Teacher Under a Microscope

By Robert Rose

Even though the incidents occurred in 1978, TEACHER UNDER A MICROSCOPE examines ongoing issues in education through the eyes and ears of trained observers and evaluators. They observe, comment, and critique everything I say and do.

The intake and exit interviews explore my philosophy of education as well as my comments and responses to their questions about what I actually did and why I did it. The conflicts between a disturbed principal (who was backed by the District) and me demonstrate the lack of balance of power in the schools. One of my main contentions is about the necessity of teacher autonomy. You see how I fight for it, not for me, but to better serve and teach my students. There are some basic questions asked and answered through the Observers interviews and protocol and the daily and weekly journals or commentaries I was asked to make. A few times I give you some overlapping of the same incidents as seen by the Observer and then in my journal so you can see them in greater depth.

First. What should life in the schools be like for the children and their caretakers teachers and support personnel? Second. What are the basic goals of public education and how should they be accomplished? Third. How much freedom or autonomy should a teacher have or needs to properly achieve these goals?

With the accountability movement gaining strength coupled with powerful back-to-basics and safe schools components, it appears the public believes schools should emphasize basic skills. To assure this happening testing is the rage to demonstrate that the students are achieving higher standards of skills and as a way to evaluate the effectiveness of each teacher.

Testing is reasonable and necessary as one way to determine what a student has learned and a teacher has taught. It is one way. It does not take the place of all the complex and useful things a teacher has learned about a student during the year. Often, because a student is learning English or is enduring serious emotional distress or has some type of learning handicap, the teacher is in the best position to know whether a test assesses accurately his skill levels, knowledge, or progress. When a single test is the only determiner of whether a child passes or fails, injustices occur. The same is true when the test results of the class are the only determiners of the teachers ability or success. The threat of being fired for the poor performance of a class will discourage even good teachers from taking classes or individual children who have academic or behavior problems. I have already read about and seen instances of teachers trying to insure they have more than their share of good and capable students. This stacking of a class will most affect new teachers (and their students) who have always suffered trial by fire. It makes good sense for the experienced teachers not to jeopardize their career, but is it ethical or good educational practice?

The positive aspect of mass testing and accountability is that more students are being exposed to a much wider variety of useful academic skills In many poverty areas the students, because of alleged or believed weak academic abilities, were limited in what was taught to them. Asking teachers to carefully examine what they teach and expecting them to know why as well as what they are teaching is a positive step for the profession...

It didnt just happen. Through years of trial and plenty of errors, I gradually found my teaching style. Through eclectic reading I brought into my classroom ideas and concepts from many disciplines. I found I was not an original thinker, but I was very good at taking the ideas of more gifted people and applying them in classroom situations. I took many concepts and techniques used for adults in the Human Potential M

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 20, 2001
• ISBN: 9781462831647

Robert Rose

I would like to be seen first as a great husband and father, but I have often failed my wife and the mistakes I’ve made with our children (yours, mine, and ours - the magnificent seven) I have tried to make up for in their adult lives. They say I have. My wife and I have gone through many conflicts and difficulties, but we have survived them all and now our love is flourishing and deeper than ever. I used to fantasize about being a Nobel winning novelist, but now I just want to share my experiences and visions with others. My books are psychological self-help, educational workbooks and teachers’ guides, children’s plays, and novels. My most consistent success has been as a teacher. In “BECOMING A MORE CREATIVE TEACHER,” I explain the characteristics of a creative teacher and environment and answer the questions I have been most frequently asked.

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Copyright © 2001 by Robert Rose, Ph.D..

Library of Congress Number: 00-193237

ISBN #: Softcover 0-7388-5465-4

eBook 9781462831647

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Contents

INTRODUCTION

THE SETTING

FIVE WEEKS IN A FISHBOWL

INTRODUCTORY INTERVIEW

PROTOCOL, DAY 1, OCTOBER18.

TEACHER, OCTOBER 18

PROTOCOL, DAY 2, OCTOBER 19

TEACHER, OCTOBER 19

TEACHER, OCTOBER 20

PROTOCOL, DAY 3, OCTOBER 20.

TEACHER, WEEK OF OCTOBER 16-20

PROTOCOL, DAY 4, OCTOBER 23

PROTOCOL, OCTOBER 25

ACTIVE PROTOCOL, DAY 6, OCTOBER 25

TEACHER, OCTOBER 25.

ACTIVE PROTOCOL, OCTOBER 31

PARENT CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 14.

PARENT CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 17

INTRODUCTION

Every writer is an egotist. Every person who clamors for or is in the public spotlight is a like my youngest granddaughter when she says insistently, Watch me, Poppy!

It takes a strong belief in yourself to expect that people will vote for you, buy your book, listen to your music, or watch you as you do your thing. I’ve had that belief about my teaching and the bulk of my books are about my philosophy, techniques, and experiences as a teacher. In 1973 in a Master’s in Education class each of fifty people were asked to give a brief introduction. I calmly stated, I’m the world’s greatest teacher! When the laughter died down the professor smiled and said, He is!

A book waiting to be written will be titled, If Dr. Rose Can’t Fix ‘Em, Nobody Can. This immodest title reflects what principals and teachers believed and said as they referred the most academically and or behaviorally dysfunctional fifth to eighth graders to the extremely successful at-risk program I headed for middle school students from 1986 to 1995. Yet, many others thought I was a dangerous meglomaniac.

The question in my mind was who was right? Was I a great teacher like most of the parents and children that I taught believed? Or, was I the dangerous maverick whose innovations and experiments threatened the fabric of the system? I felt the people (mainly supervisors, jealous or traditional colleagues, parents of children NOT from my room) who bad-mouthed me and my programs either resented my forceful autonomy, my brash self-confidence, or honestly disagreed with my methods and goals. How could I prove who was right?

In 1978 the opportunity to know fell into my lap. Los Angeles District suddenly decided not to allow a research team of ethnographers to study how their teachers were integrating their schools. The researchers from the U. S. Department of Education were under specific time lines and frantically searched for another district. Like Los Angeles, the San Bernardino City Unified Schools District was under a court order to desegregate. A flyer was sent out asking for teachers to volunteer. Five hundred dollars was offered because of the extra time teachers would have to spend being interviewed and writing their interpretations of each day’s events. For five weeks the ethnographer(s) would be in each teacher’s room and everything he said and did would be recorded. Each of us would be in a fish bowl. It was like the popular real life TV programs. We even had weekly meetings with the research team that were more like encounter groups than debriefings.

Since time was a huge factor all four of us who volunteered were selected. There was a thin, black man in his thirties, an uptight, unfriendly white woman in her forties, an attractive Hispanic woman in her forties, and me—the man who would be king. Each thoroughly believed she or he was a good teacher and was willing to put her or his expertise on the line to demonstrate how each dealt with the problems of integration. Three of us each had over twenty years experience, the black gentleman over ten.

The research team accumulated hundreds of pages of in-depth observations of the daily classroom lives of four different teachers. These were sent to several social scientists from UCLA, Vanderbilt, Michigan, and Michigan State who analyzed the data. Four volumes emerged and were published by the U.S. Department of Education. I have a copy. The other teachers did not want to see the results. If we had been placed on a scale from 1 to 10, ten being the highest, the other male would have received a two, the white female a three, the Hispanic woman between seven and eight, and I was between a nine and ten. The black man was murdered a few years later, the unhappy woman was promoted to principal in our District, and the Hispanic woman continued to successfully work in District alternative programs.

I was offered a job as a teacher trainer by the team’s director who later became my doctoral sponsor. I couldn’t take the job because I couldn’t afford the pay cut nor could I leave the area because of my wife, children, and stepchildren.

I was flown to New York and interviewed in depth by yet another team of professors. They agreed with the conclusion that I had developed a unique and effective method of integrating children. It was not just desegregating, which was what was happening across the country, but was practicing real integration. I came home elated because I believed that with this scientific vindication I would be allowed to train other teachers.

It didn’t happen.

Not only was I not allowed to train others, but the District refused the release of the results of the study. They said it would embarrass the other Teachers and the District had its own effective program for integration. Reality—translation? We are not giving this kind of power to a teacher we feel cannot be controlled! Before, during, and after the study the District continued to try to destroy all or parts of my unique program. Also, after reading the results of the analysis, I could understand why they didn’t want the information made public. They didn’t care about the other three teachers, they knew the results made the District look bad. They were NOT doing all the things they could or should be doing to prepare the administrators, the teachers, the parents, the children, or the community for the very difficult task of truly integrating, not merely desegregating children. The saddest part is not that they didn’t accept me as a local celebrity and allow me to train to other teachers, but the fact they neglected the wisdom found in the volumes about the EXACT steps that should be taken. The suggestions were brilliant and could have made a difference then. Some of these have been put in place in districts across the country, but no district I know of either has used all their suggestions or knows about them. Hopefully, twenty years later, with integration becoming even more complex, this book will help some find their way!

Great or effective learners can only happen when they are taught by great or effective teachers. Great teachers evolve by introspection, learning from their mistakes, and their intense desire to find better ways to teach, reach, and touch their students. Dr. Beckum and Stephen Dasho’s research points the way!

As the documents are presented and each person is seen based on what she or he did and wrote, you will better understand why teachers are unable to grow as human beings and find their own ways into becoming the best they can be. It is the reason that real educational change is impossible within the present hierarchical structure.

I have edited the material because our recording equipment was poor, the typing was not clear, and there was boring repetitiousness. I have kept the meaning and impact of each observation.

Here’s the evidence. You decide what you want your schools, teachers, and children to become.

THE SETTING

March 3, 1978

To: Joe Liner (Principal)

From: Associate Superintendent

Subject: Robert Rose

This is in response to your letter of2/10/78 asking for approval of payment to Bob Rose for a parent education class at Hooper School. In order for me to consider the request, I do need to have Dr. Benson’s approval. If you do secure this, please forward it to me and I will make a decision promptly.

{The parents had requested this class. I was going to teach the parents what I was teaching their children, which was—meditation, massage, dream diary, guided fantasy, and communication training.}

March 23, 1978

To: Joe Liner

From: Dr. Benson

Your letter dated 3/9/78 requesting approval to allow Mr. Bob Rose to teach a parent education class has been reviewed by me and approved. Payment for services by Mr. Rose has been budgeted out of the Compensatory Education budget and has Mr. Goodwin’s approval.

April 4, 1978

To: Dr. Benson

From: Associate Superintendent

I will take to the Board on 4/20/78 the request to pay a Robert Rose an hourly rate for teaching a parent-education class, as requested by Joe Liner and approved by you. If the Board asks what will be taught in this class, I want you to be aware that I will need to call on you for a response regarding class content.

April 6, 1978

To: Associate Superintendent

From: Joe Liner

Subject: Adult Class at Hooper

For reasons that you aware of and for others you might not be aware of I am asking you not to proceed with Board approval for the adult class that was planned at Hooper School with Bob Rose as the teacher. We will not hold the class this spring. If people are interested in his program it is being offered at the State College this quarter.

{The content was too controversial and we agreed that it was better to teach it through the State College.}

April 5, 1978

To: Dr .Benson

From: Joe Liner

As a result of our conversation on 4/3/78 I have prepared this report on Bob Rose’s program. As I indicated to you Bob’s description of his program that he presented to the Board leads one to believe that he is running a therapy session for those in need of psychological help. Nothing could be further from the truth. His basic program covers all areas of the curriculum with an emphasis on reading, writing, and math skills. Science, health education, physical education, music, and art are taught on a regular basis. This basic program takes up an excess of 90% of the teaching week. All components of the school’s compensatory education programs are implemented. Individualized instruction is used in the program. Achievement in his class has been significant. This is especially noteworthy because of the number of children in his classes that have had significant learning problems in past years.

As an educator observing this program I tend to look at it from the point of view of what it does for the children and how it affects their educational progress. The areas outlined in Mr. Rose’s presentation to the Board included meditation, dream diary, guided fantasy, and massage. As I observe the processes I see them to be the following:

Meditation—Children learn to sit quietly for up to ten minutes. It teaches them how to relax and after this period of relaxation they seem to be able to function better in an academic area.

Dream Diary—This is nothing more than a motivational tool to help children write by writing about a subject that interests them, namely themselves.

Guided Fantasies—This is a creative use of their imaginations to solve problems and learn basic skills more easily. While in a quiet, receptive mood the children are better listeners. The Teacher is able to communicate more easily and as a result there is more efficient teaching and learning.

Massage—Children massage faces, hands, arms, and feet. This is done for a few minutes a day every three or four weeks. It tends to discourage the usual hostile hitting and punching that takes place between children. Parents have indicated that the children seemed to be less hostile at home.

As I indicated before, these methods are not used every day. Only one or two are used each week. Parent responses to Mr. Rose’s programs have been very positive. Children who have learning or adjustment problems seem to do well in this kind of program. Parents report to me that not only is the child doing better in school, but he is easier to live with at home. Parents are already making requests for having their child placed in Mr. Rose’s class next school year.

In conclusion I would say that the obvious results obtained in Mr. Rose’s program indicate that something is being done right. I feel that because of Mr. Rose’s sensitivity to the total child he is able to communicate and teach children in a way that is effective, even though it may seem different.

{Joe Liner was, for me, the best principal. He told me he didn’t understand some of the things I taught and the way I taught them. However, he had no need to prove his power, but rather he judged me by what he saw me accomplish. We were never close friends, but we respected and honored the other’s professional ethics, experiences, and expertise. He didn’t wish to read the materials I offered as proof of the validity of what I was doing. He trusted me, but he expected me to keep him informed of everything I was doing. I trusted him so I told him everything I did so that he would not be surprised by a call from a parent or administrator. Mutual respect—not a lot of that going around in education.

Joe was transferred to use his expertise in another school that was in trouble. Our school inherited Mrs. Tyler. She had been a traditional teacher, good team player, and was a mediocre principal when she was healthy. She came to us preparing to undergo surgery for cancer. I never liked or trusted her, but I was determined I would do my best and I offered to continue on as Head Teacher. She accepted. When she went in for surgery my children did meditations and sent her good thoughts and feelings. She later said that she had appreciated it and had felt what we had done.

Personally, I didn’t believe in the occult or that anything went anywhere, but she did and the children did and it was a way to teach deep empathy to them. When Dr. Benson came into the District as the new Assistant Superintendent of Instruction I met with her and told her about my program. I admired her intelligence and sensitivity and she confided in me about her own psychic experiences and powers. People always told me their deepest feelings and sometimes they would get scared afterwards. They had given me some formidable things that I could use against them—I never did. But during turmoil or conflicts good people tend to turn against you. She did. It’s a case of PYA—protect your assets.}

FIVE WEEKS IN A FISHBOWL

One week before the ethnographer was to begin her observations of my class and me, the following incident occurred.

I was called into the principal’s office to find one of members of the upper echelon of management waiting. This was a person with whom I thought I had rapport because she was brilliant, well-read, and she had given verbal, written, and moral support to all of my innovations.

I greeted them both, smiled, and couldn’t help noticing the happy glint in Mrs. Tyler’s eyes. Neither wasted too much time on civilities and Mrs. Tyler listened with obvious relish as Management bluntly told me that ALL of my innovations were to stop immediately and I was to develop a program consonant with the Mandated District curriculum guidelines. Anything not in the guidelines was to be eliminated.

{If they were guidelines, why were they mandated. I thought, but did not say this.}

I laughed and said. You’re joking. You want me to eliminate the concepts and techniques I’ve spent twenty years developing and perfecting and I’m about to be able to prove in a scientifically observed research project?

Dr. Benson said, tersely, Yes.

Why?

It is not something I can discuss.

You tell me I ‘m supposed to stop my life’s work and you’re not going to tell me why?

That’s correct.

I looked at Mrs. Tyler. I’d never seen her happier. She was castrating me and my program in a way that no one had ever been able to do although many had tried.

I looked back at Dr. Benson, What happens if I don’t stop, if I continue to practice the transpersonal techniques? Will I be fired?

She unflinchingly accepted my challenge and trap and said, You are not to teach anything not covered in the curriculum.

Wow, if that had been the case throughout education, we’d still be using slate boards. It’s innovators that have paved the way—

—You will not set yourself up as the determiner of curriculum. It is the responsibility of the School Board and Administrative Staff with the input of the Teachers’ Curriculum Council to set up curriculum. You will teach only the curriculum that you were supposed to teach.

Like hell I will! If I taught that crap I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the mirror. What I do transforms children’s minds and their lives what you want me to do is cripple their minds and spirits. I won’t do it!

Her eyes were emotionless, Mrs. Tyler’s were joyous. It’s your choice. You’ve always done what you wanted. I’m suggesting, she emphasized suggesting, that you carefully consider the consequences of your actions.

Was she playing hatchet man under protest? Was she telling me to play it smart for a change because there was really a THEY out there who were anxious to have a legitimate reason to fire me?

If I continue I suppose you’ll fire me?

She hesitated, carefully chose her words. You are being ASKED to discontinue any activities not covered in the curriculum. In the event that you do not you are insubordinate. Insubordination is cause for instant dismissal.

Who’s behind this?

It is no concern of yours?

No concern? My academic freedom is arbitrarily placed in jeopardy, my livelihood, my entire family faces economic ruin and you tell me it’s none of my concern? I cannot believe that you, a person who had me appear before the curriculum council to teach them about my ideas, a person who helped me get a college course to teach these techniques to other teachers would initiate such a pogrom.

I’m speaking on behalf of the Board?

The Board? They don’t even understand what I’m teaching. The only Board member who’s ever been in my room is in full support of my program. Is she behind it? I pointed at Mrs. Tyler. Why are you doing this?

She smiled like a deranged vulture about to deal the coup de grace. The other day I heard some child from your room singing ‘I’m in a fantasy, I’m in a fantasy’. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was having a fantasy.

That’s it? That’s the reason?

It proves that your children cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy!

What a brain. First of all, who was the child?

It was a boy. I know he was from your room

Did he say so? Can you identify him? You don’t know hardly any of the children in this school because I’ve NEVER seen you on the playground and in the six months you’ve been here, you’ve NEVER been in my room. So how do you know he was from my room?

She withdrew, timorously said, Because he was in a fantasy.

The only kids in the world who have fantasies are in my room? Ridiculous! Anyway, my children know the difference between fantasy, day dreams, dreams, and reality and don’t need to float around outside your office singing that they’re in a fantasy.

She mumbled confusedly, I know he was from your room. He was in a fantasy, in a fantasy.

You don’t have to discuss this Mrs. Tyler, you’re not on trial.

Oh, but I am? Then I want to know the charges specifically and the consequences.

There are no charges. I am suggesting, very strongly, that you abide by the decision of the board that you stop—

—Stop what?

—That you stop anything not covered in the Curriculum Guides such as meditation, guided fantasies, communication training, sensory training, massage, boxing, encounter bats, etc. Anything other teachers don’t do.

"If I don’t I would be insubordinate and could be fired?

That is correct!

Who’s going to know?

Mrs. Tyler will keep tabs on your program. You will report to her and she will check to see that you’re in compliance.

Mrs. Tyler looked like a demented dwarf who got Snow White for a present.

SHE’S going to monitor my program. She doesn’t have the vaguest idea of what I’m trying to do and have done. I’m not even sure she knows what room I’m in?

I turned to Dr. Benson. You really think I’m just going to sit back and let whoever is behind this get away with it? Do they really think I’m going to roll over and play dead? I’ll— I stopped. They wanted me to fight through the newspaper, the parents. They are depending on me to cut my own throat with my usual arrogance and disdain for them.

I smiled. Okay, you’ve won the first round. I will eliminate all these things from my program.

Dr. Benson said, her face relaxed for the first time, You’re a good teacher, you don’t need these ‘different’ things. You can still do a good job with the materials we provide teachers.

Sure, I can. And, I will, but I’m going to take this through the Grievance process and then we’ll what the legal ramifications of this are!

As I left the office I felt sick. I was so tired of fighting people who had power and authority but no talent, brains, or real concern for the children that I wanted to get in my car and find sanctuary.

There was no such place. Even at home with my wife and children, the place I was happiest, was not it. I was going through a period of serious self-doubt. My fiction writing career was at a total standstill, my education writing wasn’t even read by my wife anymore, and I was beginning to wonder if Marie or my kids loved me or were merely using me as a meal ticket (and a poor one at that, because we were deeply in debt).

Why not give up? In twenty years of trying to improve children’s education I’d never been recommended for any honors. The fact that many of my colleagues, most of the parents, and almost all of the children thought I was an outstanding teacher made little difference.

However, this ethnographic study would give scientific proof of the worth of my techniques. Now, one week before the ethnographer showed up, I was a teacher with a class, but no tools. I was the fierce lion without teeth. I envied those souls who could lose themselves in drink.

I took a deep breath and threw myself into the fight.

INTRODUCTORY INTERVIEW

{The interviews, comments, and observations were all audio-taped and transcribed by inexperienced typists, ,so I have edited for clarity. My name in the project materials was either Mr. Lewis or Mr. Rodman, but I have changed it to Mr. Rose for clarity.}

October 14, 1978

Interviewer: AGE?

Teacher: Forty-six.

I: EDUCATION?

T: I have a B.A. in Psychology from UCLA; my teaching credential from UCLA in 1959. I have two years in a Master’s program in psychology from Cal State at LA. I have Master’s in Education from Cal State at San Bernardino and I have an Administrative Credential from there.

I: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TEACHING?

T: This is my twentieth year.

I: ALL AT THE ELEMENTARY LEVEL?

T: Yes, but I have taught adult education classes in this District and in Fontana and I have taught college classes at Cal State.

I: YEARS IN THIS DISTRICT?

T: In this District, thirteen years, but in this school—almost three years.

I: WHAT TEACHING EXPERIENCE HAVE YOU HAD WITH MINORITY STUDENTS?

T: When I came to San Bernardino I was placed in the most impacted black school. I taught there nine years; then at Fairfax. Hooper was almost an all-white school, few black children. Now I have eleven black and Chicano students out of thirty-four.

I: TEACHING PHILOSOPHY. DESCRIBE YOURSELF AS A TEACHER. WHAT ARE YOUR BELIEFS ABOUT

TEACHING? WHAT PERSPECTIVES, APPROACHES, BOOKS, ETC., HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR THINKING AND PRACTICE?

T: Well, I believe that respect for the child and the individual is one of the major things that affect the way I teach. For many years I worked on developing individualization, almost to an absurd degree. Fifteen years ago in LA, every part of my curriculum was individualized—everything—and I almost drove myself nuts. I realized that it just doesn’t work for every child and for the teacher to work that hard on individualization. Now I want the child to recognize that he is unique.

The books by Dr. Roger Williams on biochemical individuality most influenced me. They fit my belief that every child, every person is tremendously unique. He doesn’t have to do anything, he is just unique. But now I believe that he is part of many different subsets of social organizations. Each class itself, I feel, is like an organism, a vital organism in itself. Part of what I try to teach is to make each aware that even though he is a unique individual, there are many times he has to compromise or to fit into the class as an organism or into the school and community.

The Creative Problem-Solving Institute and the techniques they teach developed by Sidney Parnes and Alex Osborne have been influential. As a teenager I was involved with my father in practicing Dianetics, which was just beginning then. It fostered an interest in the occult and altered states. As a social scientist I grew further and further away from that, but I believe there are many things that will always be unknown to us. I am impressed with the works of Carl Rogers, Jung, and David Bohme in holographics. Jerome Bruner and other educational writers have influenced me. I read eclectically. It keeps my mind active and gives me exciting things to bring to the kids. They all dovetail together. The ideas of individualization and being part of an organism of a group.

I; WHAT DO YOU FEEL ARE YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES AS A TEACHER? LET’S DO STRENGTHS FIRST.

T: I think my strength is the way I feel about the kids and it reflects my own feelings about myself. I believe I deserve respect and justice from people. It rarely happens that way, but I try to treat children in a just manner. Although sometimes I don’t because immediate justice cannot always happen at that moment. Eventually, everyone feels that he has been treated in a just manner. I give them a very interesting and varied program, partly because I have little tolerance for boredom myself. So, in any two-week period, I try to change parts of the program to keep them interested. Individualization is a strength. I try to analyze many different facets of each child and I reinforce them.

My biggest weakness is my egotism. I am so sure that I have the answers. Even though I do listen to other people, sometimes it takes awhile for me change. Take homework. I haven’t given homework for years and I have been attacked by everyone about it. I am going to initiate a homework program tomorrow. It’s taken about three years for this to penetrate. My twins are thirteen now and they were in my classroom two years ago and the effects of not giving them homework has affected them and now me. I realized I needed to give homework. The reason I hadn’t was because I felt that everyone misused it. It causes troubles between parents and children. Children use it to punish their parents by not doing it. Teachers fight with kids about doing it and detracts from the main program and their rapport. TODAY’S EDUCATION came up with homework that made some sense and eventually I will individualize the homework. It starts tomorrow.

I: WHAT ARE YOUR OVERALL GOALS FOR YOUR STUDENTS IN TERMS OF WHAT YOU’D LIKE THEM TO TAKE FROM YOU?

T: I want them to feel their own sense of uniqueness; to be understanding that everyone else is unique; to be kind to each other; to understand the individual weaknesses and strengths of other people; not to take their feelings out on others; and to have academic skills so they won’t be handicapped in junior high. At Muscott I felt that the kids egos were so damaged that I spent almost too much time building them up. Even though they improved dramatically in academics, I didn’t improve them as much as I could or should have done. But now, I can increase children academically while I increase their sense of self.

I: I’D LIKE TO TALK ABOUT YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF THE SCHOOL. HOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THIS SCHOOL AS COMPARED WITH THE OTHER TEACHING EXPERIENCES YOU’VE HAD?

T: Until last month it’s been almost an ideal because the principal was autocratic, but fair, a reasonable man. We could iron out any differences. The teachers, except me, are traditional, very academically oriented. I was uncomfortable, but I saw their good results and now I see them as good people. I have learned to do my own things and still be a decent person to my colleagues. The parents are low to moderate-income people and are interested in their children. The kids are pretty average, nice kids. It is not a gifted school nor is it low academically. The other sixth grade teacher and I have had some outstanding results. The kids are responsive.

I: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN TERMS OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FACULTY AND THE PRINCIPAL?

T: It’s the best I’ve gotten along with a faculty in a long time. The present principal and I are loggerheads. She recently had an operation and I’m not certain how much her physical illness is affecting her. But the things that she is doing to me and my program are completely intolerable. I’m going through the District Grievance procedures and the Board to see if I can rectify it. She has two schools and both of her Administrative Assistants (vice-principals) are asking for transfers. The yard situation now has gone from