Maggie Stewart

Dr. Carnahan
ED 430
12 February 2015
Stand and Deliver
The film Stand and Deliver centers around a poor, predominantly Latino high school in Los
Angeles and the teacher who helped them to unleash their full potential in the classroom and in
life. Jaime Escalante was a computer programmer hired to teach computers at East Los Angeles
High School; however, when he got there, he found out that the school did not receive the money
computers from the district like they had hoped, and so he was placed as a math teacher instead.
Mr. Escalante began to realize what the students needed was ganas, which is Spanish for desire.
When he shared this with his fellow math faculty, they thought he was crazy, as the rest of the
teachers thought that they were doing the best they could and the students could never succeed.
He introduced the idea of teaching up, or setting the bar high for all students and then
differentiating when necessary. The audience sees the struggles that many of Mr. Escalantes
math students go through at home. However, when he introduced a demanding AP calculus
program, the students all rose to the challenge and spent many hours working in preparation for
the AP test in order to get college credit. Eighteen of Mr. Escalantes students passed the test, but
because they made the same math errors on the same problems, their scores were investigated.
Mr. Escalante was upset because this issue taught his students that even when they worked hard,
they would never be seen differently. Finally, the students retook the test and made high scores
again.

Tips from Stand and Deliver for teaching students with learning disabilities
1. Teach up and students will rise to the challenge.
2. The students desire is more important than their ability; they can improve and succeed more
than they imagined if they truly want to.
3. Much is demanded of the teacher, but there is always room for improvement.
4. Be aware of students home lives and problems, and speak with families when necessary.
5. Relate classwork to students lives and interests in order to capture their attention and help the
problem make more sesnse to them.