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Pedro Gutierrez
ENGL 2010
MW 2:30-3:50 pm.
Instructor: Alva
Researched Argument Final Draft
4/16/2014


Teachers

How were your teachers in elementary, jr. high, and high school? My teachers were great, in
all three, thank goodness. For certain areas, though, these teachers are not so great. They just
show up to teach their students, what they are meant to teach. Subject such as math, English,
science etc. What good are these subjects if the teachers dont really care about how you do in
class, or more importantly, how you are doing in your community?
These communities can be rich or middle class, where violence is not really happening. These
communities have family and great teachers who motivate their kids and students to keep going
in education. What about these other communities, where the streets are filled with drugs and
violence? How are these kids going to have motivation to pursue higher education? These kids
walk these streets every day knowing that their only way to make it is to survive any way
possible. If they have to sell drugs to make money to help around the house or join a gang to be
protected in their community, they will.
Schools in these communities are pretty much built for no purpose in making a difference in
these kids lives. Teachers in these schools make little pay, so they can care less about making a
difference in these kids lives. Students in high poverty are more likely to be absent more times
than those in suburban areas, these kids spend time watching TV at home (NCES). Parents of
these kids are already lost in drugs, locked up, or up early in the morning working twelve hour
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shifts to make a living. So, its important that these kids get their motivation from their teachers
at school, because they spend more time in school than with their parents at home.
If these teachers got better pay and strict accountability it will make a big difference in the
way they teach. These teachers were aware of a little bit about their students these kids would do
well in school and want to keep their education going. Everybody believes that teachers quality
is very, very important (Lowrey). These students dont try in school so their grades are bad.
Eighth graders have bad grades in these areas, even 10
th
graders in parts of these areas score the
same as the 8
th
graders (NCES). In an article Should Student Test Scores Be Used to Evaluate
Teachers? by Thomas Kane, Kane writes that some say it is unfair to base students test scores to
evaluate teachers, because these kids all have different parental guidance in their life. This is true
but what parent doesnt want their kids to have good grades, and know who is their teacher as for
why they got grades like those. In the article, Stand and Deliver, written by David Leonhardt, a
writer from the New York Times, he writes about teachers evaluations held by their schools are
kept from parents. This will not give the parent any chance to make a decision for their kids.
These teachers have to play a parental role in these kids lives. Yes, they have their own
personal life to worry about but these kids need all the motivation they can in their lives. Some
of these teachers in the classroom motivate the students to achieve success and have great
confidence in themselves. Then you got those teachers who use really big words and make the
not so bright students dumbfounded or the ones who simply dont care for their students. Erin
Gruwell made a difference in her high school class by not giving up on them and figuring out
how she can get a deep connection with them. The movie is there if you want to check it out its
called Freedom Writers, its about how Erin Gruwell made a difference in her students lives.
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Some of the ways these teachers can make a difference is like Steven Barnett writes in his
article Better Teachers, Better Preschools: Student Achievement Linked to Teacher
Qualification, that teachers with a four year degree have a better way to teach children than
teachers who dont. It all starts with the teachers education and how much passion she/he has to
teach. These teachers end up in private schools, where their pay is high. One school would be
lucky to get some of these teachers employed in these rural areas.
Some of the teachers of the past such as Socrates, Frank McCourt, and Jaime Escalante, were
all great teachers but why they were no one really knows. Frank McCourt a successful writing
teacher in New York, who told students that they were their best material. These teachers had
previous jobs before deciding to teach. Example is Jaime Escalante who was a computer
technician, there is a movie based of him Stand and Deliver. But these teacher, were role models
to many until this day. Be more than just a role model. Be a teacher(cloud).
So who wants to go out and make a difference by connecting with their students, so that they
pursue higher education? Teachers dont make much money according to an article titled How
to Recruit Better Teachers published in the New York Times. Teachers only make up to $32,000.
This can explain why not many teachers show the effort to try and make a connection with these
students. Only private schools could fund these teachers with the amount of pay that will push
them every semester to become a better teacher. As for those making the average salary, they
lose hope they choose to just teach their subject and go on with their lives.
This is why its important to fund these teachers with more pay. They should get bonuses for
making a certain amount of students each year achieve better test scores throughout their year.
Think of what these teachers would do to get these bonuses they truly deserve. They would
really put in effort in the class and maybe even make them get to know their students. I could
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only imagine if anyone who became a teacher became famous for what they have done in the
classrooms, how much they helped their students to achieve great scores and pursue higher
education, but the media is not there for teachers.
This is why its important for the teachers to be accountable and have higher pay for them to
make a difference in these students lives. We should focus as a community to make a difference
every single year, figuring out ways to make this happen with our childrens teacher. Teachers
who make these children get out there and make a difference in their lives and other peoples
lives as well, because the children of today is our future for tomorrow.

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Works Cited

Barnett, W. Steven. Better Teachers, Better Prschools: Student Achievement Linked to Teacher
Qualification. NIEER Preschool Policy Matter, Issue 2. March 2003. Web. 09 Apr.
2014.

Cloud, John, and Dan Fastenberg. How to Recruit Better Teachers. Time 176. 12 (2010)
:46-52. Academic Search Premier. Web. 09 Apr. 2014

Grimes, Williams. Frank McCourt, Whose Irish Childhood Illuminated His Prose, Is Dead
At 78. The New York Times. 19 July 2009. Web. 21 Apr. 2014

Kane, Thomas, and Linda Darling-Hammond. Should Student Test Scores Be Used to Evaluate
Teachers? Wall Street Journal. 25 June 2012:R.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 09 Apr.
2014.

Leonhardt, David. Stand and Deliver. New York Times Magazine. 05 Sept. 2010: 13-14.
SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 09 Apr. 2014

Los Angeles Daily News. Good grades: Teachers must be held accountable for students
Success- and failure. 08 Aug. 2010. Web. 21 Apr. 2014

Lowrey, Annie. Big Study Links Good Teachers to Lasting Gains. New York Times. 6 January
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2012. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.


National Center for Education Statistics, Urban Schools: The Challenge of Location and
Poverty. NP. ND. Web. 21 Apr. 2014