The topic that Module 1 addresses is respect in today’s school systems. I close read the recommended article and then chose another article from USA TODAY entitled, “Respect at School in Decline, Survey Shows” by Greg Toppo from 2014. Because I had seen so many of the movies under the teacher/student relationship section of Dr. Slattery’s list, I rented the movie Half Nelson. The short synopsis reads: Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) is a history teacher at a Brooklyn school. Though well-liked by his students and colleagues, he secretly spends his evenings hopping bars and getting high. A female student named Drey (Shareeka Epps) catches him in a drug-induced haze after a basketball game, and the two strike up an unlikely friendship. As Dan struggles with his addiction, he tries to act as a mentor to the girl, whose brother is serving time for dealing drugs. The title of the article by Toppo says it all and I was not really surprised at the findings. Although I was stunned by the extreme difference in the percentages. A Harris poll was conducted and asked 2,250 adults to compare their memory of school dynamics when they were students with
…show more content…
Although the intention of Mr. Dunne was to have a respectful and meaningful relationship with his students, his drug abuse hindered this goal. He struggled with teaching his students about historical life changing events which would “make a difference,” yet he couldn’t make sense of his own life. The friendship that he struck up with Drey was earnest and began as a respectful one, but was tested many times because of his addiction. One of the tenets that Mr. Dunne could not promise his students was promoting safe schools. Generally his students did not feel safe in their classroom or on the basketball court because of his erratic behavior, outbursts, and absenteeism. His drug abuse stood in the way of truly being there for his
Although the intention of Mr. Dunne was to have a respectful and meaningful relationship with his students, his drug abuse hindered this goal. He struggled with teaching his students about historical life changing events which would “make a difference,” yet he couldn’t make sense of his own life. The friendship that he struck up with Drey was earnest and began as a respectful one, but was tested many times because of his addiction. One of the tenets that Mr. Dunne could not promise his students was promoting safe schools. Generally his students did not feel safe in their classroom or on the basketball court because of his erratic behavior, outbursts, and absenteeism. His drug abuse stood in the way of truly being there for his