Dominique Allen-Knox
Professor Douglas
English 1A
2 March 13
All It Took Was One
“I Just Wanna Be Average”, by Mike Rose I found similarities. I struggled in school to find any understanding between Mike Rose’s educational path and my own. After giving it some thought, I believe what made the difference in our futures was the presence of good teaching. Until junior year, my history teacher sparked my interest in learning. In that year I found a yearning for History. However, this changed when I transferred schools heading towards my junior year with the opening of a former high school closer to my home. The principal handpick several of his teachers from across the district with the intention of being academically competitive the first year of the school’s magnet program. One of these teachers, Ms. Macias, my upcoming History teacher, was among them. I first met her at the start of second semester, there was this immediate aura of sophistication that showed in her style of teaching.
Ms. Macias reminds me of the kind of teacher that Mike Rose didn’t have much exposure to until he had Mr. MacFarland. Ms. Macias compared to Mr. Macfarland was educated at a high level. The character of Ms. Macias showed that she was talented at what she does best which is teaching at the collegiate level, but she taught high school because she wanted to push students early so that they thrive down the road. Mike Rose states that “MacFarland’s lectures were crafted, and as he delivered them he would pace the room jiggling a piece of chalk in his cupped hand, using it to write on the board the names of all the writers and philosophers, plays and novels he was weaving into his class discussion.”(Rose) Ms. Macias did similar things in her class.
Student Council Day School Election
Election Day 1999 was a day larger than me and larger than my school. For me, however, all that mattered that day was the student council election in which I was a candidate for vice president. Earlier that year, I had been encouraged by my friends to run for the position of class representative. I was initially apprehensive about taking on the responsibilities of my schoolwork, as well as the ...
We read a variety of essays and short stories from Homer, Herodotus, Plato, John Adams, Malcolm X, Caesar Chavez and more. We made the most of class time and wrote essays and group projects on a weekly basis. We also did a History examination of each chapter. By the time June came around, I had been introduced to historical events that I haven’t known before. I learned so much that it wasn’t any problem to name dates of events. Rose states nicely when he claims, “He tapped my old interest in reading and creating stories”. “He gave me a way to feel special by using my mind” (Rose).
“For so many years I had been a cynic, set in my beliefs that high school was complete shit”. “Why work hard in a class that didn’t grab my fancy?” (Rose).
I agree with this quote because I have had many courses that have not grabbed my interest; Therefore, I didn’t study properly and work hard to earn the best grade.
In my freshman year of high school, I had a science teacher named Ms. Goa, who clearly didn’t want to be teaching and that was reflected in the lack of material we covered in class. Ms. Goa never offered to help us if we were having trouble understanding the material and it seemed that she didn’t care if we passed or failed the class. Since then, I have had no interest in any type of physical science and I know that Ms. Goa is the reason why.
Rose explains that everyone should be learning on the same level no matter how advanced one is. After being placed in the Vocational Education class, Rose interest in his studies faded, and he did the minimum amount of work to pass. To make matters worse, the teachers didn’t care whether or not the students learned the material. Rose believes that if teachers didn’t have high expectations for their students, the students will have a decrease in work ethic because there is no one pushing them to succeed. Throughout my years of schooling, I have been lucky enough to have a few teachers who taught every student on the same level. It is the only fair way for everyone to have an equal chance for success.
The Review on Students’ Perception on Separating Class Based on Learning Style
There are some methods that can be used to identify the leaning style, one of them is fingerprint test. Fingerprint test is a techniques used to analyze someone’s multiple intelligence, learning style and personality (Ayu, 2007). Regarding to the importance of learning style, this study tries to find out students’ perception when they have to be seated in the classroom which consist of people who ...
However, education is just not about teachers. There are tons of teachers like Mr.MacFarland who knew how to talk to his students, similar to my History teacher Ms. Macias. Education can’t be successful if students don’t have any will of learning; I think education cannot be completed without students aiming to attain the material. This essay shows students that they are not alone. Whenever the students are frustrated, there are teachers to help them.
“I Just Wanna Be Average”, shows that there are still instructors who excel there students the same as LeBron James facilitates the ball to his teammates. Teachers are held to a high standard and they are the people who I can’t approach teaching their curriculum easily because of their status. This is the reason that I understood Mike Rose and the reality of how he overcame disliking school just by one person a teacher who changed his life. It fueled him to change others outlooks on teaching and not wanting to be average but the best student able to aim high.
