"Jaime Escalante: Sensational Teacher" by Ann Byers.
Jaime Escalante: Sensational Teacher," by Ann Byers is based on the life story of Jaime Escalante, a new high school teacher in East L.A. in 1982, who decides to change the lives of his students by preparing them for an advanced placement test in calculus. I chose this book because it was a book I read when I was younger and I remember thinking that the teacher did such amazing things with the students. Now that I am about to occupy a similar position, I wanted to revisit the film and evaluate his methods based on what I've learned so far as a teacher and pre-service student. The book deals with the very timely issues of equity, standardized testing, funding shortages and the challenges of the inner city school environment.
When the book opens, the socio-economic and cultural demographic of the area is laid out. Hispanic workers line the roads and although the area seems quite culturally alive - a mural exclaims "We are NOT a minority!"-- it is obviously economically disadvantaged. On the first day of classes, Mr. Escalante learns that he will be teaching math since the school did not get funding for computers. This crossover theme is carried throughout the movie, as music and phys-ed teachers teach full math timetables, and in many ways qualifies Escalante's success. Though he is not a math teacher by trade, Escalante does something that all the other teacher's couldn't do -- he rises to the occasion. His philosophy is simple: "students will rise to the level of expectations" (Menendez 1988). All he requests from them is desire. Escalante is successful in showing the students that they can get beyond the "barrio" which before they could not see past. He decides that they CAN learn calculus and volunteers to teach the class;...
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essays:
high school life
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Elementary Education, based on 'Living, Loving & Learning' by Leo Buscaglia
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School and Community Portrait What makes a good school? What makes a good teacher? Does this school help the student to achieve the American Dream?
... thing that I failed to talk to Mr. Dimurro about, although I assume from the conversations, we did have that he has in fact met all the standards necessary and is one of the 40 certified teachers at Pleasantville High School ... Regents tests taken at the high school, Mathematics ...
High School Drop-outs. Speaks of how people, teachers, and parents should motivate kids to stay in school
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This essay is about High-stakes testing and how it is ruining education. It gives evidence through research to prove that high-stakes tests do not promote learning.
... of high stakes tests is to raise academic standards, the testing has negative effects on learning. Because the consequence of the testing is detrimentally high, schools have narrowed their curriculum, and teachers have ...
"The Role of the teacher" by Irving layton.
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Learning Communities- This essay will help to persuade high school teachers and administrators towards building these communities in their schools.
... faculty I have found that most administrators are very positive about the idea, while teachers are a little more hesitant. The focus at these high school is ...
School-Work program
... from High School to low-paying dead end jobs because they didn't see a reason to stay in school. This program will offer students understanding of a particular occupation while being able to watch experienced workers on ...