FREE ESSAY ON MY POSSE DON'T DO HOMEWORK

MY POSSE DON'T DO HOMEWORK

LouAnne Johnson's My Posse Don't Do Homework is an excellent book in the way that it
describes the looked over and ignored kids of schools around the nation. My Posse Don't
Do Homework shows us how important it is to nurture and care for students and tell each
and everyone of those students how important they are and they, too, can make a
difference. When Ms. Johnson had the class on the first day of school, the students were
all prepared to "work" their way through yet another substitute or permanent teacher.
According to the book My Posse Don't Do Homework, when Ms. Johnson had asked about Miss
Shepard, the group of student's former teacher, one girl replied that she "had been
'psyched out'" (19). "Miss Shepard had thrown down her book and rushed out of the
classroom in tears the previous Friday. The kids weren't surprised that she hadn't
returned. They were obviously proud of their handiwork..." (19). Moments later a
dictionary was flung at her head and she then proceeded to leave the classroom. After the
dictionary incident she spoke with a colleague, Hal Gray. After a brief discussion with
him, she went back to the class where she was inspired by her former drill instructor,
Petty Officer Hawk's, presence and confronted the student who threw the dictionary at
her. After getting in the boy's face, he gave into her demand of sitting down. After
introducing herself and telling them about her Marine and Navy background, she gained the
advantage and some of their respect from fear that she could kill them with her bare
hands. The book is not suggesting that every teacher that has a difficult group of
students should let them think that he or she, meaning the teacher, is going to violent
if they do not cooperate in class. However, with this group of kids Ms. Johnson thought
that it would be most effective to intimidate her new students. After gaining his or her
respect, she started to care about each student. She went above and beyond what is to be
expected from the average teacher. She truly cared about each of students and did her
best to get to know each of them on a personal basis. She even proves in her book, My
Posse Don't Do Homework, that this is an effective way of teaching these students who
have been told that they are not important and that they would not achieve to be much.
Most of the students in her classes were passing with average and above average grades.
The same students were doing below average or failing other classes that were instructed
by teachers who did not put much to any effort in showing these students any affection.
James A. Banks states in his book An Introduction to Multicultural Education: "I think we
have to create a caring community in the classroom. We have to create what psychologists
call a superordinate group in the classroom" (93). He goes on later discusses and
somewhat defines a super ordinate groups. Banks states, "Allport's theory of group
contact suggests ways to create a sense of community. In order to create a sense of
community, we first need to create a group within the group not cooperation. Second, we
need to create equal-status situations for the groups" (94). It is imperative that we
teach our students in a fair and caring way. Teachers have to be sure that he or she is
doing everything in their power to help their students achieve their goals. Isn't that
the purpose of teaching, to help assist the students and do almost anything within their
power to see that their student is learning? One option to helping students better
themselves and give more of the much-needed affection is to reduce class size. Johnson
states in the introduction to her book, "When classes are small enough to allow
individual student-teacher interaction, a minor miracle occurs: Teachers teach and
students learn" (2). When teachers gain a positive rapport with their students because of
smaller class sizes, fewer students have a chance to fall through the cracks. LouAnne
Johnson stated, "The Junior Advanis and Attiba Macks break my heart, but for every
student who slips through the cracks, a dozen--or two dozen--step over the cracks and
walk out of high school with a diploma in one hand and a dream in another. It's these
kids--the ones you don't read about in the newspapers because good news doesn't sell--who
keep me coming back every year to my lopsided wooden desk, my crumbling bulletin boards,
my outdated text books, and my handful of dreams" (106). This quote, in my mind, say how
important it is for teachers to care about what happens to their students and how having
a passion for teaching can positively affect the lives of the students that they
encounter. Not only does it make going to work each day that little more exciting, but it
also helps a student set and achieve their goals, which is the purpose for teaching. 
Bibliography
Works Cited Banks, James A. Introduction to Multicultural Education. Second edition.
Allyn and Bacon: Boston. 1999. Johnson, LouAnne. My Posse Don't Do Homework. St. Martin's
Press: New York. 1992