Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results

Mike Rose is anything but average: he has published poetry, scholarly research, a textbook, and two widely praised books on education in Amer­ica. A professor in the School of Education at UCLA, Rose has won awards from the National Academy of Education, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Below you'll read the story of how this highly successful teacher and writer started high school in the "vocational education" track, learning dead-end skills from teachers who were often underprepared or incompetent. Rose shows that students whom the system has written off can have tremendous unreal­ized potential, and his critique of the school system

To the casual eye, private city schools and public country schools may present to be extremely paradoxical, however, America’s most popular essayist E.B. White seems to offer a sense of similarity between the two types of schooling in his piece called “Education.” Throughout this piece, he describes his sons’s experiences with two educational philosophies, discussing the manner in which the teachers act, the food that is eaten, and even the overall atmosphere of the classroom. By using a well balanced arrangement of personal experience, as well as inferences and society’s assumption, White provides readers with an objective comparison that still remains relevant to this day.

While reading Journal 1 of The Alternative and reflecting on the assignment giving, memories of teachers flooded through my mind. I am unabashed to admit that I believed some teachers to be poor at their job, and have more than once thought that perhaps this wasn’t the correct career path for them. One such teacher was my 7th and 8th grade science teacher, who believed public shaming to be the preferable way of teaching adolescents. When a student would answer a question wrong in class he couldn’t help but laugh as well as bring it up throughout the lesson, refusing to let the student move past their mistake. He chose to

Every teacher’s worst nightmare – that is the setting to which Madame (whatever you do don’t call her Mrs.) Esme Raji Codell stepped into as her first job fresh out of college. In this sink or swim world Esme, unknowingly, became a lifeguard to thirty youngsters, as she seemed the only one who could protect the children from the rough waters that are inner city Chicago. Through studying her very candid and personal diary, I am awe stricken by her extraordinary display of pedagogy as she exemplifies what it truly means to be a teacher. Esme’s proficiency in her dealings with situations surrounding equity, creating a safe, relaxed and positive classroom environment, expectations as a teacher, gender, diversity learning, multicultural

“I won’t learn from you” is a classic and powerful group of essays written by Herbert Kohl. The first three chapters “I won’t learn from you”, “The tattooed man”, and “Excellence, Equality, and Equity” all explore ideas that students are more in charge of their learning than most individuals believe. With these theories, students and teachers can help improve each other in every way. Kohl writes a variety of humorous stories, lessons on teaching, and inspirations to be a teacher to any child, regardless of their race, gender, religion or abilities. He addresses serious issues in the public school system, such as reforming to the demands of the school district, adapting the curriculum, and the many pressures as an educator. Kohl helps the

In the article, “Rotten Apples,” Haley Sweetland Edwards discusses the issues of teacher tenure and struggling schools in California. Rich businessmen like David Welch argued that California’s constitution regarding to job protection makes it difficult for schools to remove bad teachers who are hurting their student’s future. This lead to a group of businessmen and lawyers joining together to start “Vergara” cases on several courts around the nation (149). However, the teacher’s union think that Welch’s objective was conflicting and puts the union in danger as a whole, not just the “bad” teachers. The Time’s method of presenting this article will determine their responsibility and whether their method justifies the journalistic way of writing about the topic.

Based on her knowledge as a teacher, with 30 years of experience, Julie Roger-Martin believed that she had established a framework by which students could achieve excellence in the classroom and with standardized tests (Frysh, pp.1-10). Even though she was comfortable with her capabilities, her students did not perform as well as others students. Teachers with mediocre school children were excelling in test scores, while their classroom work did not mirror this increased knowledge. Julie Roger-Martin, confused by the test results, was unaware of the underlying reasons for the improvement. The Atlanta Public School System was cheating in order to obtain good scores. Teachers made the decisions that truthfulness was a value that could be sacrificed in order to attain higher salaries and federal funding.

Analysis: Throughout her article, Strauss uses statements from well-appointed people such as the National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García, Madison City Schools Superintendent Robby Parker, and Stephen Mucher. These quoted statements provide a huge boost of ethos that convinces the audience that Strauss is a credible author. This credibility is desperately need because throughout the entire article, Strauss never includes a counter claim or considers the opposing view point. By failing to even mention the opposing viewpoint, Strauss weakens her argument. Regardless of failing to include a counterclaim,

Anderson can be seen as being very biased in this article which leads her article to be seen as a diatribe forum of argument. Her biased writing is set in a tone of anger because of the personal experiences with teacher’s through out her schooling she has had. “The tragedy also has me thinking a lot about the teachers. Not from an academic point of view, but in the visceral feelings I have for teachers I have loved. There were only a few but they all had the same qualities in common: Patience. Compassion. Understanding. Passion” (504). This personal touch in her writing sets the whole tone of her paper because she believes she knows that all teachers are like the ones she had and this has made her come to the conclusion that none of them have the ability to carry and use guns to protect their

Today’s educational system faces a questionable success in relation to the advancement of society. Bob Herbert, an op-ed columnist for the New York times, created the educational essay titled, “Our Schools Must Do Better” He began working there in 1993 and spent his career writing mainly about issues facing race as well as poverty in the U.S.. Two men, Arne Duncan and John Chubb wrote articles that mirror ideas discussed by Herbert. Duncan, who wrote “U.S. Education Reform: ‘This Truly Is a Moon Shoot’”, is the former United States Secretary of Education and often linked a student’s academic performance to their teachers and school. Similarly, Chubb researched education topics and eventually became the president of the National Association of Independent Schools(NAIS). His article,“Our Schools Our Future Are We Still At Risk” expresses problems that today’s educational systems present. Herbert, Duncan, and Chubb conclude that changes or reforms in educational systems as well as teacher quality must be done in order to ensure future academic success to students.

A former teacher, Lacey Bishop, who taught at Hillcrest Elementary School was not awarded tenure even though she had received good evaluations from her principal for two consecutive years. In addition, Mrs. Bishop was showered with compliments about her performance by her former principal Katrina Overton (Carroll, 2010). When Mrs. Bishop made it to her third year which made her eligible for tenure, the principal’s views about her performance had changed. In February 2010, when the principal was deciding to grant tenure, the principal complained about Mrs. Bishop’s classroom management, her lack of being prepared, and as a result; she was rated “Proficient” in nine areas, “Developing” in three, and “Unsatisfactory” in one on her Comprehensive

We could see some of the different types of teachers described in Anyon’s work could also be seen in an essay” I Just Wanna Be Average” written by Mike Rose. Rose experienced in his high school different teachers, who came from different socio-economic background is different in the way they teach and treat their students. To an extent, it is true that the socioeconomic background of a student could determine the quality or type of instruction a student will receive. It seems that Mike Rose’s essay tends to complicate Anyon’s claim that the socio-economic location the school is at is the reason on what kind of educational instruction a student can get. Indeed Rose’s experiences in high school receiving instruction from teachers that has the teaching styles classified in Anyon’s essay as working class, middle class and affluent professional, but it complicates the claim because all this method of teaching can be found in one school. Rose tells us the location of his school is at South Los Angeles, he describes that Our Lady of Mercy “relied on a series of test, mostly the Standford-Binet, for placement” (152). The score you receive here will determine what program you will be placed on either in College

Moreover, he seeks to keep his audience’s attentiveness high as he yearns for them to understand his viewpoint on the issue of education. As the purpose of his writing is to convince the reader of what education really has strived to achieve, it is presumed his audience is of those who have fallen prey to the merciless tactics of individuals who hold a higher social degree. In an attempt to simplify his cause, Schneider employs a tactic that is common in nature, that is: asking a question. His questions are not too overbearing as rather than induce complex thinking, they promote rational ideals that would have been otherwise overlooked by the convoluted sayings of others. For instance, when he solicits the question, “Do they sit in desks? Typically. Do teachers still stand at the front of the class? For the most part. But beyond that, there are more differences than similarities. Again, this doesn’t mean that present practices are ideal—but it does mean that Americans should think twice before dissolving into panic over what is being taught in modern classrooms” In short, this excerpt allows Schneider to create a bridge of understanding between him and the reader as he is thoughtful enough to include the fact that there are still problems. However, the centerpiece behind Schneider’s relationship with his audience is the implementation of the element

The speaker of the article is the author herself, Joanne Lipman, she is the former student of a tough teacher. Lipman states, “I had a teacher once who called his students ‘idiots’ when they screwed up. He was our orchestra conductor, a fierce Ukrainian immigrant named Jerry Kupchynsky...” This quotation shows that the audience is the former student of a hard teacher that was super tough on all his

Joanne Lipman tells the story of why tough teachers get good results. Lipman is middle-aged, about fifty-four, when she writes this story. Taking the point of view as a concerned citizen, Lipman writes about her old teacher and the situation of America’s Educational System. Passionate on the subject of teachers, she decided to write about the importance of tough teachers. Attending Yale University, Lipman received a B.A. degree in history, which exemplifies in her writing of this article. The journalist’s background is influenced by her experiences with Mr. K, her music teacher. Lipman believes that the teachings of a single teacher, Mr. K, impacted numerous students rather than accepting the possibility that the students were affected by