After you have watched a movie, you should blog your general impressions of the movie (by 5pm on thursdays) and provide 1 example from the movie (scene, character, etc) and how it relates specifically to a theory or construct in Motivation and Emotion.
Your full analyses are due the following Tuesday turned in via eLearning (aka WebCT).
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Stand and Deliver in the news yesterday.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124491340
What a great article. And great teacher. I personally don't believe that there are enough teachers in the world that care enough about their students. I feel like a lot of teachers are burnt out or are just teaching because that's what their job is. I really appreciate great, caring teachers, and the few that I've had I would also reciprocate if I could.
This movie reminded me of an older Dangerous Minds. It was a little slower than Dangerous Minds, but they basically had the same plot and message.
Stand and Deliver displayed many of the concepts we have learned about in class. First, autonomy. The students all showed that their need for autonomy was being met. This began by an external perceived locus of causality source. Mr. Escalante motivated them to come to class and get good grades. Mr. Escalante used verbal persuasion - telling them they had the potential and having faith in their abilities when nobody else did - to raise their self efficacy. Once their self efficacy was raised, they were intrinsically motivated to succeed in the class and on the AP test. This demonstrates their internal PLOC, as they valued doing well. We also frequently saw Mr. Escalante creating an environment that allowed volition. The students thought that, if they tried to leave class, he would stop them. Instead, he gave them the choice to be there. Most of them, then, chose to be in his class, chose to come to summer school, chose to be in class early/late/on weekends. He never pressured them to stay in his class. The one incident that sticks out in my mind is when the boy is doing a problem wrong on the board and then precedes to tell the class "everyone knows he's the stupid one" and "the class would do better without me" - he was obviously looking for pity, but Mr. Escalante told him that he could go. He chose to be there eventually, but Mr. Escalante allowed him to achieve volition and perceived choice.
Another concept the movie showed was goal performance. Reeve (2005) states that difficult and specific goals enhance performance (p. 205). The students were given a very difficult challenge of doing well in his classes, and then passing the AP calc exam. The goal was difficult, as the material was probably the hardest they had ever been given and they had to put a lot of effort into it (i.e. going to summer class, going to class early, staying late, and going on weekends). The goal was specific, as they knew the steps that they would have to take in order to achieve their end goal.
Furthermore, the students demonstrated mastery motivation orientation. Because nobody ever had believed in them, the movie began with the students displaying helplessness. They had learned that they were never going to have any control over their future. However, we see their transformation into mastery-oriented people by persisting on their goal of passing the exam. Instead of giving up during challenges and after failure, the students wanted to fix whatever mistakes they had made and wanted to learn the material. They kept coming back, instead of giving up and dropping out.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie. However, I have to say that I liked Dangerous Minds a little more (I like newer movies!). It also was frustrating that they didn't use names very much, so it made it difficult to take notes - I had to write "girl with curly hair, boy with pony tail, etc. for a while. I enjoyed reading the follow up article about how the students are helping their teacher.
I thought Mr. Escalante was such a great teacher. He saw more in his students then did the other teachers. He knew they could achieve a higher level of math if they just put in effort and even if they did bad or were struggling they must keep going. Mr. Escalante gave these students motivation to believe in themselves which strengthened their self-efficacy; defined by Reeve's as one's judgment of how well one wil cope with a situation, given the skills one possesses and the circumstances on faces. Mr. Escalante had each student get a permission slip signed saying they would be there the extra and long hours in order to be in his math courses. He set a combination of short-term and long-term goals with them. Each week they would have a quiz and then at the end of the class they would try and pass the qualifying exam. They did, they all passed. They all were able to stick with their goals, study, and practice the concepts in order to pass. I really liked how as a teacher, Mr. Escalante, showed no fear. He didn't let the slackers slack off and he didn't let the tough guys scare him. It was tough love. He goes the extra mile to make sure his students achieve, like with Ana, her father almost made her quit and he went to talk to him. She was a smart girl and deserved to learn and go to school. Angel acts out and shows up late a lot but Kemo knows his potential. Each quiz the students took were a form of feedback to show their progress in the course. The department board thinking they cheated and not showing them their exams and scorse was a lack of feedback. At the end of the movie it showed how each year more and more students passed this qualifying exam. This showed how Kemo got to the school and proved to them that these kids are intelligent they just didn't grow up in a nice neighborhood.
I agree that it was frustrating that they didn't use names very much I had to rewind and figure it out towards the end. It really bothered me that Mr. Escalante always put his hands in his pants instead of his pockets!!!
I really enjoyed this movie, it was obviously a little dated buy the story of it was a great one. Mr Escalante was an awesome teacher. The article shows just how much of an positive and lasting impact he had in his students and on the community.
A theory that can be related to the movie is goal setting. The entire class sets a goal of learning this material to pass the AP calculus exam. Mr Escalante has every student sign a slip saying that they will come in before school and work the extra time to prepare. This shows the long-term goal setting and the specificity of the goal; to pass the AP Calculus exam. It is hard work for each and every student in the class because their school has never taught them anything like this, but Mr Escalante believes in them and pushes them to better than they think they can be. They all pass the AP exam (the first and second time) and this shows persisting towards a goal and goal mastery. With someone finally believing in them and giving them the chance to learn, these students showed everyone that what they could do.
I do agree with the other comments above, i had a hard time figuring out who was who; because they did not say names very often.
Stand and Deliver was a story I've seen a million times. Troubled kids are motivated by a great teacher and end up overcoming the odds against them. All the same, it was an uplifting story about the a teacher that truly cared about his students and their education. It seemed like Mr. Escalante used a controlling motivational style to whip his kids into shape. He pressured the kids into taking the AP Calculus test for college credit, even though no one else believe they could do it. He used social influences like calling people names and making them sit in chairs in front of the whole class to make the students realize they had to do their work and take the tests to succeed. This method worked because the kids learned and respected Mr. Escalante. I think it was this pressure and the threat of social mockery that made some students learn better. For example, Mr. Escalante would stand over the kids and say how easy the math was and how anybody can do it over and over. It was this pressuring language that motivated the kids to be better. Mr. Escalnte did not accept the students expression of negative affect and resistance. When the dumb kid in class wanted to quit because he thought he was going to bring the others down, Mr. Escalante would not let him quit. His motivating style may not have worked with everybody, but these kids wanted someone to follow and needed someone to tell them what to do. If he hadn't used this motivational technique, he probably would have lost many of the kids by the time it was time to take the test.
Overall the movie was not bad, but as someone mentioned previously, there are newer movies that have many of the same concepts and ideas.
Reeve states that a “goal is whatever an individual is striving to accomplish. Goals generate motivation by focusing people’s attention on the discrepancy between their present level of accomplishment and their ideal level of accomplishment.” So, what do you get when you cross a classroom full of underachieving East L.A. high school students with a new and inspiring math teacher? That’s right, the movie Stand and Deliver. The movie starts with a new teacher coming to a classroom to find the students aren’t motivated to do anything. As the year progresses he knows the students have potential and decides to teach them calculus instead of basic arithmetic. Because seriously, why use basic math at such places like the grocery store when you can use calculus to impress the hell out of the late night checkout worker who hates life, their job, and now hates you? The teacher establishes a goal for the students to pass the AP calculus exam for college credit. The students now see that the doors to their future are cracking open a little wider with the goal of passing a class that will allow them college credit. The student’s goal to take the AP test was one of dedication. They understood, as Reeve put it, “easy goals stimulate little effort, medium goals stimulate moderate effort, and difficult goals stimulate high effort.” The students learned that to achieve the goal of understanding calculus they would have to put a little sweat equity into it, literally. In fact I was sweating just watching them take the summer courses in the non air conditioned school. When all was said and done they passed their exams and were the strong foundation for a calculus program at a high school not known for high mathematical score outputs.
I thought the movie was really good, once I was watching it I had realized I had seen it before. I would recommend “Freedom Writers” for a more updated version of this movie, which portrays the same concepts as “Stand and Deliver” does. I liked the fact that Mr. Escalante was not willing to give up once for these students. I thought it was insane how much they had to go to school for though, including Saturdays. According to Reeve, “a goal is whatever an individual is striving to accomplish” (p. 211). Goals are what motivate an individual to focus their attention on what they want and ways to accomplish it. Reeve also mentions that goals that are both difficult and specific generally improve performance. The movie demonstrates long-term goals, which start with short-term goals or as discussed in class mini-goals that are needed to reach the big goal. Mr. Escalante’s goal for his students starts out with just teaching them how to do basic math, such as fractions. Then he gets the idea of teaching a higher learning math, calculus, which the school committee finds absurd, since the faculty think that it would be a waste of time. Mr. Escalante gets his wish, and in order to prepare his students to take calculus in time so they can take the AP exam for college credit, the students must stay a few hours extra after school, come on Saturdays and spend their summer learning everything there is to know about calculus. The AP exam is seen as the long-term goal because Mr. Escalante wants his students to go on to college and succeed. Towards the end of the movie the students have to re-take the AP exam because the AP board thinks the students have found a loop hole to cheat since they all missed the same answers. All in all, the students still passed the second AP exam and in future years more and more students were passing the exam.
How do I reach these kids? I was a bit skeptical of this movie because my only exposure to it was indirectly through a South Park episode where Eric Cartman (Mr. Escalante) teaches the kids how to simply cheat on the exam rather than actually pass it. Its a pretty funny episode and I'm pretty sure it is based on this movie. If you want to watch it, just go to southparkstudios.com and type "how do i reach these kids" in the search and you should see the clip. The whole episode is on there as well. Cartman even does the hands in the pants as opposed to pockets thing -which at least one other person commented on- was creepy. Ok, so as far as the movie goes, I thought it was pretty good. Edward James Olmos is a solid actor and Lou Diamond Phillips can pull his own weight. I think it did an great job of trying to tell the story it was trying to tell-that inner city kids can and will succeed in school if they have the proper access and resources. It was no walk in the park for them, either. I remember calculus being really easy, but I had like 12 years of solid math building up to that point. The expectations that people had for these kids was so low that they were actually undercutting any potential success by making all the classes easy because they thought that was the only way to get them to pass. People told these kids they were no good for so long that they eventually began believing it and playing the part (I'm thinking Labeling Theory).
Mr. Escalante changed all of that, at least for this group of kids. How was it that he was the one to get this done, where so many other well-intentioned people have tried and inevitably failed? A couple other posts have mentioned goals, which is absolutely a key part of succeeding in what they were attempting to do. However, I am going to focus on Mr. Escalante- can you say Leadership Motive Pattern?
High power need, low affiliation/intimacy need, and high inhibition. His need for power is evidenced in a couple of ways. First, he decided to change careers and become a teacher, which is an influential occupation that people with a high power need are attracted to. Second, his approach behavior is off the charts. He steps in and teaches math day 1 when he is supposed to teach comp science, he decides to teach them calculus without any form of approval from anyone, he goes to the restaurant and confronts the one girls father (also a borderline aggressive act), he starts teaching a TESOL class at nights for free, he ignores the doctors orders, and it keeps going.... Low affilation/intimacy is clear- he doesn't care if the kids yell at him or leave(he probably does but he projects that he doesn't-high inhibition), he basically forgoes any time with his own family to teach these kids and other people (his own son is struggling in math). Self-control is evident- there are several times I'm sure he would have liked to have hit one of those kids, he fails to acknowledge his deteriorating physical health status, he doesn't get overly excited when a student gets something right-he continues the lesson, and as I mentioned under low affiliation- he acts like he doesn't care if the students quit (at least in front of the other students, he helps out a couple of them in private). Without such strong leadership motive pattern qualities, Mr. Escalante may not have even come close to the progress he and the students achieved.
I watched Stand and Deliver in Spanish class in high school - I think to learn about discrimination - so I knew going into the movie what was going to happen. I took AP Calculus in high school and my teacher also enjoyed making fun of people. But I felt that Mr. Escalante was a bit of inflexible.
I would not have taken AP calculus if I had to get to school early and stay late just to take it. Those students were clearly motivated my the need of competence. At the beginning of the movie the students were unable to do the simple math of multiplying fractions but by the end they all got passing grades on the AP exam. I think that this demonstrates the need for competence because when they were given tasks that were not challenging they did not perform well on them because they were not motivated to do so. The math that they were expected to complete was boring and thus could not satisfy their need for competence. By teaching calculus to the students Mr. Escalante set up an environment that would help the students satisfy their need for competence. Mr. Escalante gave the students an optimal challenge that matched the students skills. This allowed the students to get into a flow with their work. He also gave immediate feedback, especially when he had the students work out math problems out loud or on the board. Failure was tolerated, in that no student was ever kicked out for getting a problem wrong. He also gave the students clear goals and guidance. For example, the goal was to pass the AP exam and he was going to guide them to that goal by teaching them calculus step-by-step. All of these components combined to allow the students to fulfill their need for competence.
Mr. Escalante had a high need for power. This was shown in his leadership, aggressiveness, influential occupation, and relatively prestigious possessions. His leadership was shown in the scene where he told the faculty that he wanted to teach calculus. He took the lead and showed the other teachers that it was possible to teach the students a high level math. His aggressiveness came through when he was yelling at the people from ETS. It also came through in his teaching style, he frequently hit students when they were doing something that annoyed him. Being a teacher is an extremely influential occupation because they shape the minds of the next generation. While his possessions may not have been very prestigious, compared to some of the students homes his house was much nicer. For the area that he taught in his house was a prestigious possession.
I enjoyed the movie and the message. Two feel good movies in a row - what a treat!
“Stand and Deliver” portrays the classic struggle of underprivileged kids from East LA and a passionate teacher trying to help them out to overcome the struggle of their poor environment. It reminded me of an older “Dangerous Minds”, which I think demonstrates the same ideas and themes.
Its main focus is on teacher Jamie Escalante (or Kimo as they called him, taken from Kimosabe from the Lone Ranger according to the article) and his fight to educate and teach students math. He believes that math is key to success and that students do not know how much they are actually capable of. Using unique teaching methods like using props and incorporating humor into his lecture and to demonstrate mathematical concepts and their function in daily life, he gets the attention of many students who previously thought they would never succeed. After realizing their potential for greatness, Kimo is bound and determined to teach the students calculus so they can pass the AP exam to get college credit.
Kimo went above and beyond and expected his students to do the same, even teaching early, late and on the weekends for no extra pay, the students are also met with additional challenges from their environment by putting in this extra work. Escalante also has a very close relationship with the students who have problems actually hugging a female student in the hallway, which is usually frowned upon due to sexual harassment lawsuits. After finally taking the AP exam and learning everyone had passed, the ETS doubting their intelligence, for a multitude of reasons, disputed their results. The students ended up taking the exam again with only one day to study, but once again they all passed and the movie ends with Kimo demanding their original scores be reinstated.
There were many themes throughout the movie, but the main two were goal setting, more specifically dealing with long term goals and also Kimo through his methods I believe also had a considerable need for autonomy. The progression of learning math up to the calculus level was a great way of illustrating the successful process of goal setting. While long term goals are usually difficult to achieve because of lack of feedback or reinforcement, the process of setting, “mini-goals” Like we talked about in class were key to the success of the students. His difficult and specific goals provided the increased attention, persistence, attention, and planning, led to enhanced performance. I actually have a different interpretation then some of the comments above regarding classroom style. His unorthodox methods of teaching displayed his need for autonomy through a controlling motivating style. He did not give the students any choices, they all did the same thing, they all had to sign contracts that they would be there during the extra hours, he pressured students highly to produce his desired outcome, used pressuring language, and definitely asserted his power to silence negative affect and resolve conflict. He did not provide support for students autonomy in the slightest.
After reading the npr article, I had scrolled down and one of the comments caught my eye with a link to this article.
http://reason.com/archives/2002/07/01/stand-and-deliver-revisited/
It talks about the demise of his program and how there is nothing like it still today. It is kind of a downer, but none of the articles talking about his illness even mention anything about it.
This one mentions it briefly;
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/07/local/la-me-escalante7-2010mar07?pg=4
Not only did "Stand and Deliver" present numerous motivational concepts through the eyes of Mr. Escalante, but all of his students sure operated more thoroughly via motivational factors within themselves. This movie was clearly predictable, but it was nonetheless great to watch each student progress academically and responsibly throughout their high school years. Mr. Escalanted demonstrated an outstanding charisma, passion, and leadership towards his students at Garfield High School. Escalante had one basic goal when he entered his teaching career: to educate these underprivileged and underrepresented high school kids of East L.A. However, he was well aware of the difficulty this undertaking required, especially because the majority of those students initially had zero self-confidence. As a powerful leader, though, Escalante waltzed in that classroom, visibly expressing his own self-confidence on the subject, attempting to transmit similar sentiments unto his students. Furthermore, Escalante has phenomenal intrinsic motivation. He left a steady, well-paying job to go teach high school mathematics in one of the most impoverished areas in California. He was out to transform lives, and that is exactly what he accomplished. Not only did his intrinsic motivation become clear with his immediate students, but he also volunteered at an adult nigh school teaching immigrants to learn to speak English. After experiencing several occasions of ridicule, Escalante's students adopted his intrinsic motivation and desire to learn, which in turn led to succeed by passing the AP calculus exam.
First, I have to say that this was an awesome movie due to the cast alone. For a science fiction geek like me, this movie could not have gotten much better. A few of the main characters included the main teacher (Mr. Escalante), who was played by Edward James Olmos. Olmos may be well-known for a few other roles as well, including his portrayal of Admiral William Adama in the series Battlestar Galactica. The principal was played by Carmen Argenziano. Argenziano may also be known for playing Selmak in the series Stargate: SG-1. Finally, one of the main students was Angel, played by Lou Diamond Phillips. Phillips is also known for playing "Colonel Telford" in Stargate Universe. Okay, I'm done with the science-fiction references. On to my Motivation/Emotion comments...
I thought this was a very good film overall. This film and Penguins are probably my favorites of the ones we've watched so far. As we saw in the beginning of the film, Mr. Escalante voluntarily chose to become a teacher rather than remain in his current job. It was implied that his previous job may have paid significantly more money. Although his neighbor did not understand why Mr. Escalante would do this, I believe it can at least partly be explained by factors of intrinsic motivation. I believe he had especially strong social needs, such as the need for achievement. Reeve wrote that achievement is "the desire to do well relative to a standard of excellence....(Achievement is a social need that involves) doing something well to show personal competence." In the beginning, the classroom was a complete disaster; it was chaotic.
Had Mr. Escalante done nothing more than managed to get by doing the bare minimum, he probably would have fit in with the other teachers. Instead, he chose to go above and beyond, making the children in his class a priority in his life. As his wife mentioned at the dinner table, Mr. Escalante would volunteer what little free time he did have to help a group of Hispanic-speaking people learn English. As evidenced in this dinner episode, he would postpone his physiological needs (such as hunger) to help his students. It also seemed as if he ignored his own health in the process of trying to help others (experiencing the heart attack, and wanting to still do whatever he could to help his students prepare for the upcoming test).
As soon as he started his teaching job, many discouraging things happened. I believe it was on the first day of school that his car radio had been stolen. This seems to be negative punishment (when he goes to the school, his things are stolen). The little guy who was supposedly a gang member "leader" also attempted to threaten Mr. Escalante with violence. I think he saw the situation as a challenge to prove his own ability. In terms of affiliation, I think he did care about others, as shown in his conversations with his friend who was also a teacher. It also seems that he had a fairly good relationship with his wife because they were able to talk to each other when they needed to (the time when he thought his car was stolen comes to mind). I also believe that he had a need for power, but his need for power was much different than Dr. MacKee's (from the movie The Doctor). Rather than being an arrogant, selfish, inconsiderate jerk, Mr. Escalante was generally only tough when he was threatened or his kids were threatened. For example: He was aggressive when the little gang member tried to threaten him and when the test authorities in effect threatened his students' futures. Mr. Escalante was in a position where he could have a big impact on others. Being in a teaching position gives one considerable power to influence students in their formative years. Mr. Escalante realized that despite the less than ideal environment, these students are people just like everyone else. They have within them the capability to succeed; they just need a little help and guidance along the way to make their future brighter.
There are quite a few more motivation/emotion concepts applicable to this movie, such as persistence, goal attainment, feelings of helplessness, and feedback, but I suppose here is a good stopping point for the end of this comment. I suppose one final note I want to make here is that while I believe this movie did illustrate many of the concepts on Chapter 8 (dealing with goal setting and goal striving), it did not effectively show the mechanism(s) used to elicit change within the students. Reeve explains that goals that are both specific and difficult generally improve performance, but feedback is also a very critical component. A demonstration of effective feedback seemed to be lacking. I think he may have been somewhat persuasive by making the hamburger flipping argument to them (instilling fear/anxiety), but I think the real teacher that this movie was based on must have used additional means of encouragement. In any case, many of the actions throughout the film did seem to follow the 8 steps in an effective (combined) goal-setting and goal striving process.
1. Specify the objective to be accomplished --- passing the advanced placement calculus exam
2. Define goal difficulty --- it was thought to be very difficult
3. Define goal specificity --- obtaining a passing score on the exam
4. Specify in advance the time span until performance will be measured/assessed - final test near the end of high school, but periodic short term assessments throughout the few years with Mr. Escalante, aka Admiral Adama.
5. Check on goal acceptance - I would argue the quizzes/tests were a component of this. The specific goal belonged to both the teacher and the student - each individual student made the decision of whether or not to continue with the calculus program.
6. Discuss goal attainment strategies - working through summers, working weekends, working late on a daily basis.
7. Create implementation intentions - they create a specific time table/schedule to which they each adhered.
8. Provide performance feedback - this was (supposedly) provided by Mr. Escalante.
I think “Stand and Deliver” shows the many social needs of a person, especially in relation to the students in Mr. Escalante’s calculus class. Social needs are achievement, affiliation, intimacy, and power. Achievement is defined in the textbook as “doing something well to show personal competence.” High needs of achievement are shown through the actions of the students throughout the course of the movie. The students went to summer school six days a week, had class during the regular school year for six days a week along with extra hours doing the weekdays. The students complied with Mr. Escalante’s requirements because they knew it would help them achieve the score they wanted on the AP Calculus exam, which would show their competence. One aspect of affiliation is gaining approval of others, while another one of intimacy is for positive relationships. I think a scene which portrays both concepts is when one of the students was working on a problem in front of the class and got the wrong answer. He tells Mr. Escalante that he was going to quit because he did not want to bring down the class. In this scene he wanted to gain approval of others for his calculus skills. However, Mr. Escalante does not give up on the student, instead he calls for more time to be spent working to help him. This helps to show a positive relationship, the teacher is willing to do whatever needed (including increasing his hours) to help the student succeed. The last social need is power. I think Mr. Escalante shows the highest need for power in the movie. He is in an influential occupation as a teacher and is aggressive when dealing with the principal to implement the calculus class. I do not think though that Mr. Escalante’s main motivation is his need for power.
Stand and Deliver offered a vast array of motivational principles related to achievement and goal setting behaviors. We see Mr. Escalante, with his thinning hair and real life experience, enter a classroom for the first time with the expectation that he would be teaching a computer class. A computer-less Garfield High School has other plans for him as he is required to teach a basic math course instead. The students in his class have clearly accepted their fate as minority, low-income citizens in the community. This external locus of control is permitting them to believe that they don’t need the education Mr. Escalante is offering them because the jobs they will take will not matter much in the way of math. By making the class an autonomous environment, Mr. Escalante seeks to overcome the prescribed attitude of the class to encourage them to attend. The class is given perceived choice and volition over their attendance. He uses a large amount of verbal persuasion to convince students that they are capable of being successful if they just try, and ultimately overcomes students’ personal behavior histories with a boost of efficacy. They become intrinsically motivated when Mr. Escalante believes in them enough to teach them Calculus in an attempt to earn them each college credit. By doing so, he has increased the likelihood that they will attend college because they have vicariously learned from their classmates and themselves that they can succeed in this environment. Mr. Escalante empowers his students with mastery motivation by demonstrating to them math skills and testing them to see what they have gotten from his lessons. After the AP test results turn up discriminatory, the students’ self-efficacy beliefs are such that they are able to exert the effort necessary to face the adversity. They study through the weekend and are given the opportunity to take the test over (with Mr. Escalante’s warning that it would probably be more difficult). Each of them succeeds as they remain remarkably efficient in their analytical thinking during this stressful situation. In this truly inspiring story, Mr. Escalante goes on to do the same thing for future students at Garfield High School. The power one individual can have in influencing others through means of verbal persuasion is incredible, and I loved the portrayal of each character as they overcame their learned helplessness behaviors.
I have actually seen this movie before, but I never watched it close enough. This time I paid attention to everything knowing I would have to write a blog and an article on it. I got a lot more out of it this time then I did before. First off, Mr. Escalante is a teacher that most students who are having a hard time in a class would want as a teacher. Mr. Escalante definitely uses goal setting as a key aspect for the underprivileged students to use. They had something to look forward to do and knowing that if they passed the AP calculus exam they would in return get a credit for a college course. Giving them a goal to do pass an AP calculus exam would be a difficult goal to accomplish. Reeves talks about how a difficult can be one that will improve a person’s performance. It definitely showed within this movie that exact concept that Reeves was trying to express. Overall this was definitely a good movie to show for the concept of goal setting. It definitely showed a sign from having a difficulty with a subject, to overcoming it because you set goals and your mind to it.
I saw this movie a few years ago for another class, and I forgot how inspirational it could be. Mr. Escalante knew that these kids had never been expected to accomplish anything in their lives, and he took it as a personal mission to push them for the very first time.
I found it very interesting at how discouraging the administration was at Jaime when he proposed teaching the students calculus. His idea was instantly shot down, as his superiors believed it was and impossible goal to achieve. Jaime mentions that in order for the school to start improving, they would need to start from the top first, as apposed to at the bottom as they school had been doing. The students were not being challenged, and as a result Jaime thought it would be best to create a difficult goal. Our textbook states that "as goals increase in difficulty, performance increass in a linear fashion... easy goals stimulate little effort, medium goals stimulate moderate effort, and difficult goals stimulate high effort" (212). Not only did Jaime set a difficult goal for the students, it was specific enough to know what needed to be done and how long the students would have to accomplish it. He knew just how many hours it would take during the summer, before and after school, and he planned accordingly.
Reeves also states that "performance also depends on factors that are not motivational, such as ability, training, coaching, and resources." Jaime was not blessed with ideal resources, but he was able to make the most of what he had. The article noted that Jaime would take students from other classes into his own class. With his devotion, and often unorthodox way of teaching, he was able to take Garfield High School to places nobody ever thought were possible.
To start off, this movie was one I had watched in High School-- it was a little cheesey, but carried a good message.
I thought Mr. Escalante was a leader at heart and would do anything to teach the students so they would learn. It was apparant he had the type of personality to portray the power to get the students to actually learn. Initially, other teachers were not fond of the idea of Mr Escalante teaching calculus. He showed leadership and aggressiveness to get what he wanted-- the opportunity to teach them something others thought they wouldn't be able to learn. It is obvious that Mr escalante has an influential occupation-- I mean, he's a teacher!! He has one of the most influential occupations someone could have.
Another interesting point I saw in the movie was the students enthusiasm toward calculus. Honestly, I am very far from being a 'math' person, but it seems a little strange for to me to see that many students so pumped about calculus. The only explaination I could derive from this was that the students weren't being challenged. Of course the school's education program was struggling and not much was expected of the students (until Mr Escalante came along) and perhaps this was because they needed something that intrigued them enough to WANT to participate. They were doing simple algebra equations when the movie began, but all completed and passed the AP calculus test. THe students were finally getting the competence they needed from their environment- they werew being challenged enough to where they could get into a 'flo' and be fully engaged and they had Mr Escalante who helped them with the positive and negative (some of the time entertaining) feedback and guidancenthey needed to succeed.
The students really thrived in their new environment and it was obvious this was the right direction for the school to take-- the students felt like they belonged to something important that was going to be worth it and they all succeeded.
As a side note, I really thought the numbers at the end of the movie were amazing-- The improvement from the years and the number of students passing that test was incredible.
I thought the the basis behind Stand and Deliver was very good, though I cannot say that it was my favorite movie. All the being said, there were many lessons of self-confidence to be learned from this movie.
The students in Mr. Escalante's class started out their academic career as the epitome of being undereducated in a low socioeconomic status neighborhood. Very few people believed in the students, and next to no one expected them to exceed the way that they did. In fact, not only was it the students that were not believed in, but the teachers as well. The school even looked at the potential need of revamping the entire mathematical staff, to see if that would improve anything. When Mr. Escalante decided that he wanted his students to be offered higher mathematical learning he was nearly laughed out of the meeting. However, Mr. Escalante was very set in his ways. He knew that his students were driven enough to do anything he put in front of them... they just needed encouragement. Regardless of what the other teachers said Mr. Escalante held summer classes in trigonometry in the locker room of the school. The students complained about being hot, but still worked hard because they had faith that their teacher would lead them in the right direction. After the summer they returned to the classroom and passed calculus with flying colors. This relates directly with the goal setting chapter in the book. The book discusses the need to set smaller goals and tasks in order to complete the larger goal. In this case the big goal was to complete calculus and be able to pass the placement test. In order to complete this goal the students needed to complete basic math, then algebra, then trigonometry, and then then passed calculous.
I thought that the movie “Stand and Deliver” was a very inspirational movie. It took a look at Garfield High School located in East Los Angeles. This high school is extremely close to losing accreditation. Most of the students in the school are not doing very well and are underprivileged. In comes Mr. Escalante, a new teacher to the high school. This new teacher is really able to help guide, encourage and teach his students. Mr. Escalante wants to teach the students Calculus and then let them take the A.P. exam so the students would be able to receive college credit. He makes this a goal for his students. To accomplish this he makes them all sign a sheet along with their parents saying that they will come into school one hour early, stay after school until 5:00, come in on Saturdays, and also come to school over holiday breaks. Our book says that a difficult and specific goal will help to enhance overall performance. How much more specific or hard can Mr. Escalante make this goal? With this goal being difficult Mr. Escalante helps to increase the students’ effort and persistence. I know, personally, as a senior would have never agreed to such an arrangement. In the end through hard work and dedication all of the 18 students taking his calculus class were able to pass the A.P. exam. The students however have to retake the exam because the A.P. Board believes that the students had cheated on the first exam. Mr. Escalante believes that the students did no such thing, and helps them to restudy for the exam, and again all 18 students passed.
I found the article to also be very interesting. After all of those years that have passed between the students graduating and where they are today, they felt so strongly about Mr. Escalante that they donated money to help him and his family out.
I remember watching this movie along time ago, and I was tempted to just do this from memory, but I’m glad that I watched it again. This movie demonstrates the difference that a good teacher can make. Mr. Escalante was able to take the students that had been told that they would fail and motivate them into learning calculus. Goals need a few things to be successful. First, they need to difficult and specific. Now, obviously calculus is difficult, but Mr. Escalante used contracts to specify what was necessary. If they came to school an hour early, stay until five, and come in on weekends, they would learn calculus and get college credit. Next, feedback is necessary. The students needed to know if they were doing well or not. Jaime Escalante would make jokes constantly that subliminally hint at what they would become if they did not learn this math. He told them that they could either order the food or be the one that served it. In this way, he provided the feedback that the students needed. And finally, goal acceptance is necessary. If the students had not accepted on the terms of his agreement, the goal would never have been accomplished. They needed to accept and make the commitment to the goal.
In this movie exceeding the expectations of others and yourself is one of the main features. The California high school and kids you can tell are in a social economic bracket and the teaching is as of such. You can tell that the school does not really care about the education for the students, not because of where they are at, but mainly because of the lack of resources, the lack of technology and teachers.
It was not until this math teacher whose desire to teach computers, teaches elementary math, then prepares the students over a years’ time to take the A.P calculus exam. Jaime-teacher has his own expectations for the school and his students. He connects with them through humor, building a level of relatedness and plays on their own individual growth, by giving them the only thing that they lack, which is a goal. He implemented a goal and was persisted in reaching that goal. Jamie understood that it would be hard but his drive for seeing the students pass kept him going.
These students are already motivated far beyond majority of their peers, because they attend school and are attentive in the learning process. Jamie makes learning math, which too many can be an uninteresting subject, but by regulating how much they learn, when they learn and relating it to a practical or humorous subjects they were able to grasp the context. The students are close to Jamie and it is seen in the movie, they open up to him about their ideas and thoughts or troubles. Even though you can see that his ideas can come as a turn off for motivating students, like criticizing their choices or lifestyle, but shows them that they are better than the guys/gals that are flipping burgers or frying chicken. He implants a long term goal for the students for going to college and succeeding in life.
Even though they are accused of cheating the first test, the students knew that they could take the test again, because they believed in themselves. They saw that they could do this and that their effort and persistence would pay off. They knew or were once helpless in their situation, for instance their SES and backgrounds, but overcame it by mastering their ability to control their situations. You can tell that at first they responded by returning to the nature of which they know, like getting drunk or angry, but that was a way that they knew to cope with situations, by running away. Yet, their expectations of themselves and their new beliefs about their abilities to succeed, help them in taking the test again. Surpassing the expectations once again of the testers board and the school board. A little positive faith and great leader can only create an environment where hope and success arise.
Stand and Deliver was a very good movie. I thought that one of the most important aspects in relation to this class is the idea of self-efficacy. The students in this movie display a high sense of self-efficacy when it comes to their math class. The difference with their self-efficacy and that of many others is that most of their efficacy comes from the persuasion of their teacher. The teacher helps them to focus more on their strengths and less on their weaknesses and deficiencies. As the textbook author states, this sort of efficacy can only take someone so far. The students had to feel secure in their own self worth to have the initiative to work so hard for their goal. The main motivator for these students is the need for accomplishment and achievement. What I found interesting was that it was obvious that they were not simply working so hard to get the college credit, they were so persistent so that they could achieve their goal and prove their school wrong about them. I find the head of the math department very interesting. When she is telling Mr. Escalante that he cannot teach calculus she says that it is because she is worried about what will happen to them when they fail. I think that this lack of empathy and her belief in their future failure does not come from worrying about their self-esteem from failing, I think it comes from her low opinion of the students ability. She sees the students as unable to succeed and therefore does not give them the chance to succeed. In a sense, she is seeing their lack of effort as something innate that is coming from the students, in reality there is no deficiency in the students, the deficiency is with the teachers lack of motivation to help the students to thrive. I wonder what happened to the other teachers after Mr. Escalante started teaching at this school. I’m sure that the teachers realized that their efforts were not enough and hopefully started to challenge their students more.
First, while I liked this movie, I would also recommend "Freedom Writers." I'll admit I'm a little biased being an English major, however. Also, I love the Southpark reference above lol.
As a future teacher, I strive to have an influence on individuals as Mr. Escalante did. Teaching is an occupation high in the need for power, which is the desire for making the physical and social world conform to one's personal image for it. Teaching younger generations fits this bill perfectly. While I questioned some of Mr. Escalante's motivational tactics at times, I think one of the most important things he did for those students was implement a long-term goal of passing the AP exam. While Mr. Escalante proved to be an effective teacher, many teachers fail because they don't give their students a goal within the academic classroom or some goal applicable to their real-life. According to Reeve, four factors determine whether an externally set goal will be accepted or rejected:
1.Perceived difficulty of the imposed goal
2.Participation in the goal-setting process
3.Credibility of the person assigning the goal
4.Extrinsic incentives
Implementation intentions, a plan to carry out one's goal-directed behavior, were also evident in the movie as Mr. Escalante's success was also dependent upon the motivational effect of an implementation intention linking goal-directed behavior (passing the exam) to a situational cue (he gave them specific times and places where they could meet and work on carrying out their goal). This strategy proved true in the movie for many of the students. Truly amazing what having a goal can accomplish!
I had seen this movie before several years ago, and at that time had thought it was a very inspirational film about a teacher that doesn't give up on his students even when they give up on themselves. Mr. Escalante was a great teacher that set a goal for his students to pass the AP Calculus exam to earn college credit; in turn the students adopted the goal for themselves. This was a long-term goal and it was difficult to these students to see the results this goal would have. So to make this goal more manageable Mr. Escalante broke this goal down into ‘mini goals’ for them to work on. First they had to get their homework done, if not he would make them sit in from of the class, they wouldn’t get a ticket to the show they would become the show. Second Mr. Escalante had them sign a contract, a visual reminder of the goal they are setting, they signed the contract stating they would come to class early, an hour before school starts, they will stay late, until 5pm, come Saturday mornings, as well as over the summer. They adopted these goals set by Mr. Escalante and made them their own. They accomplished each ‘mini goal and they in turn learned the material, passed the AP Calculus exam and accomplished their long-term goal.
I think this is an excellent film. I enjoyed watching it, and can remember back to when I was studying for AP Exams. I couldn't imagine taking the AP Calculus Exam though. Mr. Escalante had several goals he wanted for his students. One of course was to take and pass the AP Calculus exam. Another goal of his was he wanted them to have "ganas" or in English, desire. Mr. Escalante would push his students into having desire, by telling his students jokes, making class more desirable. Mr. Escalante even went out of his way to help his students achieve desire, like he did for Anna. When Ana was going to have to leave school to work in her family restaurant, Mr. Escalante visited her family's restaurant and had a discussion with her father to get Ana to come back to school. Another goal that Mr. Escalante had was he wanted to show ETS the mistake they were making by calling his students cheaters. Mr. Escalante studied with his students all night, and even made them dinner to prepare them for the second AP Calculus exam that they would take in order to prove that they were not cheaters.
Overall I feel as though this movie was not only inspirational movie, but it also demonstrates the power of setting a goal and following through. Mr. Escalante gave his students plenty of feedback in and outside of the classroom to keep them motivated to keep on studying and working towards the AP Calculus exam.
An inspiring movie, and very similar to so many other movies. The obvious theme in the movie was the idea of goal setting.
The goal Keno was trying to accomplish was to teach his kids and show them a different side of the world.
The goal for the students were trying to accomplish was to learn calculus to get college credit to then be able to accomplish so much more in life. He wanted to show them that they can be more than flipping burgers and frying chicken. They can design the car instead of repairing the car.
For each was goal difficulty. Mr. Escalante was fighting against the other teachers because they didn't think that the students were capable of math of that caliber.
The students were going from basic math 101 to algebra to AP calculus. The students had a specific goal to learn calculus to take an the AP exam for college credit.
Before they could take the test they had to each sign a contract and get their parent's permission. They were going to have to commit and give it all or nothing in order to succeed.
Sticking with the student's goal, they were receiving so much feedback from their teacher. He had a teaching style in which he would call a student out and would tell them right then and there, (straight up) if they were right or wrong. He was motivating and helped his students find desire.
They had everything they needed for accomplishing their goal and after they did, they found out that there were some complications with the tests. But they did not give up. Even though they felt cheated and defeated they studied up and went at it again and achieved their goal of passing the AP exam...now on to bigger and better things.
It’s been years since I’ve since this movie and I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed watching Edward James Olmos on the screen. The conviction of character that Escalante brought to the classroom is astounding. Escalante wants to teach and he refuses to teach a curriculum that is below the students’ intelligence level. He sets expectations for the students throughout the school years and they rise to meet them. After he has tested the waters, he pushes harder, raising the bar, letting them know that there is life beyond the barrio. They simply need to have goals. He encourages self-efficacy in his students by providing them with the skills to perform the math and then having them perform in the classroom, along the wall, in an overheated pool locker room and on two different AP test days. The students desire autonomy in their lives when they feel as if they are destined to be second-class citizens for the rest of their lives.
It seems to me that Escalante might have reached self-actualization. He is problem-solver, who focuses on others and not himself, even if it means prematurely leaving the hospital. He is independent and autonomous with a distinct worldview.
I thought that this movie was very inspiring and interesting. This movie brought many issues that America is still dealing with into perspective. People who devote their lives to changing the world (like Mr. Escalante), even if it is one person or problem at a time. You see Mr. Escalante's passion towards helping these students many times throughout the movie. The first example of this is the fact that Mr. Escalante quit his job to teach highschool. We also see this devotion when Mr. Escalante constantly puts up and stands up to his students, even though they may be intimidating at times. Mr. Escalante also shows his passion when he stops one of his students from getting into a fight with what appears to be a gang. Mr. Escalante also makes an effort to convince one of his student's father to allow her to continue to go to school, something that goes far beyond his job description. It is clear that this passion he has for teaching and for his students is a strong force of external motivation for Mr. Escalante.
Also demonstated in the film were many examples of the effects of goal setting. Out book says that "difficult goals energize behavior, which is to say that they increase the performancers effort and persistence" (pg. 213). I think this is a perfect way to explain the thoughts of Mr. Escalante while he is pushing his students. He states in the falculty meeting that your students will rise to the expectations that you set for them. This is a great example of how goal setting can increase performance and effort as discussed in the text book. Feedback is also a key element of goal setting. Mr. Escalante also seems to know about this factor, considering he provides constant feedback on how his stuents are doing, something that in return will allow them an emotional connection to their work (pg. 215).
Overall I enjoyed the movie “Stand and Deliver”. This is a story and plot that is demonstrated in many movies. When reviewing this movies and looking at out textbook I found one of the ways in which motivation and emotion contributes to the themes and contexts of this movie is through autonomy support or controlled environments. As defined in our text, autonomy support is interpersonal sentiment and behavior to identify nature and develops others inner motivational resources. This is when a person who is dictating and running a meeting (or in this case a classroom) is looking at the learning from a students point of view. Asking themselves how they would want to be treated and how they perceive their locus of control over the situation. According to our book the type of language used in this environment are inner motivational recourses, flexible language, explanatory rationales and expression of negative affect. Control environment is the other side of this motivation style. This is defined as interpersonal sentiment and behavior to pressure another toward compliance with a prescribed way of thinking, feeling and behaving. This situation the person (or student) feels as thought they have to do everything is the way the teacher dictates the task is completed. The instructional behaviors outlines in out text that resembles this way of motivation is an outer source of motivation, pressuring language, neglects explanatory rationales, and power to silence negative affect and to resolve conflict.
Taking these two styles of motivation we can look at the details of how Mr. Escalante ran his classroom. One notices on the first day of class the teacher struggles to gain control over the students. They have their own way of doing things and prefer to ignore the professor. .As the movie progresses Mr. Escalante evolves into a more autonomy support motivating style of conducting his classroom; he provides story problems that relate to the students interests, he creates an environment where the students want to learn and gives them the freedom to learn at their own pace. At one point in time he even demonstrates is autonomy supportive motivation when he gives away a young mans seat when he decides to skip class. This is been a beneficial action when the young man approaches Mr. Escalante later in the hopes that he will help him with his learning and provide him with books. Overall, this movies was a good representation on the styles of motivating in comparing and contrasting the styles between Mr. Escalante and the other advisors and teachers in the building.
I really enjoyed this movie! As someone else mentioned, it's a common story line, but for me, it never gets old. It's encouraging to see real-life heroes making an impact in the world.
Over spring break, while I was waiting for my car to get fixed, I picked up a People magazine and on the very last page was a short article about Jaime Escalante and mention of Stand and Deliver. Jaime has been diagnosed with cancer and is having trouble paying the medical bills, so the actor that played him in the movie is helping by setting up a foundation for people to donate and show their love and support for this man that helped so many others. I don't remember the website, but I'm sure a google search will bring it up. The magazine was from earlier this month, so it's not up on the website yet, but as soon as it is, I'll post it. I found it to be wonderful timing as we've all just seen the movie. I'm glad I picked up that magazine!
The theme that stood out to me most from this movie is the goal-driven behavior. Although much of the goal-setting process wasn't outrightly visible in many of the characters, the effects of setting goals and the behavior that results because of goal setting was clearly seen. Jaime was very internally motivated and he genuinely cared about making a difference in his students' lives. He had a long-term goal in mind of giving his students the chance to go to college, and had smaller, short-term goals along the way, such as the summer classes, meeting before and after school, and other ways of preparing for the AP exam. His students were able to make it to the end result because of helpful feedback along the way. Jaime was constantly encouraging them, helping them, and providing constructive criticism to help motivate them to do better if they struggled. These are all ways that the students could see how they were doing and find ways to improve with the long-term goal in mind.
Stand and Deliver is the story of Mr. Escalante’s, a dedicated math teacher, and his struggle to help his rebellious students to realize and achieve their highest potential. This movie completely relates to self-efficacy, which is the question of whether one feels they can perform a specific task well or if they have the ability to correct a situation if it goes wrong (Reeve, 2009). Before the students meet Mr. Escalante, they do not believe in their own self-efficacy because society has always taught them they did not have the ability to succeed. No other teacher in the school had given the difficult situations and problems to conquer and this apart of achieving self-efficacy (Reeve, 2009). This movie also focuses on Mr. Escalante’s self-efficacy to help these students succeed. He is met with the challenge of getting the students to put their full effort into passing this calculus exam. To begin with, he is mocked by the students and is faced with their resistance. He must use a controlling behavior in order to teach these kids and show them their potential. Because the students don’t believe they are capable of completing such high levels of math, they do not contribute much effort at first. Reeve (2009) marks this as being a common reaction when dealing with self-efficacy. “…when people expect that they cannot adequately perform the required task, they are not willing to engage in activities requiring such behavior.” Reeve, 2009, p. 237.
I had never seen this movie, “Stand and Deliver”; however, I really enjoyed this movie. I found it extremely inspirational and moving. Jamie Escalante is a dedicated math teacher who wants his students to have the opportunity to take higher level math classes. Escalante feels his students deserve the chance to take the AP calculus exam. In the movie, Escalante states, “math is the great equalizer”. He wants his students to recognize their own potential and realize they each can do great things. Escalante wants his students to understand they do not need to drop out of high school to start a family or join a gang. They can achieve their goals if they are determined to succeed.
Escalante begins an AP calculus class for students; these students are required to take AP exam. He pushes each student to learn the material. This class met before and after school, during the summer, and during the winter. Escalante utilized supporting autonomy by using autonomy support. During his AP calculus class he used autonomy support to motivate and instruct his students because he nurtured motivational resources, promoted values, and acknowledged and accepted negative affect. Escalante nurtured motivational resources by identifying interests and preferences for his students for them to understand basic and higher level math concepts. For example, he used an apple to help explain fractions during one of his first classes. Escalante also incorporated information language into his class. He was able to be flexible with his wording and had the ability to rephrase sentences for everyone to understand a question. Escalante promoted the value of learning upper lever math concepts. He was able to communicate the importance of an uninteresting math concept and apply it to a student’s interests. Finally, Escalante acknowledged and accepted negative affect. He gained his students’ trust and was able to work with his students in order to solve an issue.
Overall, Escalante was a demanding teacher who expected nothing but 100% from his students. He wanted each student to realize his or her potential. He also wanted to prove that Hispanic students in a low income area are just as smart and intelligent as student from wealthier neighborhoods.
I though Stand and Deliver was a very good movie. I enjoyed it, yet it was a little predictable for me. It was like so many other movies to me. It actually reminded me of so many other movies when there is an educator like Mr. Escalante, and they take hard or difficult kids and try to turn them into something or give them some kind of interest or hope for the future, like the movie where the teacher spends his time to teach all the kids in detention how to ballroom dance. To me this movie was similar because Mr. Escalante took this "gang" member and students who had no hope or motivation for anything and attempts to turn them into great mathmaticians and make them alegebra and calculas students. I could kind of relate to this movie, although I am certainly not a gang member or anything, I am currently taking Psychological Statistics and I absolutely despise it. No matter how hard I try or how hard I study I just don't get it. It makes me feel stupid, I will study and study and even go get extra help from the professor and then I will take my test and not pass and I loose all sense of self-efficacy and all sense of hope in the class. I always feel like giving up and then my self-efficacy levels and mastery of beliefs kick and I feel like if I just work even harder I will get it. Meanwhile my professor reminds me of Mr. Escalante, he is always so excited and can't wait to teach the class. He tries his hardest to reach out to students who are struggling and he tries to make the class fun by using humor and makes jokes. Unfortunately, that is not enough for me. I still dread the class and despise going everyday. I think I would have enjoyed this movie even more if it were any subject EXCEPT math! Math is my worst subject and I strongly dislike it. It was a good movie, but had it been any other subject other than math, I would have enjoyed it much more.
I had seen this movie before and enjoyed it. Seeing it from a M & E perspective though was like watching it with fresh eyes. This film is really inspirational. It's amazing how your expectations of someone can shape them and their behaviors. The teachers at Garfield High School didn't expect these students to sit down and behave, let alone learn. Jaime Escalante saw through this and decided to teach them calculus, even when the other teachers thought it was a suicide mission. I thought this was a great example of goals, expectancy, and self-efficacy. For these students, calculus seemed impossible, but once they set their goal to learn it and pass the test, they were able to overcome what they thought were their odds.