Abstract: When Erin (the memoirs main character and author) begins her time as a student teacher, she finds herself in a classroom that could only be described as every teachers greatest dread. Her class is full of students who are both alien and intimidating. They take bets on how quickly they can drive her out of the school. They segregate themselves and appear to disregard any and all of the beliefs that Erin would consider societal or educational norms. She finds a way to get these students to respond to her by investigating what these students care about and trying to show that she understand things such as football as well. By showing to her students that she cares more about the students than about just getting through her teaching experience she begins to see alterations to their willingness in class. By the end of this section, her students are even excited to go on a trip to a holocaust museum. Her students also decide to take her into their world and give her a taste of the world they come from.
Reaction: The description of the events in the first section of this book seems too picture perfect, too black and white to be accurate; however, the principals that are expressed in this section are true and proven. Students will respond to teachers who show that they care about their students. I think that for Erin to come into a classroom such as this and challenge the ideas of a school system (for example to effectively say that her students can learn material that the school believes they can not) is incredibly brave. Though i do question the authenticity of her report of how miraculous the transformation was, i do recognize this as a possible story
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment