Lecture #2- How to Get Better Grades in Less Time

On September 16 a lecture was given on how to get better grades in less time. I went not only to fulfill this lecture attendance requirement, but also out of curiosity to see if it really would help. He began by showing a short cute film of college students' studying habits and stereotypes about college students. Then he proceeded with having a girl come up and jump as high as she could to mark a paper on the wall. When bribed with money, however, she pushed herself to go that much higher. This was apparently supposed to show how students can exceed with a little incentive. We then tested our current reading speed with a provided text. Mine happened to be around 90 words per minute. He then took us through a process of pushing ourselves to read faster, and by the end of the exercise I was reading over 130 words per minute. The question I had to keep asking myself though was whether I was retaining as much information as I was reading 90 words per minute. Then he made a shocking statement that he could guarantee that we could all get a 3.75-4.00 G.P.A. if we did the following: 1. Practice speed reading for 20 minutes every day 2. Get 8 hours of sleep every night, and finally 3. Review your notes 5 hours after you wrote them. I don't doubt that my G.P.A. would be that high! The reason he can guarantee that is because it's almost impossible for college students to do those three things consistently. I thought he gave great advice, but it just wasn't quite practical, for me anyway. Other parts of the lecture included good foods to eat, advice on exercising, and other tips that would help a student achieve better grades. I thought he did a great job keeping his audience's attention, and he had a great sense of humor. I could also tell that this man enjoyed teaching us about these tips. He presented himself in a very confident, yet humble way which seems to work best for me. The lecture contained a lot of great information, but I'm not so sure, however, if I got much out of the lecture, simply because I knew most of what he talked about, and because not all of the advice is practical for my life.

"Write and Wrong" Article

Today in class we read an article about a teacher named Mrs. Heermann who was fired for handing out "The Freedom Writer's Diary" in class. Although she did this before waiting for the school board to get back to her, she did get the parent's permission. In my opinion she should have never been fired from the school district, let alone forbidden from contacting those students. Yes, she should have waited for the board's approval before continuing, but the book was a piece of literature that her students could relate to. Her students were similar to Erin Gruwell's students in the book, and Heermann herself seemed to want to take on the same approach to teaching her at-risk students as Gruwell did. Having her students read the book could have produced the same outcome that Gruwell's students did by writing them. The controversy over the text seems to be in the racial slurs in the book. But these racial slurs begin to diminish as the student's diaries progress, showing that Gruwell's students began to have more respect for themselves and others, therefore those racial slurs could have been used as a learning tool. I am just personally shocked that a school district was allowed to fire a teacher of 27 years just for handing out a book. I think that it is ridiculous that a teacher was fired for trying to be like Erin Gruwell because she was an inspiration for teachers. I guess I can only hope that the publication of this article makes people question that school board about their harsh decision.

"Lions For Lambs"

Our class spent two Monday evening Educational Psychology meetings watching the movie "Lions For Lambs". This movie included many different valid points and arguments in repect to politics, teaching, the media, and many more areas. It showed challenges faced by different job positions and how the individual decided to deal with these challenges. There were a few scenarios in the movie that inter-linked.

First there were the scenes with the Political Science professor talking to the "under-achieving" student who slowly decided not to show up to class. The two characters talked about many different issues reguarding how the student's potential was there, but the will was being lost. I found it interesting how the professor laid out a proposition to him: he could leave the office and never return to class and receive a B in the class, or show up. The professor was not stupid in doing this, because he knew of the student's unique potential in the subject and that it was just up to him whether he would waste that potential, or use it. I also thought the professor was a great example of a "great" teacher, because he noticed the change in the student and was passionate enough about the student's potential to have a meeting with him and drill him about his intentions in life. He did not want to tell the student what to do, he just wanted him to be aware of his options and the consequences of "living the good life".

That same professor links to another part of the story which involves two former students of his who were also exceptional in his class years before. Not knowing what would come of it, the professor encouraged the two students in their debate reguarding going in to the U.S. Army. The two students shocked the class by showing them their acceptance letters into the army. At this the professor felt like he accidently pushed the students into it, but they reassured him that it was their own decision to join. I remember a part where the professor said, "How could you do this to yourselves?" and they replied, "How could we not?" That stuck with me because it shows just how strong patriotism means to them, and how much it should mean to other Americans.

Finally, the last link is from these army soldiers to a senator who is being interviewed by a top news reporter. This senator is explaining how they had sent a helicopter of soldiers to claim a spot crucial for attaining a victory to boost America's spirit in the war. This news reporter and senator clearly disagree with most being discussed, but the senator manages to reach the reporter, making her re-think her position for reporting it. I found it interesting that the reporter changed just throughout that period. The movie ended with the two army soldiers getting shot just before help came and the underachieving student making the right choice about his future.

This movie reflects many great points for how to teach, why we teach, what makes good teachers, and the mission of education. When asked during the lecture what makes a good teacher, I responded, "A good teacher helps or guides their students to be the best version of themselves" and that's exactly what I felt like the professor was doing in this movie.

Lecture: "Frybread and Fiction" - David Treuer

This lecture was given on September 4th by David Treuer during the Opening Convocation for the freshman class. As a general overview, I thought that his lecture was very witty, informational, and interesting. The topic of the lecture seemed to be how to read interpretively, which sounds like the most boring thing in the world to have a speech on, but he managed to make it work. Treuer had some great points throughout his speech relating to teaching. He stated that "if there is a problem with how this generation is, it's because how we are taught." He thought that the process by which this generation learns is concerning. I have heard this line from my parents, who are both teachers, yet him saying it really made me understand how big of an issue it is. I was also surprised when he said that literature is about lying in a very convincing way. That certainly got me thinking! He said that if you're reading literature for the "big picutre" you're losing the meaning of reading. Treuer's main point seemed to be that reading is building understanding, not just reading facts through our own interpretation. The second half of his speech was centered a lot towards ethic reading which he considered to be quite different from other literature. Overall, I thought the speaker did a great job of presenting and speaking with quick humor and the ability to relate the topic to freshman in college.