A snapshot of teaching in a low-performing middle school

TRADITIONAL TEACHING

(Editor's note: This short piece describes an hour of teaching that will be all too familiar to readers who spend much time in the classrooms of low-performing middle schools. The location of the school and the identity of the teacher are not important. Keep in mind that an observer was in the room.)

"In low-performing schools . . . the faculties are complacent and satisfied, or if not satisfied, they are unwilling to make changes to relieve their dissatisfaction. They keep waiting for someone else to take the initiative, and then complain when that initiative requires something of them. These schools expect little of students, and they fulfill these expectations by providing the students with little effective teaching, little high- content curriculum, and little reason to believe that students' lives can or will change. Year after year, student performance at these schools lags, but the schools blame the students or their families or their communities. The word "accountability" has lost all meaning at these schools." -- Hayes Mizell, Standards in Context, 1995.

by John Norton

Five times every day, Betty Gillrush teaches the same sixth-grade science lesson. The exact same lesson in exactly the same way. The mix of children may change; the energy levels may change; the children's questions may change, but Betty does not change. Not for anything.

It's review day, and Betty has her lesson plan all laid out. Ten minutes of review and 40 minutes of worksheets while she catches up her grade book.

Today's "short-shot" question (every teacher in the district must have one each day) is written on the board: "(Blank) (blank) is the main source of drinking water."

Betty's students have been studying water supply and pollution all week, but nobody seems to remember the answer to the short-shot.

"Now you will remember we talked about this yesterday. What are the sources of drinking water?" A few students offer some suggestions. "Rain," one says. "The ocean," says another.

"No, we don't usually get our drinking water from the ocean because we have to take the salt out first," Betty replies in a sing-song, patronizing tone.

"How did salt get into the ocean?" asks a girl sitting on the front row.

"When the water flows over the land, it dissolves some things called salts, not salt, and they get into the ocean. Now, who knows the answer to the short-shot? It's groundwater. Remember from yesterday? Groundwater is our main source of drinking water. And what is groundwater?"

"It's laying on the ground!" says a boy who's been fidgeting in his seat.

The tone of her voice is not angry or mean, but exasperated. "No, groundwater is the water that's under the ground that we get from wells and springs. Remember?"

Betty Gillrush launches into a rapid review of the previous week's lessons. She discusses groundwater pollution, landfills, thermal pollution, and the heavily polluted creek that runs behind the school. The entire time she stands in front of the class, book in hand, calling on a few of the students who raise their hands. Others are ignored. Maybe half the students are paying some attention to the lesson; others are drawing, whispering, or kicking each other under the tables where they sit in groups of four or five.

Fifteen minutes into the period, Betty hands out the worksheets, which ask review questions about the material she's just reviewed. "You can use your books to find the answers to these questions," she says. Several students raise their hands to say that they don't have books. She searches around for extra copies and batches several students together. A few students begin a lethargic search for information they can use to fill in the worksheet blanks. Others stare into space.

Betty begins to work at her desk in the back of the room, returning to student tables from time to time to answer a question. The students are having trouble finding a particular worksheet answer in the book. She urges some students to figure it out, but tells the answer to others in a voice everyone can hear. About 10 minutes before class ends, she discovers that one table of boys has no textbook at all, and the boys have done nothing with their worksheets.

As the class period draws to a close, Betty Gillrush returns to the front of her classroom.
"One more time now," she says. "Let's look at our short-shot. What is the main source of drinking water, class?"

The students stare back at her with blank expressions.

"You remember," she urges them. "It's groundwater. Remember?"

The students begin to gather their belongings in anticipation of the bell. In her best class-control voice, Betty Gillrush declares: "I've been concerned about what's been going on in here lately, but y'all are doing very well today. Keep it up."

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