Thesis-Support Microtheme

Thesis:
The media consistently promotes the myth of the classless society.

Summary:
Mass media, and especially television, is used to promote the idea that “the rich are just like us”, they have the same problems, they are all hard working, they face significant personal and professional issues, and the money they have doesn’t really mean much to them. They are friends to all of us, and there are no divisions of wealth or class to separate “us” from “them”.

Supporting Evidence (from Hooks, Bell – Where we stand: class matters):
Daytime and nighttime soap operas depict the lives of the rich as one sad crisis after another. They have numerous personal problems that all the money in the world will not cure.
The rich are also depicted in television shows are extremely hard working, just as any cook, janitor, or blue collar worker.
Most television shows promote the sense that nearly everyone is well-off, or will be very soon. They spend their money freely on material goods, and we can be more like them and feel closer to them if we purchase the same products. We have an equal right to purchase anything we want, just like the rich.
We live in a classless, consumerism-based society. You can demonstrate your individualism by purchasing exactly the same consumer goods as the well-to-do everyone sees on TV.
Celebrity television shows us a way to identify with the rich. If we can identify with them, we can demonstrate that they are like us, and we are like them. We buy the same consumer products; we have the same trials and tribulations; we feel the same pain.
When we hear the rich talk about their lives, we feel a sense of intimacy with them. When I see a picture of a rich celebrity having a “bad hair” day in a magazine, I feel like we are similar.
The rich are eager to cross class boundaries, and are open, kind, and vulnerable.

Week 3 at Willink

A little more on what was a very educational first full week of teaching. It's a very odd feeling teaching the same material multiple times, and on different days due to the block schedule. Andy has been very helpful as far as pushing me to immediately reflect on what went well and also not so well immediately after each class. I've been able to make adjustments and improvements after each block, and his experience is extremely valuable.

There are four regular Math 7 blocks, and we are moving through a unit focused on the Pythagorean theorem. All of the classes have their own personality and student culture. It's great that they are all less than 20 students - it really helps me in trying to make individual connections with each student. That isn't yet the case in the BIG Math 7 accelerated class, with 36 students. For whatever reason, the jump from 20 to 36 feels larger than 80% (i.e. (36-20)/20 x 100) - however, they are all very bright, focused and easy to work with.

So bright, in fact, that my first accelerated block on Tuesday had only enough material for about 50 minutes. Andy helped me out with some additional material focused on slopes, and it worked out OK. The following day, he really pushed me to do more planning during our planning time, and I'm so glad he did. We had a short but extremely valuable and focused conversation on the accelerated unit, which is about linear systems. I was floundering a little, and that conversation and 2 hours of work really helped it all to make sense and allow me to see the big picture.

The end result was that I over-corrected a bit, and had TOO MUCH stuff for the next accelerated lesson on Thursday. I then tried to go with the planned worksheet which I hadn't quite prepared them for yet. My key learning from those two lessons? - be very cognizant of sequencing, and making sure each detail is taught before you ask the students for performance. It's very easy to leave out a detail here and there that seems obvious to us, but can create a gap in a student's understanding.

What a Week!

More about this later, but I had a really great week! Due to the review for the NYS Math 7 test, and the test itself, and the requisite partays, I wasn't able to take over full time teaching until this past Monday. I think it went fairly well, and 13 86-minute blocks later, I'm still in one piece.

Week 2 at Willink

The real work has finally started! Last week I continued to get to know all 111 7th graders. Monday was a final day of review for the even blocks, followed by the 2 test days. What really made it a fun week was the post test party Andy planned for the students. Money was collected during the week before the test (limit of $2 per student), and was used to buy all sorts of sugar filled products. I stopped at the party store on Wednesday and picked up some decorations including hanging palm trees and a lei for each student. We had video games, a movie (Cars), and lots of fun.

All the students know I will be taking over tomorrow, and the party was a good way to transition, and a good way to get to know the students on a more personal level.

I've got detailed plans together for the first 2 blocks - tomorrow is the first full teaching day and I didn't want to go too far until I have a sense of the pacing. The first unit for the Math 7 class is the Pythagorean theorem, with algebra patterns and linear relationships for the accelerated class.

I can't believe 2 out of the 7 weeks have already passed, and I'm sure will go even more quickly now that I'll be teaching full time.

Tangerine - Part 2

OK, so Paul Fisher got his new start at Tangerine High in Part 2. He’s on the soccer team and playing backup goalie – right where he wanted to be. We learn about the power structure on the Tangerine War Eagles, and the power begins and ends with Victor. It’s a small team with only fifteen players, about half the size of the Seagulls at Lake Windsor Middle.

Paul’s initiation into how the game is played doesn’t take long. After Tino is thrown out of the first game against Palmetto Middle School, Coach Bright puts him in, but NOT in goal! No matter, and Paul doesn’t let on he’s never considered anything but goal. Unfortunately he blows a big chance for the tying goal, which is followed by a friendly death threat from Victor.

We see something really unexpected from Paul when right after he blows the chance for the goal and gets Victor’s reminder that he blew it and it could cost them the game, someone smears mud in HIS EYES! Paul goes nuts, jumps on the players back and starts punching away, a la Tino. So ends Paul’s playing time in game number one, but his fight earned him respect and made him one of the War Eagles, not to be messed with. Is this the real Paul coming out, fitting right in with the War Eagles?

We see a glimpse of evil in Erik and his friend Arthur when they see Paul’s friend Joey, calling him “Mohawk Man’s brother”. Mohawk Man is a reference to Joey’s dead brother Mike, who had half his hair burned off his head by the lightning strike that killed him. Nice boys they are, that Erik and Arthur. I have a feeling we’ll see just how evil Arthur might be later in the book.

Paul tries very hard to help out his friend Joey, and convinces him to transfer to Tangerine with him so he can be in the same classes and on the soccer team. This does not go well at all, and we find that Joey’s anger (certainly connected to his brother’s tragic death) is directed at everyone, including Paul. Joey needs the comfort, familiarity, predictability, and blandness of Lake Windsor Downs and Lake Windsor Middle School.

This is Different

This IS different! Different town, different school, different grade, different age, different school culture.

I have met a total of 111 new students this past week, spread across 4 blocks of Math 7 and 1 block of accelerated Math 7. The entire week was spent on review for the upcoming state test on Tuesday and Wednesday. I did have a chance to teach 2 mini-lessons to the accelerated class on Tuesday and Thursday. They were very short, about 10 mintutes each, but allowed me to get my feet wet. Most of the remaining time was helping out as much as possible in the classroom while Andy reviewed material for the test.

I was able to get a firm understanding of Andy's system for standards based assessments, grading, homework assignments, and so forth. In addition, a big part of the culture at WMS is the concept of a team of teachers spending time together to plan and discuss students. WMS is divided into 3 "houses" of about 330 students each, with about 110 in each grade 6,7, and 8. The math, science, english, and social studies teachers, plus a consulting teacher, constitute the Red 7 team. We meet every day for at least 30 minutes, and also eat lunch together. It's a very collegial atmosphere.

The students are very respectful and well behaved. I don't believe there will be any issues of classroom management when I take over teaching on March 19. I'm already planning and I hope to have the complete plan reviewed by Andy and ready to go for the five full weeks I'll teach.

One key observation about 7th graders - keep the energy level up, and they will respond. However, even during extended periods of somewhat tedious review, Andy acknowledged that fact and thanked the students for sticking with it.

Finally, this past week has me questioning where I would really like to teach. I left SWW thinking "I could teach here", feeling that having my own class right from the beginning of the year would result in less classroom management issues, less personal conversations during class (which was the biggest issue), and more motivation. It was frustrating at SWW in that many of the students didn't seem to care much about the content, and they let you know it, but I think with more time I could get increased student engagement and achievement.

I'm sure the younger age at WMS is a factor, but nearly all the students seem to be very motivated and want to succeed - they are an eager and less skeptical audience than at SWW, and it seems like a more pleasant atmosphere. I'm sure the contrast is so stark since I went from one world to another from a Friday to a Monday, but if I had to choose now, I don't know what I would prefer.

More to come on the differences in school and personal culture as the weeks pass.

Block 2, Day 1

I had a great day today, my first day at Willink Middle School in Webster. I met my SBE Andy Mitchell, who is a really great person, and I can tell already has an excellent relationship with the kids. Willink is on a block schedule, so I met 2 sections of Math 7 today, with 2 more tomorrow, plus a section of Math 7 accelerated.

It's a beautiful, new school that opened in 2001. There are about 1000 students in grades 6,7, and 8, but they are divided into a house system of about 330 each, and about 110 in each grade. I'll get to teach every one of those 110!

The students and culture are much different than School Without Walls. Not only are the kids much younger, they all seem to be age/grade matched more than the population at SWW, so they seemed REALLY young. The culture is also very rigid - 4 minutes between classes, agendas required for all students, and so on.

Another key difference is the focus on the preparation for the NYS Math 7 test that is coming next week. This is a really big deal - a lot of review is going into it, and Andy structures the lessons and assessments just like the test. Since the test is standards based, he has every question linked to a particular standard, and graded similarly. It seems to be a very rigorous and focused curriculum.

1st Placement - In the Books!

The final week was actually the only full, 5 day week of my placement at School Without Walls. It was a little bumpy on Monday, which was the first day after the winter break. Several students had missed the previous Friday, and with snow days I hadn't seen them in 14 days.

I focused on permutations and combinations on Monday and Wednesday, and things went pretty well. On Friday, I briefly touched on the multiplication counting principle as a lead in to a blackjack probability experiment. I had hoped to go more deeply into the probabilities of the game, but the two lost snow days made a difference. We computed the theoretical probability of getting a blackjack with a shuffled deck and a 2 card deal, which turns out to be 4.8%. Then in pairs, students shuffled and dealt 50 times and recorded whether or not they got a blackjack. Theoretically, you should expect about 2.5 blackjacks per 50 deals, and the numbers ranged from 1 to 6 in both classes. But when combining the data, the morning class ended up with 4.7% (wow!), with about 6% in the afternoon class. Overall, it was a really good example of the numbers working out pretty well!

I had the opportunity to remove my first student from class on Friday. A young lady was reading the newspaper (!), and after a minute or two I asked her to please put it away. A minute or two later I asked again, she made no attempt to do anything, and I was committed. I asked her again, and reached for the paper, at which point she slapped her hands down on it to prevent me from taking it. Then I calmly directed her to leave the room, go to the principals office and explain to him what happened. She packed up and left. My SBE didn't get involved, but did offer to see her advisor and asked him to speak with her. The advisor did and in consultation with my SBE, her punishment is to attend a TI calculator event on Saturday, March 24. Apparently they also had a conversation to the effect of "you can decide for yourself whether you want to apologize". I saw her a number of times in the hall and she apparently decided not.

This particular girl has numerous home and personal issues, and was only in about 50% of the classes. While in class she often displayed indifference, poor attitude, anger, and so forth. My take on the whole situation is that she is not atypical of urban students, with little social or family support, and they feel they are always being attacked. As teachers we just have to keep trying with students like this. If it wasn't my last day, I would have tried to find out a little more detail about what makes her tick, and try to make some sort of connection. But reading a newspaper in class is clearly off the table!