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.