“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”

- N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

Dead Poet Society Notes

• Welton Academy, A small prestigious prep school in New England
• Very traditional with religious values
• Some of the boys are very young
• Tradition, Honer, Discipline, Excellence are on the banners carried in during the first scene where candles are lit to celebrate the "light of knowledge"
• 70 percent of graduating boys go onto Ivy league
• Neal's father is very controlling and forces him to quit the school newspaper, he thinks he is taking to many extracurricular
• Trigonometry, Latin, Chemistry, English, Fencing
• The students call it "Hell-ton"
• Mr. Keating tells his students to call him either, Mr. Keating or Oh Captain my Captain
• Carpe Diem, he has the students look at the photos of past students and emphasies the fact that they are pushing up daffodil "Seize the day, make your lives extraordinary"
• Mr. Keating, "We don't read and write poetry because its cute.....Poetry is beauty romance love passion"         "The powerful play goes on and you may contribute a  verse"                                 "The dead poets were dedicated to sucking the marrow out of life" 
• Knox Overstreet, Neal Perry, Richard Cameron, Pitts, Shirley,  Tom Anderson, Meeks
•  "We must constantly look at things in a different way"
• Neals father finds out he is in the play, A Midsummer's Night Dream, as Puck and orders him to quit. Neal goes to Mr. Keating and asks for advice, he tells Mr. Keating about his passion for acting. Mr. Keating tells him to tells his father "everything you just told me". 
•  After the play which was a rousing success, Neal is dragged off by his father who is angry at Mr. Keating and tells him "to stay away from my son". When they arrive home he tells Neal that he is withdrawing him from Welton, he is enrolling him in military school and that Neal is going to be a doctor. That his acting was over.
• Neal committed suicide 
• Mr. Keating is blamed for Neal's suicide and when he comes to collect his things from his classroom Todd calls him back, "Oh Captain My Captain". The every boy in the Dead Poet Society except Cameron stands on their desks. he thanks them.

                                                     END SCENE

Group notes from tuesday 10-22-13

Three scenes of good teaching (group)
Mr. Escalante shows examples of being a good / bad  teacher in the following scenes

SCENE 1- Bad Yet Good Teaching. (Andrew)
This scene took place on school grounds not in the classroom, the leader of the group was in a fight and not winning, Angel sees this fight and runs out to join and back his friend up. While on his way out to help his friend Jaime grabs him and holds him back with struggle coming from angel trying to break free. Jaime then proceeds to tell the students to go get help and grab another teacher. Escalante breaks the rules of the educational system by intervening in the fight going against teacher code, yet shows his good teaching by helping Angel not get involved in any trouble. You can really tell he wants the best from his students in this scene, basically showing and letting Angel know that he can do better than to stoop to that level.

SCENE 2-Word Problems, Good Teaching. (Annika)
This scene took place in the classroom, Jaime asks the class to read the board aloud getting students to participate. The word problem uses students names and how many girlfriends they have making fun of them for more student interactions. As soon as the class started reading aloud the principle and another teacher enter the room, Angel had followed in as well and the class as a whole says, "laaaaaatteeee, late" Escalante tells them to calm down and try to solve the problem on the board asking multiple people to step up and speak out, 99% of the students didn't answer it correctly until Ana walks in the door and explains what the words on the board were trying to say and answers the word problem correctly. As soon as she walked in Jaime smiled and said, "Glad to have you back" and then proceeds to tell the class how it's not that they're stupid, but they don't know how to learn it yet. This shows good teaching in that it gives students a new challenge with personal connection.

SCENE 3- Apple Scene. Good Teaching (Megan)
This scene took place in the classroom , the whole class was in their seats and they are making fun of Mr. Escalante having a chef apron and hat on. He holds up his butcher knife and an apple and slams it down on the cutting board getting the whole classes attention. He then walks around putting different slices and parts of the apples on each students desk and asked them what they had. Some answered with joking answers saying that they have a "core" and an "apple" and others answered with fractions, Ana answered with a percentage, trying to get the class to engage in what percent or fraction of the apple that they have. This is good teaching in that he actively participated in the class activity and got the class to participate as well, he really tries to get his students to engage and see that math really isn't that hard if you think about it, it just comes to you.

Notes on "Stand and Deliver"

When he first meets his class they don't treat him with respect

The teacher sees two boys fighting in the yard and intervenes

He is not afraid of the gang members in his first class, in the second class.

He helps Elliot, who wanted to learn, by giving him three books, one for home, one for class, and one for his locker so he won't be seen carrying them around. He helped Elliot keep his reputation.

He treats them all equally

He goes to Anna's family restaurant after her father takes her out of school to try and get her back in school

He takes the students to his old work, and they see the computers. He tells one of his students that he will see calculas in college. His former coworker says his daughter uses it in high school. To me this emphasises the fact that the school is in a lower bracket.

While in class one day, Pacho say's he can't do calcules. Then Angel walks in class late because he had to take his grandma to the clinic. Mr. Escalante tells him to leave.

While teaching night class Mr. Escalente collapses, the next day his students know and react badly.

After all 18 students pass they are accused of cheating because they got a lot of the sme answers wrong. No one believes that they could all pass because their from a low income hispanic school. They have no choice but to retest.

There is a scene where the teacher confronts the testing officials and accuses them of being biased

The teaching styles of "Stand and Deliver"

I am going to be honest here and admit that I am not a fan of "Stand and Deliver". The plot didn't pull me in at all. I felt disinterested, I could everyone else typing a mile a mile a minute while I sat there with only 5 or 6 sentences. It felt like watching a BBC documentary on the history of tobacco, they grew , they smoked it, and then they added chemicals. Why do I remember all that,  I never even finished watching that show! But back to the point.

Mr. Escalante obviously cares about his students and he is willing to break the rules, or at least bend them, to help them. A great example of this is a scene where one of his students, Angel, comes to him and asks him for an extra book to keep at home so he can study without his "friends" finding out out. Mr. Escalante seems to understand that in high school, at least for most kids, reputation is everything. Another scene uses word problems about the number of girlfriends each "jiggelo" has to keep the students interested. He also intervenes in his students lives outside of class. He is walking through the school when he notices the students grouping around a fight in the yard. According to school rules,  he is supposed to stop the fight but  he sees one of his students, Angel,  and instead stops him from getting involved. When one of his star students, Anna,  drops out to work at the family restaurant he goes there to talk to her father. Even when her father grows angry with him he doesn't back off. He is one of those teacher who is willing to fight for his students.

What makes a good teacher?

Good teachers seem like that once in a lifetime sunset where you have to remember to breathe. I have been lucky in most of my teachers. I've found teachers who listen to their students, people who kick ass, plain and simple. And like that sunset they are very hard to find and impossible to hold on two. The only teachers I ever get more then once are, unique. Or math teachers who I dislike on principle.

When I read "What makes a good teacher?" I was a little confused. I thought, "Who is this mystical teacher and where do I need to transfer to get her?".  Marie Hassett seemed to understand that no matter what ivy league college you went to that does NOT make you a good teacher. According the my personal high school survival guidebook the qualities of a good teacher are as follows:

1. Passion- Everyone has had that teacher who hates their subject. The kind of teacher who hands out assignments and gives tests or quiz's, by the way I've never understood the difference between the two, and lets their despair of teacher leak thru. I did have a teacher in middle school who was the living incarnation of Professor Binns who has the honor of being Hogwarts only ghost teacher. Just like Binns he droned on and on and on about some white woman who became a missionary. Not the Washington State History he was supposed to teach us. He was a doctor though so the school wouldn't fire him.

2. Opinionated - I suppose this could tie into Passion (see above) but to me it's a separate catagory. My favorite teachers have been the ones who share their lives with their students. Who share their stupid mistakes and the accidental sucesses. Those teachers inspire students to talk about their own lives. My creative writing teacher helped show me how to pour my emotion into my writting instead of holding them in. My history teacher once went on a 5 min rant about how if Washington became its own state we would become District 13. They encourage students to grow, to imagine what their lives could be like without the fear of judgement.

That's the key right there, someone who isn't afraid to be judged is someone to be envied. The secret to life, and a good teacher, is someone who is not afraid to teach their student what they need to know and not what the school believes we need to be taught.

P.S Personal High School Survival Guidebook not available to public at this time

My experience is significant because.......

I believe that my experience is significant because I wasn't here when 9-11 happened. I moved back to this country in 2004. America, the culture and traditions were strange to me.  When people reacted to the subject of 9-11 I felt disconnected from that day. To most Americans alive today, they remember it vividly while I don't have a single memory of September 11th. It's strange to think about really, an American who does not relate 9-11, an attack on their country, to pain or sorrow. To me it was just a day. When I got older and realized the significance I felt....I don't know even know. I guess I could describe it as disbelief that because of one day we have endured 12 years of war.

Educational Narrative- Final

             In 2004, I was 7 years old and angry. We moved from a Navy base on an itty-bitty island in the Mediterranean Sea with only 300 Americans to a town with almost 8000 people. I didn’t know who Hannah Montana was or the name of our president. The date, September 11^th, had no meaning for me. For a while I insisted I wasn’t American, I was European and proud of it. It took me years to identify as an American and even now I miss Europe. It wasn't until middle school that I started to learn how our government worked, or rather didn't work. When I was in 8th grade my English teacher assigned a lot of essays. For the media assignment I wrote about political bias on TV and radio, for the political essay I researched the Patriot Act. Once I started to learn about the after effects of 9-11, my eyes were opened and I couldn’t shut them again. The victims of 9-11 are not just the people who died on September 11^th. They are also the Muslims who are persecuted for their beliefs, the soldiers who fought in the Middle East and their families. During the elections I listened to the candidates and for the first time in my life I understood that the promises they made were not the same as the changes they made. The promise that America would be what it once was could never be kept.

When you wind the clock back 7 years from that election you arrive in pre 9-11 America. We as a nation believed that we were unsinkable, similar to the boastful builders of the Titanic. That September my family was stationed at the Naval base at Rota in southern Spain. I don’t remember the panic that surrounded that day, until I moved to this country in 2004 I don’t think I even knew about the event. I was disconnected from the grief that we as a nation felt. That kind of pain and shock is hard to endure without lashing out at someone. Anger needs an outlet and we found one. On October 26^th, 2001 President Bush signed the Patriot Act into law. The act was signed into law with the resounding approval of Congress, except for a few stray votes here and there. Recently the American public started a media frenzy because one of the numerous government agencies hiding in the shadows was reading their emails. What they didn’t realize is that ever since the Patriot Act was passed the government has had that power. They have the power to request any information regardless of the legality pre 9-11.  “We, the people…” and all that entails, was written over 200 years ago by a nation fighting for it’s right to exist. We’re still fighting, many of us are frightened of our fellow citizens for no other reason then they are different.

The idea that someone is dangerous or evil just because they’re different is something I’ve never understood. After 9-11, we started looking at Muslim Americans as traitors instead of people searching for hope. People from all around the world come here looking for second chances, for a new beginning. We are a nation of immigrants; and yet there are those in this country who believe that those who worship Allah or wear a turban or a headscarf as a sign of their faith want to destroy us. That’s just not true, they are here because they wanted the opportunities we take for granted. Instead of giving them that chance some Americans choose to persecute them. The common belief is that because radical believers of the Islamic faith attacked us that all Muslims hate this county. But we’re not perfect; the mistreatment of Islam and its believers proves this. Their country, our country was attacked, their religion as well. American Muslims grieved beside us, and because of the attacks on their faith they are still grieving. In 2010 there was media frenzy about the building of a Muslim community center and mosque in Manhattan. There were a lot of people who believed that the builders were trying to insult the memory of those who died on 9-11, in New York, Washington D.C. and on Flight 93. The Muslim community of Manhattan simply wanted a place to safely practice their religion. Freedom of religion, wasn’t that one of the principals that founded this country? We seem to have forgotten what this country used to mean; we’ve forgotten how to feel safe.

All my life I’ve been flying, I can’t remember ever being afraid, even suspended 40,000 feet in the air. I like to watch the earth fly by out the window, even the food that have progressively worse over the years. When I grew older and my family told me about 9-11, I wasn’t afraid. I trusted the pilot to keep me safe, to keep me flying. I have been flying alone since I was 11, visiting relatives in California and Illinois. When I go through airport security though, I am nervous. I worry that I will be detained or questioned even though I am obeying the rules. The first time I flew alone was in 2007; I went to California for spring break. I obsessed over what to pack, I still do. When I got through security, I took a deep breath. Even now, I take a moment to breathe. American airports have better security then a super max prison and I am still worried. Not about a hijacker, that is what the security is there for. The issue on my mind, I’m afraid of the very people there to protect me. When a nations people fear their protectors, you know something’s wrong.  Perhaps a therapist would tell me my fear is irrational and in my head I know I have nothing to be afraid of. When someone tell me my fear is irrational, no fear is rational there is always some basis in reality. The reality here, our government in an attempt to protect its citizens, is instead alienating them.

The lesson that I’m trying to share is that our country has changed; it will never be what it used to be. We regained a sense of power but not the security we used to enjoy. We were invulnerable, then we were shaken and for a moment we felt weak. It seems to me that’s what frightens us, feeling weak, appearing weak. 9-11 was a day, a horrible twisted day but a day nonetheless. One that should have been remembered, whose victims should have been honored but it wasn’t worth a war. The victim’s number in the hundreds of thousands, maybe even in the millions. It started with those who died on 9-11 but continued with the deaths of hundreds of millions. The civilians in the Middle East, our military members, the soldiers they fought beside, even those we fought against. The lesson I learned is that the consequences of 9-11 are more severe and complicated them we imagined. 12 years of war and what have we gained?

Hello Mr. Robinson

We watched a video of Mr. Ken Robinson speaking about education and the death of creativity. That is a scary thought isn't it, "the death of creativity"? Creativity is what brought us the computer, the car, the watch even the someone suicidal practice of skydiving. I mean who wants to jump out of a plane thousands of feet above the earth with only a parachute to slow their fall. I may be fun for some people but I fully plan on keeping all my hands and feet inside the plane. Ok I'm going to focus now.

The question he asked is what makes a good education and I think I actually know how to answer it, no thanks to my education. A good education is one that focuses on thee student, their strengths and weaknesses. When a person is allowed to flourish and develop their passion for art, music or history, maybe even math their education as a whole will succeed. I've seen this in myself. When I took a creative writing class, it was like treating my mind with super food. All day, every day I was writing stories and poetry. Most of it wasn't even for class. I simply needed to write. By writing I could explain my problems as someone else's problem. Creativity provides an outlet for the student which is very effective at preventing emotional meltdowns. They are a common side effect of a high school education.

Hello Mr. Robinson notes

Main Ideas:
Extraordinary evidence of human creativity
No idea of the future
Everyone has an interesting education, everyone cares about education

Children starting school today will retire in 2065 and we have no idea of what the world will be like. Children have tremendous talents and we squander them
Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status
If your not prepared to be wrong then you aren't capable of being creative

Priority of schooling everywhere
1. Math
2. Humanities
3. Arts


Purpose of education to produce university professors, they live in their heads, and slightly to one side.

Prejudiced about educational ability
1. The most useful subect are at the top, school towards job
2.  Academic ability

Next 30 years, more people graduating from education then all people through history
Degrees aren't worth anything now,

Intelligent
1. Diverse
2. Dynamic,
3. Distinct

Women are better at multitasking because the bond between the two different parts of the brain is thicker in women.
If a man speaks his mind in a forest and nobody hears it is he still wrong?
Education has mined our minds like we strip mine the earth for a particular metal
Children for the hope that they are. We wont see this future but they will.

The most important thing I learned- DRAFT

All my life I have loved to learn, to read about history and the stories of magic and legend that are hidden there. It wasn't until middle school that I started to understand how our modern world work, or rather didn't work. My older brother was political and dedicated to the Democratic cause. Because of that my early political education was colored a deep shade of blue. In 2008 I was an 8th grader and my English teacher assigned a lot of  essays. For the media assignment I wrote about political bias on TV and radio, for the political essay I researched the Patriot Act. My political identity was forming as I listened to the candidates and for the first time in my life I understood that the promises they made were not the same as the changes they made.


When you wind the clock back 7 years from that election you arrive in pre 9-11 America. We as a nation believed that we were unsinkable, similar to the boastful builders of the Titanic.

My Rough Draft

Just a heads up, I don't do rough drafts. When I write a paper I start from the beginning and go to the end, rarely do I rewrite a paper. Any "rough drafts" I turn in are simply  the printed out pages of wherever I was when I had to stop writing. So I guess I'll start with my topic. For diplomatic reasons I've decided not to write about the moment I realized my family were of the "lovable but crazy" variety. I say diplomatic because well, bad things would ensue if my aunts read it so....that topic is zilch.

I searched my life for something other than the meaning of life or Aspergers Syndrome and I realized that the biggest educational moment of my life wasn't a moment. It was my entire life. My realization was that the consequences of September 11th were more far reaching then I thought . I had always known that September 11th was the reason we were in Iraq and Afghanistan but it took me years to realize just how many of our problems could be linked to that decision. The recession ring a bell?

My Favorite Narrative

"How I Learned to Love Traveling Solo" was interesting to read and very compelling. Cate Huston used this blog to write about the year she spent roaming Europe and Asia, what she learned from that. She advises us to embrace "Introvert Time" or as most people call it "me time".

"If it’s a short trip, or I’m starting with solo time, then I’ll “people myself out” before my departure by going out every night. That way, when I arrive at my destination I’m due some alone time, and I’m happy to embrace it."

Another piece of advice she gave was to, and this is a direct quote here,  to "Do Weird Stuff". I can understand that,everyone has hobbies or interests that other people find strange. I remember almost everything especially about history, including the origin of the phrase, "It raining cat's and dogs". Don't ask, the story is disgusting. Ms. Huston describes it this way,

"I love going along with what other people want to do: I see different things than those I would have chosen myself, and it helps reassure me that I don’t live in a filter-bubble. But when I go places by myself, I often do things that may seem odd, but so what—they make me happy"

Whenever I remember my years in Europe I feel sad. Since I came to America 9 years ago I haven't left the continent. Even knowing I can travel later in life I realized it will be a while before I will be there. Fortunately there are still old fashioned travelers who travel without guidebooks or tours, it's the best way to experience another culture. 

Comparing the Readings

The essays written by Malcolm X and Rose are much more polished, they seem rehearsed or drafted. The "blogs" on the other hand are simply written down, in a much more casual way. When you write for yourself rather then a professional or school paper more emotion slips in. A blog gives you permission to be yourself. It takes away the need for evidence and science.

Topics for Paper #1

1. Aspergers Syndrome
2. My family is Insane
3. Three years of speech therapy
4. I am also showing signs of insanity so, maybe it's genetic?
5. The meaning of life is not 42

So those are a few topics I am considering, I haven't been able to choose one yet. I probably won't write about my possible insanity. I know someone was quoted as saying all the most interesting people are a bit mad but...yeah no. Choosing an educational experience is difficult for me because I don't classify my life as "ohh I learned something, mark this moment in time". It all blends into who I am, not "before" or "after". Alright I need to pick something so, drum roll please! No? No drum roll? Umm..................ok then. Here's my topic: "My family is insane: or how I learned to stop worrying and duck"

And for those of you who love classic movies, yes I did just paraphrase Dr. Strangelove

As for how I learned that, I'll save that for another time

I'm analyzing a goat for class, why? I don't know

Goats are smelly animals with the dubious talent of causing trouble. As they have very tough stomachs they can eat almost anything including metal or trash. This means that they are harder to kill then the average goldfish. To be fair this is part of a per-writing strategy called "Cubing".

Now I have to compare zip lock bags. Apparently I have to be "creative". So a zip lock bag is similar to Simeon Cowell. We need them around because they serve a function but we hate them just the same. Simeon Cowell is just rude and zip lock bags? They always leak when you least expect it. And almost always on something expensive.

Traveling Solo

When I read the narrative, "How I Learned to Travel Solo", it struck me in two ways. Firstly it was refreshing to find someone else who doesn't believe in guided tours and who has seen the real Europe. Not the shiny guidebook covers or the tour buses but the Europe I remember. My family and I were stationed overseas of 5 1/2 years so I did get a little nostalgic. The blog is well written and gives some smart advice about overseas travel, it ties into the theme of the first unit rather well.

An Important Lesson

The teacher told us to type for 5 mins about the most important lesson we've learned so umm the meaning of life, Pirates of the Carribbean. Pretty sure I just misspelled "carribbean". Yep I did, well by now it's probably a moot point and yes I did just use the word "moot". It is a real word just look in the dictionary. Anyway the most important lesson I've learned is to never compromise your values, if someone asked you to change then they didn't love/trust the person you already are. Most parts of a relationship aren't that simple but well, life is mostly shades of grey. And for you people withe strange minds, I am not talking about the book. I'd rephrase it but well...never mind. The reason that is one of the most important is because every person, good or bad is unique and irreplaceable. If you change who you are to gain friends or power then you lose a piece of yourself.

Things that don't work well together

Prewriting and I get along almost as well as cat's and dog's. Outlines, Venn diagrams, rough drafts....they don't work for me.Whenever I write the words simply flow onto the page and the essay/story etc forms itself into a workable piece of writing. My typical writing session consists of this, I sit down at my laptop and I write what needs to be said. That's it, I don't have complicated rituals like jumping backwards 3 times and doing the Hokey Pokey every time I get writers block. That example isn't legitimate by the way, I just grabbed it out of my "stupid rituals" file cabinet. For me writer's block can usually be solved by rewriting the last paragraph or in extreme cases the entire essay. As soon as the words click the light bulb turns back o and I can finish the paper.

Randomness in a Nutshell

I was sitting at the computer reading a post on another blog about procrastination. Ironically, that's when I remembered to write my own post. So here it goes. Procrastination to me is taking the memory of being assigned homework, locking it in a box, putting that in a bigger box and then welding it inside a cabinet. After all that buildup I promptly throw the key to the original box down a well and fill it with concrete. Not cement, that's an ingredient in concrete. Also I'm sipping hot chocolate from the vending machine by the bookstore, it's surprisingly good by the way. I'm almost out of topics so I guess I'll complain about the weather for a minute. Everyone like to complain about that right? Last week the rains officially started and I was miserable. Now the cold has settled in and I'm wishing for last week's weather. At least it was warm. This time of year my mom starts to leave the heat constantly. I prefer to put on a sweater and call it a day. She on the other hand wants me roasted to a crisp. Naturally we have issues with each other on the subject. However, since she pays my allowance, I've recently decided to let it go. I just turn it off and tell her that it turns its self off automatically.