New York Teacher
Educators in Region 4: Don’t stop us from teaching our kids
Jan 18, 2005 6:15 PM
The principal of IS 230 in Queens gave stopwatches to math and English teachers this October to help keep their mini-lessons to the allotted 10 minutes.
A bilingual teacher at IS 141 was ordered to “redecorate” her classroom because she used red for English and blue for Spanish when the region required the reverse color scheme.
School aides at PS 7 were pulled from class and ordered to take down the students’ work from every bulletin board and remount it on colored construction paper.
These episodes encapsulate the rigidity, disrespect and obsession with picayune detail that drove a majority of staff in 95 schools in Region 4 to vote to present a letter of censure to Superintendent Reyes Irizarry on Dec. 2.
“The pedagogical staff members in Region 4 have been subjected to working in an atmosphere that stifles their professional judgment and impedes their ability to provide the safest environment and the best possible education for their students,” the statement of censure said.
The educators in the schools spelled out their concerns in the four-page letter. Among the core issues were:
- The mandatory use of the “workshop model” for all lessons, particularly in secondary schools.
- An early childhood curriculum that doesn’t allow time for arts and crafts, snacks, and activity areas to build socialization skills.
- The rigid interpretation of “flow of the day” and bulletin board policy.
- Problems with Teachers College professional development, including the scheduling of training during teachers’ instructional time and during their prep periods and lunches.
“The bottom-line issue here is that teachers desperately want to use their skills to help children learn,” said UFT President Randi Weingarten. “That’s why they became teachers in the first place and that’s what this groundswell of discontent is really about.”
After the letter of censure was sent, a flurry of private meetings were scheduled between the DOE and union officials. In a meeting attended by Weingarten, both Irizarry and Deputy Chancellor Carmen Fariña promised to issue “clarifying” memos and take other steps to resolve the issues. But when nothing materialized by mid-January, Weingarten advised the Region 4 chapter leaders at a Jan. 11 meeting that the union needed to take the matter public. A rally has been tentatively scheduled for Feb. 3 outside the regional office.
Fariña told the New York Teacher on Jan. 14, as this paper went to press, that she had looked into the core issues raised when informed of the concerns and was taking steps to address them.
Expressing confidence in the educational leadership of Irizarry, Fariña said, “Both Reyes and I know that rigid adherence to any instructional model will not generate the student outcomes we all work so hard to support. Each of our students has unique learning needs. Meeting those needs is a challenge. Reyes and I will continue to meet with teachers to ensure that we reach our common goal of raising student achievement.”
Fariña pointed to Irizarry’s recent conversations with high school principals in which he reiterated his belief that rigid or scripted instruction does not achieve the same results as the interactive model in which Fariña believes. Fariña met with professional development providers on Jan. 13 to “work through teachers’ concerns.”
Weingarten said that the issue was not at this juncture whether the new instructional approaches adopted by the Department of Education were the right approaches to adopt. What the union objected to, she said, was that each approach is imposed in a one-size-fits-all, lockstep manner, not as a guideline that teachers can adapt to address the instructional needs of their students.
“The problem we are focused on now is with the mechanistic application of these pedagogical approaches that substitutes for the kind of latitude that teachers need to have when teaching kids,” said Weingarten. “What’s worse, every local instructional supervisor seems to have a different lockstep approach that she or he wants to adopt. And worse yet, teachers are told one lockstep approach one month and another the next.”
A perfect example of this rigidity involves the implementation of the so-called workshop model. This model was developed presumably to encourage interactive learning, and it requires that each lesson be divided into three parts: a 10-minute mini-lesson of whole-group instruction; 20 minutes of small-group work; and a final 10 minutes when groups share their results.
Secondary school teachers in Region 4 said they objected to how the workshop model has been made mandatory for every lesson in every subject. That requirement, they said, has made it difficult — if not impossible — for teachers to teach all parts of the state-mandated curriculum.
“How do you explain the causes of World War I or the rise of fascism in Europe in 10 minutes?” said Washington Sanchez, a social studies teacher and chapter leader at Newtown HS. “It’s an impossible task. Then somehow by magic, the kids are supposed to have all the knowledge they need to have an in-depth discussion about the topic of the day.”
Two new teachers at Halsey Middle School were given unsatisfactory ratings on observations conducted in early October for not adequately using the workshop model in their math classes, union officials said.
“In years past, new teachers were not formally observed until the second term of the school year,” said District 32 Representative Kathy Sharko. “It is unconscionable to expect a new teacher to use effectively a new educational philosophy in less than a month when it took the rest of us an entire year to fully understand the methodology.”
After the UFT raised its objections to Irizarry about the stopwatches given to teachers of IS 230, the school’s principal told the staff that the stopwatch was “just a tool,” and said its use was not mandatory.
The “Flow of the Day” chart that elementary school teachers must post in their classrooms is another example of the new lockstep approach, Region 4 educators said. The chart, which typically includes a clock alongside the lessons and teaching points of the day, was intended as a preview for the students of what the day will look like. The chart has instead been used, the educators said, to allow visiting supervisors to see if the teacher is “on task” at every single moment.
“The supervisors walk around to classes and if you are not on time according to the clock, you’re held accountable,” said Gail Zahler, chapter chair of PS 70. “Heaven help us if a child should have a question and you fall behind.” Teachers in Region 4 say that they are now afraid to teach something not on the agenda that has captured their students’ interest, such as the Mars landings or the Asian tsunami.
A recent staff memo from the principal of PS 19 illustrates how far the “teachable moment” has fallen out of favor.
“Many of you have told me that establishing/scheduling the flow of the day has helped you and your students stay on task ...,” she wrote. “This is precisely its point. As you know, it is very easy to lose direction and go off on a tangent. As a result, valuable time is lost.”
In another example of the new regimentation, PS 149 and PS 111 have both set up a school bathroom schedule. Each class is sent to the bathroom at set intervals, producing line-ups in the hallways.
“They are trying to micromanage the kids down to when they go to the bathroom,” said John Franzese, chapter leader of PS 111.
Even educators in schools that made Klein’s list of 209 top schools that were supposed to be “exempt” from the curricular changes say that their schools have been forced to follow most of the new edicts.
Jo Ann Sansivieri, chapter leader of PS 128, said that her school — one of the top 10 in the city — already used balanced literacy, the centerpiece of the new curriculum, but was surprised to discover that it now had to follow the new bulletin board formula, the “Flow of the Day” chart, and use the workshop model for every lesson in reading and writing.
“The teachers are not happy,” she said. “They are asking why we have to do all that if our school was already doing so well.”
Early childhood education teachers in Region 4 lamented that a relentless focus on reading, writing and math in kindergarten and Grade 1 has squeezed out arts and crafts, activity areas, snacks, and all celebrations.
“There is no time for kids to play and socialize with each other anymore,” said Deborah Sherlock, chapter leader of PS 58 who taught kindergarten last year. “People don’t understand that kids learn through play. All the kids do all day now is work.”
Another bone of contention is Teachers College’s insistence on training teachers during the school day instead of during the 100 minutes of professional development that was negotiated, voted on and scheduled after school for 18 Mondays throughout the school year.
Instead, the Region 4 teachers complained that they are often coerced into “volunteering” their preparation periods and lunch periods for Teachers College training.
Moreover, when teachers travel for Teachers College training, few if any substitutes are hired so classes must be broken up for the day.
When Teachers College staff developers provide on-site professional development, up to five classes at a time are herded into the school auditorium for an hour in at least three schools in District 32.
Scott Bassett, chapter leader of PS 145, said students in 17 classes over the course of one day have spent a period in the auditorium watching movies so Teachers College can conduct training.
“It causes chaos in the building and the kids are not receiving valuable instruction at that time,” Bassett said. “Why can’t Teachers College come on professional development Mondays?”
THE PAPER TRAIL
The following are excerpts from actual memos from principals to staff in Region 4 illustrating the rigid ways in which the DOE’s new policies are being implemented:PS 17
All classes must have a schedule/plan/flow of the day posted in the room. This schedule should coincide with what is observed at any given time. All classroom instruction must have a teaching point or aim posted.
PS 89
I am requiring clear and rigorous teaching in all subject areas. All lessons should follow the workshop structure. The workshop begins with a whole group mini-lesson (in the meeting area), followed by a work period with instruction (at tables or desks) and ends with a teaching share time (in the meeting area).
PS 19
You should write your aim on a chart or on the board as you explain to your students what they will be learning that day. You should write this aim in the form of a
question, which should contain a verb that indicates what the students will be learning. When you introduce your aim, you should state what the students will be learning, with the to and how/by process.
The list
The following Region 4 schools voted
by a majority of staff to present the letter of censure
to Superintendent Reyes Irizarry.
High schools
Academy of American Studies
Arts & Business
Aviation
Frank Sinatra
Grover Cleveland
Information Technology
Long Island City
Newcomers
Newtown
Queens Vocational
Robert F. Wagner
W.C. Bryant
PS 28
PS 49
PS 58
PS 68
PS 71
PS 81
PS 87
PS 88
PS 89
PS 91
PS 102
PS 113
PS 128
PS 143
PS 153
PS 199
PS 229
PS 239
PS 877
PS 78
PS 84
PS 85
PS 92
PS 111
PS 112
PS 122
PS 127
PS 148
PS 149
PS 150
PS 151
PS 152
PS 166
PS 171
PS 212
PS 222
PS 228
PS 234
District 24
IS 5
IS 61
IS 73
IS 77
IS 93
IS 119
IS 125
PS 7
PS 12
PS 13
PS 14
PS 19
PS 28
PS 49
PS 58
PS 68
PS 71
PS 81
District 30
IS 10
IS 126
IS 141
IS 145
IS 204
IS 227
IS 230
IS 235
PS 2
PS 11
PS 17
PS 69
PS 70
PS 76
PS 78
PS 84
PS 85
PS 92
PS 111
PS 112
PS 122
PS 127
PS 148
PS 149
PS 150
PS 151
District 32
IS 162
IS 291
IS 296
IS 347
IS 349
IS 383
PS 45
PS 75
PS 86
PS 106
PS 116
PS 123
PS 145
PS 151
PS 274
PS 299
PS 376
PS 377
PS 384
