Compare/Contrast

Looking back on my ideas of good teaching, the thoughts that swam through my mind usually consisted of candy, snack time, and endless games of Heads Up Seven Up. I only considered read-ins, Pajama Day, and field trips when entertaining the thought of what teacher I would end up with the following year. However, taking a closer look from a more grown up standpoint, I realize that those tiny perks are a only sheer veil over the remarkable face of what being a teacher really is.  A good teacher addresses the unfavorable experiences in a students life, in or outside of the classroom, and turns them around to where they are able to take away something positive from the situation.  Erin Gruwell and Ron Clark are two prime examples of extraordinary teachers, devoting their lives and career to educating and creating the best futures possible for their students. With determination, positivity and guts, these two teachers were able to mold the brilliant futures of their young scholars and shine onto them influential beams of light capable of turning the most negative of situations into something much brighter. Giving them encouragement, hope and a group they were able to call family, the scholastic lives, as well as home lives, of their students flourished into remarkable stepping stones to create the base of the rest of their bright futures.
No one was really sure if she knew what she was getting herself into. A new teacher from the thriving high-class city of Newport Beach, Ms. Gruwell didn't anticipate the amount of violence and retaliation throughout the newly integrated Los Angeles High School where she would now be employed. She waited at the head of her dusty, bare classroom while the old graffiti-covered desks began to slowly fill. Looking at faces ranging on the color spectrum from black to white and everything in between, she might as well have been colorblind. The students mocked her fair white complexion and the faculty mocked her devotion to them. Regardless, she stuck around despite how threatened she was feeling to pursue a task that no other teacher dare even consider. Teaching the "unteachables".
With a lack of inspiring material to introduce to her new class, Ms. Gruwell was scorned for asking to use the library books because the students had a reputation for destroying them. She took it upon herself to pick up a second job to help pay for her new school books and introduced them to the idea of Change, which they were all able to entertain. With time she gained the trust of each of her students, some more willing than others, and explored alternative teaching methods to get them to open up more. She used their music preferences and backgrounds to bring them together where they were able to realize how much they actually had in common. During a game, Ms. Gruwell triggered loss as a mutual emotion between all of the students which was used as an icebreaker and offered a link between each of them. She compared Nazi's to the neighborhood gangs that the students were affiliated with to give them a perspective on how amateur they actually are which opened up their eyes to the idea that there may be more to life than the streets.  
Meanwhile at home, her relationship with her husband was struggling. Her heart was torn, battling a constant push and pull from spouse to scholars and she soon found herself splitting up their belongings in an unforeseen divorce. Still she kept close to her class and with them moving up a grade within the year, she was able to convince the school board to let her advance with them and remain their teacher until they graduated. After publishing a book of her students' writing and proving wrong the extremely pessimistic minds of her fellow staff members, Ms. Gruwell followed many of her students to college as a teacher to pursue the rest of her career in their footsteps.
Mr. Clark didn't expect to be laughed at when he said he wanted to "teach" in Harlem. Apparently his small North Carolina town didn't compare much to New York City, so it took some convincing of his weary parents before he decided to make the move. Landing at a low income Harlem elementary school, the faculty was doubtful of the new teacher, referring to the students as problems. He visited each students' home to talk to their parents about the curriculum they would be learning prior to starting at the school. Here he was brushed off with little to no cooperation from the parents, which gave him an idea of what he would be working with once he got into the classroom. For the loud and very disobedient new students, he came up with creative ways to make it exciting for the kids to learn. He rapped songs about History and even played games in class to make it more interesting for them. The number one rule was that in the classroom, they were a family and within that group they had a guaranteed safe place.
Entering a classroom where every single student tells you to leave must feel somewhat unwelcoming and although he considered leaving, Mr. Clark stayed because he was determined to raise the test scores of the brilliant young minds that sat before him. Picking up some of the burdens that the students were dealing with in their own lives gave them a chance to focus more on their studies and less on their problems. He met with students individually to help them with anything that they were struggling with, school-related or not. When he became sick with Pneumonia, he video taped himself at home for the kids to watch in class since he could not physically be there to teach them. Mr. Clark saw education as an out for troubled students while the students were able to look at the classroom as an out for their lack of a decent home life.
The class appreciated what Mr. Clark was doing for them, but not all of their parents did. It took time, but he showed them that if you set the bar low, then that's all you're going to get. When you expect nothing but less, then less is all you are going to get. After some convincing and positive test scores, he was able to prove the true potential of their children and bring light to their intricate developing minds. He took one very troubled student out of the shadows and brought him into an uplifting environment where he was able to prosper into a remarkable artist. Eventually when the students got their final test scores back, the results were outstanding and they ended up scoring highest average of any other class in the school.
It's a combination of determination, selflessness, positivity and guts that make these two teachers as inspiring as they are. For Ms. Gruwell and Mr. Clark's classes, it didn't matter where you came from. You could be black, white, Mexican, Puerto Rican or Jewish. It was the sense of community and affinity, regardless of their backgrounds, that brought them together and gave them a sense of family. Although neither of the teachers anticipated teaching a class of such intransigent students, they took it upon themselves to bring them together as one and give them the sense of wholesomeness and upbringing that they were lacking. Despite the seemingly endless mockery and judgement that they received from their peers, both teachers fought endlessly to improve and encourage the futures of each and every one of their students.

Woodrow vs. Wellesley

The two schools in the movies are far from similar to each other. Woodrow High is a very integrated public school with many cases of gang violence and poverty where as Wellesley is a high-class all girls private college. They both are on two opposite ends of the country with two opposite approaches to learning.
The teachers I find are pretty similar with a few subtle differences. They both aren't really aware of what they're getting themselves into and both struggle on the first few days of school trying to fit in and determine their place in the faculty. Both teachers make the mistake of showing vulnerability, which allows the students to undermine their confidence a little bit in the beginning. But soon they recognize their place in the school and let the students know that they have the upper hand. The most outstanding similarity I noticed however, was their genuine yearning for learning. They wanted to make their students become the best people they can be and it definitely shows as the movies progress.
I unfortunately have not had the pleasure of working with teachers similar to Gruell and Watson but I wish I could say that I have.

Using Details

Audre Lorde’s Zami

“For our mother’s souse, it didn’t matter what kind of meat was used. You could have hearts, or beefends, or even chicken backs and gizzards when we were really poor. It was the pounded-up saucy blend of herb and spice rubbed into the meat before it was left to stand so for a few hours before cooking that made that dish so special and unforgettable. But my mother had some very firm ideas about what she liked best to cook and about which were her favorite dishes, and souse was definitely not one of either.”

For Mrs. Gruell’s class, it didn’t matter where you came from. You could be black, white, Mexican, Puerto Rican or even Arabic. It was the sense of community and affinity, regardless of their backgrounds, that brought them together and gave them a sense of family. Although Mrs. Gruell didn’t anticipate teaching a class of such intransigent students, she took it upon herself to bring them together as one and give them the sense of wholesomeness that they were lacking.

Mike Rose’s I Just Wanna Be Average

“Jack MacFarland couldn't have come into my life at a better time. My father was dead, and I had logged up too many years of scholastic indifference. Mr. MacFarland had a master's degree from Columbia and decided, at twenty-six, to find a little school and teach his heart out. He never took any credentialing courses, couldn't bear to, he said, so he had to find employment in a private system. He ended up at Our Lady of Mercy teaching five sections of senior English. He was a beatnik who was born too late. His teeth were stained, he tucked his sorry tie in between the third and fourth buttons of his shirt, and his pants were chronically wrinkled. At first, we couldn't believe this guy, thought he slept in his car. But within no time, he had us so startled with work that we didn't much worry about where he slept or if he slept at all.”

Mrs. Gruell couldn’t have come to Woodrow Wilson High at a better time. The students desire to learn was dead and at that point, they didn’t think anything could save them. Mrs. Gruell was a new teacher from Newport Beach who decided to take the opportunity to teach at a newly integrated high school. She had never worked in a position like this one, but she took it upon herself to make the most of the situation because she knew no other teachers would. She ended up in an English class teaching a range of ethnicities and backgrounds. She was pretty and young. Her voice was soft, she wore a fancy pearl necklace, and her shoes clicked when she walked on the linoleum. At first, the students looked at her as a joke, with her even-toned white complexion.  However, soon enough she had them so engulfed in positive learning that they didn’t even consider the skin tone that they were sitting next to.

potential victims...

I'm having a hard time pin pointing a teacher who really stood out to me throughout my educational career. Coming from a small school with a mediocre staff, I wish I could say that at least one of them made a positive impact on me. However, there is only one, Mr. Tran, who was the most horrible math teacher I've ever encountered but I feel like I don't have enough background to make a 1200 word paper out of it. I've seen another great movie, similar to Freedom Writers called the Ron Clark Story starring Mathew Perry as a school teacher out of his element in a New York City school, so I'm considering comparing him and Ms. Gruell since they take place in a similar environment.
Any thoughts? Would that be way too easy?

Ms. Watson vs Mr. MacFarland

Was Ms. Watson similar to Mr. MacFarland?
In many ways I see numerous similarities between the two teachers. The first is a sense of liberalism. Both teachers had plans to put aside the typical expectations of your average students to create something greater, that will benefit them more so in retrospect. Ms. Watson however came into the school with the ideas that she would give her students a different perspective on their futures, while Mr. MacFarland didn't try to mold the minds of his students per say, he let his teachings mold their minds to form into something that would benefit them on their own terms.
Another similarity between the two was encouraging education beyond where they stood. Ms. Watson printed out a Yale application for Joan who was on the fence of pursuing her own career and marrying the man she loved, not even considering the option that you can do both...
Mike had no intentions of completing any higher education because he didn't feel he had the background or knowledge to apply for any type of college, but Mr. MacFarland reached out to his own old professors and worked out a spot for Mike to attend his Freshman year of college at the same place where his teacher learned.
Both of these teachers showed great examples of selflessness as well as simply wanting the best possible future for their students. And when it comes down to it, that is the most important key for determining a good teacher.

Mona Lisa Smile

If I had the opportunity, I would be a teacher just like Ms. Watson trying to persuade conservative young women to pursue their dreams instead of marrying the most eligible man they can find. She is all about the movement of women's rights and she wants people to know that there is so much more to women then being a good wife and I definitely admire that in her. Although not all the girls see eye to eye with her in the beginning, they slowly begin to see her guiding light and realize themselves that there is more to life then marrying the finest man and becoming the finest spouse.

Audre Lorde's Essay

Lorde's essay was fascinating to me and actually a little shocking, until I think about what was actually expected in classrooms back then. In her essay, Lorde doesn't specifically state who is a good and bad teacher. Instead she allows us to decide by telling us a little bit about the backgrounds of the teachers and her own experiences with them. She talks about behavior and expectations and how the two coincide, as well as Family vs. Classroom expectations.
She shows the contrast between What you are able to do and What you are asked to, especially during her experience in a Kindergarten classroom where her abilities outweighed the expectations and as a result , was punished for knowing too much and not following simple direction.
When she attended Catholic school, the nuns separated the Good and Bad kids in the classroom and by ACCIDENTALLY breaking her eye glasses, she was forced into a dunce cap in the back of the room with no aid or guidance in her scholastic life, as if it was her fault for being born with bad sight.

What makes a good teacher?

Being a teacher is one of the most important jobs there is because they are the hands that mold us as children to become who we are for the rest of our lives. I never understood the impact they actually make on us as people in a society that is always evolving. Without my teachers, I would have never evolved into the young woman I am with the ideas that I have and the things that I know. I think a great teacher begins with an open mind. You can't expect every student in a classroom to learn at the same pace and a good teacher knows that. A good teacher helps you in areas where you need it and break down the subjects that you're not understanding. They are not worried about payroll or their hours, they genuinely want you to understand the material so that you can leave that class feeling confident in what you learned. A good teacher simply wants to make you the best you can be and they put in the equal effort to make it happen.