· Discuss one (+) question, confusion, or "I wonder...." you have from watching the video.
o I wonder why the “ghetto” schools hire teachers without education credits.
o I wonder why teachers yell at students to get them to listen to them. The librarians at my field work school do it too.
o I wonder why the movie spends so much more time focusing on Lonnie rather than having an equal amount of time to show us even more inequalities.
· Are Lonnie and James very different children? How do their environments affect them?
o Lonnie tries to look taught by saying that he’s not scared (his mom points out that he will not go outside after dark). He knows that he needs to go to school so he won’t be a bum, but he doesn’t really want to go to school. He’s a smart kid, but is failing math because he’s fooling around with his friends. Lonnie hits up arcades & basketball courts because there are few community resources for extracurricular activities. He wants to become a professional basketball player, but he could see himself becoming a lawyer. He wants to go to college. He almost was not able to make it to the 8th grade. He might be gifted, but he doesn’t have the right grades, because school bores him. He did 3 out of 9 science assignments, and he did not even do them well. Only 4 students in his science class did all of their science homework. This shows that the science teacher is not motivating them well. They thought the homework assignments were a joke. Kids weren’t coming to class prepared. Lonnie’s mother realizes that he’s not going to make it as a lawyer if he stays in the ghetto.
o James looks forward to science class because it’s related to being a veterinarian. He procrastinates. His classroom is overcrowded & his mother does not feel like he is getting a quality education. His school is part of a larger community. The extracurricular are very important. His school has a community center that is sponsored by the parents & the community. The teachers are respected. They are thinking about higher-level colleges & careers. He didn’t fail anything.
o Both students want to graduate. Both of them are having trouble in at least one class. The mothers are called. Lonnie’s mother sits in on the math class. James’s mom complains about the school, but it does not show her sitting in class with James. She decided to keep them in public school because private school costs a lot.
o Lonnie and James are not really different children, but they are not really similar either. They are both having problems in school. Lonnie is more set on being tough than James is.
· What is different or unequal about the two schools? How do opportunities to learn differ? How do teacher expectations differ? How might these contribute to the achievement gap?
o Good things about Lonnie’s school:
§ Lonnie’s principal walks from corner to corner to make sure the students go to school. The film showed him telling students to go inside four minutes after school started. The reason James’s principal does not do this is probably because the students are motivated to go to school.
o Good things about James’s school:
§ Unlike Lonnie’s school, James’ school has qualified teachers.
§ The teachers at James’ school do not get filmed yelling at the students.
§ James’s school has a large budget.
o Individual good things about both schools:
§ Lonnie’s school uses experiments that the students could try at home (although stepping up & down on a chair lends itself to students falling), while James’ school uses experiments that use microscopes. James’ school can afford microscopes, and they can do the practical experiment. Lonnie’s school has no other choice.
§ The students at Lonnie’s school learn piano because everyone can learn it at the same time. James’ school has a full band.
· Based on what you know about motivation and learning, why might students from Riverdale be more likely to succeed academically? What can you see happening to Lonnie in the video (especially towards the end)?
o Students at from Riverdale might be more likely to succeed academically because the school has a big enough budget to help the students learn and feel safe. The teachers are trained to teach (which includes knowing how to use motivation), and the teachers do not yell at the students.
o Lonnie’s science teacher lets the students distract him. He asks the group of students to stop & they do not really respect him. Lonnie looks bored out of his mind; he’s not paying attention. The teachers yell at the students.
o James’s teachers were not shown yelling. They showed a conference between the teacher and his mom. The students are interested in the microscopes.
You have a great blog post about the video! I think the the "getto" school or South Fordham in the inner-city hires teachers that are not qualified for their positions because of the lack of funding. If inner-city schools consist of a lot of low-income students, then the case may be that the government is funding many of these schools. If the school has a limited amount of funding, they are probably doing what they can to get by. Or another issue may be that most teachers do not want to work at inner-city schools, so they are hiring whoever is willing to work there. These are just possibilities of what may be happening. Unfortunately with the cuts of funding education, I feel this problem is only going to get worse. I hope that serious action takes place to help better inner-city schools and the education students at these schools receive.
ReplyDeleteI really like your comment about how the video spends more time on Lonnie, I hadn't thought about that! It's ironic that the movie spends more time on one kid than the other, considering its about equality. I think the movie spends more time on Lonnie because there are more problems/inequalities at his school. The school that James goes to is easy to talk about, but Lonnie's school takes more time to explain because there are more problems.
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