The documentary "The Hobart Shakespearians" made me think how Rafe truly cares about these kids and my schooling career. I think that most teachers in this situations wouldn't have much hope for these kids to succeed. We see in the film that students who would ask the teacher for help would get turned down because the teacher doesn't want to go over material again. This isn't the case in Rafe's classroom he wants his students to understand. He would tech his class life lessons for example the money system in his class. By having this it teaches the kids how to smartly use money. We normally don't learn about how to use money until later in middle school or even once your in high school. I was happy to see that Rafe teaching the way he is because these kids are growing up in rough neighbor hood s and need something to bring hope that one day they can get out of this neighborhood.
I can relate to these kids because I am half Japanese and struggled in my early years of elementary school. At the time i was able to speak both English and Japanese but when i got into the second grade my English was really bad and the school didn't want my parents to keep teaching me Japanese because it was effecting my English. I had to go to summer school after second and be in extra reading help to get back on track. I had great teachers in these reading groups who helped me just like Rafe helps his students. My mom still speaks Japanese in the house and I can understand bits and pieces of it but not how i use to when i was younger.
In the film the kids sent goals like doing well in school, stay off drugs, become successful, ect. The reason why they do this is so they have something to work towards. Rafe tells his students " To always be nice and work hard". The students fulfill the work hard part by completing steps necessary to reach their goals. Also with this attitude the students gain a good work ethic which is really hard to find in today's generation. A goal I have is to finish my freshman year in college strong.
I really like the way he taught the students as well. You don't normally hear about that type of teaching. He goes above and beyond. While most teachers just stick to the things they have to teach.
ReplyDeleteThats got to be hard for you and your parents to be told you shouldn't learn Japanese anymore. Thats part of your culture. I think if your not already doing it you should have them teach you again. It would also look good on your resume to know another language.
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