Teachers come in
and out of our lives -- they either make an impact or they have no effect on us
at all. The difference between the two is good teaching and bad teaching. Two
teachers that have proven to make an impact are Mr. Keating and Ms. Gruwell.
Both of them have shown dedication to their career, real love for their
students, and mind opening experiences.
Dedication isn’t
something where you do the bare-minimum to get by -- you have to prove that
whatever you are doing is worth the price to pay. That price may be losing a
marriage or losing your job, both of these are the cases for Ms. Gruwell and
Mr. Keating. When most of us think about good teaching we think about teachers
that have had some sort of impact on us. They may have helped us finally figure
out that tricky math problem we had been stuck on for weeks or they may have
been there to help us through a tough time. But no matter what the occasion was
they left their mark. The teaching styles of Ms. Gruwell and Mr. Keating are
very similar, they both use an active style of teaching where they get their
students involved in the learning. In the case of Ms. Gruwell and Mr. Keating
they left a huge impression on their students. They were the ones that risked
everything just so their students had the opportunity to have something better.
In the case of Ms. Gruwell she took on three jobs. Those jobs weren’t just
because teachers are paid enough, which is a whole other topic. The purpose of
those jobs was to provide for her students, from the money she made she bought
her students books and journals. This provided her students with confidence. Confidence
that they could be whatever they wanted to be and that they were worth it. As
any one of us could imagine juggling three jobs and a marriage something was
bound to go wrong. For Ms. Gruwell’s case she lost her marriage. Dedication
isn’t something that is easy – you give a little and take a little. Finding the
balance is the art. Mr. Keating had an understanding of balancing dedication.
He knew that if he dove right in he’d never resurface, but if he didn’t dive at
all he wouldn’t make a splash. Mr. Keating had a point he wanted to make to his
students – that point was that live your own life. Now that seems like a pretty
basic point and how does that relate to dedication? It relates to dedication
because Mr. Keating gave his students something that no other teacher at the
school could – he gave them a voice, “Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer
you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all” (Dead Poets
Society). By providing his students with a voice he gave them a whole
new view on life and the outside world. He has them do this in all sorts of
ways, from standing on tables to get a new perspective. The whole point of that
was when you are getting use to the same thing try to look at it from another
direction. His purpose was to have them see themselves for who they were and
not who their parents wanted them to be. Dedication comes with risks – for Mr.
Keating the risk was his job. The outcome on the students was far greater than
either of them could imagine.
Teaching requires
a certain type of drive – a drive for your students and not yourself. The
outcome isn’t to make yourself look good, but to make your students thrive. In
other words it’s having a love for your students and that is something that
good teachers have and bad teachers don’t. When the drive is lost you also lose
your students and in turn leave them out to dry. Ms. Gruwell is a teacher that
has that drive where her students come first. Her love was tested right at the
beginning, when she was given a class filled with ‘failures’. Right then it
could have broken her. Turned a good teacher into a bad teacher within a snap
of your fingers. Instead of doing what most other teachers would have done in
her shoes, she decided she was going to connect with them. This was one of her
biggest challenges, proving that she had respect for them, “Why should I give you my respect
to you? Because you're a teacher? I don't know you. How do I know you're not a
liar standing up there. How do I know you're not a bad person standing up
there? I'm not just gonna give you my respect because you're called a teacher”(Freedom
Writers). She knew her only was to break through was to connect with
these inner-city kids. After trying and trying and trying she finally broke
through. The one thing she had to gain was trust, one thing that no other
teacher had ever been able to prove. By showing them that trust they allowed
her to come into their world. Mr. Keating on the other hand didn’t have to earn
trust. His students were over obedient and he wanted them to think for
themselves. Mr. Keating and Ms. Gruwell had the opposite problem, but also the
same problem. Meaning they both wanted their students to see themselves for who
they are, not what their parents wanted them to be or what their race defined
them as. They wanted them to dig deep down and figure out what it meant to be
themselves. Mr. Keating taught them this by using alternative methods of teaching;
such as when learning about poetry he wanted them to feel it. So he had them
recite their poems to the music. He also had them do a simple act of follow the
leader, showing them how they just hopped right in and did what the other
person was doing. Mr. Keating’s love for his students was shown through the way
he wanted them to embrace their dreams.
When we think of
good teachers we think of teachers that have showed us something we would have
never thought of. They have showed us a new perspective on things or opened our
eyes to the world around us. Those teachers are the ones that make the most
impact. They take what we know and they make it more relatable and real. Ms.
Gruwell does this by taking what her students know and applying knowledge that
is relatable. She introduces them to the Holocaust. Now these kids had never
heard of this, but yet they were living it. Just like the Holocaust they were
judge by the race they were. They lived a battle every day and to die with
honor meant you fought for your kind. Not only did Gruwell play off of what
they already knew, but also she showed them a tragic ending to what it would
end up being. She had them interested in something that they could relate to
and not just one or two of them – but the entire class could. She showed them
that they aren’t alone. That to end a battle you must fight together. She also
took them on a field trip that showed them that the rest of the world isn’t a battleground.
She took them out of the ‘hood’ and into the city where they went to a museum
and learned about the children that have been affected by hate. This museum was
exactly what her students needed. It showed them the affect of hatred and how
it ends, typically ending in tragedy. By showing her students this she showed
them that not everywhere is a battle. She gave them something to aspire to be.
Mr. Keating did something very similar to that. He showed his students that to
be who you are meant to be you must stand up for yourself. You must aspire to
do great things and to be happy with what the outcome may be. He did this by
introducing to the boys to ‘The Dead Poets Society’. This secret society was to
show the boys to take a step away from what everyone else was doing. It was a
way for them to rebel against conformity. By showing giving them “The Dead Poets
Society” it provide them with an understanding of how to live life. To live for
themselves rather than for others and to live in the now rather than following
what everyone else was doing.
No matter what
kind of teachers we have had in the past, these two teachers have made an
impact that most teachers cannot. We take for granted of what we are given and
just take what is handed to us. To make a teacher great, they make you work for
what they are giving. Mr. Keating and Ms. Gruwell are very different, but they
both are able to bring out the best in their students and show them the best in
themselves.
