Similarities & differences between Mike Rose and Lewis Black. (11/19)

Similarities:
Mike Rose "To stop looking for the structural or technological magic bullet – whether it’s charter schools or value-added analysis – that will improve education." both Rose and Black want education to be good and both wonder why we need a charter school to make it good.
Both think that students need a more engaging and challenging education.
Both think that the media are just paying lip service on education reform. Mike Rose "To have the media, middle-brow and high-brow, quit giving such a free pass to the claims and initiatives of the Department of Education and school reformers."
Both want qualified people to be in charge of the academic system; not politicians or economists or people that are successful in business or investing.

Black thinks we spend too money much on schools but not enough on the education.

Differences:
I really could not find any differences.  Mike Rose had a very specific list; however Lewis Black mixed fact with sarcasm and I may have missed something in the sarcasm.

Workshop/Using Sources Effectively (12/3)

This topic is about using sources effectively which includes properly citing the sources.  We covered the MLA Sample Works Cited Page from Purdue OWL.  We learned how to properly cite several different type of works, in addition we were asked to search for OWL at Purdue for further information on citations.  We were informed of this website earlier in the class as it has a lot of useful information for writers.  The url for this particular reference is http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/7.
In addition to the above worksheet we were given a handout "Incorporating Sources effectively."  This handout elaborates the the cited page by including example sentences and paragraphs which show how to incorporate a source into a paper.

Note: use the ‘special’ hanging sentence function on the paragraph toolbar to drop the citation.

Mr. Escalante

 "All you see is the turn, you don't see the road ahead."

"Students will rise to the level of expectations"

In the movie Stand and Deliver Mr. Escalante, the teacher whom the movie is about, says, “Students will rise to the level of expectations” when he is addressing the faculty in a school staff meeting or more specifically the math dep. chair.

Stand and Deliver. Dir Ramón Menéndez. Perf. Edward James Olmos. Warner Home Video, 1998. DVD.

 Note: use the ‘special’ hanging sentence function on the paragraph toolbar to drop the citation.

Mr. Keating

"Carpe Diem" or "Seize the day." Or to paraphrase make the most of the moment

bell hooks

“Critical thinking involves first discovering the who what when where and how of things”

Keith Gilyard (DuBois)

The effect of all true education is “not only gaining some practical means of helping present life, but making the life mean more than it meant before”

Gatto

“of course teachers themselves are products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students, and as school personnel they are trapped inside structures even more rigis than those imposed imposed upon the children.

“the aim… is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry”

Paper #3 (Assignment 12/5, due 12/10/13 tuesday night at midnight)

The public education system would like to give as its premise that it is teaching the basic education that a person would need to be able to function in society with at least the minimum of academic skills.  These skills will allow a person if they excel academically to enter into college, however many of the classes such as math or English are just duplicated in college and so are effectively a waste of time that could be better spent getting other college credits. In addition many school systems do not concern themselves to teach a trade to those who may not have the; desire, personality, mental acuity (aptitude), or time/personal management skills to enable them to be effective students and they are left to their own devices to possibly become effective members of our society after they graduate if they graduate.  The changes that should be made to the K-12 curriculum are discussed with these issues in mind.  Therefore a more intelligent use of high school would be to allow the students to choose their future educational goals when finishing their freshman year of high school and start working toward those goals while in high school.

Assuming that high school is either to; prepare for college, or prepare for the job market, then the academic direction (classes) a student takes in high school should be toward that end.  The classes taken other than basic “core” classes should depend on the; desires, finances, and aptitude of the student.  If going straight to the job market then high school should teach the basic skills that are needed in the average job that someone without a degree would be looking for.  To that end the final year or two should be spent in a vocational technology (trade school) or an apprenticeship for at least part of the academic day.  If the high school experience is going to be for preparing for college then the core college classes should actually be taught in high school and given college credit.

When John Taylor Gatto asked his students “why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answer: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, and that they already knew it.  They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around.”  First let us address the boredom.  It is a common practice to learn through repetition however people learn at different rates.  Information or skills one individual might learn in two or three attempts might take another individual twenty or more attempts.  Redundancy in education often leads to boredom especially in the brighter students which results in a lower performance level or disciplinary problems as they have difficulty staying engaged.  In order to relieve their boredom students might choose to amuse their self with disruptive behavior as seen in the movie Chalk with Will “using big words that [he] don’t quite understand … and the class does not understand” and Alex “rolling her eyes” and “guffaws” in Mr. Shoope’s class, and Damon in Mr. Lowrey’s class.

            This method of education would be a start to the breaking of “the banking methods of education” concept as discussed in Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  Paolo Friere discusses “The capability of banking education to minimize or annul the students’ creative power.” Students would start thinking critically, not just storing information whether it was on the vocational side or on the college side.  Students would learn to carry on a dialogue with their teachers and not just be receptacles for information storage.  This would happen at both the vocational level and at the college level.  As discussed in Teaching Critical Thinking students will start to be taught to think critically.  Students will be taught the “who what when, and how of things … and then utilizing that knowledge.”  Both types of students; college and vocational are encouraged to be critical thinkers and think creatively in solving problems.  Students are not just being filled with knowledge but are expected to be engaged in the learning process as there “is an interactive relationship between the student and the teacher” and “the classroom functions more like a cooprerative.”  Students are expected to use the knowledge they learn to solve real problems and think outside of the box when necessary.  In the movie Stand and Deliver which is based on a true story, Mr. Escalante says “Students will rise to the level of expectation.”  Throughout the movie Mr. Escalante engages students in the learning process to motivate the students to learn math.  In the beginning of the movie they are disrespectful and perform poorly as they have not been challenged academically.  By the end of the movie the students all pass a very difficult AP Calculus test.

These two changes should be made to the school systems across the country, and it would give students something to strive for as they would come out of high school with either a job skill or college credits.  Either of these would be of benefit to both society and student and therefore would result in a win-win situation upon satisfactory completion by the student.  Additionally this would have the benefit of keeping students in school longer and off the streets as the students would see some value in staying in school longer instead of dropping out.  Students that desire to be in school are going to be more productive students.

Some critics of these two ideas might say that the cost would be prohibitive.  Other critics might say that the logistics of time management for the students would be difficult.  Others might just question the need for the change.  The need for change was answered in the paragraphs above.  As for the cost and time management issues these have already been addressed in some school districts and both of these ideas are currently being used in some localities.

The state of Washington and the state of Hawaii have a program called Running Start that allows students to participate in college classes for college credit while the student is enrolled in high school.  In this way if the students have learned what they should have learned by the time they get to high school they would take an appropriate placement test and take college classes at their level instead of wasting their time taking the same classes over again in college.  This addresses the issue of boredom through repetition and allows students to progress academically if they have the aptitude instead of just occupying a seat in the classroom.

 There are high schools in Oklahoma that participate in the vocational technology education system.  Indian Meridian Area Vocational Technical School provides a vocational education to the high school students in the region that desire to participate.  See Meridian Tech website for partnered schools.  One half of the high school day is taken up at the vocational technical school for the students desiring to attend.  There are a range of skills taught and the students are readily picked up by local businesses after graduation because of the quality of the education the students receive.  Some of the classes such as the carpentry class are taught are in the form of an apprenticeship.  The final project of the students in this class is to build a full size house that will house occupants after the house is completed.  Other classes such as the Graphic Arts shop serve the community as a commercial print shop.  See Meridian Tech website for details on classes taught.  Additionally many of these vocational technical classes result in a college credit upon satisfactory completion.  As an added bonus the commercial revenue generated from the products of the classes taught at the vocational technical school partially offsets the cost of the curriculum in the school budget.

Changing the structure of high school nationally to this system of education in at least the eleventh and twelfth grades would be a more intelligent use of time high school and would allow the students to choose their future educational goals and start working toward those goals in high school. Society would benefit as graduates of this system would be more useful to society whether academically or through industry.  Additionally students would benefit as they would graduate with skills that would put them 1 to 2 years ahead in society without the added stress of the economic burden placed on them by having to pay for those years of education themselves.  In the case of graduates of the vocational technical schools society would benefit economically as there would be more money spent due to the higher wages earned by the graduates.

Works Cited

Chalk Dir. Mike Akel. Perf. Chris Mass, Troy Schremmer.
          Arts Alliance America, 2007. DVD.

Friere, Paolo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
          New York: Continuum, 1970. Print.

“Against School: How Public Education Cripples our Kids, and               Why”, Harpers Magazine, Harpers Magazine.
          John Taylor Gatto, September 2003.

hooks, bell. Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. 
          New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.

Stand and Deliver, Dir. Ramón Menéndez. Perf. Edward James
          Olmos. Warner Bros. 1988. DVD.

Meridian Area Vocational Technical Institute Course List

    www.meridiantech.edu/programs/students/career-major.
          Meridian Technology Center, 2013. Web.
          05 December 2013.

Meridian Area Vocational Technical Institute Partnered
          Schools www.meridiantech.edu/individual/partner-
          high-schools. Meridian Technology Center, 2013.
          Web.05 December 2013.

Running Start

    www.k12.wa.us/SecondaryEducation/CareerCollegeReadiness/
          RunningStart.aspx State of Washington Office of
          Superintendant of Public Instruction and
          RCW 28A.600.400, 11 April 1990. Web.
          05 December 2013.

Paper #3 p2 - What do I think should be changed about K-12 curriculum (12/3) (DRAFT)

Public education gives the premise that it is teaching the basic education that a person would need to be able to function in society with at least the minimum of academic skills.  These skills will allow a person if they excel academically to enter into college, however many of the classes in math or English are just duplicated in college and so are effectively a waste of time that could be better spent getting other college credits. In addition many school systems do not concern themselves to teach a trade to those who may not have the; desire, personality, mental acuity (aptitude), or time/personal management skills to enable them to be effective students and they are left to their own devices to possibly become effective members of our society after they graduate if they graduate.  The changes that should be made to the K-12 curriculum are discussed with these issues in mind.  A more intelligent use of high school would be to allow the students to choose their future educational goals and start working toward those goals in high school. 

Assuming that high school is either; to prepare for college, or to prepare for the job market, then the academic direction (classes) a student takes in high school should be to that end.  The classes taken other than basic “core” classes should depend on the; desires, finances, and aptitude of the student.  If going straight to the job market then high school should teach the basic skills that are needed in the average job that someone without a degree would be looking for.  To that end the final year or 2 should be spent in a trade school (vocational technology) or an apprenticeship for at least part of the academic day.  If the high school experience is going to be for preparing for college then I think that the core college classes should actually be taught in high school and given college credit as with the running start program.  In this way if the students have learned what they should have learned by the time they get to high school they would take an appropriate placement test and take college classes at their level instead of wasting their time taking the same classes over again in college.

 There are high schools in Oklahoma that participate in the Vo-Tech system.  Indian Meridian Area Vocational Technical School provides a vocational education to the high school students in the region that desire to participate.  See Meridian Tech website for partnered schools.  One half of the high school day is taken up at the vo-tech school for the students desiring to attend.  There are a range of skills taught and the students are readily picked up by local businesses after graduation because of the quality of the students education.  Some of the classes such as the carpentry class are taught are in the form of an apprenticeship.  The final project of the students in this class is to build a full size house that will have occupants.  Other classes such as the Graphic Arts shop serve the community as a commercial print shop.  See Meridian Tech website for details on classes taught.  Additionally many of these classes result in a college credit upon satisfactory performance.

  Redundancy in education often leads to boredom especially in the brighter students which results in a lower performance level.  These two changes are what I would like to see across the country, and it would give students something to strive for as they would come out of high school with either a job skill or college credits.  Either of these would be of benefit to society and student, and would likely not cost any more to the school system.  I think this would have the benefit of keeping students in school longer and off the streets as they would see some value in staying in school instead of dropping out.  Secondary to the previously stated goals is that students should have a basic grasp of personal finances so I would add a math class to the curriculum to that effect.  This would prepare the students for the personal economics of consumerism in which our society is largely based.

Changing the structure of high school nationally to this system of education in eleventh and twelfth grades would be a more intelligent use of time high school and would allow the students to choose their future educational goals and start working toward those goals in high school.

restate thesis in final paragraph?

Works Cited

“Meridian Area Vocational Technical Institute Partnered Schools”
        http://www.meridiantech.edu/individual/partner-high-schools.  Meridian Technology
        Center, 2013. Web. 05 December 2013.

“Meridian Area Vocational Technical Institute Course List“
        http://www.meridiantech.edu/programs/students/career-major.   Meridian Technology
        Center, 2013. Web. 05 December 2013.

Paper #3 p1 - What do I think should be changed about K-12 curriculum (11/26) (DRAFT)

Public education gives the premise that it is teaching the basic education that a person would need to be able to function in society with at least the minimum of academic skills.  These skills will allow a person if they excel academically to enter into college, however many of the classes in math or English are just duplicated in college and so are effectively a waste of time that could be better spent getting other college credits. In addition many school systems do not concern themselves to teach a trade to those who may not have the; desire,  personality, mental acuity (aptitude), or time/personal management skills to enable them to be effective students and they are left to their own devices to possibly become effective members of our society after they graduate if they graduate.  The changes that I believe should be made to the K-12 curriculum are directed with those issues in mind.  A more intelligent use of high school would be to allow the students to choose their future educational goals and start working toward those goals in high school. 

Assuming that high school is; either to prepare for college, or to prepare for the job market then the academic direction (classes) a student takes in high school should be to that end.  I think that the classes taken other than basic “core” classes should depend on the; desires, finances, and aptitude of the student.  If going straight to the job market then high school should teach the basic skills that are needed in the average job that someone without a degree would be looking for.  To that end the final year or 2 should be spent in a trade school (vocational technology) or an apprenticeship for at least part of the academic day.  This is how the high school I graduated from did things.  If the high school experience is going to be for preparing for college then I think that the core college classes should actually be taught in high school and given college credit as with the running start program.  In this way if the students have learned what they should have learned by the time they get to high school they would take an appropriate placement test and take college classes at their level instead of wasting their time taking the same classes over again in college.  Redundancy in education often leads to boredom in the brighter students resulting in a lower performance level.  These 2 changes are what I would like to see across the country, and it would give students something to strive for as they would come out of high school with either a job skill or college credits.  Either of these would be of benefit to society and student, and would likely not cost any more to the school system.  I think this would have the benefit of keeping students in school longer and off the streets as they would see some value in staying in school instead of dropping out.  Secondary to the previously stated goals is that students should have a basic grasp of personal finances so I would add a math class to the curriculum to that effect.  This would prepare the students for the personal economics of consumerism in which our society is largely based.

Type up using quotation marks 6 quotations from the written/digital/video texts covered in class that support my changes (Assigned 11/26)

Mr. Escalante

 "All you see is the turn, you don't see the road ahead."

"Students will rise to the level of expectations"

Mr. Keating

"Carpe Diem" or "Seize the day." meaning make the most of the moment, or don't waste time.

bell hooks

“Critical thinking involves first discovering the who what when where and how of things”

Keith Gilyard (DuBois)

The effect of all true education is “not only gaining some practical means of helping present life, but making the life mean more than it meant before”

Gatto

“of course teachers themselves are products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students, and as school personnel they are trapped inside structures even more rigis than those imposed imposed upon the children.

“the aim… is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry”

What I think high school is for? (Assignment 11/19)

What I think high school is for is; either to prepare for college, or to prepare for the job market.  I think that depends on the; desires, finances, and aptitude of the student.  If going straight to the job market then it should teach the basic skills that are needed in the average job that someone without a degree would be looking for.  To that end the final year or 2 maybe should be spent in a trade school or an apprenticeship for at least part of the academic day. This is how the high school I graduated from did things.  If the high school experience is going to be for preparing for college then I think that the core classes should actually be taught in high school and given college credit as with the running start program.  In this way if the students have learned what they should have learned by the time they get to high school they would take an appropriate placement test and take college classes at their level instead of wasting their time.  These 2 changes are what I would like to see across the country, and it would give students something to strive for as they would come out of high school with either a job skill or college credits.  Either of these would be of benefit to society and student, and would likely not cost any more to the school system.  I think this would have the benefit of keeping students in school longer and off the streets as they would see some value in staying in school instead of dropping out.  Secondary to the previously stated goals is that students should have a basic grasp of personal finances so I would add a math class to the curriculum to that effect.  This would prepare the students for the personal economics of consumerism in which our society is largely based.

How these sections in WS pp 32-37 pertain to Paper#3 (Assignment 11/14)

Pages 32 through 37 pertain to Paper #3 in that although this paper will be about our argument of what we want to change in the K-12 curriculum, we can use the other pages to; classify the types of teaching, compare/contrast the methods of teaching, and give cause and/or effect in developing our argument.  These sections define the criteria for Paper #3 and give descriptions and examples/samples of each of the types of essay strategies for writing our paper.  Using these sections we can organize the facts for our thought process as we draft our paper. We can compare methods, getting the pros and cons and seeing where they are similar or over lapping, and different.  Finally the section on developing the argument will help us to properly state the points of our opinion for the argument.

What do Freire and Gatto agree on and disagree on? (Assignment 11/14)

Gatto saw public education as a means of programming or indoctrinating a future workforce.  Not as teaching them to be free thinkers that will help society to progress. "By the time I finally retired in 1991, I had more than enough reason to think of our schools - with their long-term, cell-block-style, forced confinement of both students and teachers - as virtual factories of childishness." He quotes the 6 functions as defined by Inglis. In addition he quotes from H.  L.  Mencken, who wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 what the aim of public education is not intended for “to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence.  .  .  .  Nothing could be further from the truth.  The aim..  .  is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.  That is its aim in the United States .  .  .  and that is its aim everywhere else.”

Freire saw public education as a way to help bring people out of poverty.  However he also saw that the banking concept of teaching was not a good thing, as he described it as "regarding men as adaptable manageable beings, The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness that would result from their intervention in the world. . . . since men receive the world as passive entities, education should make them more passive still"   As described it sounds like what Gatto was suggesting schooling conspiracy was about.

Freire's description of the problem-posing method makes me think of an extension of the apprenticeships that were the old method of teaching a trade. In that ideal situation the apprentice was being taught even though he did not realize he was being taught, then when he had sufficient understanding of his basic training then came mentoring, the passing of knowledge with the master facilitating in a learning environment.

In class group blog post on ratings (Assignment 11/26)

Jerry Large- Good idea but hard to change. School does not have control over home life. Good assist but not a solid plan.

Deb Aronson- Important, if we start at the head of the education it can go down.

Keith Gilyard- What is more important, math or creativity?

Bell hooks- Good idea but an opinion

Boyce- If you do not get social skills you will not succeed

Blog post group disagreements and top choice (Assignment 11/26)

Disagreements- Large- Good idea some said and is very important. But argues that it is to big of an idea and some parents wont be able to make the change.
-Boyce- Social skills are important in life, but argues that you need an education more then how to present yourself.
-Hooks- Great idea, but argues that it is just an idea and not a plan to workout. To broad
Top choice- Keith Gilyard, start investing the money into classes that students want and they will learn to think critically.
2nd Choice- Deb Aronson- Very good idea that people who make the education should be ones that teach it. You would not have the head of a police department be someone who has never been a police.

Group Blog post on in class Argument (11/26)

Topic: NASCAR Racing
Audience: Coyotes

Thesis: NASCAR Racing will benefit Coyotes by a change in there habitat.
Topic sentence-
 1) The loss of habitat will be made up for with a new home, that you can adapt to quickly.
2) A racing track will provide a constant food source because of the concessions food people leave behind and the small animals it will attract.
3) The Racing track will attract other Coyotes, letting you meet new friends.
4) Although there will be a lot of cars going fast that will be able to hit you, there will be Coyote cross walks and tunnels to avoid them.

Large, Boyce, Gilyard, Aronson, and hooks suggestions for changes and their rankings. (Assignment 11/21)

(A) How does each author support his/her ideas for change? (B) Rank Them

(1) bell hooks: "Critical Thinking"

Teaching discernment.  A way of approaching ideas that aim to understand the core, underlying truths, not simply that superficial truth that may be obviously visible.

I believe that critical thinking is very important to understanding what you are learning.  It is more than just knowing the facts, but also understanding how those facts relate to each other.  To me this is most important, and that is why children start out learning in this way.  It is how we are programmed to learn.

(2) Keith Gilyard: "Children Arts and Du Bois"

"One of the best ends to have in view is that humanities as a widely recognized and amply funded force for the common good.  Creative arts programs are integral to this vision."

I believe that with the humanities we learn to appreciate the beauty of something, and with science we learn to appreciate the structure/organization of something.  I feel that they are 2 sides of the same coin and unless both are taught we miss out on some very important aspects of being human.

(3) Deb Aronson: "Arizona Bans [Latino/A history Program]"
"In order to protect their students best interests, teachers must become politically engaged and active."  "it boils down to legislative control over the classroom content and curriculum and teacher voice,"

Teachers through their unions or personally need to be politically engaged.  They should not sit by idly and let their unions or institutions tell them what to do.  If they see an issue and do not become engaged through the proper channels to fix it then they become part of the problem.  Politics does not have to be going out and collecting votes from society, it is also organizing, being part of the PTA, being involved in teachers organizations.

(4) Jerry Large: "Gift of Grit, Curiosity Help Kids Succeed"
"If more parents hug and kiss and coo in those first years, we'd have a lot more happy and successful children."

Children feel that they are loved and are a part of something.  It is part of Maslows hierarchy of needs.  
If they do not feel that starting when they are young from their parents they they become colder socially and will have a longing for something but they don't understand what or why.  When they are older they are more likely so succumb to peer pressure to feel part of a group.  The reason I put this toward the bottom of the list is that it comes mainly from the family not from the K-12 school system.

(5) Barry Boyce: "A Real Education"
Mindfulness: Focusing on ways to promote pro-social behavior.  Awareness of ones own emotions. Ethics. Peace within their own bodies.  Learn to listen, really listen to our children. teach compassion skills, not be reactionary.

I think this goes with Jerry Large, this sort of thing should be taught at home, but it it were to be taught in the early years of K-12 that it would have a major impact on the self esteem of people as they become aware of and learn to control their own emotions.  This would have an outward expression of making people more socially acceptable.

Group 1 comparing Lewis Black, Gatto, Freire, Mike Rose to movie Chalk.

in pedagogy of the oppressed, chapter 2, "The banking concept," Paolo Freire laments that education is largely about filling students' brains, like a bottle might be filled. We see this in the movie Chalk, when Mr. Lowrey....... [provide 2 or 3 sentences more]



Gatto - By the time I finally retired in 1991 I had more than enough reason to think of our schools - with their long term, cell block style, forced confinement of both students and teachers - as virtual factories of childishness.  In the movie Chalk we see Mr. Stroope confiscating a CD of photos from a student and telling the student that he is going to throw them away. Mr. Stroope then says he is kidding and throws them on his desk and tells the student to get them after class.  Mr. Stroope tries to get the kids to help him against a fellow teacher who he is in competition with for teacher of the year.  Mr Stroope flips desk over when he gets angry at student after losing the competition.


Freire - Mr. Stroope stifling students that know more than he does, as seen when he t
Those truly committed to liberation must reject the banking concept in its entirety, adopting instead a concept of men as conscious beings - and consciousness as consciousness intent upon the world.  They must abandon the educational goal of deposit making and replace it with the posing of the problems of men in their relations with the world.   
In the movie Chalk we see this in how Mr. Lowrey is applying the banking concept on the first day of class.  Mr. Lowrey shotguns a question to a student before he has put out the information, he then has a list of things on the board that he is going to teach the kids and expects them to know the material verbatim.

Lewis Black - Mr Black makes the comment about how the us is behind in most categories, but we are number 1 in confidence.  In the movie Chalk we see how had the confidence to become a teacher, but when he actually got into the classroom Mr. Lowrey lacks confidence to actually teach.  Mr. Lowrey recognizes his lack of confidence and makes a plan to work on his confidence.

Mike Rose- We need to have more young people have an engaging and challenging education.  In the movie Chalk we see Mr. Stroope shutting down a boy because the boy had a large vocabulary.  Mr. Stroope tells the boy that he probably does not even know the meaning of the words he is using.  Mr. Stroops tells a girl who already knows a lot about history that she needs to keep it to herself.

Lewis Black (Assignment 11/19)

Starts with Week long commitment at NBC News to education nation.
Black : you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that our schools are broken, which is good because none of us are.
The question is what are we going to do about it.
There are some that think the kids need a challenging curriculum and one on one help.

 NBC a week for education, 51 weeks for incarceration.

LA's Robert F Kennedy Schools $578,000,000

Charter schools limiting number of students in process called "Waiting for superman"
Teach: Tony Danza or Teach Tony Danza!
Among 30 developed countries we ranked 25th in math.
21st in science
in almost every category we have fallen behind except 1.
1st in confidence.
video shows kid on bicycle going up ramp with the intention of landing on the roof of a building but falling short and crashing into the side of the building just below the roof.
Who needs physics, math, geometry.
Just a little more confidence and he would have cleared that roof.

Chalk notes (Assignment 11/19)

Opening segment -History Teacher Mr. Lowrey shotguns question to student.  First rule is to show up, second rule is to be prepared.  He is boring, no energy, hesitant.  Came from a computer engineering background, first year teaching.  History teacher needs training/mentoring in dealing with students and looking competent.  Drinks is given wine at students house and drinks it with the students mother.  Gets drunk.  Enters slang (wasp?) spelling bee, gets tutoring from students. wins. (I personally think that is ridiculous to give slang any affirmation by the administration)

Principal is talking to Assistant Principal.  Focused on himself, asks question to AP gets answer the goes back to talking about self. My recollection is pretty much the same thing in all 2 or 3 of his scenes.

Coach Webb the PE teacher is pushy, offends an overweight teacher by suggesting that she go for morning walks with the group that PE teacher is trying to form. Has lesson on trust for the students.  Having students fall back into the arms of other students without first checking to see if any students might not be able to do this, one student get hurt but teacher is oblivious.  For abdominal training she has students on their backs and raising their pelvis to which one kids remarked that it was making him feel uneasy.  To try and get kids moving she has them do some dancing moves.  Later in the year, she offends her friend the Assistant Principal by trying to tell her that she has become part of the problem not the solution, and giving her grief in general.

Assistant Principal Mrs. Reddell a former music teacher is eager at the beginning of the year but as the year progresses she is becoming overwhelmed by the amount of time she is spending at work.  Sacrificing her family Finally towards the end of the year she figures out that family and pretty much everything else is more important than her position as AP.  My impression is that the principal has dumped his workload onto her, or she was just taking it over do to her inexperience as an AP.  AP talks as if she just wants to be a teacher not an AP.

Mr. Stroop a history teacher gets evaluation, supposed to be working on sarcasm, cleanliness, lesson plans.  Asks for advise then tells person that the advise given is crap. Gets teachers together in library then acting all nice baits them with questions about different improprieties, then comes down on them and tells them to stop doing the bad things.  Mr. Stroop get student to give him phone number of parent then fakes calling parent in front of kids then tells him he needs to work on his grades or next time he will call. Mr. Stroop is up for teacher of the year award.  Stroop uses a student to try to get information from and set up other candidate that is up for teacher of the year award. Stroop does not win, lets it affect his teaching, bringing it into his classroom.  Student mentions at least it was not last place and Stroop freaks out and flips desk over yelling there were only 2 teachers so it is last place.  Admits loving it in front of class. (it?)











What is it that I would change in the "curriculum"? Refer to one scene.......

More facilitating, students taking charge of their own learning and participating, making their participation part of the learning process.

Notes #2 Writing workshop (draft) (11/5)

A.      Item#1 (teacher #1): Dedication; Mr. Escalante gives up his summer vacation to teach in a locker room at the school when the temperature is  110 degrees.  Through his hard work and determination he drives himself to have a mild heart attack.  On top of that he comes back to school to teach when he should be at home resting and recuperating after his heart attack. He has given up his health to teach the students and that shows his dedication.
B.      Item#2: Inspiring; Mr. Escalante is inspiring in that he got all the students to give up their summer including Saturdays to come to summer school class in the 110 degree heat. Additionally he got the students to retake the AP exam after the district accused them of cheating.



C.      

Paper#2 Mr. Escalante vs Mr. Keating

Mr. Keating from the movie “Dead Poets Society” and Mr. Escalante from the movie “Stand and Deliver” are both dedicated teachers.  Although they are both good at what they do there are some differences between the two. These differences swayed my opinion of which is the better teacher.  I originally believed that Mr. Keating was the better teacher because he worked continually to bring the students up to his level without causing undue stress on the students.  Mr. Escalante seemed to be causing excessive amounts of stress to the students as well as himself.

To begin with Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante came from two different cultures.  Although Mr. Keating may not have come from a well off family, as this is not addressed in the film, his family had enough money to send him to a private boarding school.  The school Mr. Keating attended was Welton Academy a boys preparatory school.  Private schools give the students the opportunity to focus on school work thereby giving students a chance to excel.  Mr. Keating is hired by Welton Academy to teach English after having been employed at another school to teach English.  Mr. Keating being an alumnus of the school is accepted by the staff at Welton Academy at first.  Frequently throughout the movie Mr. Keating says "Carpe Diem" or "Seize the day."  This is his motto.  He further says in order to illustrate its significance "We are food for worms lads...believe it or not each and every one of us in this room are going to stop breathing, turn cold and die."  Mr. Escalante comes from Bolivia and was poor growing up, he makes a comment in the film that he washed dishes when he first came in to the United States.  Mr. Escalante quit his job working with computers to teach school and he is hired to teach computer science at Garfield High School.  When Mr. Escalante arrives at the school he finds that there are no computers in the school to teach computer science with.  Mr. Escalante is then assigned by the mathematics department chair person to teach mathematics.

There are many different aspects to the methods of teaching that Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante use.  Firstly the language is different. Mr. Keating inspires and brings students up to his level using his style of language and eloquence.  In Mr. Keatings opening classroom scene before he utters a single word to the students he casually walks through the classroom whistling Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, and then exits the classroom and escorts the students to the lobby.  While in the lobby he brings up “Carpe Diem” and explains the meaning of it.  Later on when he is discussing the Dead Poets Society he says “In the enchantment of the moment, we’d let poetry work its magic.”  Mr. Escalante uses the urban slang language of the students to pull the students along.  "This is basic math, but basic math is too easy for you burros. So I’m gonna teach you algebra because I’m the champ. And if the only thing you know how to do is add and subtract, you’ll only be prepared to do one thing – pump gas."  This probably makes it a little easier for him to fit in with the students, and be accepted by them, as we see in the film that the other teachers do not do this.  Mr. Escalantes modus operandi is "Students will rise to the level of expectations"

Both Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante involve themselves in the personal life of their students. For Mr. Keating it was with Neil and Todd.  In the case of Todd it was to help him to bring poetry to life.  In the case with Neil it was coaching him to deal with his father.  For Mr. Escalante it was primarily Ana, Angel, and Poncho. In the case of Ana it was going to the restaurant to talk to her father and make the case for her to come back to school.  In the case of Angel it was helping him to learn while at the same time hiding his desire to be better academically from the other students.  In the case of Poncho it was to help him to realize that if he desired to he could succeed at doing high level mathematics just like the other kids in his class.

Both teachers push their students to excel.  Mr. Escalante devotes a lot of time and energy in the classroom focusing on basic Math, Algebra, and then Calculus. Mr. Escalante tries to bring math to life for the students by cutting up apples for fractions and using word problems involving humorous things the kids can understand such as "Juan has five times as many girlfriends as Pedro.  Carlos has one girlfriend less than Pedro. The total number of girlfriends between them is twenty.  How many does each gigolo have?"  Mr. Keating devotes time in and out of the classroom focusing on poetry, but involving physical skills to make the poetry more of a living thing in their mind. Using walking to illustrate how hard it is to be independent in thought when with others. Mr. Keating used kicking balls and other activities while reading poetry to help make the poetry more alive for them, making it a fun activity instead of a function in academics.

The way Mr. Escalante teaches and what he is trying to accomplish is very stressful to him.  Mr. Escalante’s wife Fabiola tells their oldest son “Your father works 60 hours a week then he volunteers to teach night school for free.  Now he’s visiting junior high schools in his spare time.”  Mr. Escalante’s workload eventually leads him to have a mild heart attack.  He teaches the students that they do not have to just exist in the barrio continuing the status quo, they can also achieve great things if they put their minds to it.  Mr. Escalante tells them that they just need to have the desire "ganas."  The way that Mr. Keating teaches is light hearted as he teaches the students to express themselves and to live life to the fullest. He taught them not to just accept what is handed to them but to have a questioning attitude.

Both teachers want to give back to the students, by that I mean that they are both successful academically and they want to help the students become successful also.  Mr. Escalante was apparently poor growing up and came back to teach in order to help the minorities living there to achieve.  Mr. Keating was an alumnus of the school and he wanted to give the joy of poetry and life to the students, knowing the dreariness that existed in the school's curriculum and their methods of teaching in the school.

Both teachers fought or challenged the schools administration or institution.  Mr. Escalante because he believed the students could achieve if they were shown that there was an expectation that could achieve, “Students will rise to the level of expectations.”  Mr. Keating was unorthodox in his teaching methods challenging the academic mediocrity or lifelessness of what was expected of him in the classroom and out of it. He tells Mr. McAllister “We’re not talking artists George we’re talking free thinkers…only in their dreams can men be truly free.”

Both teachers had to deal with parents that wanted to restrict the kids to the status quo, however Mr. Keating left the issue completely up to the student(s) to solve with the parents.  This may have been to help them grow as individuals.

In the end after analyzing the individual characteristics I would say that both teachers are good teachers, but I would say that Mr. Escalante is a great teacher.  He works very hard to help the students to succeed and expects the students to work hard as well.  Mr. Escalante gets the students to achieve things they did not believe they were capable of.  Mr. Keating gets the kudos for helping the students to enjoy school more and to inspire them, but I'm not sure how much he helped to improve them academically.  We are shown in the movie that the kids are enjoying themselves but not necessarily that they are excelling.  That I think is the key difference. When you compare academic skills versus happiness.  You can be happy being a ditch digger if you enjoy it, you cannot be happy being a mathematician if you don't know math.  That is the end on the analysis, but I feel that I must make the comment that the character of Mr. Keating was not really developed as the movie was more about the kids.  Mr. Escalante’s movie “Stand and deliver” is a mostly true story but only touches on a portion of Mr. Escalante’s exemplary career.

  

  

Freire - Group 5 summary (Assignment 11/14)

After reading Freire's "The Banking Concept" we read "The History of the Man" then compared both pieces with "Paulo Freire" at http://infed.org/mobi/paulo-freire-dialogue-praxis-and-education/.
Some similarities are the mention of the problem-posing method from "The Banking Concept" which is both critiqued and praised in the piece on infed.  In "The History of the Man" we learn that Freire originally wanted to end hunger and break class boundaries, he ends up wanting to fix education as seen in "The Banking Concept."  In "Dead Poet's Society" we see both methods of teaching, where the majority of the teachers are teaching using the banking method and Mr. Keating teaches using the problem-posing method.

http://www.trentu.ca/academic/nativestudies/courses/nast305/freirehistory.htm
http://infed.org/mobi/paulo-freire-dialogue-praxis-and-education/

How my high school experience compared to Gatto's claims. (assignment 11/12)

I would have to agree with Gatto on pretty much everything.  Not just my high school, but all of my K-12 schooling.  I was bored in most of my classes to a degree that quite often I did not even bother to show up for them.  There were a few exceptions; computer science, history and a few others where I excelled.  Looking back the reason that I excelled in the classes that I did was because I made them interesting.  In computer science I was able to create my own programs, what ever I wanted to do, it was like being given a lump of clay and being told that I could make what ever I wanted to with the lump.  With the other classes that I enjoyed we were allowed to do projects and present them to the class.  Looking back I wish I had joined the drama club as that would have been fun but I was shy.  I did make some special effects for one of the plays that they did.  The classes that I had that were just go in and absorb information and leave were the ones that I had problems with.  Writing reports on books, memorizing facts, regurgitating the same information as everyone else just had no value in it for me personally.  Every time I have ever excelled in school it was because I was given the opportunity to dance to the beat of my own drum.  Now I have largely put most of the memories of my high school days out of my head as that was a long time ago and my participation was minimal at best.  There are only a few things that I can remember that I think fit here.  First is that because of my poor performance in my classes they decided that I must be dumb so they gave me a series of IQ tests, when the three IQ tests came back averaging about 140 they were perplexed at my bad grades and said they could not help me.  That school system had no AP classes, and in fact said that they did not believe in accelerating students learning.  Even if they did, I would not be a candidate.  Second is that when I moved at the end of 10th grade, I had accrued several hours of detention for skipping classes.  My high school would not transfer my grades to my new school unless I did the detention hours during the summer in which I transferred.

I will relate the following from my kids school as that is fresh in my head.  My wife volunteers in several of the schools in the area, mostly in my kids school though.  One day she was in the teachers lounge and over heard two of the teachers who were known to be questionable talking.  Those teachers were comparing notes on which one of them was being meaner to the students and laughing about it.  In another class my daughter spent a large portion of the year with her head on the desk along with her classmates because when there was one child being loud or bad, the entire class was punished and school work was stopped.  As a result of that she always had a lot of homework and did not know how to do it because she was not being taught.  In another class a teacher said my daughter should be put on medication, not because she was a problem but because she would not pay attention and was doing her own thing.  My daughter was moved into a different school and she excelled, and in fact her teacher at her new school said she was writing poetry at an adult level and we should get her published.

Prior to the prussian influence on our schooling the kids were schooled either at home or in small school houses.  The education bore relevance to the lives that they led.  I once had the opportunity to take a test which was purported to be an 8th grade test from the early 1800's.  The test was on farming, selling crops, and buying supplies.  Everything on the test was interrelated, especially the math questions which were word questions similar to what Mr. Escalante did with the gigolo question except about farming.  Now if we in our current society were to do that sort of schooling in junior or senior high school they would be teaching people how to balance check books, do taxes, understand amortization of mortgages, and credit card interest.  These would be useful skills to learn at a young age if they were not deliberately being set up for failure, or to be slaves to the bankers and corporations.  By the time the kids realize what debt really is it is too late, okay that is an exaggeration or is it.  I think I wandered off topic anyway

Group 1 Discussion on Gatto (Assignment 11/12)

Group Discussion on Gatto

Gatto's point is that every public school student is receiving a cookie-cutter education to shape them into average citizens. My group members and I agree with his point because we have had these kinds of parameters posed on ourselves when enrolled in public school systems.

Supporting Sentences

• "Of course, teachers are themselves products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students, and as school personnel they are trapped inside structures even more rigid than those imposed upon the children." 
• "The aim.. . is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality." 
• "By the time I finally retired in 1991, I had more than enough reason to think of our schools - with their long-term, cell-block-style, forced confinement of both students and teachers - as virtual factories of childishness." 
• "Class may frame the proposition, as when Woodrow Wilson, then president of Princeton University, said the following to the New York City School Teachers Association in 1909: 'We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class, of necessity, in every society, to forgo the privileges of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks.'"

Paper #2 Mr. Escalante vs Mr. Keating Paper (draft)

This is a comparison of Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante.

I originally believed that Mr. Keating is the better teacher because he works continually to bring up the students to his level without causing undue stress on the students. In the following paper I will examine the differences between the teachers and explain why I now think that Mr. Escalante is the better teacher.

To begin with Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante came from two different cultures.  Although Mr. Keating may not have come from a well off family, as this is not addressed in the film, his family had enough money to send him to a private boarding school.  The school Mr. Keating attended was Welton Academy a boys preparatory school. Private schools give the students the opportunity to focus on school work thereby giving students a chance to excel.  Mr. Keating is hired by Welton Academy to teach english.  Mr. Keating being an alumnus of the school is accepted by the staff at Welton Academy at first.  Mr. Escalante comes from Bolivia and was poor growing up, he makes a comment in the film that he washed dishes when he first came in to the United States.  Mr. Escalante is hired to teach computer science at Garfield High School.  When Mr. Escalante arrives at the school he finds that there are no computers in the school to teach computer science with.  Mr. Escalante is then assigned by the mathematics department chair person to teach mathematics.

There are many different aspects to the methods of teaching that Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante use.  Firstly the language is different. Mr. Keating inspires and brings students up to his level using his style of language and eloquence.  Mr. Escalante uses the slang language of the students to pull the students along.  This probably makes it a little easier for him to fit in with the students, and be accepted by them, as we see in the film that the other teachers do not do this.

Both Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante involve themselves in the personal life of their students. For Mr. Keating it was with Neil and Todd.  In the case of Todd it was to help him to bring poetry to life.  In the case with Neil it was coaching him to deal with his father.  For Mr. Escalante it was primarily Ana, Angel, and Poncho. In the case of Ana it was going to the restaurant to talk to her father and make the case for her to come back to school.  In the case of Angel it was helping him to learn while at the same time hiding his desire to be better academically.  In the case of Poncho it was to help him to realize that if he desired to he could succeed at doing high level mathematics just like the other kids in his class.

Both teachers push their students to excel.  Mr. Escalante devotes a lot of time and energy in the classroom focusing on Math and then Calculus. Mr. Escalante tries to bring math to life for the students by cutting up apples for fractions and using word problems involving humorous things the kids can understand.  Mr. Keating devotes time in and out of the classroom focusing on poetry, but involving physical skills to make the poetry more of a living thing in their mind. Using walking to illustrate how hard it is to be independent in thought when with others. Mr. Keating used kicking balls and other activities while reading poetry to help make the poetry more alive for them, making it a fun activity instead of a function in academics.

The way Mr. Escalante teaches and what he is trying to accomplish is very stressful to him, eventually leading him to have a mild heart attack.  He teaches the students that they do not have to just exist in the barrio continuing the status quo, they can also achieve great things if they put their minds to it.  The way that Mr. Keating teaches is light hearted as he teaches the students to express themselves and live life to the fullest and not to just accept what is handed to them, to have a questioning attitude.

Both teachers want to give back to the students, by that I mean that they are both successful academically and they want to help the students become successful also.  Mr. Escalante was apparently poor growing up and came back to teach to help the minorities living there to achieve.  Mr. Keating was an alumnus of the school and he wanted to give the joy of poetry and life to the students, knowing the dreariness that existed in the school's curriculum and their methods of teaching in the school.

Both teachers fought or challenged the schools administration or institution.  Mr. Escalante because he believed the students could achieve if they were shown that there was an expectation that could achieve.  Mr. Keating was unorthodox in his teaching methods challenging the academic mediocrity or lifelessness of what was expected of him in the classroom and out of it.

Both teachers had to deal with parents that wanted to restrict the kids to the status quo, however Mr. Keating left the issue completely up to the student(s) to solve with the parents.  This may have been to help them grow as individuals.

In the end after analyzing the individual characteristics I would say that both teachers are good teachers, but I would say that Mr. Escalante is a great teacher.  He works very hard to help the students to succeed and expects the students to work hard which they do.  Mr. Escalante gets the students to achieve things they did not believe they were capable of.  Mr. Keating gets the kudos for helping the students to enjoy school more but I'm not sure how much he helped to improve them academically.  We are shown in the movie that the kids are enjoying themselves but not that they are excelling.  That I think is the key difference. You compare academic skills versus happiness.  You can be happy being a ditch digger if you enjoy it, you cannot be happy being a mathematician if you don't know math.

  

Mr. Escalante and Mr. Keating similarities and differences.

Language
Mr. Keating inspires and brings students up to his level using his style
of language and eloquence.
Mr. Escalante uses the slang and language of the students to pull the
students along.

Both Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante involve themselves into the personal
life of their students. Cite Neil, Todd & Anna/Angel/Poncho.

Both teachers push their students to excel.
Mr. Escalante devotes a lot of time and energy in the classroom focusing
on Math/Calculus.
Mr. Keating devotes time in and out of the classroom focusing on poetry,
but involving physical skills to make the poetry more of a living thing in
their mind. Walking/Kicking balls/other activities.

The way Mr. Escalante teaches and what he is trying to accomplish is very
stressful to him, eventually leading him to have a mild heart attack.  He
teaches the students that they do not have to just exist in the barrio
continuing the status quo, they can also achieve great things if they put
their minds to it.
The way Mr. Keating teaches is light hearted as he teaches the students to
express themselves and live life to the fullest and not to just accept
what is handed to them, to have a questioning attitude.

Both teachers want to give back to the students.  Mr. Escalante was
apparently poor growing up and came back to teach to help the minorities
living there to achieve.
Mr. Keating was an alumnus of the school and he wanted to give the joy of
poetry and life to the students, knowing the dreariness that existed in
the school's curriculum and their methods of teaching in the school.

Both teachers fought/challenged the schools administration.  Mr. Escalante
because he believed the students could achieve if they were shown that
there was an expectation that could achieve.
Mr. Keating was unorthodox in his teaching methods challenging the wrote
and mediocrity of what was expected of him in the classroom and out of it.


Both teachers had to deal with parents that wanted to restrict the kids to
the status quo, however Mr. Keating left the issue completely up to the
student to solve with the parents.  I'm not sure if it was to help them
grow as individuals or what.

Paper #2: Teachers, A comparison. Thesis statement. (draft)

This is a comparison of Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante.
I originally believed that Mr. Keating is the better teacher because he works continually works to bring up the students to his level without causing undue stress on the students. In the following paper I will examine the differences between the teachers and explain why I think that Mr. Keating may be the better teacher.


     To begin with Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalante came from two different cultures.  Mr. Keating although maybe not well off, his family had enough money to send him to a private boarding school "Welton Academy" a boys preparatory school to prepare for college. Private school gives the opportunity to focus on school work thereby giving students a chance to excel.  Mr. Keating being an alumnus of the school is accepted by the staff at first. Mr. Keating comes to the school to teach English. Mr. Escalante comes from Bolivia and was poor growing up, me makes a comment in the film that he washed dishes when he first came in to the United States. Mr. Escalante comes to teach computer science however there are no computers in the school so he is assigned by the math dept chair to teach math.
  

Differences between Mr. Escalante's and Mr. Keating's Schools.

Mr. Escalante's school was in the barrio, and was a co-ed school.  This school was hurting for financing. Additionally it had a poor faculty and administration.  Poor in that they were not supportive of the students. The faculty issues were that the teachers were teaching classes that they were not suited for and this situation was probably due to lack of money.  The school was trying to get accredited in order to get more money.  There was vandalism and graffiti at the school.  Students attending this school are largely poor academically and financially. This movie took place in the 1980's.

Mr. Keating's school was a New England preparatory school for boys.  Whelton Prep School.  This school seemed financially stable. There was a large body of water nearby for water sports activities like a rowing club. The school was on a large estate where there was a lot of space for activities such as outdoor fencing, running around, playing ball, and there was a forest with a cave in it.  The school grounds were generally quiet.  The school was clean and organized.  Students at this school are largely well off, or at least not struggling financially. The students at this school wore uniforms and they resided at the school during the academic year.  This school used capital punishment for offenses as one student got a board to his behind.  This movie took place in the 1950's.

Notes from 5 Nov #1 My attempt at Audre Lorde's syntax

When the boys were 17 years old and still full of pubescent angst, they started school in the Whelton Boys Prep school in New England in the 1950’s.  The school was an old school with large grounds and a body of water nearby where you could see students rowing boats for competition or fencing on the school grounds. Most of the students were eager to learn in their school uniforms and wearing their blazers, but some of the students did not want to be there and had dreams that did not involve learning in this formal institution, but their parents were not giving them choices of what to do with their lives ultimately resulting in one of the students tasking their own life do to a feeling of helplessness.

Ok, I tried to follow the general idea, but I could not come up with specifics that would match. Bottles of milk from the cafeteria maybe? I don't know guess I'm just not creative tonight.

Mr. Escalante vs Mr. Keating group discussion

Differences between Mr. Keating and Mr. Escalantes 10-30-13 from group discussion

They are similar and different.

Mr. Keating is teaching at a Boys Prep School in New England, time period is the 1950's,

Mr. Escalantes is teaching at an Urban School in LA, time period is 1980's.

They both use illustrations in their classroom to get the attention of their students. For example:
Mr. Escalantes dressed in a chef outfit and cut apples in different sizes for the students to try and figure out what percentage they were.
Mr.Keating took students out in crossway to look at past pictures of students and picturing the "dead students" to what is in the future.

Mr. Escalantes method of teaching was more of using student language, coming from their point of view.
Mr. Keating pulls students toward his way of thinking and drawing them to picture higher / different thoughts.

The economic status of both schools were at different ends of the spectrum.  Mr. Escalantes class was mostly student where parents were working hard and long hours just to make a living.
Mr. Keating students were expected to go on to law, medical schools from their parents (who wasn't interested in them, but in status).