The Old Woman (Teachers)

The trained teacher who has been inspired to teach our children

CAN I ENDURE?

Kim came into the teachers' lounge. She was shaking and on the verge of tears. With a reddened face, she almost stammered, "This is not what I came into teaching to do!"

The teachers had just had another "in-service," and all their faces exhibited confusion and unhappiness. They were all getting tired of the overinstruction they felt they were receiving. Some had said that it seemed the district was trying to control every lesson and even the manner in which it was taught.

"But," said Kim, "when they tell you exactly what to teach, how to teach, and then try to tell you exactly which things you are supposed to correct, that is just too much. I had a good job, well paid, in a nice office. The only thing wrong with that job was that you needed to handle each form a certain way, file a certain way, and everything was done the same way by everyone. I went into teaching so that I could be creative. I wanted to use my abilities, make my own decisions, have a little interest, variability, and most of all, enjoy my work. They are gradually taking all this away from us. I might as well go back to my old office. At least the pay was better there."

This anger had been building for months in Kim. Kim was one of the younger teachers on the faculty. Some of the older ones just seemed to begin accepting everything that came down from the administration building. But the countenance of all the teachers was changing. There weren't so many smiles. No one was bringing surprise treats. Most of the group seemed somewhat down, almost depressed.

Kim was in her twenties. She had just had her second son. Both her boys were strong and healthy and very active. Kim was active. She had been a cross-country skier before she and Fred had married. He skied also, and they spent weekends skiing before the children came and between their sons' births. The youngest was now a year old, and they were skiing again. Kim's family skied too, and they went in family groups to manage her boys and small nieces and nephews. They had a great family spot where there were several vacation units to accomplish the trades for babysitting. Skiing was a great break from the education fiasco. Kim could really relax and smile.

Kim was sure wondering if all her college prep and the change of jobs had been worth it. It seemed that each day, there was less and less creativity going on. Kim shrugged her shoulders, pushed herself up from the table, and started down the hall into her classroom. She found it hard to smile as she opened the door from the playground to her room and let in her fourth-grade class. She had just been told exactly how to present the morning's literacy lesson. She was not enthused, and she knew that her students would find it less than interesting.

She was still enjoying the lessons she taught for science. The district had not yet started any controlling of science instruction, and she was very creative. She loved science. That class would come this afternoon. She smiled as she thought about the hands-on materials that she had brought for the science lesson. They will love it, she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Darin, one of her more animated students. He actually could be quite a handful if not kept busy. Darin looked up at Kim, with a huge grin on his face. "Hey, Mrs. G. What are we going to do today?" he said, almost chuckling.

"Well," said Kim, "You all will really enjoy the surprise that I have for our science class this afternoon."

The kids cheered. Kim thought to herself, But you are really going to hate the language class this morning. She wondered to herself how bad this overcontrol of instruction was going to get and if she would be able to continue to endure the changes. Might she be happier back at an office, filing forms?

WE ALL HAVE PURPLE

Lois, an older fourth-grade teacher, stood at the doorway to her classroom. She was annoyed as usual. That smart-aleck younger teacher Sarah across the hall thought she was so great. She had a lot of kids who really liked her. But she just played with her students. Lois had told this to the principal. She had said, "They make a lot of noise over there. I don't know what they are doing. I think that they are just playing."

Sarah taught the kids with learning problems. She had small groups, and they had lots of fun. Lois was sure that they could not be learning. Teaching was serious. Lois was always serious. She carefully planned her lessons and was very professional in everything that she did. She was very professional toward the students. Sarah was not. She was much too friendly. She smiled all the time and even put her arms around her students. The old principal who was in this school before would have been upset with Sarah's demeanor. Lois wondered if the overfriendliness was what made the kids like Sarah.

She stood back as her students filed through the door and went in an orderly way to their seats. She was proud of the discipline and order that she maintained in her classroom. She greeted the class and had them share a few moments of news that they had heard from the radio, paper, or television. She did not like show-and-tell sessions. The children did not need to exploit themselves or their accomplishments. They would quickly go into the reading lessons for the day. She had a lot planned and hoped to finish a story for each reading group. There were some independent worksheets that she must not forget to hand out before the groups got started.

Billy was whispering to his neighbor across the aisle. She gave him one of her looks. This must stop before it turns into a real disturbance, she thought. She was hoping there would not be so many check marks for misbehavior today as there were yesterday. She had to give up her recess time as three students had earned enough check marks to keep them inside, and that meant that she couldn't go get her coffee. She fidgeted in front of the class. Her girdle felt much too tight this morning. She must have overeaten last night. She hoped her makeup was on evenly. She had not rechecked her image before the bell rang.

The reading groups went smoothly. She was confident as the stories were the same ones that she had presented for the past ten years. She was very familiar with the content, and she knew which passages to emphasize or use for illustration. She remembered from her past students where their interest was. These days, though, teaching was getting harder. Children were not as involved with the lessons as they used to be. Some of the descriptions and actions in their reading were now dry to them, not very exciting or interesting. They have too much time for movies and TV now, and their interests are for lots of quick, sudden changing actions. And they like so much animation. All this electronic stuff must not be good for them. She smiled to herself about how people were more solid, more patient, more real when she was a child. Many of her friends and her coworkers kept asking Lois when she was going to retire when they thought it would not offend. She knew she was getting annoyed at all the innovations. Why, children now have their own music stuck in their ears with earphones and contraptions, and many of them have their own cell phones. What a disgusting situation! We teachers often have to take these new toys away from them before we can teach. And that new special teacher across the hall, she isn't that young herself, but this stuff doesn't seem to bother her, she thought.

Lois moved quickly through the reading and into the language lessons. She taught it exactly as the consultant from the administration building had shown them at the last in-service. She liked organization and consistency. She did not understand the complaints of the other teachers about too much control in teaching matters from the administration. She believed in control and thought that this was what civilization needed more. Just look at John right now. He shows complete lack of control a lot of the time. He just reached out and flipped Mark's pen from his hand to the floor. Another check. She wondered why the school had decided that kids could use pens instead of the pencils if they chose. Choosing was getting to be a problem. They were also letting them choose the food that they could eat in the cafeteria. If they want choice, she thought, they should pack their own lunch. But it was a good thing that the teachers could choose in the cafeteria as she had some food allergies.

Lunchtime came, and Lois was ready. The morning went well, and only one child was close to having enough checks to cause him to stay inside for recess. Lois walked proudly into the teacher's lounge. The other teachers always seemed glad to see her and often asked her opinion or advice on instruction. Today they asked her how the new language lesson went. "It was great." She smiled. "I did it just like Marge showed us, and they were able to employ those methods to make good paragraphs. I haven't checked them yet, but I scanned the papers, and it looks good." Kim and Barbara smiled back, but inside they wondered about all the overkill on teaching and becoming like robots, each teacher instructing just like the others.

When Liz came in, Lois winced. This pretty teacher was very annoying. She had been here several years. She had too many boyfriends. Lois imagined that Liz drank a lot and seemed to have too much time for enjoyment for a serious teacher. Liz had finally settled down to one man and had gotten married. This did not seem to slow her much. She still skied, jogged, and was always out on the weekends. Besides, she had to brag about all her escapades in the lounge. Lois turned her head and talked with her more conservative-minded friends. Diane and Jane were more serious teachers, as was Scott. He was the third male teacher who had joined the faculty. He dressed well, was polite, and seemed consistent in his teaching skills. She was beginning to really like him. Dick, up the hall, was another story. He taught things that weren't in the curriculum, and he seemed to like Liz a lot.

Lunch was almost over but just in time for Lois to hear Liz say at her table that she was "expecting." Oh no, thought Lois. She knew Liz's buddies would all be happy for her. They were. Lois stopped on the way out to say to Jane, "This is the kind of person who should be pregnant and have children," as she motioned to the pregnant Diane. Lois was the chief purveyor of what ought to be the way of the world. Jane smiled her agreement.

All the teachers in the upper hall (grades 4 and 5) were probably in accord, except for Sarah the new special teacher. Liz and her close friends were in the lower hallway (grades K through 3). Liz was on her music class break; her lunch had been earlier. Lois was upset that Liz had come into the lounge and ruined her lunch. Now she was angry. Diane had tried several times to have a baby and had miscarried. Liz, this party girl, would probably have no problems in her childbearing.

Back in the classroom, Lois started the afternoon math class. Two students got up to go over to Sarah's class, and Lois noticed that Chrissy, one of Lois's students, had her math book with her. Lois marched across the hall and partway into Sarah's room. She snatched the math book from Chrissy's hand before the incoming class could even sit. Sarah seemed surprised. Lois was still angry from lunch, and she glared at Sarah.

"Chrissy comes to you for help with her reading. She does not come here for math. I will take this." She turned and stalked out before Sarah could even respond. It seemed that Chrissy had asked Sarah if she could help her with some math problems that she could not understand. They were story problems, and Chrissy had reading-comprehension difficulties. Sarah had asked her to bring the math book, and she would try to help her. It had not worked out so well.

On Thursday, two days later, Lois was still annoyed about the math book, but nothing more had been said. Sarah had helped the girl with some other story problems and said nothing about it. Lois watched as the girls from her class went to Sarah's room and noticed how friendly the group was. Sure, she thought, she has fewer kids and more time. Then she heard the girls giggle, and Chrissy said, "I did tell Myra what I was wearing today."

Sarah remarked, "I guess this is a purple day." They all giggled again. Someone must have remarked that the four of them, including Sarah, were all wearing purple. Lois was interested. It seemed that more personal comments helped her get the girls' attention and affections.

The next week, as Lois's group passed down the hallway to the specials class, Lois said to two girls near the front of the line, "Look, we are all wearing red. It must be a 'red day.'" The girls smiled and agreed. Somehow it did not seem as much fun to Lois as it had when Sarah had done it.

Lois tried over the next few years to be a little friendlier, a little looser, and a little more accepting. She really made a big effort, but things always bothered her because they were not just as she would have them. Neither were the students, but the new instructions were more deliberate and with less opportunity for discussion. She liked that. She always felt that she got her piggies over the stile.

However, Lois did not enjoy the fact that when students from middle school or high school came to visit their old elementary school teachers, none of them had come to see her. They stopped to say hello, but Lois knew they had come to see one of the other teachers.

GREAT SNAKESKIN BOOTS

Scott was new this year and was teaching fourth grade. He was studying for his administrator's certificate and hoped to not teach long. His plan was to finish his master's degree in two years and get assigned to head a school as a principal by the third year. Children were okay, but he really wanted to be an administrator. He didn't much like doing lesson plans and saw himself as someone who could easily command attention for assemblies, represent his school well at parent meetings and administration meetings, and probably do very well with press interviews if any important circumstances arose. He nodded to himself with pleasure. He was getting ready for the "reading block," and his students needed to be led down the hall from the music class.

He reached down and brushed lint from his beloved boots. His partner Darrel had given them to him for his birthday. They both had been shopping, and Scott had remarked how great they looked in the men's store. Shelly, one of the other fourth-grade teachers, had been to his apartment and met his roommate. She was also gay, and it was their secret from the rest of the faculty. Scott had not been too private about his relationship, and he had taken Darrel to back-to-school night. He wanted Darrel to see where he worked and how well he handled the parent meeting. The principal seemed aware also, but she was of the same orientation too and just was not public about it. There were a number of gay and lesbian educators in the administration building. That is why Scott felt assured that he would soon have his own school.

He brought the fourth graders in and started his reading class. It was easy for him. There was little supervision from the principal. She was recently hired from the middle school and didn't know much about elementary instruction. Scott always had problems with reading himself. He needed much assistance in his college work and had gotten special exemptions for some of his classwork and testing. He had a few friends who could help him. He was going to take the final for his master's degree next week. He was lucky it was at the state teachers' college. These people made exceptions for disabilities, and Scott had recently found out that his severe dyslexia made him qualified. He could have a scribe! His scribe was also an education major, and this could really be a wonderful help. He felt so much of the educational training was so ridiculous.

Betty, the school counselor, came in as Scott was passing out the clever forms he had made for the reading groups. He hoped she would not stay long and notice his lack of instruction. Betty asked to see two of Scott's boys. She would only keep them for a short time and wanted to know if they would miss too much if they left at this reading time. Scott assured her that it would work out fine. The boys would be doing some silent reading. In fact, the whole class would be doing silent reading. Scott had groups but rarely did any group instruction. He did not know phonics, word recognition, reading instructional skills, or any specific method for reading instruction. He gave his groups word lists and questions about their reading from time to time. His usual reading lessons only involved the students choosing a trade book, reading it silently, and then responding to the book in one of his clever response forms.