Dangerous Mind-ch.5 to 9

Ch 5.

Mrs West, you have a lovely daughter- In this chapter Ms J, noticed Callie West, who had a disrespectful behavior. She was always boring and annoyed during the class period. So Ms J tried something else. She decided to send a note to her students’ parents telling them how great they were. And so she did with Callie’s mum and made her feel very proud of her. When Callie found about it, she changed her attitude right away. She was happy and she made an effort to make her best in her studies. 

Ch.6

Thunder bolt Jones

In this chapter Ms. J had a lot of troubles, because she went to work on a summer school. She had problems because nobody wants to study in summer. In this school she had a confrontation with a boy who was named Troy Jones. He was very rude and was involved in lots of fights. She had to inform direction about all the problems she was having. She was very sad to end up her summer job like that.

Ch.7

´´Let’s talk`` by yours truly

In this chapter Ms. J was about to quit her job because she was very down, because her students showed disinterested all the time. She was willing to change it, so she mixed their students. Everybody was working together and they started to know each other.

Consequently, Troy Jones, gave her his essay and it said how a great teacher she was, very concerned about her students and very dynamic. After that, Jones and Ms. J created a strong bond based on enthusiasm and confidence. 

Ch.8

“If Your Only Tool Is a Hammer”

Miss Johnson had a bright student in English-P class. His name was Danny Morton. He was very hyperactive, because he juggled with a rubber ball in classes and if she asked him to stop, he started drumming his fingertips on the desk by accident. Ms. J noticed that Danny had a problem because he didn’t do that on purpose. After she talked to Hal about it, she thought Hal was wrong about Danny doing drugs. Ms. J decided to help him because she thought she couldn’t miss such a bright boy as Danny. So she made him an offer. She invited him to participate in ACL class. After participating in the class, he got real better on his writing and Ms. J was very happy and satisfied with his result.

Ch9.

This chapter is about a boy named Attiba Mack, who was really disrespectful boy and had a lot of trouble. He used to fight with everyone and everybody was afraid of him, also teachers. That’s why they let him do whatever he wanted.

Ms J, tried to help him, but he refused her help because he just didn’t need anybody’s help.

Dangerous Minds. Ch1 to 4.

Ch.1 Chapter one is called ´´ my dog ate it``. This first chapter is about a teacher Ms. J who is teaching inside the classroom. The main character of this story is called Raúl Chacón, who was outside Ms. J’s classroom getting wet because of the rain. Ms J went outside the classroom and went to talk to Raúl and asked him why he was standing in the rain shivering and getting wet. He told her that he was trying to win a bet: if he stood up in the rain for 20 minutes he would get 20 bucks. Ms J asked him why he wanted to win the bet and he told her that he needed to pay a jacket he had bought on the streets. The teacher lent him the money but with a condition: if he graduated highschool , he would be able to pay her. So Raúl felt quite grateful because she trusted him and he promised her he would graduated and he would do his best to make it. So then he started to make real changes in his life in terms of homework and studies.

 Ch.2 Okie Dokie, Artichokie is the second chapter of the book dangerous mind and it’s about the teacher Ms. J getting a new job in a school to teach a class which needed a permanent teacher. At first Ms. J was very frightened because of the behavior of the students, because they were very rude and unrespectfull . Untill Hal Gray (one of the teachers) told her a story about a girl who once answered to him ‘’ Okie Dokie, Artichokie`` that was a very unrespectull way to talk to a teacher. And Hal told that despite the rudeness of most students he was willing to skip the obstacles. So these words were sacrate to Ms J, because they gave her strength to carry on and she walked right into the classroom and the students looked at her, and the students in that moment understood that she had came to stay. And then they made a list and a kind of rule on how should an effective teacher supposed to be and how an effective student should be.

 Ch.3 This chapter is called ´´Fire in my heart``. Ms. Johnson went to Hal’s class. She was invited by Hal Gray to go and see how his students behaved. She was perplex to realize his students were a mess. Hal noticed and he talked to her and told her he was about to retire. And it was very common in younger teachers to start very excited and then became very tired and exhausted. Ms J disagreed with him because she thought she had fire in her heart, which means she was very passionate about teaching. Then, Ms. J did her best effort to give better classes. She encouraged her students to read Shakespeare.

 Ch.4 ‘’George shouldn’t of shot his homeboy’’. This chapter’s got a very powerful message. Ms. J tried to prove ACL students weren’t that different from English-P class. She talked to a group of teachers saying that their marks weren’t so different. She asked why they divided the classes because ACL students would attend to school. She thought of making an experiment. She assigned the same book for the different classes. In the ACL class, she got excellent results, but P class, was a bit difficult. It was hard for the kids to give opinions, so she did some exercises to make them improve their skills.

Draft Magazine

Interview. Why did you want to become a teacher? What do you teach? How many years have you been teaching? According to your view as a teacher, what is education? If you were the minister of education, what changes would you make?

Short Story

''It was raining. It was raining and I didn’t have any cigarette. Have you realized smokers always smoke more than usual when it’s raining? Yeah, I’m the kind of man who does that all the time’’. I lived in the city, but my mum needed to move because of her sickness…she had a heart attack a month ago. The doctor said she needed some clean air…some changes in her life. Besides, her mind wasn’t that lucid and she barely could walk. So you may wonder where I am. My current residence is in Puerto Natales. If you don’t know where that is I can make it easier for you: It’s almost at the bottom of the world. I had to make an effort to keep her alive. I don’t know if it’s worth it now. Samantha, my sister is coming from Iquique this weekend. She said she was staying the whole month. I don’t think I can handle this. We never got along. She arrived and I went to pick her up at the bus station, because she didn’t know where our home was. When she saw me, she run to me, she looked at me and she started to cry. I held her and she hold me. She wasn’t crying normal, she was yelling and sobbing and crying… I don’t know why! God damn it I wanted to run away. When she decided to let me go, she looked at me with a weird gaze and said ‘what is wrong with you?!’ I kept my mouth shut and looked away. I was driving home and she asked: -So…how was she? -Cold…I don’t know. I didn’t want to look. - She looked at me and started to cry again ‘oh my god, oh my god, oh my god- she howled. - oh come on!- I said. SHUT UP! – I yelled. You weren’t even there when she died! She suddenly stopped crying. When we finally got home I didn’t know what to say nor do. I was very uncomfortable and I knew she was too, but she didn’t say anything. She asked me where her room was, it was late, cold and it was a long way from the north. She wanted to lie down for a while. So I took her bags and said ‘follow me’. I went to the first floor and made myself a drink. I sat on the couch and lit up a cigarette. It was a lucky strike. I saw the smoke moving and dancing and fading away. I closed my eyes and my mum’s image came right away with those big- lost –eyes of hers , saying ‘where are we? I WANT TO GO HOME!’ I opened my eyes, drank a sip and smoked a drag. I was shuddering. Suddenly I heard noises, steps to be specifically. It was my sister. She had put on a wool sweater because it was really cold. -Nice sweater- I said gently -Thanks, mum nailed it for me. - Oh really? And why was that for? - I said ironically. -OK! Stop it! What is with you!- she yelled. I stood up and asked her. ‘Do you want a drink?’ she agreed. We were both sitting on the couch, drinking and smoking without saying a word. ‘’It was raining. It was raining and I didn’t have any cigarette. Have you realized smokers always smoke more than usual when it’s raining? Yeah, I’m the kind of man who does that all the time’’. I suddenly said. She looked at me strangely but wanting me to continue. I never thought that day would come. I was so exhausted. Changing her dippers, trying to explain her everything, feeding her… everything. I was so tired of everything and so angry at you because you never were here. I was feeling lonely and sad. I use to think a lot about her death. I always thought ‘’ when she dies, I’ll go back to Santiago and live my life again…maybe find a girl and make a family’’… I never thought I would feel like this…so lost, so defenseless. ‘’It was raining. It was raining and I didn’t have any cigarette. Have you realized smokers always smoke more than usual when it’s raining? Yeah, I’m the kind of man who does that all the time. So I went to tell her I was going to buy some, she looked at me with a strange look, like saying ‘’don’t leave me’’. She tried to tell me something, I think she was trying to say she was feeling weird and her chest hurt, but I thought she was trying to call my attention, so I told her I’ll be right back, mum. I won’t be long. When I came back I went upstairs to see her and she was lying on the floor. I got scared and took her in my arms… she was already dead. I knew that but I called an ambulance anyway. The doctor said she had a heart attack and there was nothing else I could do’’ She had a heart attack, Sam… and I had gone to buy cigarettes! If I hadn’t gone, she would’ve survived! It was my fault Sam! It was my fault. I let her die! I cried. ,

Les choristes!

Les choristes, is a movie based in a teacher's life, Clément Mathieu.
The movie takes place in France, in 1949. The story is about a teacher who arrives to a school with difficult students. They are really mean to each other and to the teachers.
Clément Mathieu has to go through loads of problems with the principal of the school, who was really stubborn and awfully cruel with the children by physical and psychological abuse.
In the other hand, there was this teacher, a musician who did everything to win those kids. He inspired them to be good people by creating a chorus, something different in those kids’s reality.
I think that the chorus really helped the children, because it changed their way of seeing life. Besides, someone expected something from them, someone really cared about them. That makes them feel important and loved. This is really significant to children that don’t have parents.
I think the movie is really inspiring as future teachers, because it shows the patience that a real teacher should have with their students. We all know that Chile has loads of problems with education. There’s a huge economical segregation that defines the quality of education and the way of living. Poor children don’t have the same opportunities for a good education and just as it shows in this movie, they need good teachers who can encourage them to be better persons.

Tell tale heart.

Edgar Allan Poe was born in the United States in 1809 and died in 1849. He was a poet, writer and an American journalist. Edgar Allan Poe lost his parents when he was very young and was adopted by another family in Virginia. He spent one year at the Virginia University and then he enlisted in the army where he spent two years. He got married with his cousin Virginia Clemm, but later she died from tuberculosis.
On October, 1849 he died from alcoholism, brain congestion, cholera and other agents.
He is well known for his poetry, horror and science fiction stories.
His career started with a poem book named The Tamerlane and Other Poems.

Timeline

1.- The narrator tells his not mad and says why.
2.- the narrator goes to the old man’s room and tries to kill him.
3.- the narrator goes to the old man’s room for the last time.
4.- the narrator kills the old man and cut him into pieces.
5.- the police arrives at the old man’s house because someone heard noises.
6.- the narrator listens to the old man’s heart, gets nervous and gives himself away.

Conflict
The narrator wants to kill an old man even that he likes him, but he fears the eye of the old man. He said that it was because the old man ‘had the eye of a bird’.
Climax
The narrator finally kills the old man after several tries and then he cut him to pieces. Then the police arrived.
Resolution
The narrator listens to the old man’s heart beating while he’s talking to the police, then he cannot stand it anymore and gives himself away.

Scarlet Ibis

When we read the scarlet ibis, I felt really overwhelmed because I can’t stand people being mean, and of course two brothers being mean to each other, is out of question. I know that the oldest brother was feeling disappointed because of the incapacity to walk of his younger brother, but that’s no reason to force him to walk like that. I think that the parents are guilty in some way. Why? Because they should’ve noticed about what was going on between the two brothers! I think parents never should give the responsibility of taking care to the younger brother, because if something happens to the kid, the other will be traumatized with the idea ‘I did it, it’s my fault’
In this case, when he took Doodle to Horsehead Landing, Doodle passed away because he was left behind because Doodle’s brother got mad. Of course he felt regret when he found him dead, but what else could’ve he done but cry and protect his scarlet ibis from the rain.

I believe this short story really got me, not because my brother wanted to kill me with a pillow when I was born, but because my relationship with my brothers is so close and we get along so well and I think one of the reason that we are so close, is because of my parents and the participation that they had when we were born and raised.

Letter

Ms Della,

I'm writing to you because I would like to tell you that you are really brave because of what you did with your hair. It's was a huge sacrifice to cut your hair just to give a present. I know what you're thinking. It was not only because of the present, it was for love, yes I know, but I think that you shouldn't think about gifts when you're poor, besides... It was Christmas! And Christmas is not about gifts; it’s about sharing and loving the other person, to be there together. I think that you did wrong about cutting your hair; it was not necessary, you should’ve talk first and then decide about what were you going to do, not just go and sell your treasures just for a gift. It is not the point of Christmas.
I really hope your economical situation gets better, but please remember that Christmas is not about material things. It’s important to change our mentality, start to think with our hearts, not with our wallets.
Kind regards,
Mary

O. Henry's Biography.

William Sidney Porter or O.Henry was an American writer born in September 11th 1862 and dead in june 5th 1910.O. Henry was a well-known writer of short stories and was one of the founders of this genre. Henry’s short stories were known because of their surprising endings.
His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–1888), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter, who died when William was three, and then his father moved to his grandmother’s house.
He started to work in a drugstore when he was nineteen, then he graduated as a chemist, but he didn’t start writing until he was working in texas, first as a chemist, then as bank teller and journalist. He got married twice. His first marriage was with Athol Estes Porter who died from tuberculosis, and then he got married again with Sarah Lindsey Coleman, his childhood sweetheart.
In 1902 O. Henry started to write in New York City. He wrote 381 short stories. He started to work for the New York World Sunday Magazine.
He died from cirrhosis of the liver in 1910.
He was author of famous short stories as the gift of the magi, The ransom of red chief and the cop of the anthem.

Letter.

Dear Ellen,
I’m writing to you because I wanted to congratulate you for the valuable behavior you made with your lovely daughter, Fannie, the other day. I’ve always thought that you need the guts to stay calm during those stressful situations, I just imagine myself walking in the darkness with someone following me… and not just ‘someone’ it was a man without head! I get shudder just to think about it! Anyway I think it was very good you didn’t tell Fannie de situation… can you imagine her reaction? She would’ve been so frightened…more than she already was!
Anyway, I think you did well, but you should be more careful next time you talk about something you didn’t want to tell her… because if she listens (like she did last time) , she might get mad because you didn’t tell her right away… you know, kids!. Even though, Fanny is a very special girl, so I think she’ll get over it.
Please send her and Liege my best!
Love,
Mary

My boring, NOT so boring holidays

I finished my second semester at the end of november last year and I was exhausted of studiying, so I thouhght i was going to do everything i couldn't do during the last year...and so I did. I stayed in bed everyday for almost a week watching movies and sleeping...but! after a few weeks i got so bored!! and I wanted to go back to the routine again!! funny ah?. Any way, after a month of doing almost nothing, my birthday arrived, so i went to Coquimbo with my family. Actually, I don't like the north that much, because it's too warm, but I had a good time anyway.
After we got to Santiago, I started to read. I read three books and I thought ' why didn't I think about reading before?' and so on, I spent my lasts weeks of holidays reading great books.