Friday, May 16, 2014

Blog post #38 Essay No.2 "Who is a good teracher and who is not?"



 “Who is a good teacher and who is not?”
            Everyone has different opinions on what makes a good teacher.  If you are a teacher, how do you know if you are a good one?  Also, how would you know if you are a bad teacher that is disliked by everyone?  These simple questions do not give you simple answers.  However, many examples of great teachers throughout our lives have shown us that it is not hard to be a good teacher (or a bad one).  There is no exact line to point out what makes a teacher good or bad.  It could depend on different situations between the teacher and student.  In movies Freedom Writers, Ms. Gruwell is a great teacher because she is dedicated and cares for her students.  On the other hand, in articles “School”, Sister Mary of Perpetual Help is not a good teacher because lack of connect with her students and emotionally abuses them.
            Ms. Gruwell is a great teacher because she is dedicated.  She has tried very hard to find the right solutions to improve her students’ knowledge.  When the principle is not let her to use the school books, she decides to work more two part time jobs—to be able to buy books for her students.  She constantly thinks about ways to help her students.  She buys books that relate to students’ lives and those books have opened and inspired students’ mind.  Furthermore, Ms. Gruwell takes students on a field trip to the Museum of Tolerance, and then she takes students to have dinner with some Holocaust survivors.  This trip and dinner have become significant experiences for her students.  They had not been treated with respect and a proper manner before; Ms. Gruwell treats her students with respect and a kind heart.  After dinner, one student decides to throw away his gun, because he cannot forget the effects of violence on the young Holocaust victim’s life that he sees in museum.  Most students realize their situations are better than Jewish people during the holocaust.  Ms. Gruwell dedicated work has a positive impact on her students’ behavior.  They begin to connect with each another in class, become obsessed with reading, and make sense about their lives.  Ms. Gruwell is not just improving their knowledge but she has improved students’ lives as well.
            Ms. Gruwell is also a great teacher because she is cared about her students.  While the principle and the other colleagues give up about students’ room 203, Ms. Gruwell has a different point of view.  She believes in her students’ ability and wants them to have the right education rather than just keeping them busy at school.  Ms. Gruwell cares very much about her students.  They become as a family.  When one student asks Ms. Gruwell to stay with her after school to work on the homework and wait for her aunt, Ms. Gruwell say yes with full happiness and warm feeling.  Ms. Gruwell knows how much her students need her for the following year.  She goes to fight the authority to be with her students and helps them to graduate a high school.  Teacher need to like their students to be able to understand and improve them.  This point is so true.  If teacher does not care or like his/her class, how much improvement in the class would be?  One student in Ms. Gruwell read his journal through the class in the party.  He tells how rough in his life is, and then how much Ms. Gruwell class has changed his life.  Ms. Gruwell shows how a great teacher she is.  She is not just knowledgeable--she more than an ordinary teacher.  Her dedicated and care for her students make her to be such a great teacher.
            Sister Mary of Perpetual Help is a bad teacher because she is lack of connection with her class.  She does not understand individual student’s need.  She makes the students feel that she either does not like to teach or children.  She does not notice Lorde’s number reading problem.  Her prejudices makes her believe Lorde would be able to do homework on her own, and she believes Lorde is lying to her.  Sister Mary of Perpetual Help does not try to understand her students.  Furthermore, she judges her students from her own bias.  This situation becomes a terrifying learning experience to Lorde.  Lorde could not understand what she was doing wrong and why she got punished.  When a teacher does not pay enough attention and judges from their own braise, she/he would not be able to understand their students.  It is difficult for students to learn and grow when they do not have a connection with their teacher.
Sister Mary of Perpetual Help is not a good teacher because she was emotionally abusive  to her students.  Emotion abuse is a very sensitive topic nowadays but no one pays much attention during that time yet.  However, everyone should expect to see a teacher educate in a mature manner and a kind heart.  Sister Mary of Perpetual Help does not have the right manner to be a good teacher.  Sister Mary of Perpetual Help has divided up the class into two colors groups; the Fairies and the Brownies.  It is racism and this evidence shows Sister Mary of Perpetual Help does not use an appropriate manner as a teacher.  Moreover, Sister Mary of Perpetual Help emotionally abuse Lorde by having the rest of students in the class offer up a special prayer for Lorde to stop be a wicked-hearted child, because Lorde broke her glasses by accident.  When Sister Mary of Perpetual Help asks the rest of the class to pray for her as a bad girl, it is not the right thing to do.  There is no good cause for Sister Mary of Perpetual Help to treat Lorde in the manner.  This caused Lord a lot of stress and affects her learning in the young age.  Every teacher should have the right manner to teach.  Sister Mary of Perpetual Help is not just a bad teacher; she affects her students’ lives outside the classroom in a negative manner as well by treating them so poorly.
            A good teacher should be dedicated and care about her students as Mr. Gruwell does.  You cannot be a good teacher if you lack a connection with and emotionally abuse your students like Sister Mary of Perpetual Help.  In the end, every student loves Ms. Gruwell as a family member and some even respect her as a mother.  Conversely, most students do like Sister Mary of Perpetual Help and remember her as a worse teacher in their lives.  Even though there is no exact line to be a good teacher or a bad teacher, we still are able to tell who is a good teacher or who is not.  This evidence shows us clearly who we should follow and who we should not.  We should learn from significant success and mistake from both teachers.  We should decide what kind of teacher we would like to be.  Do we want to be like Ms. Gruwell or Sister Mary of Perpetual Help?   

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