[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 136 (Friday, September 27, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1741-E1742]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      A VETERAN INSTRUCTOR SHARES HER EXPERIENCES IN THE CLASSROOM

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROGER F. WICKER

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 26, 1996

  Mr. WICKER. Mr. Speaker, I want to share with my colleagues an 
article that appeared in the Sunday, September 22 edition of the 
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in my hometown of Tupelo, MS. 
Claudia Hopkins is a fifth grade teacher at King Intermediate School in 
Tupelo. She was recently asked to talk about her career as a teacher 
before the Tupelo Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs. Her comments reaffirm my 
long-held feelings that classroom teachers are the most important part 
of education.

      A Veteran Instructor Shares Her Experiences in the Classroom

                          (By Claudia Hopkins)

       I never planned to teach. I didn't want to. My mother was a 
     career teacher, my father had been a teacher at different 
     times in my life, my aunts were teachers, and I just wasn't 
     interested. I didn't like teachers! They were always so 
     intrusive! I think I was like Winston Churchill who said, 
     ``Personally, I'm always ready to learn, although I do not 
     always like to be taught.''
       I wanted to be a writer, and that's the employment I was 
     seeking as a new college graduate 27 years ago in Nashville. 
     I was scheduled for my second interview for a copywriter's 
     position when I came home for the Labor Day weekend to find 
     that the principal of a little school outside of Nashville 
     had called saying he needed a fourth grade teacher. There was 
     only one drawback, he said. My room would be on the stage. 
     Well, those of you who know me can appreciate the irony in 
     that! And, sure enough, without really knowing why, I 
     canceled my copywriting interview, took that teaching job and 
     with the exception of seven years, have been ``on the stage'' 
     ever since!
       Often I've felt just like Dolly Levi with a business card 
     and a solution for every problem! A teacher makes so many 
     decisions for so many people in one day--our profession ranks 
     second in the number of immediate decisions that must be made 
     every day. Air traffic controllers are first! They also have 
     the highest suicide rate, but I don't want to dwell on that!


                      ii. ``getting to know you.''

       It didn't take me very long that first year to realize that 
     if I wanted my students to be successful, I couldn't teach 
     them as if they were all round pegs to fit into round holes, 
     Some of them are square pegs, some are diamond-shaped--all 
     are unique. I began to read and study and observe. Somewhere 
     along the way, I read what a student had written, and the 
     words had a profound effect on my teaching:
       ``Can't nobody teach me who don't know me and won't learn 
     me.'' Let me repeat that: ``Can't nobody teach me who don't 
     know me and won't learn me.''
       Wow, what a powerful statement! I began to try to get to 
     know each one of my students--to search out the learning 
     style unique to each one--to find just the right way to help 
     each child experience success. It's a hard task--often an 
     exhausting one and one I'm still trying to master.
       I guess the most outstanding example of tailoring education 
     to fit the child was Fred. Fred was an older boy who'd been 
     held back several years. By the time he was in the

[[Page E1742]]

     fourth grade, he was so mature that he wasn't just noticing 
     the girls but the teachers, too! I found him in the sixth 
     grade hall one day getting a drink of water, and as I passed, 
     I patted him on his back and told him that he needed to 
     return to his classroom. He never raised up--I just heard him 
     utter, ``Umm, umm, umm!''
       Well, at the end of that fourth grade year, the principal 
     decided to bypass fifth grade and put Fred in my sixth grade 
     class because he was, quote, ``getting too old to stay in 
     elementary school'' and ``it didn't matter where he was 
     anyway; he couldn't learn.'' Boy, don't ever give me a 
     challenge like that! I discovered right away that Fred could 
     learn--in fact, he could learn fast. I showed him how to 
     annex the zero in multiplication in one day. He called that 
     zero the ``naked zero. I don't know why. But it worked for 
     him. He was like that--you could see the light come on in his 
     eyes, and whatever connection he made that year, I supported. 
     He couldn't read very well and we weren't really successful 
     in overcoming that, but he'd found his own system of 
     deciphering the printed word enough to keep up in science and 
     social studies.
       In getting to know him, I discovered that he got up before 
     sunrise every day to help his uncle on their farm and that he 
     drove a tractor sometimes late into the night. Yet, he always 
     had his homework that year. His lower elementary teachers 
     couldn't understand the change. I didn't understand it. But 
     Fred did. He understood a lot of things for the very first 
     time, and it felt good to him.
       Years later I was back in that little community for a 
     visit, and I attended the very first graduation ceremony in 
     their new high school. Can you imagine how I felt when the 
     principal called his name and there he was in a cap and gown 
     getting his diploma? That's why I teach.


                      III. Have children changed?

       I'm often asked, ``Don't you think children have changed? 
     '' I've even said it myself, but I really don't think it's 
     the children who have changed. They haven't been here long 
     enough! The world has changed, values have changed, 
     communication has changed, delivery of instruction has 
     changed, I have changed. But, I think the children are 
     basically the same in 1996 as they were in 1969.
       1. They love to be read to. I know that sentence ended with 
     a preposition, but as long as I know it, it's OK. Isn't it? 
     The beauty of the language is as appealing to children today 
     as it ever was. I try to read to my students every day. I 
     choose all kinds of literature, and they are just spellbound. 
     For many, it's the only time of the day that they're 
     completely quiet and focused on what's being said. That never 
     changes. One of the perks of my job is hearing them say, 
     ``The book is better than the movie''
       2. The approval of their peers is as important today as it 
     was when I first started teaching. On Friday, one of my 
     students was having a hard time getting anyone to work with 
     him. He said to me, ``Nobody likes me,'' and then he walked 
     off with slumped shoulders. That's what the feeling does to 
     children--to us all--it defeats us. I couldn't stand for him 
     to feel that way, so he and I had a silent conversation while 
     everyone else was working. Have you ever had a silent 
     conversation? It's where you and someone else write your 
     thoughts and questions and comments instead of speaking them. 
     It's a wonderful way to communicate. You're more focused on 
     what you're feeling, you're using more than one or two of 
     your seven intelligences and it's really hard to whine on 
     paper! Try it in your business. Try it at home with hour 
     families! Anyway, I suggested that perhaps he was so busy 
     distracting others and being loud that they weren't able to 
     see the real him--the one that was so smart and capable. He 
     didn't write a response--he just looked up at me, grinned 
     and nodded, and said aloud, ``This was fun'' as he joined 
     a group to finish his work.
       3. Children today love to be creative, to perform, to 
     improvise. But here's the great paradox in education. Even 
     though studies show that children who are stimulated 
     creatively through the arts perform better in school and on 
     standardized tests, the arts budgets and the strictness of 
     scheduling often cut out the very experiences that children 
     need. Go figure! We're fortunate at King to have the time, 
     thanks to Dr. Cother, and the materials, thanks to AEE, to be 
     able to set up an art museum simulation this year and perform 
     several musicals that extend our social studies, science and 
     literature curricula and meet the creative needs of each 
     child.
       4. Children love to see you in a tense, uncomfortable 
     situation and then they go in for the kill.
       That hasn't changed.
       I'll never forget the first time my superior came into my 
     classroom to observe me. Of course, it was unexpected, but I 
     felt pretty good about the lesson for the day. I'd spent a 
     lot of time cutting out pictures from magazines to reinforce 
     my lesson on writing descriptions. Each student had taken 
     one, written a description, and then I was to read them and 
     let them see if they could guess what the picture was from 
     the description.
       Well, my supervisor eased in just as I was reading the 
     description of an elephant. ``It has fat legs and big hips.'' 
     One hand went up. I nervously asked, ``Yes, honey, who or 
     what do you think it is?'' ``Sounds a lot like my sister to 
     me!'' Well, I handled the laughter as well as I could and 
     said something inadequate like, ``No, sweetie, it's not your 
     sister,'' and went on reading. ``It has a little tail.'' I 
     see you're ahead of me. And of course that same little voice 
     piped up, ``Nope, it sure ain't my sister if it's got a 
     little tail. Hers is as big as the Grand Canyon.'' Well, 
     you'd think that was the end of it, wouldn't you? Oh, no! 
     Just as I reclaimed control of the class, another student 
     raised his hand, and like a fool, I called on him. ``What's 
     that mark on your top?'' You know, tact is not a child's long 
     suit. Well, that morning I'd let the iron stay a bit too long 
     on that spot and had a perfect print of an iron right on the 
     front of my top, but I'd convinced myself that it wasn't 
     noticeable. I explained, my humiliation almost complete. As 
     we walked out of the classroom, one of the students said, 
     ``You need some new shoes, too.'' My supervisor never said a 
     word, in fact, she never came back.
       5. Brace yourselves, parents. Children tell us what you say 
     about us. I really think there ought to be a contract signed 
     every year between parents and teachers stating: We won't 
     believe everything they say about you if you won't believe 
     everything they say about us! I taught sex education one 
     year--don't laugh--to sixth grade girls. I had looked through 
     my teachers' edition of my science book and noticed that 
     chapter 10 was about reproduction. The principal and I 
     planned for months. We had filmstrips and videos, guest 
     speakers lined up, and our lessons all prepared. We'd sent 
     the science books home with instructions for the parents to 
     read chapter 10, sign the permission notes and be in 
     partnership with us as we went through the unit.
       On the first day, I opened with, ``Girls, I know you all 
     have read chapter 10 and your parents have read chapter 10. 
     What are your thoughts as we begin this unit?'' There was 
     just this long silence, so I tried another approach. ``Did 
     your parents discuss this with you?'' Mary was the only one 
     to raise her hand. ``Yes, Mary?'' ``Well, my mother said it 
     was just like an old maid to get in a stew over this. She 
     said she didn't know what all the fuss was about.'' I began 
     to respond with something like, ``Mary, some parents think 
     this is a very delicate subject,'' and Mary said, ``What's 
     delicate about plants?'' Friends, I had read the alternate 
     chapter in my teacher's edition. The students textbooks were 
     all about cross pollination of pea pods--not sexual 
     reproduction. If those parents had said to me what they'd 
     said about me, we could have saved ourselves a lot of stress!
       6. Children today are as hungry for an adult's approval as 
     they ever were. Several years ago my students were asked to 
     write in their journals at the beginning of every class 
     period. It was one of those days when the silence was broken 
     several times with the question, ``What's today?'' I'd 
     answered that question over and over and finally, I jumped 
     up, ran to the middle of the room and sang, ``Da, da, da, da, 
     da, da! Today's the 29th! Now, everybody knows what today 
     is.'' On my way back to my seat, I heard one of the boys say 
     to his neighbor, ``Everybody but James--he's too dumb to know 
     what today is.'' Before I could respond, I heard James say, 
     just as quietly, ``Uh huh. Da, da, da, da, da, da! Today's 
     the 29th!'' I just fell out and said, ``James, I love you!'' 
     At the end of the week, I took up their journals and there in 
     James' poor spelling and painfully childish writing were 
     these words: ``Miss Hockin love me. She say so.'' Some things 
     never change.


                      iv. what, then, has changed?

       Am I saying that children are still attending school in 
     Mayberry with Miss Crump? Goodness, no! There ARE differences 
     in our classrooms today. Because of advances in technology, 
     the world can be brought to our doors. We can access research 
     data almost as soon as new discoveries are made. We can 
     communicate with students in other places from our 
     classrooms. We have more materials, more comfortable 
     classrooms, more up-to-date textbooks, more resources. But, 
     because of drug abuse we have students who are severely 
     altered in academic ability and in behavioral skills. Because 
     of the changes in the home, we have students who are 
     withdrawn or threatening. Because of neglect, we have 
     students who seek attention in any way they can get it. 
     Because they've been given too much too soon, we have 
     students who are hopeless and jaded. The dead eyes alarm me 
     more than anything.
       Today's differences create more challenges for teachers. 
     What are the greatest challenges I face today? Probably the 
     same ones I faced in the early `70s--how to individualize 
     instruction; how to provide a classroom climate where 
     motivation can take place; how to manage behavior; how to 
     communicate effectively with students, parents and other 
     educators; how to meet the needs of every student whether the 
     need be academic, emotional or physical; how to relinquish 
     ``teaching'' time to laugh, to enjoy the spontaneous moment, 
     to really look at a child, to really listen, to discover, to 
     explore, to appreciate, to grow; and the continuing challenge 
     of how to give a flawless performance on this education 
     ``stage'' I've chosen, because . . .
       . . . a doctor's mistake is buried
       . . . a lawyer's mistake is imprisoned
       . . . a plumber's mistake is stopped
       . . . an accountant's mistake is written off
       . . . a printer's mistake is reprinted
       . . . But, a teacher's mistake is never erased.
       
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