The movie opens by clearly illustrating the condition of the
school and the surrounding area. Graffiti covers everything, including the
inside of the school—a fact which nobody reacts to, indicating that it is
normal and expected. Mr. Escalante’s car gets broken into and
some of his students attempt to intimidate him. Even more then that, he was
hired to teach a computer class in a school that owns no computers, immediately
putting him in a situation he was not expecting.
From day one, Mr. Escalante
shows good teaching skills by showing the students he won’t be bullied and
making jokes with the students in order to connect. He is often doing all kinds
of things to connect with his student, and motivate them. For example, he
teaches the kids in the class to gang up on students who misbehave or show up
to class late, discouraging misbehavior and connecting the class by giving them
something fun to do together. He is always mixing up the methods he uses to
teach in order to keep his students interested, as is show when he comes to
class dress as a cook and chops apples.
You can tell that Mr. Escalante
really cares about the kids and their learning. One example of this is when he talks
personally with that Ana’s parents to convince them not to take her out of
school, and another is when he took Pancho on a drive to show him examples of
how his current decisions could affect his future. These events are also
examples of how Mr. Escalante works to reach his students on a personal level.
Another aspect of his good
teaching is his high expectations of his students. As he says to the board,
“Kid will rise to the expectations set for them.” In accordance to this belief,
he treats his students like they can do what he asks them to, like they are
good enough and smart enough. As he says “They aren’t stupid, they just don’t
know things,” Another example of high expectations is his implementation of the
calculus class and the summer classes. He puts a lot of trust in the abilities
of his students, believing that they will rise to the occasion. He believes in
them to the point that he opposes the other teachers ideas of their abilities
and pushes for harder classes.
A contrast to Mr. Escalante’s
good teaching and his belief in his students is the attitudes of the other
teachers. While we haven’t seen actual examples of how they teach their
classes, at the board meetings his fellow teachers show exasperation and
frustration, as well as low expectations for the abilities of their students.
One asks to be returned to teaching P.E and one quits for a better job. None
seem to expect much from their students and believe that they have done all
they can.
He reaches the kids by behaving
in a way they can understand. He makes dry jokes and mocks the macho attitudes
of some of the boys, making what they think is ‘cool’ seem silly and convincing
them to work harder. He also sets up problems in ways that the kids can
understand and enjoy. Some examples of this are when he explains negative
numbers to the class with an analogies of sand removed from a hole. He also
uses the gigolo problem to get the kids into solving a problem, and talks the
kids with jokes and jabs that are similar to the way they talk to each other.
He encourages the students to
get into college and try harder by encouraging them and giving them pictures of
what their life will be like if they don’t get into college
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