Teacher World

In my first blog concerning President Obama’s speech to our nation’s children scheduled to air on Tuesday, I touched primarily on the reaction from our parents over the upcoming speech and the decision made by our school system as a result. While some of the anger expressed by parents was purely political in nature, in fairness to parents, some of it was undoubtedly fueled by the Department of Education’s suggested lesson plans for teachers to use as follow-up activities after the speech. Before I even discuss the initial lesson plans that were suggested, can we address the obvious? Isn’t the Department of Education a non-political entity? Their very involvement in this issue muddied the waters, as far as I am concerned. Did the DOE suggest lesson plans after Reagan or Bush’s speeches? Why this time?

At this point, what seemed like an important message to our students becomes something suspicious and tainted. Especially in light of the originally suggested activities. For example, in grades K-6, it was encouraged to have students “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals.” Furthermore, it was suggested that teachers “build background knowledge about the president of the United States by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama”. Whoa!!!!! Suddenly a speech about doing well in school and staying in school takes on a whole new meaning! Are we concerned about our children, or are we influencing children to support Obama and his future policies? And should our children by writing letters about how to help their president or how to help their country? This seems like dangerous territory to me, as I’m sure it did to parents.

To the Department of Education’s credit, they did realize their mistake and amended the suggested lesson plans to something more palatable, but by then, the damage was done. As a result, many districts like mine are probably being told not to show this speech. And unfortunately, if the message is powerful, which is very likely knowing President Obama’s style and eloquence, our students will be the losers. A sad ending to what I think was meant as an innocent and relevant appeal!

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What a hailstorm has erupted over the announcement of President Obama’s speech to school students nationwide on Tuesday! As a teacher, I must admit that my first reaction to the news was annoyance that after countless interruptions to my schedule hampering my ability to teach what I have planned to teach, now it was the president telling me that I had to put my educational plans aside to make way for his. And I am reticent to allow something to be viewed by my students that I have not had the opportunity to either preview or have a solid understanding of its content before I show it. I had concerns that the message might by political in nature, and not only would I be unwilling to participate in that, but I knew there would be concerned parents if this was the case. Then I heard a synopsis of Obama’s speech; to encourage students to work hard and stay in school. Since our superintendent left it up to individual teachers whether to show the speech or not and it airs during our lunch time anyway, I thought I would tape it, giving me the opportunity to determine my comfort level with the message expressed, and show it at a convenient time if I so chose. But that plan was thwarted when we received another email from our principal, this time saying that we were not to show the speech at all.

So what happened in a matter of one day to precipitate such a turn around? I believe parent reaction was largely responsible for this new decision, as I know that countless phone calls were received at the board office regarding this upcoming speech. And upon what was their reaction based? Some of it was probably purely political; a gut response to a president that they neither elected nor support. Some of it was probably fear over the possibility that the president might use this as an opportunity to mix politics with a pro-education message and their children would be caught in the crossfire. I think some parents worried about the follow-up activities teachers might use to reinforce President Obama’s speech.

 I find it interesting that both George Bush and Ronald Reagan gave speeches to school children without the anger and accusations that surround Obama’s speech. It makes me wonder if this attitude is born out of the frustration and distrust of government which has seeped into our society, especially due to this terrible economy. Whatever the cause, we will not be watching the president’s speech on Tuesday, and apparently I will not be able to show it later even if I wanted to.

I am interested, as I am sure many of you are, in knowing how other school systems have handled this delicate situation. Leave a comment, and let us know what’s happening in your school on Tuesday and how you feel about it.

Teacher-World's Blog Obama, Obama's speech to students, parents, teachers

Like everything else in education, disciplinary methods are always changing. When I first started teaching, corporal punishment was very much a rule of thumb. In fact, in my interview with the gentleman who would later become my principal, I was asked about my view on corporal punishment. Like any new teacher just out of college, I gave a verbose description of my well-rehearsed discipline plan. I rebutted the concept of corporal punishment labeling it archaic and unproductive, and talked instead of making the punishment match the crime to make sure that better habits would develop over time. My soon-to-be-principal proceeded to inform me that he was a firm believer in the use of the paddle and so were the teachers in his building. I remember leaving that interview both disillusioned and convinced that I would never hear back about that teaching position.

To my surprise, not only was I offered a teaching position (I am convinced it was more because I said I would be willing to take a coaching job than any great impression I made in the interview) but before long, I found myself buying into the corporal punishment frenzy. And it was a frenzy! I taught in a middle school at that time, and discipline was always a huge issue. Many of the male teachers had honed their paddling skills to such a degree that they volunteered their services to those of us who were too squeamish to do the deed ourselves. Eventually, corporal punishment became a thing of the past, but I sometimes look at where we are now and think perhaps we went too far in the other direction.

Many parents have become almost militant about teachers denying their child privileges as a disciplinary action. You can take away recess, but heaven forbid you take away a class party, field trip, or fun activity. (Even if their child does not deserve it.) I believe it is a reflection of our society that work needs to be fun and, rather than striving for those intrinsic rewards, it is rapidly becoming more about the extrinsic rewards. Why do schools feel they have to buy into this philosophy? I think it is because the fear of parent advocates and lawyers coming into the schools has become a reality.

Suddenly, our school system has gone soft. And the irony is that ours was once a school system which actively utilized an extremely harsh form of punishment on a regular basis. Now I would never want to go back to the days of corporal punishment, but is there no middle ground between that and the so-often-too-soft-to-be-effective forms of discipline we see in schools today? Let’s send the firm message that you earn what you work for; you don’t get it just because your parents will make a big enough stink!

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On Monday mornings in my classroom we spend the first few minutes reconnecting after the weekend by sharing something exciting we did over the weekend. One memorable morning this past spring, we were making our merry way around the room sharing our happy tales until I reached one young man, I will call Tim, who had been absent on Friday. Thoroughly expecting to be told that Tim spent most of the weekend in bed, I inquired, “So, Ted, I know you were sick so I assume you didn’t do much this weekend, right?”

To my utmost surprise, Tim boldly proclaimed, “I wasn’t sick on Friday.” Okay, so now I expected to hear that perhaps he had a doctor’s appointment or a family obligation, so I asked him if either of these two possibilities was true. He very patiently replied, “No.”

Now I was stumped. So I pursued the matter a little deeper by asking why he had stayed home then on Friday. Now get ready…His exact words were, “I had to stay home and help my mother set up the pool.” This happens to be a student who has struggled academically all year and whose mother I had been in regular contact with for support, so it took awhile for this proclamation to sink in fully, not just for me, but for the rest of the class as well. When I trusted myself to speak, I asked if he had begged to stay home to help. Tim retold the story that his mother came to his bedroom door in the morning and asked him if he would like to stay home and help her with the pool. Again, I had to take some time removing the shocked look from my face as I asked if this pool work could not have waited until he got home from school or over the weekend. He just smiled and shrugged. At this point I questioned whether setting up the home pool qualified as an excused absence. The only thing that saved me from a complete melt down was the fact that I was not the only one in that room that was amazed at the craziness of this situation.

I tell this story because it is indicative of a serious problem we face in education today. So many activities are becoming more important to parents and their children than school: sports, movies, computer games, vacations, concerts, and now I have to add pools to this list. For those of us in the business of educating and trying to get students to pass state tests, it is frustrating to say the least. I’m sorry, but when parents believe that setting up a pool is more important than getting their children to school, our schools and our students take a real dive.

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How many of you have ever had a student return after an absence and ask this most annoying of questions: “Did I miss anything yesterday?”

The evil side of me wants to reply in the most sarcastic tone I can muster, “No, we put education and all educational pursuits on hold while you were gone. School just isn’t school without you, and we spent the seven hours you were home mourning your absence. Lucky you! You have no work to make up as we accomplished nothing all day!” Of course, I refrain from such unconstructive comments and direct them instead to copy another student’s assignment book and give them the work they missed. I remind myself that kids believe that the world revolves around them, thus it is only natural for them to think that nothing could possibly transpire without their glowing presence.

Just as I am licking my wounds and practicing my counting to ten and breathing deeply routine, they hand me a letter from their parent. Assuming that it is the explanation for their recent absence, I curiously open the missive only to release a pained sigh. Because clutched in my unbelieving hand is the same inquiry that was so boldly asked just moments ago by their unsuspecting progeny. Can this parent really believe that in a seven hour time period nothing of consequence occurred? If the roles were reversed and I sent a letter to their place of employment asking them if they accomplished anything at all the day before, would they not be insulted? Now, the counting to ten and breathing deeply routine is simply not enough. I move to phase two in my calm-down routine. Making a quick excuse, I move to the hallway where I can sputter and spew to my heart’s content. Then I count to ten, breathe deeply, and return to my desk and the letter that requires a carefully constructed and very diplomatic answer. I forgive the cause of the sputtering and spewing as I need to get on with the work at hand because, in spite of rumors to the contrary, I actually have educational plans for the day.

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