Through facts, statistics, imagery and anecdotes, Miles Corwin vividly describes the vast differences between the teaching methods of Ms.Little and Ms.Moultrie; explains the outcome of the vote on Proposition 209- affirmative action and how it will affect minority students; and introduces four new students and their background stories. He begins the chapters with a school setting in either Ms. Little's classroom, the counselor's office, or the weather. This is because the students who are being focused on are in Ms.Little's class and are usually communicaing with Mr.Braxton. Ms.Little- who teaches the gifted English class in tenth and twelfth grade- is a white woman with strong views about literature and how it should be taught, and her teaching style differs from that of Ms.Moultrie- a black woman from south-central who teaches the gifted English class ninth and eleventh grade. Ms.Little feels that Ms.Moultrie does not continue to apply what was taught to the students in tenth grade in eleventh grade, causing unnecessary writing mistakes in the twelfth grade when their writing is crucial for their scholarship and college applications. Ms.Little has mood swings quite often and she doesn't mind expressing her feelings on how she feels about anything, especially Ms.Moultrie, even to her sudents. The gifted students are very open and they communicate with Ms.Little about her attitude and what has happened to them when it is brought up from connections in their reading. Ms.Little knows her students have had rough childhoods and are busy trying to survive outside of school, but she wants them to succeed and be able to compete with other students applying to college. This is why she was against affirmative action. She wanted her students to actually earn their way into college and not just let it be given to them because they ae minorities. I can see where she is coming from because she doesn't want race to be the factor in determining if they go to college. She wants it to be their intelligence. Then when they compete, others will see a black woman or a black man is able to work right alongside a white woman or man. I can tell she genuinely cares for these students and that is why she is strict.
Sabreen, Latisha, and Curt are introduced in this section and each of them is facing different problems as they are trying to continue to excell in school. Sabreen wants to become emancipated and ultimately drops out because she is tired and can't take it anymore; Latisha is able to confront her past of molestation as she connects with Portrait of the Artist; and Curt wants to attend Stanford(like me) and had to deal with people telling him he was "acting white" because he was smart and dressed nice.
Discusion Questions:
Application: After reading about affirmative action and the statistics of acceptances of minorities into college, what do you feel should have been the outcome of the proposition and why?
Application: How does the way teachers act affect the way students learn? Ms.Little constantly talked about Ms.Moultrie and how she taught. Do you think teachers talking about other teachers affects the students' performance in any way?
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Well if a teacher is having an off day and isn't teaching at his/her best level then the students wil not learn as much as they usually will; and if they are at their best level and having a good day then students will benefit more and gain more knowledge. I don't think that teachers talking about other teachers should affect a students performance because what those teachers are talking about is none of that students business. I think that the student should just try ignore their teachers business and foccus on their own.
ReplyDeleteI think that the outcome of the proposition was a fair choice. Every one says life isnt fair and sometimes you just have to deal with that. In the example of the white man that was discrimintated because of his race is unfair. And if it was a black man or a latno man in his position then people would go crazy. Although this proposition gives minority students harder work, it just still resolves to that you got to work hard for wht you want and it is not going to come easy.
ReplyDelete2. yes i think that the way a teacher talks to her students do affect them. The teachers should just learn how to put their personal life to the side and learn how to be a professional in front of their students. They say people learn from their teachers, so if theyre teacher goes around talking bout other teachers, the student would learn to think that is it right, and we all know that is wrong.
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