Classroom Disscussions

The Wire – Final Reflections

ewhughes — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:15:36 +0000

Thank you again for an excellent semester of thought, discussion, and watching the stories of Randy, Michael, Duquan, and Namond (and all the others) unfold. I hope they’ve made you consider some of the abstractions of educational theory in more concrete ways. So now, tell me, ”What’s valuable in The Wire?”

Namond’s Influences

morganappel — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:59:21 +0000

In the past few episodes, we have seen how Namond’s mother is constantly seeming like a worse parent than before. She started out by pressuring Namond to get on the corner and sell drugs. Next we saw her laugh at him and tell him he should have spent the night in Baby Booking for the night so he would toughen up. In this past episode we see her try to physically abuse him for letting the little kid take a package. Although Namond is the only one still living with his natural mother at this point and is probably the wealthiest, his home life seems just as unhappy.

This issue would come up when trying to deal with a parent at school I feel. Does Namond’s mom even know that he is in a special program? If she did she probably would laugh at him and call him names. This is a parent that seems impossible to get to come to a parent teacher conference, and does not seem like someone you could talk to about their child being truent, or succeeding later in life. She doesn’t seem to value school at all, since she keeps reinforcing to him that the only skills he’ll ever need he will have to learn out on the streets.

Re-embracing Public Education

cfargio1 — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:53:13 +0000

I think the Rose article we had to read for class this week was the perfect way to pull together everything we have discussed in the course this semester. It seems like at least part of every class has been spent pointing out countless flaws in the system, often without knowing ways in which we could fix them. Every topic we discussed was a compelling and controversial issue in current education, which seems fitting since we were supposed to be discussing “Issues in Education.” What I think this article reminds us is that we need to remember that while the system may be flawed, its benefits far outweigh its problems. The smile of satisfaction on the face of a child who has just achieved something they didn’t think possible and the poor inner city child who could never otherwise afford an education are the types of small victories we must embrace, despite the challenges. And no, we might never have a perfect system. However, we should use those small victories as a motivation to help us continue to better the system so more and more children can experience them in their lives.

Lost Boys

morganappel — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:10:50 +0000

In this episode, we see how dramatic and serious Randy’s problem has become. By the end of the episode he is in the hospital with his foster Mom seriously injured. We see Carver show up to check on how things are and tell Randy that he’s sorry, but it clearly isn’t enough, as we see that Randy is shouting at him down the hallway at the end. During this part I felt terrible, and wished that Carver would take him home and let him live with him. This isn’t the first time I’ve felt like that however. I wanted Bunny to adopt Namond and take him away from his Mom, I want Cutty to adopt Michale and I want Prez to adopt Dukie.

Obviously adoption is extreme, but I can’t help but feeling that these kids arel ike the lost boys. I knwo we’ve had the discussion of how close is too close to get with students, but this is becoming very personal for a lot of them as their lives becme tougher and I wish something could be done. It said a lot when the vice principal told Prez that he shouldn’t get too attached to Dukie since he’ll have a whole new handful of Dukie’s next year to feel bad for. Just like when Carver let Namond sleep on the bench and Bunny took him home, what else can be done? These public figures are already doing as much as they can for these kids, and I realize that they can’t personally save every kid in Baltimore, but what else can be done for these kids?

Failing the children both in and out of school

djzj — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:50:38 +0000

Over the course of the past few episodes we have watched the situation with Randy develop. It began with him confessing he knew about Lex’s murder in order to get out of trouble when he saw the two boys and the girl go into the bathroom to have sex. Once this information hit the street, Randy was immediately labeled a snitch, and since has been beat up, hasn’t been able to return to school, and now his foster mother has been murdered. The reason I made the title Failing the children both in and out of school is because both the school and the police’s failure to protect Randy are direct causes of his current situation. Every cop Randy spoke to promised him that they would protect him or keep the information they told him secret. Herc let it slip that Randy snitched, Carver failed to protect him, and Lester and Bunk attempted to probe Prez for more information on Randy. What does this show us? I believe it shows that even though Randy was a good kid who was doing decently well in school, he was only worth the information that he could provide to the police. We learn from a young age not to be “tattle tales” but this was something completely different, this was a murder. However, the environment Randy lives in, not just the street but the school as well, dictates that you should never talk to the police under any circumstances. Nonetheless, Randy did the right thing and told the truth and was forced to suffer for it. What kind of message does this provide us about high-need inner-city areas? How can the education system impact the student’s conception of what is right and wrong?

Violent Lesson

msolomo2 — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:15:42 +0000

In this episode of the Wire, at the beginning Michael experiences the lesson from Snoop and Chris about how to shoot the gun, where to aim at a person to hurt vs. kill them. Michael learns a valuable lesson in this episode about how to survive on the street. But if you look at this issue on the other side, these violent lessons that are helping him stay alive on the streets are not helping in school. Michael has become more violent and it is affecting his actions in school. Is this the type of behavior that triggers acts of violence in schools that we discussed in the group presentation. How do you control this problem, when the students are learning outside of the school more useful information to get by in life as opposed to what Prez is teaching them. Should Prez focus more on the problems within the classroom and help them get more involved in their academics rather than dealing with the students problems outside the classroom? The experience Michael is getting with how to shoot a gun and where to shoot someone is along the lines of Dewey and learning more outside of the classroom to help you in life. The school and the street life seem to be in competition for the students and the street life seems to be winning. The school needs to find a way to get these students more focused on their academics and receiving an education to help regulate the violence inside the classroom to prevent the dangerous street life world from being a factor for the youth.

Lessons to be Learned

findingjewishhusband — Mon, 03 May 2010 03:14:54 +0000

This past week there was continual lessons that were being taught both in and out of the classroom. One example of this is of Namond. He was beginning to learn more and more about himself and the kind of person that he is. He has come to the realization that he does not belong on the streets dealing nor does he want to be part of that kind of “crowd”. At the same time, he has sadly realized that his mother is the opposite and wants him to be dealing on the street. I find it incredibly disturbing that his mother is pushing for this kind of behavior. It says a lot about her character and the kind of person she is. Maybe it was just the way that she was brought up to be, but regardless I find it distressful that she wants this kind of life for her son. Most parents want the best for their children-yet I do not think she knows what the “best” means. This can also be interpreted differently.

Michael has also been learning more about himself and his friends have realized that he is a changing person. I do not think that anyone can help him right now. He is a troubled child that is going down the wrong road. Ever since we began this season he has always taken care for his mother and his brother. Yet he has come to the realization that his mother is a drug addict and is only keeping him around to get money from the government to pay for more drugs. I think he was too frustrated with his mother to stay with her any longer. The only option that he has in order to keep his brother and him safe is to join a gang for “protection”. The leaders of the gang offer guidance that he has not ever had before. After a few episodes I find that he is very similar to Marlow in that he is quiet and reserved. They have similar traits as characters. I wonder if he will ever eventually take Marlow’s place.

They need a break…

abaskin1 — Sun, 02 May 2010 15:34:09 +0000

I felt terrible for Bubbles this past episode. It seems like the guy just can’t seem to get a break- whether it’s being continuously robbed for the little money and inventory he has or unintentionally killing his “son” Sherrod, it seems like Bubbles is just doomed to fail. Even when he tries to get help from a cop, whether it be Walker or Hirk, he gets screwed over. The experience with Sherrod, however, was such a hard lesson for Bubbles to experience; is it really fair? Does Bubbles ever get a break? It’s evident that people like Marlow and his crew, that is the ones on the top, get to stay there and enjoy all of it’s luxuries. However, the ones who often struggle the most, people like Bubbles, are constantly struggling everyday. Do the latter ever get a break? Even though this show is a work of imagination, we can easily attribute these characteristics to any society. Why does this have to be the case? I just don’t understand how and I hate the fact that an economy, even with its ups and downs, can easilly forget so many people.

Along with Bubbles we similarly find such a sad case in Dukie. Even though he’s improving in school with the help of Prez, on his way home we see all of Dukie’s belongings thrown in the street, with a notice of eviction on his “family’s” door. He just seems to have to go through so many hard lessons that it just doesn’t seem right.

I know I’ve said this at least once before, but I feel terrible for Bubbles and Dukie, especially because we see that they are good people who deserve so much more than they have. When will they get a break?

$54 million lost

katarinaroman — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 00:48:56 +0000

In today’s episode of the Wire we heard Mayor Carcetti complain about the amount money which can not be accounted for, $54 million. Carcetti understands that sometimes small amount of money can not be accounted for due to bookkeeping errors however, a loss of $54 million is unacceptable. $54 million is a LARGE amount of money, and that money could go a long way for struggling schools such as Tillman Middle School. The upsetting part is that nobody else saw how this loss can be a sign of corruption within the board of education. Supposedly the loss is the responsibility of the school board but Carcetti believes the loss could be a result of fraud or embezzlement. I believe it was the superintendent of the schools that claims the money can not be accounted for due to bookkeeping issues however she can guarantee that the money was still spent on programming. It is very hard to believe that the money which can not be accounted for, actually went to the schools because these schools are still lacking a lot of resources. Perhaps that money could go to hiring more quality teachers or newer textbooks and computers. It is very sad to think that a lot of these schools are suffering as a result of corruption within the school board. These children are basically being robbed of a quality education.

What classes do teachers need?

morganappel — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 04:20:31 +0000

While reading Kozol’s book, I was particularly struck by Chapter 3 about making connections with the parents of students. I was intrigued to see that he went to many of their homes and developed real relationships with these people. It frustrated me to no end when he said the principal was unhappy with his actions and said that the parents wouldn’t see him in a professional manner anymore. I specifically remember that I was always excited beyond belief if I saw a teacher in a grocery store or if a teacher came to a play with their husband because it made them seem so much more real and interesting.

This discussion also reminded me of our class when we talked about the perfect curriculum to be taught at an Education program. At first when I started reading this chapter my thought was, “Yeah! There should be a class about relating to parents.” But as he went on, I saw that he did mention teachers that told him poor families would have no literacy skills, or he was taught about multicultural relationships. It just seems like the type of classroom setting needs to be altered. I know we mentioned it would be nice if there was a discussion group after student teaching, which reminded me of when Kozol said he had wished new teachers were at her Halloween party to see the connections being made. So what’s the answer?