Half Nelson is about teacher named Dan Dunn, who teaches Junior High history and coaches a girls basketball team. He has conflicts with the principle over the curriculum. Dan is a rebel teacher, who teaches his history class his way. He also has a drug problem. He likes to party and do drugs at night and then teach during the day.
Drey is one of his students in his class. Drey is a latch key kid. Her mother works as an EMT. She works many double shifts so she isn’t home a lot. Her mother doesn’t know exactly what goes on with Drey due to her long hours of work. Drey has a brother named Michael, who is in prison on a drug charge. Michael has a friend named Frank, who helps out the family while Michael is in Prison.
Dan had been in a drug program before, in which he had met his ex girlfriend Rachel. Dan finds out that Rachel is engaged to another man. Rachel moves on with her life but Dan does not. The program didn't work for Dan. He continues to do drugs while teaching history to junior high students and coaching girls basketball. One day after basketball practice Dan goes to the locker room to make sure all the girls are gone. He then goes into one of the bathroom stalls and lights up his cocaine pipe. While smoking it he hears someone come into the bathroom. A student of his, named Drey, opens the door of the Bathroom stall and asks :Is somebody in there.” Drey looks at Dan and sees him with a pipe and a lighter. She says “ oh sorry.” Dan says “ Its okay.” “ I’m sorry.“ Dan asks Drey to help him up. Drey asks if he is ok. Drey gets a wet paper towel and wipes his face. Dan gives her a ride home and asks “ see you tomorrow?” Dan says “yes”
The next day in class Dan is very nervous. He is pacing the floor, rubbing ...
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Frank convinces Drey to start working for him by delivering drugs to people. Then one night to show Drey the bad side of the buisness, he sends her to a motel room where Dan, her teacher, is partying. Frank does this to make Dan look bad in Drey’s eyes. But Drey aready knows of Dan’s drug addition. Drey goes into the motel room where she realizes, that Dan is the buyer. Its at that moment that Drey realizes that Dan needs her help. Dan also realizes that Drey needs his help to get away from the drug scene.
This film shows how both Drey and Dan are alike in the following ways.
Dan and Drey are both loaners and wanting someone to care for. During their journey through the drug scene they come to realize that they need each other to survive. They both walk through the drug world in different ways which brings them together and a friendship develops.
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The narrator whose name is unknown finds out that his brother Sonny was incarcerated for the use of and dealing heroin, raised in a society where being afraid of fear is constantly affecting both of their life’s in turmoil. “He was frightening me a little” (Baldwin 19). Fear shaped the older brother in becoming an Algebra teacher, endeavoring to save his younger brother from a lifestyle of street habits, influence specifically on drug abuse. According to the narrator, he expects Sonny to follow his footsteps in finishing an education because “If you don’t finish school now, you’re going to be sorry later that you didn’t” (Baldwin 20), in addition the narrator describes the life of Sonny “weird and disordered” (Baldwin 21). The narrator uses his fear to form a communication with his brother, however Sonny’s decision of freedom in becoming a professional musician, and escaping misfortunate moments is not in communion. Thus, Sonny feels neglected by his older brother’s expectations and judgments based on his own future. “I think people ...
In the high criminal neighborhood where the other Wes lived, people who live there need a positive role model or a mentor to lead them to a better future. Usually the older family members are the person they can look up to. The other Wes’s mother was not there when the other Wes felt perplexed about his future and needed her to support and give him advises. Even though the other Wes’s mother moved around and tried to keep the other Wes from bad influences in the neighborhood, still, the other Wes dropped out of school and ended up in the prison. While the author Wes went to the private school every day with his friend Justin; the other Wes tried to skip school with his friend Woody. Moore says, “Wes had no intention of going to school. He was supposed to meet Woody later – they were going to skip school with some friends, stay at Wes’s house, and have a cookout” (59). This example shows that at the time the other Wes was not interested in school. Because Mary was busy at work, trying to support her son’s education, she had no time and energy to look after the other Wes. For this reason, she did not know how the other Wes was doing at school and had no idea that he was escaping school. She missed the opportunities to intervene in her son’s life and put him on the right track. Moreover, when the author was in the military school, the other Wes was dealing drugs to people in the streets and was already the father of a child. The incident that made the other Wes drop out of school was when he had a conflict with a guy. The other Wes was dating with the girl without knowing that she had a boyfriend. One night, her boyfriend found out her relationship with the other Wes and had a fight with him. During the fight, the other Wes chased the guy and shot him. The guy was injured and the other Wes was arrested
Wes Moore, the author, was the second oldest child in his family; he had an older sister named Nikki, and a younger sister named Shani, with parents Joy and Westley. When Wes was younger there father died of being sick, leaving him and his siblings, with their grieving mother. A few weeks after their father died there mother chose to move in with her parents into Baltimore. Wes and Shani then had to attend a private school because there mother knew that would be a better school for them to go to. Joy’s parents helped a lot with Wes and Shani taking them to the train station so they could go to school every day. With Wes going to a different school he made new friends like Justin. After a few days hanging with his new friends and Justin he got into a bit of trouble choosing to do bad things.
This is in present time in southern California. Drue lives in Woodland Hills and plays basketball at a beat up park named Morrison. That is where Drue found Legend playing basketball at midnight one day. Mr. Gilbert owns a mansion where he has lots of party’s and he even has his own service man. Lee has his own car so he can drive Drue around wherever he wants because Drue doesn’t have his license yet. Legend lives in a beat down hotel but his room is surprisingly
Working as a teacher serving at-risk four-year-old children, approximately six of her eighteen students lived in foster care. The environment introduced Kathy to the impact of domestic violence, drugs, and family instability on a developing child. Her family lineage had a history of social service and she found herself concerned with the wellbeing of one little girl. Angelica, a foster child in Kathy’s class soon to be displaced again was born the daughter of a drug addict. She had been labeled a troublemaker, yet the Harrisons took the thirty-hour training for foster and adoptive care and brought her home to adopt. Within six months, the family would also adopted Angie’s sister Neddy. This is when the Harrison family dynamic drastically changes and Kathy begins a journey with over a hundred foster children passing through her home seeking refuge.
Andrea, her roommate, is seeking treatment from addiction to heroin and self-harm. Gwen refuses to having anything to do with the treatment center and group therapy. She believes she doesn’t have a drinking problem at all and therapy is silly. While still denying she has a problem, her boyfriend Jasper slips her a bottle of pills while visiting her. Gwen and Jasper leave the campus and have a night of partying. Gwen arrives back in her room the next morning clearly intoxicated. Cornell, the director of the rehab facility, confronts Gwen and informs her that she violated the rules of the facility. Gwen is told she is being kicked out of the program and is being sent to jail. She becomes outraged and denies that she has a problem and can quit whenever she chooses. Leaving the director’s office, she goes to her bedroom and decides to take the pills that Jasper slipped her. She ends up spitting out the pills and throwing the rest of the bottle out of the window.
Jeannette started to lose faith in her parents after they could no longer provide for her, and swore that she would make a better life for herself. “I swore to myself that it (her life) would never be like Mom’s…” (Walls 208) Jeannette has the idea to move to New York to escape her parents, and pursue her dream of being a journalist. She decides that her older sister, Lori, will have to escape with her, because Jeannette would never leave Lori alone with her parents. The next day, Jeannette buys a piggy bank to start an “escape fund”. To make money, Lori would draw and paint posters for kids at school and sell them for a dollar fifty. Jeannette would babysit and do other kids homework. She made a dollar per assignment and and babysat for a dollar an hour.
An awkward, shy Midwest girl, Ruth, is growing up in the small town of Honey Creek, Illinois in the 1970’s. All of her childhood, and most of her adult life, is spent wondering what would happen if she could get away. Her father, Elmer, left her family when she was ten, which left her mother, Maylene, very bitter. Maylene is extremely unhappy and disappointed in Ruth because she is nothing like her shining brother, Matt. Matt, a mathematical genius, earns a scholarship to attend college, whereas, Ruth was not encouraged, through school or at home, to believe she could attain a college education.
The show is still currently running, and it is only on its fifth episode at the moment but we know a lot about Dandy. Dandy is a young adult in his mid-twenties but has the mentality of a sadistic ten year old. He throws child-like fits when he can’t have what he wants, he has a play room with children’s toys, and performs poorly put together puppet shows. Dandy lives in a huge mansion with his mother and their live-in maid. He was raised by the maids his mother hired, so he has no connection to her besides the title of ‘mother’, and she buys him whatever he wants. Dandy has never had a father figure in his life, he was raised by women. Dandy has never been punished for anything he has done so he now doesn’t fully know the difference from right and wrong.
When we were out of my neighborhood I asked where we were going and Kolin said we were going to Dre's apartment first; afterwards we would take the Metro down to Northwest because he had to meet up with some people for a drug deal. Mark began to roll a joint and he said, "Look, I scored some KB off this idiot high-school kid who thought it was swag. It's my treat ladies." We rolled up to Dre's apartment, drank a little and hot-boxed the van. As we sat there smoking, Kolin, Mark, and Dre began to talk about the recent events. "That party last Friday was fucking stupid. I can't believe they gave you shit at the door," said Kolin.
Bob Sweeny, decides to give Danny a second chance, as he fears that Danny will end up like Derek, leads into the narratives ‘Recognition’.
Megan Baur is a 6-year-old Caucasian female who currently attends the first grade at a private school, Rolland Park School for girls. She lives with her birth parents and her 4-year-old brother, Kyle, in a suburban house on the outskirts of Baltimore City. Her father is a successful chiropractor and her mother works part time as a dental hygienist. Her mother was a stay home mom from Megan's birth till very recently, when she decided to return to work only during the hours while Kyle, the youngest attends nursery school.
Dan’s naivete towards Jack 's sexuality is the conflict in their relationship. His inability to accept his son is the reason why their relationship is so complicated. Dan, caught off guard when faced with his son and another boy together, loses his temper and their relationship is compromised forever. This event makes him reevaluate his parenting behavior and the role he will play in his son’s future. What hurt Dan the most, was not being in jail, but the realization that he did not know his family, and that he was ignorant of even the most obvious things. That day he lost both his freedom and his family, thus fueling his dedication to do right by his son. He resolves, after his symbolic road trip with Cam, to make a grand gesture towards his
In the assessment of Ryan, the parent provided crucial information that led to identification of challenges that Ryan was going through. The parent spent a lot of time helping the child to complete his homework. Secondly, the parent realized that Ryan would be able to memorize a story, but reading and writing down the story was the challenge because the letters were jumbled up in a word. Ryan was showing extreme signs of frustration while at home, an aspect that he hid from his class teacher and schoolmates. Ryan was not afraid to ask the mother for help in doing homework and worked quite hard to please the mother, although inherent challenges frustrated his efforts.
The main characters in this story were Zach Wahhsted, Alan Mender, and Joey Mender. Zach Wahhsted was a schizophrenic sixteen year. He often hallucinates voices and people; but when ever he would forget to take his medication, he would hear two voices that would tell him to kill himself. Zach had a hard time understanding what was real and what was in his head. Alan Mender was a seventeen year old who grew up in a rough neighborhood with his little brother and their mom, who was diagnosed with cancer. He has a kind disposition, but lives in rough circumstances. Joey Mender was a fourteen year old younger brother of Alan Mender, who also lived with his mother, he is temperamental and thought zach was just a retard.