Reading+Reflections

Reading Reflection 1 Miss Jean Brodie is a teacher like no other. While it is obvious that she truly cares about her students its clear that she goes wrong on morethan one point. Miss Brodie makes it apparent that she believes beauty and manners go above all else and spends too much time talking to her students about her life instead of teaching the curriculum. Telling students about personal life experiences is not a bad thing. It could enhance students learning by helping them make connections and call also help teachers have a caring relationship with their students. Although it should not take the place of academics; personal experiences should be shared only if relevant not as the main class as Miss Brodie does. What she shares with her students is also inappropriate. Talking about her love life with Hugh in classroom filled of ten year old girls is just wrong. Miss Brodie could have told the story of Hugh fighting in the war without telling the students that he was her lover.

I would summarize your first point as "caring is not enough" when it comes to teachers and education. Many students praised Esme/Esquith for their passion and dedication, but that will not absolve us from poor judgment(s). On your second point about "beauty and manners," you may want to consider the culture of the times (1920s and 1930s) where nihilistic "art for art's sake" views were popular as a rejection of the formal modernist and Victorian values that predominated in the earlier generation. It is a little like looking back at the late 1960s in the US and wondering "what were those hippies thinking?" In Brodie's defense, I think she identifies education with sophistication, refinement, and broadening horizons, particularly for young girls who were not generally afforded these opportunities. I also think that Brodie is inverting the prevailing values of the time. Women were often diminished as "beauties without brains" and I think Brodie is trying to teach the girls to celebrate their womanhood and not be ashamed by it. I think she is also trying to encourage the artistic and literary aspirations of her students. Education is not all practical, she would say. While I do think Brodie takes a big step "over the line" I am not sure I would agree with the strict scope ou seem to prefer. Teachers do not just teach subjects, they also teach about life and how to live and that is difficult to do without sharing some part of one's self. Compare with Esquith and importance he puts on moral development in addition to traditional academic subjects, i.e. Six Levels.

Mr. Brunelli

Reading Reflection 2 When the Brodie set is around thirteen years old Miss Brodie was having an affair with Mr. Lowther. At least I think they were having an affair. I got confused after Mr.Lowther got enganged to one of the Kerr sisters. It still seemed like they were together and Miss Brodie was very suprised by the engangement so I still think they were together. I think it was completely inappropriate for Miss Brodie to have the girls come to Mr. Lowther's house during this time. What made it worse is that she then grilled all of them on questions about Mr. Lloyd while they were there. And she did it right in front of Mr. Lowther who obviously had feelings for her. I felt bad for him at those times. It was for Miss Brodie to let the girls know so much about her love life. They were only thirteen at the time and already knew that Miss Brodie was in love with Mr. Lloyd who was married and one of them had seen her kissing him at one point but was with Mr. Lowther because she knew he was in love with her and she thought it was more appropriate becaue they were both single.

English prep / finishing schools have a different culture and education compared to the US and so the boundaries are somewhat different. Teachers roles are broader and the interaction with students denser. Also, a European city is tighter and it would not be uncommon to run into a teacher walking down the street or walking to school in the old cities of Europe like Edinburgh. The state of Mr. Lowther I think is a secondary thread in the story. I think it is meant to show that Brodie is not the virtuoso schemer she sometimes seems to be and she gets caught up in webs of her own making and her ability to influence adults is not the same as her ability to influence her students. 13 year old girls may be different today than then, but not a year goes by where some girl in one of my classes asks me about my car, my marital status, where I liveg Ref and whether they can "friend" me on facebook when they graduate. I think the curiosity is natural for students at this age even if students today are growing up faster in these areas than children then. I do not think that teachers should indulge all of these curiousities, but I think that being frank about some of them, depending on the circumstance, context, and subject is not totally verboten: Children need to figure out what "adult" is and the only point of reference is their parents, teachers are another easy target for them to learn.

Reading Reflection 3 I was really suprised when Mr.lloyd kissed Sandy. It just seemed so random and out of know where; even in the movie it was wierd. Then a few years later when Rose is letting Mr. Lloyd paint her and Sandy is always visiting him. Sandy then became his lover. I thought that was really strange. I thought Sandy would have hated him for kissing her when she was younger and was confused by how she started getting closer to him and wanted to know so much about the workings of his mind. Sandy was a strange character in general.

I think that Muriel Spark is trying to make a point (dramatically) about sexual curiousity and individious comparisons / jealousy. The Mr. Lloyd kiss I think is just a modern version of the typical scene in children's fairytales where the parent warns the child not to go into a particular room or BAD THINGS will happen. Mr. Lloyd's kiss is not a show of affection, but meant to shock Sandy (and the reader) into what might happen to little girls who ask precocious questions or show curiousity in things that are beyond their age. At a young age, physical contact connotes the "cooties" but as students "come of age" curiousity grows, sometimes too fast. When we are younger, being dependable is a mark of status for children, i.e. Daddy/Mommy/Teacher chose me for a task and Sandy relishes that Brodie considers her dependable. However, as she grows older, she would rather be seen as desirable and theref ore is jealous of the attention lavished on Rose. Dependable does not cut it anymore. Her attraction to Mr. Lloyd I do not think is based on genuine affection, but as a way of using relationships -- i.e., relational aggression -- to get back at Brodie by demonstrating her adulthood, albeit in the naive mind of someone who is not really an adult yet.

The question here for teachers is what role do schools have in helping adolescents make this transition in a healthy and responsible way. Someone think that schools/teachers should have no role, others think that it is an integral part of educating the "whole" student.

Mr. Brunelli

Reading Reflection 4 In Pygmalion after Eliza had won Higgins bet for him and then Higgins and Pickering completely ignore her after the party was so rude. I could not believe that they didn't even congratulate her on how well she did. I was happy that Eliza defended herself and threw the slipper at Higgins. Although it takes a real jerk to not even apoligize after Eliza told him how she felt. I don't like how Higgins never really learned a lesson. He never thought he did anything wrong and actually believed that he deserved all the credit for teaching Eliza. If she hadn't worked so hard or had not wanted to learn she would not have done well. Higgins is so arrogant and thinks he is so great that he does not think he could do anything wrong.

Second Quarter
Reading Reflection 1 The scavenger hunt activity was really interesting. I had a lot of fun working with Kristin and Ivana. We decided to focus on elementary level supplies for math and english. We chose a lot of things for games because bringing activities that children can have fun with is very important. We bought most of our supplies from the dollar store in the jefferson valley mall, though we also went to Walmart for a few more items. I think our group did a great job finding materials and made a good use of our money. I also enjoyed seeing what other groups bought. I think people bought a lot of really useful and good materials.

Reading Reflection 2 Watching the movie clips yesterday and being put on the spot to analyze why we liked them was a lot of fun. I was suprised by how accurate they were. I chose The Notebook because it is my favorite movie. I can identify with it in many ways. I have always been a fan of the late 1930s and 1940s that the movie takes place in. I also can identify with Allie a lot. She is really sweet and innocent but at the same time wants to change that and she goes against what her parents want for her by dating someone they do not approve of. The scene I showed in class is after Noah and Allie's first date when they are laying in the middle of the street talking and then they almost get hit by the car. Then they start dancing the middle of the street. Probably not the smartest thing in the world but it is really romantic and is my favorite scene from the movie.

Reading Reflection 3 Bruno Bettelheim wrote the book The Uses of Enchantment:The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. We had an interesting discussion about his life and his beliefs on fairytales. Bettelheim made many people believe things that were not true. For example he blamed mothers for autistic children. He said that if mothers were more caring towards theire children that they would not have gotten autism. It is terrible to make mothers feel at fault for their children's disabilities when they have nothing to do with the mothers. I can't imagine the guilt and regret that those mothers must have gone through after being told that if only they were better parents their kids would not have autism.

Reading Reflection 4 One of the fairytales that I read was Aladdin or the Wonderful Lamp. It was really different fro mthe Disney version, which I like a lot more. I wasnt expecting so many of the main parts of te story to be different. For example in Aladdin having a strong relationship with his mother, no mention of a magic carpet, and a storyline that didnt really go with the story I knew. Aladdin married the princess early on in the story without having told her that he had gotten his palace and wealth from a genie. Princess Badroulboudour was later tricked into giving the lamp to the evil sorcerer and Aladdin lost his palace. The sorcerer is later killed by Aladdin after getting into the castle in disguise and Aladdin and the princess lived happily ever after. I didn't really like Aladdin's character. I did not like how he lied to the princess on so many occassions and he just did not seem like a great person. I would not consider him a "diamon in the rough" like the disney character I have always loved.

Reading Reflection 5 Another one of the fairy tales I read was The History of the Barber. The story was about a man who accidently gets himself confused to be a robber and is taking to the palace to be killed. It is later realized that he was not one of the theives and he tells the prince his story of how he got there and why he stayed silent instead of telling the guards and the prince that he was not a robber. The Barber explains that he is one of 7 brothers and is called "The Silent". He continues on to tell the prince the stories of his six brothers. I find it interesting that most of the Arabian Nights stories are all stories within stories. There is the main story of the wife of the sultan who is telling him stories to keep him entertained so the he will not kill her. The story of the Barber is also stories within stories as the Barber is the main story and he tells six other stories.

Reading Reflection 6 The other fairytale that I read is called The Story of the Merchant and the Genie. It is the first story in Arabian Nights. It tells the story of a merchant who accidently kills a genies brother and is going to be killed by a genie. He convinces the genie to let him live for a year. When he returns to the genie to die he meets a few men who share their stories with the genie in an attempt to keep the genie from killing the merchant. In the end they are successful and the merchant is able to live. This story is another example of the stories within stories that I found in thoughout Arabian Nights. This is probably the story I enjoyed most of the fairytales I read. I like the plot and found the merchant relatable. I can imagine how he felt both happy and sad when the genie gave him a year to live.

=﻿Third Quarter=

Reading Reflection 1 We are reading __Flowers for Algernon__ by Daniel Keyes. It is a great book with a very interesting story. I love Charlie's character because he seems so kind and friendly. I wonder why his family abandoned him. Although he has a low IQ he is so kind and like he would never hurt anyone, I can't imagine what must have happened for them to send him away. He seems very excited about the operation. I find it strange that they only asked his sisters permission when he has not seen her in years. It is obvious that Professer Nemur and the other scientists are taking advantage of Charlie. He does not understand the possible consequences of the operation. It is like performing an operation on a child, neither a child nor Charlie understand what it means to have an operation and possible consequences and side effects it may have.

Reading Reflection 2 Within a month of the operation Charlie's writing has improved significantly. Miss Kinnian explains spelling and punctuation to Charlie and he catches on to it very quickly. It is amazing how much he has learned in only a months time. It is strange that he is just berily noticing his large leaps in knowledge. By mid April Charlie wants to be like college students. He thinks they are so smart and have deep conversations. Funny how wrong he is. By mid May Charlie finds college kids beneath him. He has realized that they really are not that smart. he even finds that the professors are beneath him. That is impressive. Charlie seems to knwo everything about everything and professors only know everything about one certain topic. Charlie is now starting to feel llonely again. There is no one he can talk to anymore because he is at a level so far above them. I feel bad for Charlie.

Reading Reflection 3 Charlie is angry at Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss. He is realizes that they did not consider him a human being before the operation. Even now he is more of an experiment to them than anything else. It is so wrong of them to treat Charlie like that. Don't they read his progress reports and realize that Charlie is sad, lonely, and angry at them for not treating him like a person? Charlie also realizes that Nemur and Strauss are not geniuses. I find it strange that it took him so long. Everyone around him is average and Charlie is not. I would not want to be that smart. I would not want to be so far above everyone else that it was hard to connect and talk to them.

Reading Reflection 4 Charlie begins to realize that he may not be smart forever. It is odd that he wants to find out if the intelligence will last before he goes to see his mother. He has already seen his father and that was strange too. How could he not tell his father who he was? His father always cared about him and tried to protect him from his mother's temper. Another thing I found interesting is how Charlie refers to how he used to be before the operation as the old Charlie. As if that were a different person. His personality was so entirely changed by the operation that he no longer feels connected to that Charlie. This is sad to me. Charlie does not seem to really like himself smart, like he is now or how he was before the operation. He did not get to be in a happy medium.

Reading Reflection 5 Charlie becomes obsessed with finding out how long he has before his IQ begins to drop. I feel like he is wasting his time. He should be enjoying all the knowledge he has now before he loses it. I was so mad that he pushed Alice away so entirely. I think he needs her, especially when he is back to how he was before and does not have a job or anything. Instead of trying to make connections with people which is what it seemed Charlie wanted most of all he is pushing everyone away. This confuses me. He is hurting himself and the people who care about him, especially Alice and I really like her character.

Reading Reflection 6