I Just Wanna Have Ganas In the film Stand and Deliver, Mr. Escalante was asked what the students in his AP Calculus class need to succeed, to which he replied, “ganas, all they need is ganas.” Ganas, the Spanish word for “desire,” is celebrated by Mr. Escalante as the one thing his students need to pass his class. Escalante’s simplification of what a student needs to succeed down to a single word displays the compassion and care he has for all his students. In “I Just Wanna Be Average,” Mike Rose portrays his senior English teacher Jack MacFarland as a highly charismatic person who came into his life at the right time. MacFarland, like Escalante, was passionate about teaching, highly intelligent, and managed to leave a positive impact on all …show more content…
When Rose thought he had lost his motivation to pursue an education, Mr. MacFarland came into his life. MacFarland’s curriculum encouraged Rose to read again and made him “feel special by using [his] mind.” Rose also greatly enjoyed receiving good grades on essays in MacFarland’s class. Mr. Escalante came to Garfield at a time when many of its students were getting involved in gangs. He encouraged his students to come to class early and on Saturdays, rewarding the ones who did so with inspiration and the motivation to succeed. Escalante wanted his students to better their lives, so he encouraged them to spend more time in the classroom and rewarded them for doing so. Personally, positive reinforcement from charismatic teachers makes students feel like they’re worth something. Intellectually, this reinforcement helps students see working as less of a chore and more of a habit. On the contrary, while positive reinforcement is common in these classrooms, the same is not true in the real world. Many students are in for a shocking surprise when they learn that in the real world, they receive little for working hard. Some may work very hard and pursue higher education, yet still struggle to advance in
With thanks to Sherry Morris, author of Junee: A Thematic History, a report compiled for the Junee Shire Wide Community Based Heritage Study Committee, Unpublished
Students encounter many complications during their school career. Some students are smart, but just don’t apply themselves, or have similar hardships that are going on in their lives. These can be fixed if one can find motivation and confidence. In the story “Zero,” Paul Logan coasts through high school and college. Logan doesn’t know the tools to succeed in school, which causes his grades to fall. In the story “The Jacket,” Gary Soto explains how the way one dresses can influences how they feel about themself. Which in this case he gets an ugly jacket; which causes him to be depressed and his grades to fall. Albeit Logan and Soto went through similar hardships, they both succeed with motivation and confidence.
Growing up, my parents never expected perfection but expected that I try to accomplish my best. The effort I’ve put forth in learning has been reflected in my grades throughout my high school career. I’ve entered myself in vigorous course work such as AP Government and AP English to become well prepared for my college career, all while maintaining a 4.4 grade point average this year. Not only do I engage in AP classes, but up until this year I had no study halls. I wanted my day to be packed full of interesting classes that I would enjoy learning about. My grades and choice of classes prove the effort that I put forth in my learning. Working hard now can only pay off in the future. Learning now creates a well-rounded human being. Working to learn is why I am so dedicated to my studies now.
This reinforces their academic commitment and motivates the students to complete set tasks, where they are rewarded for their behaviour. There are also fixed-interval schedules, where Miss Johnson is rewarded with a salary for teaching the students. This encourages her to strive to engage her students and not give up on them, as she desires the reward of her pay cheque. A variable-interval schedule is also explored, where she is rewarded for her dedication and commitment to engage the students, as they eventually perceive her as their “light”. In addition, there are variable-interval schedules, where Miss Johnson is rewarded with good behaviour form her students after an unspecified amount of
“I Just Wanna Be Average” is a passage from Mike’s semi-autobiography “Lives on the Boundary”. The passage describes his time as a high school student at Our Lady of Mercy. The story begins as his scores from the entrance standardized test were switched with another students scores. As such, he is mistakenly placed in the vocational education program of the school. Rose went on to take a biology course his sophomore year in the spring. His teacher noticed Rose’s unusual high scores on the exams of his class and noticed the error of his placement in the school records. In the fall, Rose was pushed into the college prep program at Our Lady of Mercy. The change, at first, was a culture shock in the slightest. Things were miserable for Rose until an English teacher changed his life during his Senior year. Mr. MacFarland greatly inspired the whole school, especially Rose whom now sees Mr. MacFarland as the man who shaped him into who he is today. Rose went on, with help from his English teacher, to a high education and pursuit such at Loyola University, the alma mater of Mr. MacFarland.
One of the main issues in the educational system is the mindset of students, especially those in poverty. Students in poverty since the, “...beginning of the Progressive Era...” have had a tendency to not put forth effort in the classroom (Hood). Cultural trends throughout twentieth and twenty-first century America has developed different philosophies on how education should be treated. The overarching theme from all time periods in America is that students in poverty tend to be less happy, less excited about school, and less invested in the future that lies ahead for them because they have no hope and optimism. According to the International Journal for Behavioral Medicine, students who have a low “...socioeconomic status [view] the future as containing more negative [experiences] than positive [experiences]”. These students are considered the trouble makers o...
In this essay I will compare person-Centred counselling with cognitive-Behavioural counselling and their different approaches and why the counselling relationship is so important. There will be a brief outline of what Person Centred and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy.
With the use of guidance and a democratic classroom, children feel important and have greater respect for their teacher, which in turn causes the students to feel more inclined to exude positive behavior.... ... middle of paper ... ... (EDC, personal communication Oct 6 & 13, 20011)
Roses’ recollection of the influential Mr. MacFarland shows the power of passionate educators who refuse to accept indifference. I found myself reflecting and looking back on the teachers who have played a key role in shaping my academic journey, having my own personal opinion on the power of education that goes beyond societal barriers. From an objective standpoint, "I Just Wanna Be Average" does very well at addressing important social issues in a way that's easy to understand. Rose shares his personal stories and things he’s been through with bigger issues about education and society. His writing style is appealing and draws readers in, making them feel connected to his experiences.
Having expectations for others is a normal thing, however, when these expectations reach an unrealistic level, it becomes harmful to the person on the receiving end. In the story "I Just Wanna be Average," unrealistic high or low level of expectations are shown to have negative effects on students. These expectations when low can drive the students to have low self-esteem and suck away their motivation to succeed. If anything the students acts out on how they're expected to. When they are bullied on how stupid they are, these students start behaving that way because that’s the only thing they’re told that they’re good for. This is shown on page 318 when Rose says "you'll have to shut down...and have to cultivate stupidity." It’s the same result when these expectations are set high, they harm the students because sometimes high expectations causes a lot of stress as they can be hard to reach. These students end up wanting to be like "the average student" or "the
In this paper I will be discussing the information I have learned from the article “From Positive Reinforcement to Positive Behaviors”, by Ellen A. Sigler and Shirley Aamidor. The authors stress the importance of positive reinforcement. The belief is that teachers and adults should be rewarding appropriate behaviors and ignoring the inappropriate ones. The authors’ beliefs are expressed by answering the following questions: Why use positive reinforcement?, Are we judging children’s behaviors?, Why do children behave in a certain way?, Do we teach children what to feel?, Does positive reinforcement really work?, and How does positive reinforcement work?. The following work is a summary of "Positive Reinforcement to Positive Behaviors" with my thoughts and reflection of the work in the end.
Can you think of someone that has made an important impact on your life, helping you to grow and become the person you are today? In the story “Thank You M’am” by Langston Hughes, a young boy named Roger crosses paths with an older lady, Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones. Mrs. Jones is alarmed and disturbed because of him right away when he runs up to her. Then, she feels bad for the boy considering how he looks and acts, and she ends up helping Roger out by the end of the story. Mrs. Jones changes Roger by taking care of him and showing him he’s not alone even after he did something wrong.
The reward system is a beneficial behavioral modification teaching method, which promotes more positive behaviors in the classroom (Charles & Barr, 2014). Many teachers generally use the reward method of praise within their classrooms for a variety of reasons. The first advantage of using praise within the classroom is because it encourages students do repeat positive behaviors in the classroom. Many children are simply looking for attention and enjoy it, which makes it a great technique to use in the classroom (Charles & Barr, 2014). Another advantage for this reward type is that due to the encouragement, the students are able to perform at a better rate; students excel academically. A final advantage to using praise is that it is easily implemented into the classroom and requires little to no preparation. This makes the reward method a great addition for teachers as well as students because students get instant feedback without
For many Canadians, looking for news updates on politics, sports, entertainment, music and so on is something that is done daily. In order to keep up with the news people use different many different platforms such as, the TV, word of mouth, social media, online news organizations and search engines. Each and every one of those formats have their own strengths and weaknesses so people must pick and choose exactly which or those formats are worth their time. Personally, I like to use any format that is easily accessible and that I can get while just doing my day's daily activities, which therefore should not required any extra work to actually find. According to those standards, I have chosen to get me to get my daily news updates, from social
The utilization of positive reinforcement is a possible technique for enhancing students’ behavior for a variety of school conditions for individual and as well as for the group of students (Wheatley, et al., 2009).