Keeping the Lid On

By Jacqueline Goldwyn Kingon

A VIEW FROM THE TRENCHES

A) Listen to the text and fill in the gaps.

Jaime Escalante was a hard-working teacher whose credo was ____________________________. Having come to the USA he was not able to teach but he was really willing to do it because ____________________________.

After he had got credentials to teach he picked out Garfield High School, where he was given basic math classes to teach. He complained that ________________________. In spite of the disagreement with the school officials Escalante was sure that students had to be __________ and decided to involve the best students into participating in the national ________________________________.

The first year he got together a team of ______ students and ___ of them passed the test. By 1983, _____ students were _______ and all passed the exam. By 1987, Escalante’s calculus AP course had grown considerably. _____ students took the calculus AP exam that year. Only _____ other school in the country had more students who took the exam.

b) Comprehension and Discussion (pairwork).

1. What was Escalante’s occupation when he moved to the USA? Why couldn’t he work as a teacher?

2. Why do you think he chose to work at Garfield High?

3. What didn’t he agree to?

4. What is the national AP (Advanced Placement) program?

5. How did Escalante’s theory of education differ from that of the school officials?

6. What adjectives would you use to describe Jaime Escalante?

9. Comment on the following statements:

1. A great teacher is a great artist.

2. An ignorant teacher teaches ignorance, a fearful teacher teaches fear, a bored teacher teaches boredom.

3. Every teacher continues to be a student.

4. The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil.

5. Good teachers are born, not made..

6. The education is based on four C’s: Competence, Creativity, Compassion and Character.

7. Teaching machines and computers can be substitutes for any teacher.

8. Teaching is a two-way traffic.

10. Read the diary of a new teacher that recounts her year at a New York City failing school, where clocks never tick.

In the Teachers’ Room

A second –grade teacher announces that a particular student is finally on medication. “He’s like a zombie,” she says. Cheers go up.

“Sounds like the dose is too high,” says one teacher.

“Or too low,” quips another.

I ask a senior teacher nearing retirement how he keeps order in the classroom.

“I scream in their ear,” he says. “I scream in their face,” adds an intimidating looking second-grade teacher.

The second mantra after “cover yourself” is “don’t ask, don’t tell.” This unwritten rule is because a teacher fears the common and unfortunate practice of being shot as a messenger. Teachers are kept in line by threats of “U” (unsatisfactory) ratings by principals and are boxed in between instruction and discipline. If you talk about disruptive students, administrators say the problem is your fault: If you had stronger control, the child would not have brought a knife to class or stolen your wallet.

Harder work is more interesting to teach, but academic challenges can be threatening to insecure children. Acting out masks ignorance. Work that makes students comfortable and feel successful causes fewer discipline problems. New work is introduced piece by piece at an agonizingly slow pace. Dumbing down is a discipline technique that keeps children who prefer entertainment to instruction orderly and safe.

Some parents do not see certain types of behavior as unacceptable. “I acted that way and I grew up just fine,” they say, or ”I tell my child to stand up for his rights and fight back.” Some get annoyed when notified a second or third time that their child has acted up. Some say they’ll have to beat the child again, and you’re sorry you called. And some low-income parents encourage bad behavior so their children are labeled disabled and placed in a special education class. They can then receive Supplemental Security Income.

Immediate discipline is delayed by a time-consuming, six-step procedure, copies of which are distributed midyear. The teacher is to repeatedly write up a problem child’s behavior, followed by parent meetings that must also be written up, and a 7- to 10-day cooling-off period. That’s only up to Step 2. At Step 4, reports are given to the guidance counselor. They don’t reach the principal’s desk until Step 6. The procedure doesn’t sound unreasonable but becomes increasingly ineffective as time passes and nothing but talk and report writing has taken place. Teachers have time and energy to get action on perhaps one disruptive child; many more slide by. Instruction time is lost, too, as the teacher writes down each incident.

This technique can keep problems away from the principal’s desk for a long time. Of course, if something really terrible happens, the principal can say, “Why wasn’t I told of this before?” Then the principal is covered both ways, and teachers are left holding the bag every time. Teachers keep notes to cover themselves.

Eventually, the problem child hears a lecture he has likely heard before from the assistant principal and is sent back to class. The child might later be transferred to another class, sometimes two or three during the year.

A common punishment for a serious infraction like bringing a weapon to school is a week’s suspension – a welcome break from classes.

Дата добавления: 2014-11-16