rning News
'School's In' might be fun for kids to watch; frustrating, too. Same thing for parents who tune in. And for teachers.
Surely in each teacher in each classroom across America there once burned a passion as bright as that shown by the six teachers profiled in this hour-long special. We know they didn't enter the profession to get rich.
For the kids who talk about their teachers during the program, nothing but awe, admiration, devotion, attention, determination. Lest you think these educators all teach in upper-class suburban districts, take a look.
Ron Clark, from rural North Carolina is teaching, as one of his grade-school kids says, in the ghetto. PS 83 in Harlem has tough kids _ even one of Mr. Clark's students admits she's a handful. 'My behavior wasn't so good for Mr. Clark.' But, in tears, she says, 'He was the only one who believed in me He told me to try and no other teacher did that.'
Then there's Jim Schulz, who teaches science to middle school kids in Helena, Mont. 'He doesn't do too much out of the book,' one of his students says. It's unlikely parents complain. Kids built models of forest fires, replicating the drama that unfolded in their state during the horrific fires of last summer.
'You can't be desk-bound with your nose in a book while science is happening in your back yard,' Schulz says. He boards a bus with his kids to examine, first-hand, fire damage. On the bus he deadpans to students nearby, that if they decide to be teachers, 'you get to look forward to 30 years of spending your life on a bus with 12-year-olds.'
But that seems to be one thing that ties all these teachers together _ getting out of the classroom, even if it's for a walk down the street while singing a rap song to remember the state capitals by, as Mr. Clark does.
Jean Savoy keeps her Spanish class at a Washington, D.C., high school on its toes by taking the kids to lunch where they watch flamenco dancers to learn about Spanish culture. Of course, they must design Power Point Spanish-language presentations, too. Douglas Jackson, who teaches deaf children in El Paso, took his students to a county commissioners meeting to perform a play the kids had written just for the occasion. Debi Barrett-Hayes had her high school art students outside 'painting' the schoolyard grass with color-tinted flour (so as to not harm the environment).
Music and noise appear to be another common denominator. While kids are learning, they aren't necessarily quiet. One seventh-grade boy, a student in Donna Mahar's English class, says of her: 'She does tons of weird, cool things.' Take, for instance, the disco ball hanging from her classroom ceiling for disco poetry _ the time when students stand up to read their own poems in front of their peers. (Junior high school students, mind you, are embarrassed about everything.) Once a poem is read, Ms. Mahar tells classmates to give the poet a hand _ and feet. Students gleefully stomp their feet.
'I think you should make noise whenever someone accomplishes something,' Mahar says. 'Celebrate creativity just like we celebrate sports.' Can you imagine _ cheering as hard in English class as in the football stadium?
While kids watching this special will enjoy seeing other kids' classes (all kids want to see what other kids do), they also might like the what-ifs presented. (What if we could get a band to perform in our classroom?) A better audience would be teachers and administrators, however, who might create _ and act upon _ their own what-if lists. Who would benefit? Our kids, of course, and ultimately all of us.
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SCHOOL'S IN
7 p.m. ET Tuesday
Disney Channel
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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
(c) 2001, The Dallas Morning News.
Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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