My revision of projects 3 and 4

In every society people can be divided into two categories, either the elites that posses power and influence or the masses who are lacking power and influence.  For this instance it will be the teacher that posses power and influence, while the students are lacking in those fields.

There is always going to be a hierarchy of those who have power that are on top and those who don’t have power who happen to be on the bottom.  We see this hierarchy in our life every day.  You start school at pre-K at the lowest possible power status and rise to the top simply by reaching 8th grade(or 6th if you went to a middle school).  Once you hit the top you drop, yet again, to the bottom when you start High School.  It doesn’t matter if you go to college or join the work force, you still end up at the bottom and must work your way up.  Even if you graduate college and make it to the top at your chosen business you still havent reached the top.  There still is other people who out rank you with their power.

In the movie the movie “Half Nelson”, a teacher named Dan forces his students to understand history and not just memorize it for a grade.  When trying to get his point across he even arm wrestles a student to show that the world has opposing forces.   Dan was a white teacher in a predominantly black/hispanic class.  He was in the suburbs of a city and his teaching style was different then what he was supposed to be doing.  By not following the norm, Dan was able to find a way to get through to his students on a level that made them excel.  While all along maintaining his authority in the class room, which was unfortunately aided by a drug habit.

A lot of people in this class are going to be teachers.  Standing in front of anyone and speaking takes confidence.  You cannot pretend you have confidence and show something else, people will see right through you.   One day in  class I was literally counting the times when people said “like” while they were giving their critiques.  I lost count somewhere around 50 and there were plenty more that were used.  If you use the word “like” or “om” excessively it makes me think you don’t have a clue what you are talking about.  It forces me to think that you are timid and unsure of yourself.  If I had a teacher that talked like that I wouldn’t respect them and if possible, I would attempt to switch classes.  Think about what you want to say, vocalize your thoughts, and be confident of what you say.  Habits are hard to break, but if you truly want to be a teacher, this is one of them that must be crushed.

I got this from my politics book “Legitimacy can be viewed as a sense that an individual or group who has power holds such power properly.  If the people whom they hold influence over dont view them as legitimate, their power will likely be short-lived.”*.  This is also true in classrooms, with a teacher’s ability to maintain their legitimacy.   Have you ever heard of “you only get one first impression”?  Well, it applies in the teaching world also.  A teacher’s authority in the classroom starts the first day, when you, the teacher and students first meet.  On that first day, the students formulate their own impressions of the teacher.  This is why as a teacher, you need to establish yourself as the one who’s in charge.   

*Comparative Politics of the Third World – Linking concepts and cases; by December Green and Laura Luehrmann