CROWDED OUT

foreign [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is the classroom the teacher's professional home where Louise Roberts has spent half her Waking Life for the past five years helping children to learn feeling her worth as a teacher with deep regrets I hereby submit my resignation as a teacher in the school system for the fourth coming year for reasons it had happened within a school year so many changes changes that had taken so much out of teaching Fair once to the piano [Music] there once the science corner and Library [Music] special projects built around the world in which children live that kept their mind brimming with ideas but all this is past reasons how does a teacher explain her reasons for resigning Miss Robert Thomas Roberts Matthews read my report now the name of my report is the telephone trip my class went on a trip to the telephone building Monday we saw the switchboards then we went to another room where we could hear the Click Click from the people dialing on their telephone Cassie and her classmates learning to read and write and spell creating their own stories about field trips into the city learning what it means to live in a community learning how people work and live together [Music] operator station number please stimulated the children carried over into the classroom what they had seen one group practiced use of the telephone more advanced group conducted a simple experiment in the transmission of sound okay bye a third group practiced using the telephone directory [Music] that's fine now Benji let's see if you can find your name and we'll write your number down in the class directory [Applause] our eager mind running over with questions [Music] that's fine Benji children may I have your attention please Kathy wants to know if she had to get a message quickly to someone in a foreign country how would she do it suppose for example Kathy wanted to reach someone in France now here we are and here's friends all the way across the ocean what could she do David couldn't she oh couldn't she just say all right lettuce I'm sure Kathy wants something faster than that Linda we can slam her down my own foot rush on it you can't get the transplant telephone yes silly there's a cable ground that runs in there's a cable that runs under the ocean you can set the cable ground with it I thought it was out in the middle of the ocean on a ship and we got a telephone call in the middle of the night and it was my father wishing my mother a happy birthday and we got to stay up real late to talk to her how could she phone from now I hit the 70 telephone wires on the water well it would have to go from ship to shore it would have to go over shortwave radio and it was informal discussion questions such as Kathy's leading the group into broader fields of learning all this was part of the school day two weeks not only about the telephone but also about other ways of sending and receiving messages now what do you think would be a good way to show each other just how much we've learned no we could pay him yeah we'll have a test Friday on the new spelling words we've learned now for the mural we'll need a committee to see what you throw into it the children were learning to work independently committees are groups responsible for developing their own projects [Music] artwork help the children Express their feelings and ideas [Music] then of course there was time for functional drill in the three r's in small working groups according to each child's needs some doing silent reading a more advanced group working out a dramatization of a story they had read [Music] right here yeah [Music] while using special teaching AIDS Miss Roberts gave extra attention to those in need of help with their readings [Music] ready I am going to look at half on the sixth floor that's right now can you tell me three things that he wanted to do Kathy would you read it please daddy said I want to see the dollhouse but I'd also like to ride the hobby horse that's right now Benji can you tell us what it was and wanted to do when she was in the store I want to ride the hobby horse 24 children all different physically mentally emotionally children who could not be taught all in the same way [Music] learning was related to the day's experience with writing and spelling part of daily class responsibilities and there was plenty of arithmetic too with classwork keyed to each child's rate of progress [Music] [Music] Kathy you must learn to make straighter lines a seven should look like a policeman with his hand held up to stop traffic why looks like a tired old man try again Kathy enjoying her work and learning but needing help with her reading David anxious to please needing recognition Benji needing to be pulled out of his shell Joey or Advanced needing greater challenge to prevent boredom all right children it's time for us oh Kathy could you stay at your school a few minutes today so we can work on your reading oh yes the strawberries I can stay [Music] [Applause] this was the classroom 24 pupils with time for each child time to know and understand each boy and girl to handle and guide them in different ways along New Paths feeling her worth as a teacher this was how it was until the construction of a huge industrial plant that triggered the community to New Life [Music] thank you [Music] suddenly almost overnight a quiet suburb became a small City [Music] foreign [Music] girls we have two new children for our class this is Barbara Baker who comes from Cleveland and this is John Sykes from Atlanta until we get some new desk we'll have to find a place for you to sit Joanne will you please show them where to put their coats but the tide had only started [Music] [Music] come on just as the community changed so did the classroom one by one the class projects were removed to make room for more desks more and more as the months went by for a Time Miss Roberts tried to continue small group work reluctant to give up helping children with their individual needs but various elements were working against her restricted space the sheer physical closeness of one child to another lack of classroom projects to occupy their attention once they had completed their assignments nothing to do no place to go [Music] what was the use keeping discipline had become one of the biggest chores of the crowded classroom those of you who are finished get out your language books and fill in the blanks and Page 72. the rest of you go on working Linda will you please pass our paper and so to control the crowd to hold their attention Miss Roberts was forced to return to whole group instruction teaching them Mass instead of the individual teaching by wrote with no relation to Everyday problems with neither time nor opportunity to build on children's interests and experiences teaching no longer stimulating to the pupils or the teacher but there were other losses too losses in learning time waiting for help waiting While others received attention waiting until Miss Roberts found time to give them the attention they needed Benji the quiet child waiting moving deeper into this shell [Music] Joey the gifted child frustrated waiting for the school day to end Kathy her eagerness being slowly stifled children Lost In The Crowd [Music] at the weekly staff meeting teachers tried to find solutions for what was happening too large the slow Learners aren't getting the attention they need and the bright ones are bored I've been trying competitive games with my group but even games can't keep these older boys quiet and very long I had to postpone a parent's conference this afternoon I simply couldn't work it in you're right and it gets worse every day but for the time being we've got to live with it doing the best job we can even if it's a bad job we're all carrying a pretty impossible load Miss Gibson I'm probably not doing the best job a principal can but I'm trying the best I know how that's what's expected of all of it the best a teacher knows how with playground supervision Hall Duty cafeteria monitor crosswalk guard morning and afternoon working late each day to catch up yet test papers and reports pile up The Sounds we need to work on people think of the difference between sounds Jennifer can you give us a word with this sound that's not fair children wait until you're called on now I'm going to say a word see if you can tell me if you hear this sound in the beginning middle or end of the word draw Kathy now remember give Kathy a chance daddy takes too long not too bad please remember to tidy up your desk before you go children Miss Roberts was still having trouble for my reading I wish I could help you today Kathy but I have whole Duty um no better let her go Kathy needs help but so do others and with so many there just isn't time [Music] avoid it as she tried Louise Roberts knew that something had happened to weaken for her the meaning the worth of teaching something had corrupted the value of her chosen career but was that sufficient reason for resigning where did her sense of failure start oh Miss Roberts I didn't know you were still here you had a phone call a couple of minutes ago from a Mrs Williams I think it was it's all right Mr Brady she says she just got to find you Kathy's mother that's where the doubt in our mind had begun in Kathy Williams home that's enough TV Cassie let's work on your reading until mother gets home gracious knows you can do his practice if your teacher hasn't the time for you your Aunt Ellen does here we are where we left off how long are you gonna visit us and Ellen don't change the subject child Sleeping Beauty is a Charming Story come on now the first building the prince saw was the stable when he looked in he saw all the horses asleep he went into the Castle Dear Santa Claus Kathy you know better than that brownie cooked not founding what does it mean how are you Margaret Williams your daughter's reading is simply deplorable she barely knows half the word let alone their meaning why we were reading Sleeping Beauty in the second grade oh dear you can say oh dear but if Jim were alive he'd be doing something about it I keep telling you it's her teacher that Miss Roberts but Miss Roberts is a good teacher Kathy don't bother your little head about this it's not your fault at the rate she's learning just try getting her into a decent College when she grows up with their crowded conditions picking their students Margaret if you have any interest in your daughter's education of course like every mother you want the best for your child the very best for Kathy but there are other cares on your mind still at your job in the neighborhood Bank to take time to inquire of other mothers Linus Danny's falling behind so in his aristotic Miss Roberts is his teacher too but it's that the way everything's run these days slip shot as the weeks go by you realize something is happening to Kathy [Music] then that Sunday morning with Kathy home from Sunday School and Ellen had visited her class in time to hear Kathy read a Bible story well all I can say is you should have heard her yourself poor Kathy in front of all those children I was never so humiliated maybe Ellen's right maybe you've been neglecting Kathy and that tiny feeling of panic that your child is receiving a second-rate education turns to anger anger looking for a Target [Music] [Music] all that Sunday you try to call Miss Roberts when you fail to reach her your irritation grows and suddenly Your Mind Is Made Up the next day at work you get in touch with a member of the school board with whom you are acquainted and arranged to see him at his home to him you state your case against Miss Roberts I asked to have her transferred to another teacher but there are other children are you active in the PTA Mrs Williams in any school activity I imagine our teachers are pretty busy too too busy to give individual attention this year you know your child's School nearly doubled its enrollment and you know how birth rates all over the country are still going up I came here Mr Chadwick to talk about getting rid of a teacher who obviously doesn't know her job and I am speaking not only for myself why not take an afternoon off from your job Mrs Williams go out to the school talk to the principal you're right Mrs Williams Ms Roberts isn't doing a good job you admitted Ms Roberts would be the first to agree with you she isn't a good teacher she's one of our best but today she isn't being given a chance a chance to teach the way she's been trained the way she wants to teach the way she can teach oh come now Mr Morris we're all overworked you haven't been here recently have you why not take a walk through the corridors take a look at some of our classrooms before you talk to Miss Robert I'll have one of our seventh graders show you around I think you'll find Mrs Williams that you've acted a bit hastily [Music] you see a classroom in a corridor another in a basement [Music] you see a classroom being set up on the auditorium stage [Music] the school library taken out of circulation [Music] classes doubled up [Music] you see a class operating in the nearby Quonset hut a playground area designed for the safety of less than half this number [Music] a child crowded out foreign 's room your confidence in your judgment is a bit shaken nevertheless you attend the next meeting of the school board there you sit among vacant chairs of those who in the long run frame school policies who are responsible for our schools the school board and the superintendent try to meet the problems of overcrowding as they strive for Solutions you begin to wonder whose fault is it that Kathy is not getting the best in education Miss Roberts suddenly you feel a desire to help to try to work out these problems with your neighbors through your community organizations [Music] also because essentially you are a fair person you begin to feel a sense of guilt about Miss Roberts guilt that grows especially the next day when you hear from another teacher at Miss Roberts intends to resign [Music] foreign Kathy's mother it was only natural that she should want the best for Kathy [Music] the prince walked from one silent room to another looking for the Sleeping Beauty at last he discovered her in the towel room there she lied as beautiful as she had been on the day she fell asleep what had Mr Morris said all we can do for the presence is try the best we know how but still was that enough for a teacher was that enough for Kathy [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]