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Monday, October 27, 2008 ~ Beth's Op-Ed on CPS

Last week, Sarah and I went over to the local Chicago public school to observe a classroom to try out a new evaluation method. I've been to several different public schools on the South Side to assist with our in-school art classes but never had I sat in on a class during a non-art related lesson. The 2nd grade class we were observing was learning about synonyms. As the teacher taught, many of the students were talking, making background noise, wiggling in their chairs, or not paying attention. The teacher, who has taught for many years and is one of the more strict teachers in the school, had to stop several times to discipline students. I watched eager eyes of several students as they waited patiently to learn. After going over what a synonym is, a worksheet was passed out that the class would complete together. As the teacher went down the row calling on students to answer, many had trouble reading the words. It was as if, several times, the teacher had to re-teach these students how to read during the lesson. Following the lesson, the teacher pointed out to us that several of her students couldn't read but she still had to keep the entire class at a certain level. I completely agree with her on this-if she had stopped class to spend more time teaching a student at a lower level, it would have taken away from the chance of others to learn. After observing the class for just an hour, I was exhausted. I can't even imagine having to teach a class like this with all the behavior and learning problems. I commented to Sarah afterwards that this teacher needed two teaching assistants and a reading specialist. But alas, this is not in the CPS budget so teachers have to make do with what they have. Kudos to the teacher for being patient and keeping order the best she could. This got me thinking about how it's unfair that these kids have to compete with kids from better funded schools. I went to a public school (not in Chicago and not in Illinois) but my experience was very different from what I witnessed. I have never been in a classroom, like the one I sat in on last week, that was as disruptive and had so many children at a low level. I can't even imagine trying to learn in this type of environment. It really does put CPS students at a disadvantage. It's a very sad and frustrating situation.

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