the student. By doing this he got to know each student and knew how to push them and motivate them, but sometimes he would push them a little too hard or push the wrong buttons. He also motivated by teaching the lessons using different and unorthodox methods. Instead of just teaching boring math he made it fun by engaging his students and getting them interested in it. His methods may have been unorthodox sometimes but there is no arguing that they worked and he was able to motivate his students to do things that nobody, not even there own parents believed were possible.

Miss Watson's students were all young women, most of them were not married yet but every one of them did not have any intent on doing anything after college except get married and settle down. Even though the students were getting a college education, most of them did not intend on applying it. Miss Watson wanted to motivate her students to do more than just get married and be a housewife. She convinced them that there is more to life than that and when one of the students mentioned that she wanted to go to law school Miss Watson did all she could to help. Without the student asking her to, Miss Watson got an application to Yale and gave it to her, encouraging her to apply even though she was going to be engaged soon. Throughout the story, Miss Watson tries to inspire her students to overcome the expectations for women at that time and motivate them to be free thinkers.

In Stand and Deliver, Mr. Escalante had very high expectations of his students. He knew that students will perform to their expectations whether they are high or low. Everybody thought that he was expecting far too much from the students and that they would never be able to accomplish what he expected them to, but Mr. Escalante believed in them 100%. He knew that if somebody took the time to teach them, they could surprise everybody and live up to his expectations. When somebody believes in you like Mr. Escalante believed in his students it inspires you to do better, to do your best. All their lives the students at Garfield High School never had high expectations and because of that, they never tried to do well in school.

The students in Miss Watson's class were used to being expected to memorize what was on their syllabus and if they did, they would pass the class. When Miss Watson came she realized that the girls wouldn't learn anything if they just had to memorize a syllabus so she raised her expectations and changed the lesson plan. Instead of teaching art history she taught modern art and challenged the students with questions like "What makes good art?" She also expected the students to overcome the stereotypes that women of that time had.

Mr. Escalante and Miss Watson were both very good teachers and inspired their students greatly. Even though the teachers have many of the same traits, they were different in some ways too. Mr. Escalante would laugh and joke with his students in class a lot which I think is good because it makes learning more fun and enjoyable. Miss Watson seemed like she was much more serious in the classroom. Mr. Escalante could relate to his students very well because he was a part of a minority like them, he spoke like they did and he understood them. Miss Watson's students did not accept her very easily because she was not married like a woman should have been in the 1950's and she was more "worldly" then their other teachers. Though these two teachers were from different times and had different styles they both inspired their students to be all that they could be, and that is what makes a great teacher.

Malcolm X, Franklin and Rose...My Favorite

These three essays were very different from one another. I didn't enjoy Benjamin Franklin's essay mainly because the it was very hard to understand. I enjoyed both Malcolm X's and Rose's essays, but I think my favorite was Rose's. I liked that it wasn't just a timeline of how he learned to do something, instead, it examined how Voc. Ed. effected him and the other students that were in it. Rose talked about how in order to overcome the negative labels that are put on the students in Voc. Ed., some of them just embrace the labels. They accept the fact that nobody expects them to do anything worth while and they should just be happy doing the jobs that designated for the less-educated people in society. He also mentions that some students have other ways of coping with the labels like, "If you're a kid like Ted Richard, you turn your back on all this and let your mind roam where it may." Rose's essay was a great reminder of some of the negative effects that some programs have that are supposed to help young people, not hinder them.

Paper number 1: Rough draft

If you were to ask a little boy what are the top five things he wants to be when he grows up, chances are pretty good that “I wanna be a Fireman!” would be one of the things he said. Growing up I actually wasn’t one those kids with the toy fire trucks and Dalmatian dogs, it wasn’t until high school that I really decided I wanted to pursue a career in the fire service. Right out of high school I applied at North Kitsap Fire and Rescue in Kingston for their Resident Firefighter Program. There are three main steps to the Resident program.

The first step after getting accepted into the program is an 8-10 week fire academy. The academy was half classroom learning and half drill ground and practical learning. On the first day of the academy I really didn’t know what to expect. There were 12 of us, all nervous as hell but excited for an opportunity to become a firefighter. The first thing our training Captain said to us was “The fire service is paramilitary, that means you will march, you will not speak unless you are spoken to and the only thing you should be saying is yes sir or no sir!” After that pep talk, we were issued our bunker gear and spent most of the next three days putting it on, taking it off, putting it on, taking it off… until we could literally do it in our sleep. After the first week we began learning basic firefighting skills and practiced them over and over again on the drill ground until we were absolutely exhausted. I never would have guessed how tiring basic activities like just walking around can get when you have 50lbs of gear on that traps all your body heat inside. It sucks. Once we had learned enough of the individual skills, we began putting it all together in “pretend” fire situations, usually with flares and smoke machines to simulate fire and smoke. When we started these drills we realized we were still a long ways from being competent firefighters. We were a mess at the beginning, but slowly, after weeks of messing up and getting yelled at, we started to understand the importance of teamwork in situations like this. I still remember one day, it was late in the afternoon and we had just finished cleaning up all the hose and tools that we had used that day. Our instructor had us huddle around him for the usual review of the days drills. He said to us that we looked like real firefighters out there and he wouldn't think twice about walking into a fire with every one of us. That was a proud moment for all of us for sure. After that day when everything "clicked" in our minds, I think everyone felt pretty confident about the rest of the academy. We had just a couple more weeks before our live fire training in North Bend and the drills were becoming much more fun now that we were working together as a team and applying the skills we had learned correctly. The day of our live fire training we met at our station at 5AM to get everything ready and catch an early boat to Seattle. I will probably never forget that day, it is very hard to describe the first time you're inside a burning building that is hundreds of degrees inside and you can see the instructor's flashlight literally dripping from his helmet because of the heat. It was amazing, but humbling at the same time. We learned quick that there's times when it is just too hot, even in all our gear, and you just have to back out to safety. We went over basic operations like the effect of different types of fire attacks and ventilation for about 5 hours but the time went by too fast, and before long it was time to pack up and head home. The completion of live fire training marked the end of the fire academy. Only 8 of us graduated but it was a proud day for us and our families. We received a national Firefighter 1 certification as well as a national Hazardous Materials Operations certification. 

After the fire academy, the next step is EMT training. Not nearly as cool as fire fighting but a very important part of the job because about 75 percent of the 911 calls NKFR responds to are medical calls. The EMT class was about a month longer than the fire academy and there was much more bookwork and it took a lot of studying and homework to pass. The main instructor, a Paramedic from Central Kitsap, was a bit hard to deal with sometimes, one of those guys who thinks he is way funnier than he really is. He had one of the most monotone voices too, his lectures seemed like they took forever. On Saturdays, we had class all day and it was usually a day of practical learning. We got hands on time, actually learning the skills and techniques. The Saturday classes were actually kind of fun. When we were learning about removing a patient from a vehicle we went out and used the students cars to get a feel for what it would really be like in the field. My EMT class was not easy and took a lot of dedication to get the work done and learn everything we were required to learn, but it all paid off in the end. I am now a nationally and state certified EMT and get to take care of people everyday that I'm on shift.

With the completion of the fire academy and EMT class, the third and final step of the program is on the job training. I learn more and more about the job everyday, there are a lot of things that they just cannot teach you in the classroom or even on the drill ground. Every patient I see is different than the one before and I can't treat them the same or care for them the same way, it all takes experience which is the main benefit of this program that I am so lucky to be apart of. Along with experience, I am provided with additional training opportunities, I am now a Wildland Firefighter type 2 and a member of the North Kitsap Wildland Team. When there is a wild fire in eastern Washington, we go for weeks at a time sometimes to help with the confinement of the fire. In my time with North Kitsap I have also been trained and certified to drive the engines and operate the fire pumps on the engines. The on the job learning is never ending, it doesn't matter how long I remain in the fire service or what department I work for. There is always more to learn and more ways to improve myself to become a better firefighter.

In my year and a half with North Kitsap Fire and Rescue I have learned so much more than I could have ever expected. I have learned the skills of the job but also so much more than that. It has taught me that if I set my mind to something I can accomplish it, no matter how hard it is or how many people say I'm too young and immature. I've learned teamwork, I have played sports before and I can honestly say the fire service has taught me more about working together than anything else has. There's nothing out there that will teach you how to work with others quite like the fire service will. You work, live, eat, hang out with, and trust, with your life, the guys that you are on shift with, it truly is a brotherhood unlike any other that I have experienced. I have learned more from the fire service than I can write about in this paper. It isn't like anything I can explain but I love what I do and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for me.

Malcolm X, Franklin and Rose's essays

All three of these essays were very different. Benjamin Franklin's essay was obviously written in a different era and had a much more formal feel to it than the other two did. I think that Malcolm X's was much more of a timeline type of essay than the other two. At the beginning of his essay he had practically no education and he explained each event that led to him becoming well educated. He also seemed very passionate in his essay about helping fellow African Americans, which seemed to be his main motivation for educating himself in prison. Rose's essay talked more about his experience in Voc. Ed. rather than a step by step of how he became educated like Malcolm X's essay was. He made observations like "What Ken and so many others do is protect themselves from such suffocating madness by taking on with a vengeance the identity implied in the vocational track" more than he explained the steps he took to become educated. Franklin's essay was just confusing and hard to follow.