Dead Poets Society Group Post

dead poet society: good teaching

In some instances we see some small forms of bad teaching such as Mr. Keating singling out Todd Anderson and saying “Don’t you think that I know that this assignment scares the hell out of you”. The next scene shows a form of good teaching in which Mr. Keating again points out Mr. Anderson and taunts him in a way to help him grasp the idea of true poetry. In the same scene he also pressures him in front of the class to help him think in a way of poetry, such as detailing the picture of a sweaty-toothed madman. In this way he is using pressure from being in front of the class in order to bring Todd to the path of poetic enlightenment. So far in this half of the movie we only see small slivers of bad teachings from Mr. Keating but out of all of the slivers that we have seen this scene showing good teaching out ways a them all

How are the two schools different - Garfield High School and Welton Acadamy?

How are these two schools different? 

Well, there is the obvious.

Garfield high school is set in E. Los Angeles in the 1980's and serves a mostly Hispanic population.  It is staffed by a group of underpaid, overworked and uninspired teachers.(Except for Mr. Escalante who is very inspiring.) 
Welton Academy for boys is set in Vermont in the 1950's to educate the offspring of Americas blue bloods.  It is staffed by a group of overpaid(probably), grumpy old men. (Except for Mr. Keating who is neither grumpy or old.)

I guess for me, right now, as I have not finished watching Dead Poets Society, the main difference is how the students are primed for life in each of these movies.  In Stand and Deliver, there is no expectation of greatness or even just moving beyond what is the norm for any of the students by anyone except Mr. Escalante.  The rest of the staff and the parents of the kids in the math class don't seem to have high hopes for them.  A case in point is where the female department head says "if you try and they fail you will shatter any self confidence they have".  I don't like that statement.  It  is a defeatist mentality that has no place in a school where young people should be taught to keep trying even if there is a chance of failure.
In the Dead Poets Society on the other hand, the boys are expected to achieve greatness and anything less would be a travesty.  An example is when Neils dad orders him to drop the Annual as one of his extracurricular activities because he(the dad) thinks it would get in the way of his academic studies. I don't like that  either.  I would think a parent would want their child to be in a variety of extracurricular activities as it makes for a more well-rounded educational experience.  It seems Neils dad already had his life mapped out for him regardless of what he(Neil) wanted.
That's it. Thanks for reading my blog!! 

Dead Poets Society Notes #1

Prep school pictures
bagpipes playing.  ceremonial entrances into chapel
boys light the light of knowledge form each others candle
four pillars  tradition , honor excellence
Mr. portias retire and mr. keating takes his place(robin Williams)
parents saying goodbye to parents
Neil Perry and Todd Henderson
boys moving into their rooms.
study group
introductions
Neil Perry's day comes in and tells him to drop extracurricular activity of the annual
Neils friends tell him to tell his dad off.  he tells them to be quiet. they wouldn't do it
scenes of classes in progress
mr. keating walks thru the class and tells the class to come on
they gather in a foyer
Mr keating tells the boys to call him oh captain my captain
has the boys look at past students that have passed on
whispers carpe diem behind the boys
"make your lives extraordinary"
shower scene
todd Henderson is at his desk studying
neil read part of the introduction to a book of poetry and keating calls it excrement
Hel tells the boys to rip out the pages of the book
learn to savor words and language
that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse"
neil asks keating what the dead poets society was
the dps were dedicated to suck the marrow out of life
neil wants to start the dps again
boys look on a map to find the cave where the dps met years ago
todd doesn't want to go because he doesn't;'t want to read out loud
neil finds a book of verse that is only to be read at the meetings

boys arrive at the cave
tell ghost stories
Keating reads shakespear in different voice
boys have to write an essay and compose a poem and read it aloud on Monday
crew practice
neil wants to try out for a midsummer nights dream
neil wants todd to be more outgoing in the club and he says he is not like him
keating takes the boys out on the field in their gym clothes
neil gets the part of Puck in the play and he writes his own persmission letter
todd says he did not write his poem  keating says he does have something great inside of him
Keating pushes Todd  and gets him to get up in front of the class and yell.  He eventually rips a poem out of Todd and proves that Todd is capable of writing(thinking) poetry.
boys playing soccer.
dps  all boys smoking pipes
knox overstreet calls gils and hangs up but then calls back and she inviteds him to a party
boys are in poetry class again but out inghe courtyard marching
todd opens his birthday gift and it is the same gift he got last year and he throws it off the roof

Any similarities between Mr. Escalante and Mr. Keating are not apparent for me just yet.  On the surface I like to think that Mr. Keating is very genuine in his desire to get the boys to look deeper into themselves and take chances with literature than they might not be comfortable taking but I have to hold my opinion in reserve until I see the end of the movie.  I saw the movie a million years ago when it came out.  Although I don't remember what happens I do remember that I did  not like the movie.  Perhaps I am sensing something that really isn't there.  I will let you know after I  finish watching the movie.

Similarities between Mr. Escalante and Jack McFarland

At first I  didn't think there were too many similarities between Mr. Escalante and Mr. McFarland but I went back and reread "I Just Wanna Be Average" by Mike Rose a third time and I had to change my opinion.
If one can look  past the obvious exterior differences - rumpled vs. neat clothing, white vs. tobacco-stained teeth,  clean family home vs. book-cluttered apartment, than one can see that these two teachers are indeed very similar.
 With Mr. McFarland you read the story of Mike Rose in "I Just Wanna Be Average".  You read how he set a higher bar for them to get over than they had been used to and a higher bar than was expected of them. 
 With Mr. Escalante it was an entire class of lower income Hispanic students.  Mr. Escalante took a bunch of students that no one expected anything of and turned them into a group of young men and women that finally excelled at something that would help secure a future away from the way of life that was expected of them or at least give them a peek at what was possible.
Each of these teachers had a passion for actually teaching kids regardless of their backgrounds.  It wasn't just a job for them.  It was caring enough about each student and recognizing their potential especially when they didn't recognize it themselves.

Stand and Deliver Notes #2

Notes from second half of Stand and  Deliver. 

students are on field trip to computer center
staff lounge  Jamie says he wants to teach calculus next year.  Jamie wants the kids to go to summer school even during ton Saturday
"you really think you can make this fly"
"if you try and they fail you will shatter any self confident they have"
swimming pool scene
students are studying in the pool locker room  everyone is hot and sweating
Think "cool"
Jamie and other teacher are walking in the courtyard and a chair and trash can is thrown over at the but three hoodlums
they chase but they get away
Calculus class.... Jamie hands out  contract
Angel arrives late and asks what is calculus
Students return to school with their signed contracts
student does not sign contract because he will be working for his uncle
Jamie drives him to his uncles
"All you see is the turn. not the road ahead"
scenes of kids studying on Saturdays, being in the class when other kids are out having fun
girl leaves class and tells Jamie about all her problems. Jamie goes after her and they talk about why she wants out.   Hugging
Angel takes his grandma to the doc.
male student melts down and says he cant do it
angel arrives late
Jamie tell angel to leave and won't listen to angels explanation about his grandma
this might be one of the instances of bad teaching
wife tells Jamie not to teach on the holiday
wife,,, "see what I mean"
angel arrives with his grandma so Jamie would know he was serious about his grandma being sick
review after Christmas all the kids have the same answer, Jamie gets ticked and leaves class
Jamie is teaching night school and have stomach pains/  heart attack?
crawling down and falling down stairs
falls down stares gasping for breathe
students are teaching themselves after Jamie has heart attack
angel spits on poncho
principal comes in and tell the kids Jamie had heart attack
sub is a music teacher not math teacher
hospital scene.  doc says no stress no school related activity
writes note to kids
Jamie sneaks back to class.  clapping
We have been practicing all year. you guys are the best
testing in a game form  good teaching
placement test starts
kids hit the beach after test and go in water with clothes on
poncho is fixing car when mail comes
test results come in mail
angel arrives drunk.
plaque is presented to teacher
all students pass test
student receives phone call
all students received letter questioning test results.  board says cheating
principal shows investigators the test vault
angel and tito are cruising and get pulled over by cops
tito starts beating on angel after the cops leave
angel leaves tito and walks away
students are all in class with investigators "does anyone have anything to say"
Andy Garcia tries to bond with girl
 angel say they did it and when asked where did he get the test he says his  old man gave it to him and his body is decomposing in his locker
Jamie finds a letter of resignation in his box
Jamie leaves the school and cant find his car.
walks home
sits on bed
Jamie says he make a mistake trying to teach calculus.  "if you try real hard nothing changes"
Jamie starts to believe the kids cheated(?)
car pulls up honking his horn
angel arrives with Jamie's car all supped up
Jamie goes to the investigators Dr. Pearson and dr. Ramirez
wants to know why they think his students cheated
"they should be rewarded not punished"
Jamie wants to see the test
makes racial observations
says the kids were singled out because of their race
Ramirez loses his temper
"If I catch you on the street I will kick the shit out of you" Jamie to Ramirez
the kids all retake the test with one day to study
gives them advice don't bring anything to the test. don' let your eyes wonder etc.
Kids are studying at Jamie's house while he makes dinner
poncho says he is tired and is going home.
poncho goes to girlfriends house makes up
test day
Anna leaves the test early for a scholarship meeting
Jamie wants to go over the tests so there is no misunderstanding
Jamie asks principal to call Ramirez
all the kids passed the test

Blog Post with Trish, Lucas, Cami and Patty

How much is too much?

In the scene where Jamie Escalante storms out of the class his is unable to see beyond his own frustrations and exhaustion to be as effective as he had been in the past.  During a class problem, the students all came to the same answer.  Jamie  insisted the answer was wrong and stormed out of the class. This is one of the few instances when Mr. Escalante was ineffective.  We later come to find that his stress overcame him and led to a heart attack.

Notes from Stand and Deliver

For the movie "Stand and Deliver" I just started writing short notes that I felt were important bits to remember later.
The movie starts with Jaime Escalante driving to the school where he will be teaching and the scene around him is of an obviously of lower income area in East Los Angeles.  There are kids running along the sidewalks, and businesses that cater to the locals open, taco stand, Hispanic storefronts, a pickup truck with Hispanic men in it on their way to work. 
When Jaime arrives at the school and goes to the main office for his room assignment he sees chaos as a police officer is taking a statement.  The office has been vandalized.  The cop asked the secretary  where the fecal  material is and is told "over there.  You will know when you smell it"
A scene when Jamie goes into the classroom and after telling the students to take their seats one of the female students ask if they can learn about sex. Jaime says "If I teach  about sex I have to give sex for homework" 
When Jamie gets to his classroom he tells the kids to take their seats and after some talk back and forth tells all the Hispanic kids that  can't  speak  English to sit in the front of the class.
The bell rings and the kids  leave but the bell has been rigged to go off early and the students are told to return to their classes.
After school, Jamie gets to his car and finds it has been vandalized. 
The next day, Jamie dresses as a short order cook and gives the lesson about percentages of an apple.  This is also when the scene with Tito and being the finger man takes place. 
Later, Jamie  walks out to the courtyard where a fight is taking place and stops Angel Guzman from joining the  fight. 
He convinces Angel to continue with the math  and gives him three textbooks so no one will know that he is doing his homework and actually learning. 
Scenes of the home life of one of the female students.  She is trying to study after putting her siblings to bed but her mom comes in and asks her to turn off the light so she can sleep.
Scenes of Angel riding around with Tito all night and then going to class late but begging to be  able to stay in class.  He  is obviously exhausted from not sleeping but still manages to get to class and wants to be there. 
Jamie  attends a staff  meeting where the talk centers around the school  losing its  accreditation.  Jamie says that the students  will  rise to the level of expectation.