Up The Down Staircase

25. A Message to Garcia

TO: ALL TEACHERS

FOR THOSE WHO MISSED LAST MONDAY'S ASSEMBLY BECAUSE OF THE CONFUSION RESULTING FROM SWITCHING X2 AND Y2 SECTIONS, A COPY OF DR. CLARKE'S ADDRESS TO THE HONOR STUDENTS IS ENCLOSED.

I AM PLEASED AND PRIVILEGED TO SALUTE AND CONGRATULATE THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE THROUGH YOUR OWN DETERMINATION AND STICKTOITEVENESS ACHIEVED AN HONORED AND ENVIABLE PLACE ON THE HONOR ROLL. YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY OF LEARNING FROM AND CONTRIBUTING TO THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE GENERATIONS BEFORE AND AFTER YOU AS THEY HAVE LEARNED FROM AND CONTRIBUTED TO YOU. NOW YOU MUST DRAW UPON THE RICH WAREHOUSE OF SKILLS YOU HAVE ACQUIRED AND KNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE WON AND CONTINUE TO FACE THE FUTURE, TO GO ONWARD TOWARDS VENTURES EVER NEW, FORWARD TOWARDS HORIZONS EVER WIDER. AS THE GREAT POET SO WELL PUT IT: "SAY NOT THE STRUGGLE NAUGHT AVAILETH." IT AVAILETH; IT AVAILETH INDEED; FOR NOTHING LASTING OR WORTHWHILE WAS EVER WON WITHOUT IT. YOU WHO HAVE THUS FOUGHT AND STRUGGLED TO ACHIEVE THE SPLENDID DISTINCTION OF A PLACE ON THE HONOR ROLL KNOW FULL WELL THAT THIS IS SO, AND AS I LOOK UPON YOUR PROUD AND HAPPY FACES, I AM REMINDED OF THE YOUNG MAN WHO, IF YOU RECALL, HAD SO ZEALOUSLY AND SO SELFLESSLY CARRIED THE MESSAGE TO GARCIA.

AND YET, THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NOT ACHIEVED SUCH A PLACE ON THE HONOR ROLL MUST NOT FEEL THAT YOU HAVE FAILED. ON THE CONTRARY, IT IS YOU WHO ARE THE BACKBONE AND THE REAR-GUNNERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FORGED AHEAD, FOR WITHOUT YOU AND YOUR CONTRIBUTION, THEY COULD NOT HAVE ACHIEVED WHAT THEY DID. IN A LARGE MEASURE OR SMALL, WE EACH AND ALL OF US ARE CONTRIBUTING TO THE GOOD OF THE WHOLE, THOSE BEHIND THE THRONE AS WELL AS THOSE ON THE THRONE, WHICH IS THE ULTIMATE AIM AND GOAL OF DEMOCRACY IN ACTION. ANYONE WHO HAS HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO ATTEND OUR G.O. MEETINGS KNOWS THAT DEMOCRACY CAN AND DOES WORK, AND IT IS UP TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US TO PASS IT ON INTO THE FUTURE.

Sylvia!

No chance to stop by today.

My classes are being covered while I'm in auditorium, presumably blocking out Faculty Show. Actually, I'm writing my own version of Calvin Coolidge Gilbert & Sullivan. It will never pass by the censors, but may win a smile from you. Which is all I ask.

Teachers will play kids. What do you think of this number, for instance—played by our talented trio: Henrietta Pastorfield, Mary Lewis, and Charlotte Wolf?

In counterpart, the boys—played, I think, by Loomis, Manheim and McHabe:

It's good to get out of the classroom, away from vapid faces blinking at me. You have one of them in your homeroom—Alice something—who bathes me in long, liquid glances. Lord preserve me from puppy crushes. My taste runs more to Chaucerian-scholar types.

Meet me at The Tavern after school? I need to get blotto. Got another "Thank-you-for-letting-us-see-your-clever-manuscript-unfortiinately" letter. My characters are too improbable, they tell me. My setting, too exotic. Well, why not? One must escape.

This is no job for a man—or woman, either. Unless, like Clarke, you can spend the day sitting and knitting your brows. Here's one for him:

I would have included his Message to Garcia speech, but the only rhyme I could think of was Marsha. And I don't know who she is. Too bad.

It's a memorable speech, an apt commentary on school. Everyone rushes urgently around to get the message in on time. But no one knows what the message is.

Why do you refuse to be in my show? You don't even have to sing.

Paul

FROM: JAMES J. MCHABE, ADM. ASST.

TO: ALL TEACHERS

Do not accept lateness excuses due to fire on the BMT today. This was checked by me with the Transit Authority. There was no fire on the BMT today.

JJ McH

TO: ALL TEACHERS

Polio Consent slips are due in Health Office before 3 P.M. today.

Frances Egan

School Nurse

CIRCULAR # 42

PLEASE KEEP ALL CIRCULARS ON FILE, IN THEIR ORDER

TOPIC: PPP AND EMOTIONAL PROFILE EVALUATION

TO ENABLE THE TEACHER TO GAIN A MORE PROFOUND INSIGHT INTO THE EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS OF EACH STUDENT AND TO ACHIEVE A GRASP, IN TOTO, OF THE SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS SHAPING HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND PERSONALITY GROWTH, THE GUIDANCE OFFICE, AS A RESULT OF THOROUGH DEPTH-INTERVIEWS, HAS EVALUATED THE WHOLE CHILD IN RELATION TO ALL HIS AREAS IN THE PPP ON EACH PRC.

ELLA FRIEDENBERG

GUIDANCE COUNSELOR

FROM: The Health Office

TO: Miss Barrett, Room 304

CONFIDENTIAL MEDICAL REPORT

Copy to: Mr. McHabe Miss Finch

Rosen, Linda, of your official class, will be out of school until cleared by the Board of Health. Wassermann positive. She is to be carried on your register under Temporary Suspension.

Lazar, Evelyn, of your official class, deceased two days ago, of infection following a self-induced AB, as attested by the Medical Examiner. She is to be taken off your register permanently.

Frances Egan

School Nurse

26. Touch Wounds

Oct. 16

Dear Ellen,

Evelyn Lazar is dead. That's the girl who asked to see me the day of the Faculty Conference. Perhaps if I had, she would be alive today. She died of an infection following an abortion she had tried to induce with a knitting needle, after she had run away from home. Now she's but a name to be removed from the homeroom register. Permanently.

Paul says: "Sauve qui peut! Think only of yourself. Getting involved does them no good."

Bea says: "You're not God. Nothing is your fault, except, perhaps, poor teaching."

Henrietta says: 'If you've kept them off the streets and given them a bit of fun for a while, you've earned your keep, such as it is."

Sadie Finch says: "Hand in before 3 locker number and book receipts for Lazar, Evelyn."

Ella Freud says: "Environmental influences beyond our control are frequently the cause of emotional disequilibrium."

And Frances Egan, the school nurse, left her nutrition charts long enough to tell me there was nothing that could have been done. "Evelyn had a rough time with her father," she said. "Once she came in beaten black and blue."

"What did you do for her?"

"I gave her a cup of tea."

"Tea? Why tea, for heaven's sake?"

"Why? Because I know all about it," she flared, shaking with anger. "I know more than anyone here what goes on outside—poverty, disease, dope, degeneracy—yet I'm not supposed to give them even a band-aid. I used to plead, bang on my desk, talk myself hoarse arguing with lads, parents, welfare, administration, social agencies. Nobody really heard me. Now I give them tea. At least, that's something."

"But you're a nurse," I said helplessly.

She showed me the Directive from the Board posted on her wall: THE SCHOOL NURSE MAY NOT TOUCH WOUNDS, GIVE MEDICATION, REMOVE FOREIGN PARTICLES FROM THE EYE . . .

Are we, none of us, then, allowed to touch wounds? What is the teacher's responsibility? And if it begins at all, where does it end? How much of the guilt is ours?

There was a discussion in the Teachers' Lunchroom about it.

Mary Lewis was shocked at the moral laxness of young people today. Surely, she said, the overworked teachers couldn't be expected to add chaperoning to their long list of chores. Henrietta Pastorfield had nothing against sexual freedom—provided it was in the open. Had the girl been in her class, this wouldn't have happened; her kids confided in her because she spoke their language. Fred Loomis said—sterilization —that's the answer. Sterilize them and kick them out of school. Bea Schachter spoke of love; that's what these children were starved for. Paul Barringer disagreed. They can't handle love, he said; they know nothing about it. Amused detachment is the only way to remain intact. But we cannot remain intact if we teach, Bea said. And we must teach—against all odds, against all obstacles, in the best sense of the word. Nuts, said Loomis; kids don't belong in school.

There we sat in the jungle of a white porcelain table with an artificial rose in a plastic vase upon it, and a sign on the wall advising us to remove trays before leaving, each stalking his own path through the underbrush. After a while only Mary, Henrietta, Paul and I were left in the lunchroom. I tried to speak, but Mary cut me short:

"I started out like you, too, but I found there's nothing you can do, so you may as well give up. Just wait till you've been here as long as I— You work yourself to the bone, and no thanks from anyone. The more you do, the more they expect of you, and it's the same in other schools, believe me. Here at least we have Sadie Finch and a couple of Aides to help, but no one really cares, and they just pile more and more on you. I've got no blackboard and they never fixed my radiator, and they stuck me with three preparations and Remedial Reading, and with the Late Room and the Junior Scholastics; and they made me volunteer to be Faculty Advisor to The Clarion, and I have to travel from the 3rd to the 5th floor with my varicose veins. In 23 years I've never been a minute late; I'm always the first to hand in reports—ask Finch—and I never complain; I just do my work, though everyone knows I have the worst homeroom kids in the school, and it takes all my energy just to keep them quiet—before I even start teaching!"

"If they're restless," Henrietta said, "I kid them out of it. It doesn't matter how much they learn as long as they enjoy coming to school; at least, they're exposed to learning. And they know they're free to discuss anything with me—sex, anything. The kids feel I'm one of them; I'm pretty hep for an old maid."

"It's nothing to joke about," said Mary. "We make everything too easy for them. They're so used to sugar-coating, they come to me with no idea about how to study or what a sentence is. How can they learn a foreign language if they don't even know their own?"

"The ones that want to, learn," Henrietta said. "Take Bob—the best English student in the school. Writes like a dream—won the interscholastic essay contest—handsome, polite, a joy in the classroom. I don't have to teach him to parse sentences."

"Because I did," said Mary.

It's your kind of newfangled pussy-footing and side-stepping that makes them illiterates. With me they get a solid foundation, the disciplines of learning. In my class they don't get away with hot air discussions and exchanging their opinions and describing their experiences. What opinions can they have? What have they experienced? What do they know? That's an affront! They learn what I know!"

"Trouble is," Paul smiled his most charming smile, "a teacher has to be so many things at the same time: actor, policeman, scholar, jailer, parent, inspector, referee, friend, psychiatrist, accountant, judge and jury, guide and mentor, wielder of minds, keeper of records, and grand master of the Delaney Book."

"Perhaps you have a rhyme for this?" Mary inquired politely.

"Certainly," said Paul, striking a pose. "Listen:

"Very amusing," said Mary. "This kind of thing must keep you busy; no wonder you're never here the 1st period. Who punches you in—Gilbert and Sullivan?"

But he had made his point, and when the bell rang, they were smiling.

Poor Evelyn Lazar—unwept, unsung, and lost in the bickering. Her death haunts me; I keep thinking—if only I'd been able to hear her cry for help! But we may not touch wounds—

Evelyn is only one girl I happen to know about because she happened to be in my homeroom and because she happened to be traced and found. What of the countless others who drop out, disappear, or wrestle alone in the dark? Paul says that I make too much of it; that what she probably wanted to talk to me about was a change of locker or an extra-credit slip. But that isn't the point—that isn't the point at all.

Are we paid only to teach sentence structure, keep order and assign those books that are available in the Book Room?

Yet here is Henrietta, smacking her lips with spinsterish lasciviousness over her star pupil, Bob; and here is Paul, mocking the technicolor daydreams of little Alice; and here am I, jousting with McHabe for the soul of Ferone. I am still determined to reach him. He has been as insolent and wary as ever, refusing to see me after school, sauntering into class, toothpick in mouth, hands in pockets, daring me to —what? Prove something. Finally he did agree to have a talk with me. "You sure that's what you want? OK, you call the shots!" But before we could meet, he was suspended from school for two weeks for carrying a switch-blade knife. Suspension, you see, is a form of punishment that puts a kid out of our control for a specified period, to roam the streets and join the gangs.

When I tried to tell McHabe that it would have been more valuable to let Ferone keep his appointment with me than to kick him out, he let me have it:

"When you're in the system as long as I" (They all say that!) "you'll realize it isn't understanding they need. I understand them all right—they're no good. It's discipline they need. They sure don't get it at home. We've got to show them who's boss. We've got to teach them by punishing them, each time, a hundred times, so they know we mean business. If not for us, they'll get it in the neck sooner or later —from a cop or a judge or their boss, if they're lucky enough to land a job. They don't know right from wrong, they don't know their ass from—I beg your pardon. You're young and pretty and they flatter you and you swallow it, playing phonograph records, encouraging them to gripe in your suggestion box, having heart to heart talks. A lot of good it does. Sure, we've got to win their respect, but through fear. That's all they understand. They've got to toe the line, or they'll make mincemeat out of us. You ever seen their homes, some of them? You ever been in juvenile court? Hear them talk about us amongst themselves? These kids are bad. They've got to be taught law and order, and we're the ones to teach them. We're stuck with them, and they've got to stick out their time, and they better behave themselves or else. All you people who shoot off ideas—you just try to run this school your way for one day, you'll have a riot in every room. I'm telling you this for your own good, you've got a lot to learn."

I probably do.

I'm going to be observed by Bester this week. He was nice enough to warn me. I plan to teach an adverbial clause or a poem by Frost.

I didn't mean for this letter to be so long—but I am confused and troubled, and you are interested enough to listen. There are times when I feel I don't belong here. Perhaps I should be teaching at Willowdale. Perhaps I should give up teaching altogether. Or perhaps I should find myself a nice young man, one who talks in prose, and settle down, as the saying goes. You seem to have found the answer.

But I don't want to give up without trying. I think the kids deserve a better deal than they're getting. So do the teachers.

I might be able to reach them through their parents; we're having Open School Day in a couple of weeks. Wish me luck—and give Jim and the baby an extra kiss today.

Love,

Syl

P.S. Did you know that the State Department has started a course in elementary composition for its officers, who cannot understand each other's memoranda?

S.

27. Clarification of Status

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK

TO: Miss S. Barrett

Calvin Coolidge High School

New York, N.Y.

DEAR SIR OR MADAM:

IN REPLY TO YOUR REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION OF YOUR STATUS, PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT ALL MEMBERS OF THE TEACHING STAFF SHALL BE APPOINTED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERINTENDENTS FOR A PROBATIONARY PERIOD OF THREE YEARS, EXCEPT THAT A TEACHER WHO RENDERS ONE YEAR OF SATISFACTORY (S) SERVICE MAY OFFER, IN LIEU OF THE OTHER TWO YEARS OF PROBATIONARY SERVICE REQUIRED BY THIS SECTION, A TOTAL OF TWO YEARS OF SATISFACTORY SERVICE EITHER AS A REGULAR APPOINTEE OR AS A REGULAR SUBSTITUTE IN THE SAME RANK, SUBJECT, AND LEVEL OF TEACHING AS THE PERMANENT APPOINTMENT APPLIED FOR. FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS SECTION NO PERIOD OF SUBSTITUTE SERVICE SHALL BE COUNTED AS EQUIVALENT TO PROBATIONARY SERVICE UNLESS IT CONSISTS OF NO LESS THAN 80 SCHOOL DAYS OF SERVICE IN ANY 90 CONSECUTIVE SCHOOL DAYS IN THE SAME SCHOOL; AND A CREDIT OF ONE YEAR SHALL BE BASED ON NOT FEWER THAN 160 DAYS OF ACTUAL SERVICE EXTENDING OVER A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO UNSATISFACTORY (U) SERVICE.

I HOPE THIS HAS ANSWERED YOUR REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION OF YOUR STATUS.

DIVISION OF APPOINTMENTS & RECORDS

28. From the Suggestion Box

Dear Teacher, prefibly Dear Friend,

All your doings are fair. I never found anyone like you anywheres at home or in school. (I lost 2 more lps)

Hoping to hear from you,

Vivian Paine

McHabe is a jailer they should do away with him. Warning! this is my possitively last time I am writting!

I changed my mind, a teacher can be human. I suggest the Board of Education picks all young and pretty teachers like you, who really play ball with us, and not a bunch of old foggies.

Long live you!

Frank Allen

Abollish prejudice. Abollish Miss Freedernburgs intervews they make me sick to my stomache. Like when she ask am I ashame where I live?

Edward Williams, Esq.

In these "dread" times of "Atoms" you remind me of another "teacher" I once had in "elementery". She had the courage to laugh at a "joke" even if it wasn't funny.

Chas. H. Bobbins

Too stuck up for your own good and have pets.

Yr ENEMY

You think it's fair when a teacher takes off 5 points on a test just because I mispelled his name wrong? (Baringor).

You said we should sign our name to show we’re not afraid of our convinctions. Well I am.

Anonimus

I suggest only men teachers. There is one trait that overshadows all your good points and that is you are a female, and my natural instinct tells me there are no good females. The opposite sex and I have nothing in common whatsoever and I am very sorry you were not a man.

Rusty

I am only in your Home Room, but I wish I had you for English. You told us not to mention names of teachers, well I have Mrs. L-w-s, her voice is so grading it makes my ears squint. Last term was no better, we had M-ss P-st-rf-ld, we had to make believe we were a TV pannel or a football team. With you maybe I could learn something but I'm dropping out of school anyhow so it's too late.

A Former Student

You convinced us you're the teacher.

Experienced Student

Linda Rosen's got the Clap!

Guess Who

I happen to have another teacher for English ... I feel deep within me that there should be a deeper closeness between an English teacher and a pupil because the subject touches the very heart ... I am sure you're a good teacher too and quite attractive to look at. (I like the silver pin you wear on your gray jersy)

Alice Blake

Continue teaching myths and books of all lands. This is a good idea and I believe future generations will benefit by it. I wish also to commend you and to thank you for taking an interest in mine and the class as a whole's grammar.

Harry A. Kagan

(The Students Choice)

Federal Lunches are Lousy.

Eater

You're a great dresser, you know just how to wear your cloths, especially your red suit. I have no other complaint.

Well, well! I don't mind bad teachers so much but some habbits they have drive me nuts! Like chewing their eyeglasses (Mr. Loomis) or sniffing their nose (Miss Pasterfield) or wearing the same thing every day (Mrs. Lewis)! Don't forget we have to look at them all period! Present company excluded, Ha-ha! Teachers should have a mirror in the back of the room so they could see how they look to us!

Lou Martin

No homework over week ends, s'il vous plais! From Friday to Monday I like to forget the whole thing!

Votre Ami

Get lost & stay there.

Poisen

Is it possible for you to teach Creative Writing next term?

You showed me that writing clearly means thinking clearly, and that there is nothing more important than communication.

Elizabeth Ellis

I wish I had you for Math (my favorite subject). But alas, we can not have our cake & eat it too.

A Bashful Nobody

J. J. McH.

Should go to H.

Poet

I'm getting behine because school goes to fast for me to retain the work. Maybe if they go more slower with the readings?

Repeter

I suggest: I. free lunchs

A. Air condition classes

B. No home work

II. a TV in every room

A. Movie stars for teachers

III. 6 mo. vacations, school 10 to 12, kids take over!

Teenager

Don't worry—

We're behind you 85 %!

I like everything we do in class but I don't like reading books & myths too I don't like. P.S. I don't like grammer. Oral reports I don't care for. You forget we're not normal like the good schools.

A True Pupil

Lessons are pretty interesting, especially if you come to class. I suggest better attendance for me.

Absent

I can't take my eyes off you your so beautifull. You're just like my imaginary twin Roseanne. If I was a boy I wouldn't even care about English, I would just sit and stare at you. But I'm not a boy so I’ll just have to suffer the consequents.

Your Unknown Admireress

Having sprained my ankle in handball the nurse gave me a cup of tea. Is that suppose to help my ankle?

Athalete

I got a lot out of Myths, they help us to better understand our fellows. Especially Narsissis, he was a lot like Mr. Barringer only he didn't get drowned.

Odyssus

Riding to school in the bus I'm all worn out from the housework and dishes and I wish the boys who fool around and so forth would one day give me their seat I'd drop dead of supprize. Can something be done?

The Fair Sex

List of Goods: 1. You're always willing to listen to our side no matter what.

2. When you don't know something you're not ashamed to say you don't know something.

3. You're not afraid to crack a smile when necessery.

4. You always look happy to see us come in.

List of Bads: None.

Suggestions: More like you.

Your Fan

My mother has been living with me for 16 yrs, but she still insists on cross-examining me.

Doodlebug

When in Miss Lewis' class a pupil finds it necessary to visit the men's room he is often denied that priviledge.

Sophomore

English would be much better off with more teachers like you that take an interest in their pupils instead of teaching just because they have to due to circumstances. Well ever since you elected me judge, I, for one will never forget you as long as I live. You made me feel I'm real.

Jose Rodriguez

29. The Road Not Taken

MODEL OUTLINE OF LESSON PLAN

1. TOPIC "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.

2. AIM Understanding and appreciation of the poem.

3. MOTIVATION: INTERESTING, CHALLENGING, THOUGHT-PROVOKING QUESTIONS, RELATING TO THE STUDENTS' OWN EXPERIENCES.

1. What turning point have you had in your life?

2. What choice did you make, and why?

3. How did you feel about your choice later?

4. ANTICIPATION OF DIFFICULTIES:

Put on board and explain words:

diverged

trodden

5. FACTUAL CONTENT OF LESSON:

Read the poem aloud:

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood . . ." etc.

6. PIVOTAL QUESTIONS, DIRECTED TOWARDS APPRECIATION OF HUMAN MOTIVES:

1. Why did he make this particular choice of road?

2. Why does he say: "I shall be telling this with a sigh"?

What kind of sigh will it be?

One of relief? Regret?

3. This poem ends with: "I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." What difference do you suppose it has made to him?

4. Had he taken the other road, how would the poem have ended? (Elicit from them: The same way!)

5. Why does Frost call it "The Road Not Taken" rather than "The Road Taken"? (Elicit: We regret things we haven't done more than those we have.)

6. Based on this poem, what kind of person do you suppose Frost

was? (Elicit: direct, simple, philosophical, man who loved nature

and had eye for concrete things.)

7.What is his style of writing?

("multum in parvo" or "much in little": economy of language, yet

scope of thought)

8. ENRICHMENT:

Pass around photo of Frost.

9. SUMMARY:

1. Blazing a trail vs. conformity.

2. Regret inherent in any decision.

(NOTE: Remember summary on board!

Windows!

No paper scraps on floor!

Try to get Eddie Williams to recite at least once.

Don't let Harry Kagan do all the talking.

Change Linda's seat—put her next to girl?

If time, play record of Frost reading own poetry.)

FROM: Samuel Bester,

Chairman, Language Arts Dept.

TO: Miss S. Barrett, Room 304

Miss Barrett,

The following suggestions are unofficial: they will not appear on my formal Observation Report. If you wish a personal conference, please see me.

1. Windows should be open about 4 inches from the top, to avoid danger of students leaning out.

2. Relating questions to the pupils' own experiences is first rate, but don't let them run away with you. They often do it to delay or avoid a lesson. Example: in connection with making a choice, the discussion of whether or not girl in 4th row should wear her print or her green chiffon Saturday night was interesting, but 6 minutes on it was excessive.

3. Don't allow one student (Kagan?) to monopolize the discussion. Call on the non-volunteers too.

4. Always ask the question first; then only call on a student by name, thus engaging the whole class in thinking. Avoid elliptical, loaded or vague questions, such as: "How do you feel about this poem?" (too vague) and "Do we regret what we haven't done?" (The answer the teacher wants must obviously be yes!)

5. Your unfailing courtesy to the students is first rate. A teacher is frequently the only adult in the pupil's environment who treats him with respect. Instead of penalizing suspended boy who came in late, with toothpick in mouth, you made him feel the class had missed his contribution to it. That's first rate! (He should, however, have been made to remove the toothpick.)

6. "Note the simplicity of Frost's language," you said. You might try the excellent device of pretending ignorance or surprise: "But I thought a poem had to have fancy words!" or "But isn't an adverb supposed to end in ly?" or "But doesn't Mark Antony say nice things about Brutus?"

7. The boy next to me was doing his math. It is wise for the teacher to move about

the room.

8. Immediate correction of English was effected. However, you missed:

"He should of took the road . . ."

"On this here road . . ."

"He coont make up his mind."

9. Enthusiasm is contagious. I'm glad you're not ashamed to show you are moved by emotion or excited by an idea. Unexpected intrusion of outsiders (plumber, etc.) need not necessarily curb this enthusiasm.

10. The less a teacher talks the better the teacher. Don't feed them; elicit from them. Learning is a process of mutual discovery for teacher and pupil. Keep an open mind to their unexpected responses. Example: comment of boy doing math that man has no choice.

11. Don't allow the lesson to end on the wrong note. Example: your question "What kind of man was Frost?" elicited the answer: "The kind of man who likes to write poetry." Just then the bell rang and they were dismissed.

12. Your quick praise of pupil effort and your genuine interest in what they say are first rate! It's fine for the girls to emulate you and for the boys to try to please you. But there are certain hazards in looking too attractive.

There is no question in my mind but that you are a born teacher.

Samuel Bester

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 304

TO: 508

Dear Bea—

We have met the enemy, and he is ours!

I knew I'd be observed today and was prepared. At least, I thought I was.

There is a heading: "Anticipation of Difficulties" in the model outline, but I had difficulties I hadn't anticipated.

A boy got hiccoughs and almost fell out of the window; there was a false emergency drill signal; McHabe came to make an announcement; and the plumber dropped in to hammer on the radiator.

Bester sat and scribbled away at the back of the room, while I tried to keep in mind simultaneously 39 kids, lesson-plan, room passes, boardwork, Frost, troublemakers, scraps of paper on the floor, correcting their English, and enlarging the scope of the lesson to include moral and ethical concepts.

I didn't have time to cover half of the things in my Plan Book, and I forgot Summary and Windows, but I did ask "pivotal questions," linking the poem to their own experiences. Bester says I'm a born teacher! Congratulate me!

Syl

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 508

TO: 304

Dear Syl,

Of course you are. A born teacher, I mean.

Linking a lesson to their own experiences is fine if you can do it, but sometimes it's a strain. I recall a young teacher whose opening question on Wordsworth's poem to a class of tough city boys in a vocational high school was: "How many of you have seen a sea of daffodils lately?"

Naturally, congratulations!

Bea

Dear Miss Barrett,

I’ll be absent tomorrow due to sickness so please let some one else read these minutes I took on today's lesson.

It was a most interesting and educational English period. Miss Barrett collected money for the Scholastics and any one who doesn't bring it tomorrow won't get it. Miss Barrett read some notices about the G.O. and Mr. McHabe came in to speak about no sneakers on cafeteria tables. Miss Barrett sent Roy out of the room for spitting out of the window to cure hiccups and thought us a beautiful poem by Mr. Robert Frost. The title was called "The Road Not Taken". Dr. Bester visited us. He sat next to Fred.

We discussed our different turning points in life. Vivian's turning point was college or work after graduation? This was not a good example because she is only a soph. Linda's turning point was about which dress to wear Sat. night. Eddie's turning point was when he went to the cellar and got hit on the head. Lou had no turning point.

The poet tries to say that because he took the road this made a lot of difference. He tells about yellow wood. He decides to take a walk and takes a wrong turning point and gets lost and sighs. The moral is we can't walk on two roads at the same time. Some people in class disagreed.

The poet (Mr. Frost) teaches us about life and other things. He was simple. He was economical and died recently. He blazed a trial on a new road.

Miss Barrett passed around his picture but it got only to the first row because some wise guy hogged it and wouldn't pass it. Multim im parva means he says very little. Trodden means walk.

His style was very good. He had his eye on things.

In my last term's English class we had to put poems under different Headings like Poems of Love and Friendship, or Nature and God's Creatures, or Religion and Death, and say where they belong to, but I'm not sure where this one belongs to.

Respectfully submitted,

Janet Amdur, Class Secretary

30. The Author Tries to Say

Fri., Nov. 6

Dear Ellen,

I rejoice with you at the departure of the painters. What do you mean, it came out buff?

You're right; I am attracted to Paul. He's very attractive. But the surface is so highly polished, it's hard to get hold of it. One slips off. Our relationship is surface too: an occasional drink together, a dinner, a movie in my "spare time, Ha-ha!"—as one of my kids would say. I smile at his amusing verses and I listen to his amused complaints about editors and school and fate. He's a kind of charming Minniver Cheevy —without the bathos. I'd like to like him more.

As for your questions: Yes, Linda Rosen is back, presumably cured. So is Joe Ferone, presumably not. He has changed his mind about seeing me after school. "What's in it for you?" he asks.

The day he returned to class, with a Late-Late pass from McHabe, who detained him for coming late (do you follow me?) I was observed by Bester. I taught a poem. Or did I? I don't think I got through to them, in spite of all my careful paper-plans, in spite of all of Bester's paper-words.

The trouble is their utter lack of background. "I never read a book in my life, and I ain't starting now," a boy informed me. It isn't easy to make them like a book—other teachers got there before me. Henrietta with her games in teams, Mary with her outlines. Or perhaps it goes further back, to the 1st grade, or the 5th?

The important thing is to make them feel King Lear's anguish, not a True-or-False test on Shakespeare. The important thing is the recognition and response, not an inch of print to be memorized.

I want to point the way to something that should forever lure them, when the TV set is broken and the movie is over and the school bell has rung for the last time.

But what a book report means to them is: to tell an interesting fact about the author ("Poe was a junkie"); to complete: "This book made me wish/ wonder/ realize/ decide"; to recount one humorous/ tragic incident; or to engage in hokum projects such as designing book jackets, drawing stick figures, holding TV interviews with dead authors or imaginary characters, playing "Who Am I?," and pepping up the classics. In other words, saving the others the trouble of reading the book.

Sample:

LOU: My book is—

I: The book you read.

LOU: Yeah. The title is called Macbeth by Shakespeare.

I: Its title is.

LOU: Macbeth.

I: But wasn't it required reading for last term's English? I understand Macbeth was taught in English 2 last term. You were supposed to report on a supplementary book. That means in addition to the required—

LOU: I ain't never read it before.

I: I never read it.

LOU: Me neither. In this book the author depicks—

I: Depicts.

LOU: Depicks how this guy he wants to—

I: Who?

LOU: Him.

I: He.

LOU: Yeah. He potrays that this here—

I: He says.

LOU: Mrs. Lewis told us not to say say. She gave us a whole list like depicks and potrays instead.

I: Yes, Harry?

HARRY: Observes.

I: I beg your pardon?

LOU: Remarks. Narrates. Exclaims. I've got it written down.

I: She probably wanted you to avoid repetition. There's nothing wrong with the word "says." What's the theme of the play, Lou?

LOU: Well, the author narrates this murder—

I: No, the theme, not the plot. Does anyone know the difference between theme and plot? Linda?

LINDA: The plot is what they do in the book and the theme is how they do it.

I: Not exactly. The theme— Yes, Vivian?

VIVIAN: The theme is what's behind it.

I: Behind what?

VIVIAN: The plot

I: Frank?

FRANK: The lesson.

I: What lesson? Please answer in complete sentences.

FRANK: That the author is trying to teach. The morale of the book.

I: The moral. It need not— Yes, John?

HARRY: He's supposed to mention three incidents.

I: But we're talking about the— Harry?

HARRY: Personal opinion.

I: What?

Harry. He didn't give his personal opinion.

LOU: I didn't even get to it.

I: We're still trying to determine the difference between plot and theme. Sally?

SALLY: One is real and one is made up.

I: Well, actually—Yes, Carole, what is it?

CAROLE: Oh, thank God! I thought you'd never call on me! The author tries to say—

I: Tries? Doesn't he succeed?

CAROLE: He tries to show—

I: He shows.

CAROLE: He shows how you musn't be ambitious.

LOU: Potrays.

I: Does he say that ambition is bad?

CAROLE: Yes.

I: Is it? Isn't it good to be ambitious? Lou?

LOU: It's good, but not too.

I: Not too what?

LOU: Not too ambitious is not so good.

I: You mean, excessive ambition can lead to disaster?

LOU: That's right

I: Why don't you say it? The theme of Macbeth is that excessive—or rather, ruthless ambition often proves disastrous. That's what words are for—to be used. What does ruthless mean? Eddie?

EDDIE: Steps all over.

I: Say it in a sentence.

EDDIE: He steps all over.

I: Rusty, you wanted to say something?

RUSTY: Mrs. Macbeth noodges him.

I: You mean nudges?

RUSTY: Noodges. Being a female, she spurns him on.

I: Yes, John, your hand is up?

JOHN: I read the same book, but my theme is different.

I: What is it?

JOHN: The theme is he kills him for his own good.

Never mind. I may be reaching too high, I may stumble and fall, but I’ll keep on trying!

Love,

Syl

P.S. Did you know that at the College Entrance Examination Board's Commission on English it was found that a third of high school English teachers were unfit to teach their subject?

31. Communication Arts

FROM: CENTRAL CURRICULUM ADAPTATIONS COMMITTEE FOR APPRAISAL AND SELECTION OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL AND SPECIFIC DEVICES IN ORIENTATION AND MOTIVATION:

THE ORAL BOOK REPORT

FUNCTIONAL APPLICATION OF LANGUAGE SKILLS IN CONNECTION WITH A DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAM OF READING MASTERY AND APPRECIATION, COMBINED WITH CONCURRENT TRAINING IN ORAL EXPRESSION CAN BEST BE ACHIEVED IN THE FORM OF THE ORAL BOOK REPORT INVOLVING ALL THE CONCOMITANT OBJECTIVES OF STIMULATING CONVERSATIONAL PARTICIPATION ON LEVELS OF SHARING OF INTELLECTUAL AND EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES, WHICH IS THE CULMINATION OF THE COMMUNICATIONS ARTS.