Week 11

Poetry Slam

I thought that the poetry slam was very interesting. It is a good way to let students have a way to speak their minds freely. A lot of slam poetry also touches on really tough issues.  This would be a good to incorporate into a lesson plan because you really can't have mistakes. as long as you convey your message through spoken word. The second part of the poetry slam was helpful to see that you can use many different medias for poetry but I think I was lost in the meaning of the actual poem.  however, it was very entertaining and I think that things like slam poetry can have a place in classroom lesson plans.

week 12

Waiting for superman

I really enjoyed the movie waiting for superman, but i also saw a lot of flaws within it. The movie points out a lot of different problems of the Public School system, but I feel like they didn't really give any solutions. The only solutions they gave were to stop teacher unions or transfer your child to a Charter School.  There are some issues with the teachers union but ultimately it was created to help the teachers not to harm the students.  It is good that it is being looked at under a critical eye because then maybe they will make some better changes in the union. However, I don't believe that is has such a big of an impact on the students as the movie led us to believe. 
Also, Charter Schools are not a solution to Public School problems, they are just another option of schooling.  Charter schools have the ability to do better than Public Schools because they can basically choose there students.  Charter Schools do not have to accept children with learning or behavioral disabilities, therefor making the it easier for the teachers to handle their classes, because they don't have to take into consideration children with different learning needs. 
In all, I think that the movie does present the problems of the Public School in a way that makes people listen and want to help, but it does little to provide solutions to the schools in need of that help.