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,...