Posted on 10/17/2001 5:10:11 AM PDT by summer
October 17, 2001
Laura Bush, Ex-Teacher, Goes Back to Kindergarten
By RONALD SMOTHERS
NEWARK, Oct. 16 — Amid tight security and with reporters in tow, the first lady, Laura Bush, visited the brightly colored kindergarten classroom of an elementary school here today where she read a story, gave a geography lesson and otherwise soothed 18 5-year-olds with hugs, tender touches and cooing words.
The occasion was Teach for America Week 2001, during which the organization Teach for America, which places college graduates as teachers for two years in schools in some of the nation's poorest neighborhoods, asks public figures to highlight the importance of teaching by spending an hour in a classroom.
Ms. Bush, a former teacher herself, seemed to warm to the task instantly.
She skillfully gathered the students on a luminous red and blue rug at the South 17th Street School here and held their attention, all the while managing to soothe Tydaysiah Chambers, whose fingers had been stepped on by a classmate in the rush for a space close to the first lady.
"She didn't mean to do it," she whispered reassuringly to Tydaysiah as she continued to direct the students to sit in a semicircle for the reading of "Grandfather's Journey" by Allen Say.
The story, which was selected by Mrs. Bush, tells of a Japanese man who immigrated to the United States early in the 20th century but became homesick and returned to Japan, where he married and raised a family whom he regaled with stories of his time in America.
Wendy Kopp, president and founder of Teach for America, said that it had placed some 7,000 teachers in schools in 16 urban and rural areas since its founding in 1989. During its weeklong observances over the last four years, appearances like that of Mrs. Bush, she said, help focus the nation on "our most pressing domestic issues, including poverty and the quality of education."
Mark Williams, 23, the Teach for America recruit whose kindergarten class Mrs. Bush visited for the 30- minute stay, said that the first lady grabbed the class's attention immediately, adding that she "seems to really like being in a classroom."
Mr. Williams, a native of Wilmington, Del., who was headed to medical school when he decided to take off two years to teach, said that he and the first lady talked briefly about Teach for America's goals and that he came away with the idea that "She is ever so thankful for teachers because she was so gracious in thanking us for being teachers."
The first lady's visit became known to a small group at the school just last Friday. Early this morning, before students began arriving, bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in. Police lines went up after that, restricting access to the block. Secret Service agents were almost unobtrusive, blending into their surroundings, according to Mr. Williams and some of the other teachers.
After the reading lesson, Mrs. Bush gave some small insight in how she had coped in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, in an interview broadcast on WNBC-TV. She said that she and President Bush do not talk much about the "decisions of the day" during their family time together and instead play with their pets, laugh and discuss the books each is reading.
"Since Sept. 11, the times when I have been with children have been very comforting for me," she said, reflecting on her visit to the Newark school.
I notice I've yet to get an answer to my question.... :)
BTW summer, we're all proud that you're a teacher. Over the past year we've all come to know and appreciate you and I, for one, am glad you are teaching America's children.
Laura Bush is the epitome of grace, dignity, and a deep sense of love. Love for her man; love for children; and love for her country and her fellow Americans. When I see and hear Mrs. G. W. Bush I get that same sense of pride in her as our first lady as I got and still get when seeing her mother in law Barbara.
Thank you summer for the post and thank God we have a "lady" in every sense of the world occupying the White House these days.
Thanks for the pics, though I've already seen them, they are a joy to see again.
You are a sugar! Best wishes in whatever field you find yourself!
After spending forty years in public school education, as both a teacher and a school psychologist, I feel qualified to comment. You are so right. Add then, the mandated procedures emanating from both state and federal offices of education, often not well thought through (my spouse has a comment which fits: "NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE PERSON WHO DOESN'T HAVE TO DO IT!)--like full inclusion of special needs children in regular education classes -- and you can see why teachers often leave the field.
This morning, I received an e-mail from a Totally Class Act Special Education Teacher I know, which brought sadness to my heart. She shall remain nameless to protect her privacy, but I believe she won't mind my sharing her dilemma, which is certainly NOT confined to her district, for the move to put special needs children in regular classrooms is widespread. This is part of what she wrote:
"Full inclusion started in our district ...and the remainder of the schools will be fully included next year. ...I have such mixed emotions about what will happen to our special children. So many questions like: 1)How will the teachers handle this? 2)Will they get adequate training to meet the needs? 3)Will they get adequate support to meet the needs? 3)Will the children receive the direct instruction that so many of them need? 4)How will their self esteem be affected? 5) Will only a small group of teachers who are tolerant and not the squeaky wheels have special needs kids always placed in their rooms????? and on and on and on.
So far there has minimal training and planning for what is going to happen and it really frightens me. I understand and appreciate some of the positives of inclusion, ...but I am afraid the one size fits all is not the solution, rather what is "appropriate" for each child.
I know that I do not want to be the inclusion support person going from classroom to classroom trying to meet the needs of these children. So the sad news is I am moving to a regular ed. position... It has been a very difficult decision, but one I feel I had to make. Emotions are high and tears are always ready to flow... Keep me in your prayers!"
This wonderful teacher speaks from the point of view of the teachers and the special needs children she has excelled at teaching in a self-contained environment. A third perspective needs to be considered: how will the rest of the children learn at anything like an optimum level when a special needs child who screams and acts out or rolls on the floor distracts both them and their teacher; when a developmentally delayed child requiring a great deal of 1:1 attention takes up an inordinate amount of the teacher's energy and attention; when a child clearly frustrated because he can perceive how far short of the other children he falls becomes angry and aggressive...?
Will there still be teachers in every classroom after this has gone on for awhile? Yes. Will they be the best our workforce has to offer? Often, sadly, no. Many will be on waivers, and if they become overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, they will move to more satisfying employment. The ones who are there simply to "put in their time and draw a paycheck" may stay at their posts. Come what may, this is an example of what happens when bureaucrats sit at mahogany desks far away from the trenches occupied by the teachers who must implement their poorly thought out directives.
Sometimes I am glad to be retired and away from it all. My friends, still in education, tell me that they envy me.
Laura Bush brings much needed respect to the profession.
Instead, I went to work for Merrill Lynch as a secretary in l971, became a broker in 1977. I'm still a broker, while now working in a bank.
Guess what? Being a broker is being a teacher one-on-one when done properly. So is being a parent. So is teaching Sunday School for Middle School/High School. All of the above I've done. All of the above I've loved.
Go figure. Maybe I should have gone for that certificate after all! ;-)
Somewhere way back, "special needs" children just weren't educated. If they couldn't make it in a regular classroom, they just stayed home.
After everyone was required to go to school, they developed special ed. classes for the kids who couldn't make it in regular classrooms. Problem then was, those children were separated from the other kids, which could be embarrassing to them, or could mean they wouldn't know how to interact with "normal" kids. Only thing is, they were put in special classrooms because they didn't function well in regular classrooms - so now we want to put them back in the same environment they couldn't handle before?
Doesn't make sense to me. Sounds as if we're being politically correct at the expense of the kids.
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