Stand and Deliver (Part 1)

Good Teaching: Mr. Escalante is very playful and does not get intimidated easily. This is displayed when he first starts teaching, in the scene where the gang members come into the classroom. In this scene they enter the classroom and attempt to intimidate Mr. Escalante. However, Mr. Escalante was not intimidated and diffused the situation by making them take their seats.

                Mr. Escalante is also very good at engaging his students, and we saw this in the “chef” scene. He used a creative and visual way to engage his students and teach them about fractions. He dressed up as a chef and brought a knife into class, which definitely caught the attention of his students. He cut apples into various fractions and had the students identify what fraction of an apple they had.

Bad Teaching: Mendoza (the lady in charge at the staff meetings) displayed bad teaching in the staff meeting scene. In this scene we saw how she had no confidence in her students. She says that she “believes they will fail and have their self-esteem shattered”.

                Mr. Escalante also displays a little bit of bad teaching in the scene where the “hair net kid” arrives late to class, because he took his grandmother to the doctors. In the this scene the kid walks in and Mr. Escalante tells him the counselor is looking for him and to have fun in pottery(?). It’s good teaching to be hard on students about tardies and absences, but in this scene it was too hard. When it comes to family emergencies or illnesses there should be a little bit of leeway.