Monday, November 4, 2013
Thesis Statement for 2nd Formal Paper
The two teachers that we have studied in the second unit of this class have contrasting teaching styles, yet they desire to inspire similar lessons upon their students. Mr. Jamie Escalante from the movie "Stand and Deliver" and Professor John Keating from the movie "Dead Poets Society" are both dedicated teachers. Their goal was to open the minds of their students and instill lessons that they could use in their lives beyond the classroom. They had a profound impact on the lives of their students.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Begin Drafting Paper #2
Which two teachers will you write about and why?
At this point in time, I am planning on writing about the main teachers we have been studying during unit 2 of this class: Mr. Jamie Escalante from the movie "Stand and Deliver" and Professor John Keating for the movie "Dead Poets Society". I feel that I have ample material to write formal paper #2 from the resources I have compiled from watching the movies. I will be a big feat trying to narrow down my notes to be within the 1,200-1,500 word count required while retaining the most important information.I had originally wanted to write a paper using two personal teachers. It has been so long since I have been in grades K-12, almost 25 years, and I have not been inspired as to which teachers I could write about. I have given it much thought. I would have to liberally use my imagination in order to have enough material to cover the word requirement.
I will begin drafting my paper after I watch the movies one more time while editing my notes to gain more detailed information such as quotes and character names. I also have to think of a strong thesis statement. It has to be worded just perfectly. I am not prepared at this time to blog post the beginning of paper #2. After re-reading WS 19-22 I plan to work diligently on an outline. I also plan on studying WS 31-35 closely, as I wish to write my paper in chronological order according to the storyline of the movie, although I may have to make changes if I want to do a point by point comparison of each teacher. I hope I can get my head together and write a wonderful paper worthy of a good grade.
Escalate vs. Keating
I believe that Jamie Escalate from the movie "Stand and Deliver" and John Keating from the movie "Dead Poets Society" are extremely different.
Jamie Escalante demanded discipline from his students at Garfield High. He spent a large amount of time ordering his students around, usually by raising his voice. He used ridicule and threats as a scare tactic to put his students into submission. I think this is because the students lived under tough circumstances and he knew that this was the only way to get through to them. He also took the time to speak to parents to try to convince them to follow his lead in what he thought would be the best for his students. He controlled his class. He had each student sign a contract to make his expectations clear. He made sure each student and parent signed it so that he could hold his students to them.
John Keating had a different approach. It was opposite. He exercised his dominance in a more indirect way. He lead his students in exercises to open their minds because he wanted them to think for themselves. His ways could be considered unorthodox in comparison to the teachings of the other professors at Welton Academy. He wasn't so much wanting his students to follow his lead, but to have each individual follow where their own mind would have them go. Keating wanted his students to think for themselves. He didn't approach the students or their parents outside the classroom. He didn't confront them. The students usually sought Keating out instead.
The ways that they are similar are that the both want what is best for their students. They both used humor in their own way to grab the attention of the kids to make an impression. I think both teachers and their students were underdogs. You could not help but root for all of them while watching the movies.
Even thought both teachers showed personalities that were from opposite ends of the spectrum, I think the were both good teachers. They were effective in their own way and you could see that from the results they brought out of their students. They each had to utilize different approaches to match the environments in which their students were accustomed.
Friday, November 1, 2013
How Do Garfield and Welton Differ?
Stand and Deliver took place at James A. Garfield High School, a real school in Eastern Los Angeles in the 1980's. It was a coed public school in a poor area in the west coast. The students were disadvantaged and lacked discipline. Compare that to the school in Dead Poets Society which took place at the fictional school of Welton Academy, an east coast prestigious private prep school in Vermont in the 1950's where tradition, honor, discipline and excellence was the school motto.
There were obvious racial and socio-economical differences between both schools. This is due to the difference in time period, location and the nature of the type of school the students attend.
A Garfield High, the educational standards are set low. Most students are not expected to attend college. They come from working class families whose parents did not go to college themselves. At Welton Academy, tradition of families attending the school for generations is a common theme. As a prep school, it is primarily meant as a place to prepare for college, usually an Ivy league school such as Harvard or Yale. Most students plan on going to law or medical school.
Another difference is the availability of financial resources. At Garfield, students lived at home with their families where they had many responsibilities such as taking care of family and jobs. They lacked textbooks, higher end classes and money for technology such as computers. At Welton, the boys stayed in dormitories, concentrated on their studies, and had many options for enriching extracurricular activities such as the school paper, drama, rowing, and fencing. Welton was primarily a high society upper class population.
The two schools were completely different. Money definitely plays a large role in the quality of education a student may receive.
There were obvious racial and socio-economical differences between both schools. This is due to the difference in time period, location and the nature of the type of school the students attend.
A Garfield High, the educational standards are set low. Most students are not expected to attend college. They come from working class families whose parents did not go to college themselves. At Welton Academy, tradition of families attending the school for generations is a common theme. As a prep school, it is primarily meant as a place to prepare for college, usually an Ivy league school such as Harvard or Yale. Most students plan on going to law or medical school.
Another difference is the availability of financial resources. At Garfield, students lived at home with their families where they had many responsibilities such as taking care of family and jobs. They lacked textbooks, higher end classes and money for technology such as computers. At Welton, the boys stayed in dormitories, concentrated on their studies, and had many options for enriching extracurricular activities such as the school paper, drama, rowing, and fencing. Welton was primarily a high society upper class population.
The two schools were completely different. Money definitely plays a large role in the quality of education a student may receive.
Dead Poets Society Real Time Notes Part 2
For the first time, girls are brought to the cave...Gloria and Tina....Passionate Interpretation.
Knox arrives at a couples party...he did not bring a date. Drinking and making out. Chet beats Knox up for kissing his girl.
Article published in school newspaper demanding that girls get into Welton submitted to the paper by the Dead Poets Society.
Charlie Dalton says, "God says that we should have girls at Welton."
Gets paddle to bottom 4x and asked about names for the DPS.
Turn everybody in, apologize and won't get kicked out of the school.
Nolan to Keating...Tradition, discipline, prepare for college.
"Sucking the marrow out of life does not mean choking on the bone."
Neil's father shows up at school to reprimand him about acting the day before opening night.
Neil goes to Keating to talk...loves teaching and would not want to be anywhere else. He urges him to talk to his father about passion for acting...he is playing the part of the dutiful son. Prove it to his father with conviction and passion.
Knox tries to apologize to Chris with flowers, turned down. Follows her to class and reads poetry.
Neil tells Keating that he talked to his father, in Chicago and won't make it to play. He wasn't happy, gone for 4 days.
"Red" Indian for virility.
Chris shows up to Welton and tells Knox that she could care less about him even though he loves her. They go to the play together.
Neil plays Puck in play. His father shows up.
Knox holds Chris's hand while watching the play.
Neil's father walks in midway through the play and watches stone faced. There is a standing ovation. Mr. Perry sends him to the car and tells Keating to say away from his son.
At home with parents...defiance...Mr. Perry tells Neil to withdraw from Welton to go to military school then medical school. He tries to stand up to his father...father tells him to forget acting. Mother feels sympathy.
Neil sneaks into his father's study, uses a key to open a drawer and gets his father's gun. He sits in silence for some time. Father awakes to a sound, he does not find Neil in his room. He walks into the study to find that his son shot himself. Neil Perry is dead.
Todd, looks at grounds covered in snow, "It's beautiful."
Keating alone in classroom, looks in desk to for the book Five Centuries of Verse. Opens book, reads words printed in front and cries.
Thorough inquiry. Cameron is a fink. Board of Directors, Trustees. Schools go down. Honor Code. Told Nolan. They are not after students, after Keating. "You can't save Keating, but you can save yourselves."
Norwanda, expelled.
Tom Anderson...parents at school for inquisition...boys signed a contract
Skipped Realists in textbook.
Instructed to read introduction, but it is all ripped out.
Outburst by Anderson...Keating asked to leave.
"O Captain, my captain" and boys stand on desks...half the class. Teacher yells for everyone to sit down. Keating thanks boys.
Knox arrives at a couples party...he did not bring a date. Drinking and making out. Chet beats Knox up for kissing his girl.
Article published in school newspaper demanding that girls get into Welton submitted to the paper by the Dead Poets Society.
Charlie Dalton says, "God says that we should have girls at Welton."
Gets paddle to bottom 4x and asked about names for the DPS.
Turn everybody in, apologize and won't get kicked out of the school.
Nolan to Keating...Tradition, discipline, prepare for college.
"Sucking the marrow out of life does not mean choking on the bone."
Neil's father shows up at school to reprimand him about acting the day before opening night.
Neil goes to Keating to talk...loves teaching and would not want to be anywhere else. He urges him to talk to his father about passion for acting...he is playing the part of the dutiful son. Prove it to his father with conviction and passion.
Knox tries to apologize to Chris with flowers, turned down. Follows her to class and reads poetry.
Neil tells Keating that he talked to his father, in Chicago and won't make it to play. He wasn't happy, gone for 4 days.
"Red" Indian for virility.
Chris shows up to Welton and tells Knox that she could care less about him even though he loves her. They go to the play together.
Neil plays Puck in play. His father shows up.
Knox holds Chris's hand while watching the play.
Neil's father walks in midway through the play and watches stone faced. There is a standing ovation. Mr. Perry sends him to the car and tells Keating to say away from his son.
At home with parents...defiance...Mr. Perry tells Neil to withdraw from Welton to go to military school then medical school. He tries to stand up to his father...father tells him to forget acting. Mother feels sympathy.
Neil sneaks into his father's study, uses a key to open a drawer and gets his father's gun. He sits in silence for some time. Father awakes to a sound, he does not find Neil in his room. He walks into the study to find that his son shot himself. Neil Perry is dead.
Todd, looks at grounds covered in snow, "It's beautiful."
Keating alone in classroom, looks in desk to for the book Five Centuries of Verse. Opens book, reads words printed in front and cries.
Thorough inquiry. Cameron is a fink. Board of Directors, Trustees. Schools go down. Honor Code. Told Nolan. They are not after students, after Keating. "You can't save Keating, but you can save yourselves."
Norwanda, expelled.
Tom Anderson...parents at school for inquisition...boys signed a contract
Skipped Realists in textbook.
Instructed to read introduction, but it is all ripped out.
Outburst by Anderson...Keating asked to leave.
"O Captain, my captain" and boys stand on desks...half the class. Teacher yells for everyone to sit down. Keating thanks boys.
Dead Poets Society Real Time Notes Part 1
Welton Acedemy, 1959: Boys Prep School in Vermont.
Banners up in a procession with bag pipes for open ceremonies playing in front to Professors, parents and students.
Headmaster Nolan, "Tradition, honor, discipline and excellence."
Introduction of Mr. Keating, new English teacher, poetry.
Showing of the differences between goodbyes of established older students and young first timers with their parents.
Intro of new kid to the campus. Todd Anderson, brother of valedictorian.
Mr. Perry wants Neil Perry to drop The Annual, the school newspaper to concentrate in getting into medical school. Father demands respect tells his son what to do, won't let his son get a word in edgeways.
Chemistry, Latin, Trigonometry...Poetry.
Keating tells his students to call him "O Captain! My Captain!"
"We are all worm food."
Keating has the boys peruse pictures in trophy cases to compare that they are one and the same.
He says, "Listen...Carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."
Knox Overstreet meets Joe Danburry to have dinner. He meets Chris who is engaged to Chet Danburry.
The english textbook...rate poetry...excrement. Keating has the boys rip out the page. He tells them to rip out entire introduction. Headmaster comes in and checks out what is going on.
"Words and ideas can change the world."
Freethinkers.
Keating was a former Welton student. The boys find an old annual and asks about Keating about The Dead Poets Society.
The boys secretly revive The Dead Poets Society and arrange to meet beyond the stream..."tonight".
Five Centuries of Verse
The boys sneak out across a field and into the woods into a cave.
They tell ghost stories.
They sneak back to the school and start the next day.
They read passages from book in accents.
Keating standing on desk, "You must constantly look at things in a different way." He has the boys follow suit. He has them compose a poem of their original work.
Activity on school grounds...rowing...fencing.
Neil Perry. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Open tryouts.
Knox sneaks off to a coed school on a bike to look for Chris .
Neil forges a note to get permission to take the lead As Puck in the play.
Each students gets up in front of the class to read their poetry. Todd does not write his assignment and Keating leads him in an exercise.
Keating writes on chalkboard..."I sound barbaric YAWP over the top of the world."
Todd says something profound from the top of his head, shocking him and his classmates with the outcome.
The boys smoke pipes in the cave. The god of the cave is a lamp.
Knox calls Chris and hangs up. Carpe Diem. Calls back. She invited him to a party at the Danburry's home. Knox says, "The point is that she was thinking about me. She is going to be mine."
Conformity.
Two paths converge in the woods...
It is Puck's birthday. His parents give him the same gift two years in a row. He didn't like it the first time. A desk set. He throws it.
The students In Dead Poets Society seem more likely to be free to do as they please. Keating tries to teach them to keep an open mind compared to students in the first movie Stand and Deliver. Escalante tried to have the students follow his rules.
Banners up in a procession with bag pipes for open ceremonies playing in front to Professors, parents and students.
Headmaster Nolan, "Tradition, honor, discipline and excellence."
Introduction of Mr. Keating, new English teacher, poetry.
Showing of the differences between goodbyes of established older students and young first timers with their parents.
Intro of new kid to the campus. Todd Anderson, brother of valedictorian.
Mr. Perry wants Neil Perry to drop The Annual, the school newspaper to concentrate in getting into medical school. Father demands respect tells his son what to do, won't let his son get a word in edgeways.
Chemistry, Latin, Trigonometry...Poetry.
Keating tells his students to call him "O Captain! My Captain!"
"We are all worm food."
Keating has the boys peruse pictures in trophy cases to compare that they are one and the same.
He says, "Listen...Carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary."
Knox Overstreet meets Joe Danburry to have dinner. He meets Chris who is engaged to Chet Danburry.
The english textbook...rate poetry...excrement. Keating has the boys rip out the page. He tells them to rip out entire introduction. Headmaster comes in and checks out what is going on.
"Words and ideas can change the world."
Freethinkers.
Keating was a former Welton student. The boys find an old annual and asks about Keating about The Dead Poets Society.
The boys secretly revive The Dead Poets Society and arrange to meet beyond the stream..."tonight".
Five Centuries of Verse
The boys sneak out across a field and into the woods into a cave.
They tell ghost stories.
They sneak back to the school and start the next day.
They read passages from book in accents.
Keating standing on desk, "You must constantly look at things in a different way." He has the boys follow suit. He has them compose a poem of their original work.
Activity on school grounds...rowing...fencing.
Neil Perry. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Open tryouts.
Knox sneaks off to a coed school on a bike to look for Chris .
Neil forges a note to get permission to take the lead As Puck in the play.
Each students gets up in front of the class to read their poetry. Todd does not write his assignment and Keating leads him in an exercise.
Keating writes on chalkboard..."I sound barbaric YAWP over the top of the world."
Todd says something profound from the top of his head, shocking him and his classmates with the outcome.
The boys smoke pipes in the cave. The god of the cave is a lamp.
Knox calls Chris and hangs up. Carpe Diem. Calls back. She invited him to a party at the Danburry's home. Knox says, "The point is that she was thinking about me. She is going to be mine."
Conformity.
Two paths converge in the woods...
It is Puck's birthday. His parents give him the same gift two years in a row. He didn't like it the first time. A desk set. He throws it.
The students In Dead Poets Society seem more likely to be free to do as they please. Keating tries to teach them to keep an open mind compared to students in the first movie Stand and Deliver. Escalante tried to have the students follow his rules.
Group Discussion: Dead Poets Society
Class group
Although Mr. Keen is a very good teacher, we noticed how within that Neal is a peer teacher to Todd. Todd is a shy boy, and Neal is part of the popular crowd. They are placed as roommates and Neal takes Todd under his wing. He insists that Tom goes with him to the Dead Poets Society, and includes him in all the study groups. Neal befriends Todd, and slowly Todd becomes more open and believing in what he says. Todd starts opening up to Neal, like sharing about his birthday and birthday presents. Neal is slowly helping Todd grow as a student, and could help his academic career by not having the fear of speaking up.
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