I just recieved this email from my instructor and thought it might interest some of you future teachers.
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This review is from the Christian Science Monitor...
The documentary it describes would be good to watch if you can.
Mr. G
'A Tale of Two Schools' probes difficulties of teaching youngsters to read
By Marjorie Coeyman
"W'e can't create miracles. We need some help here!"
This plaintive cry of an inner-city Texas reading
teacher goes a long way toward summing up the message of
"A Tale of Two Schools," a PBS documentary about the
task of teaching children to read. The job is hard
enough in an affluent area where parents reinforce
lessons at home, materials arrive on time, and teachers
receive the training they need. But in the two
low-income communities profiled in this hour-long show,
helping a child succeed can sometimes feel like the
loneliest job in the world. The good news, however,
this documentary implies, is that with help, success is
possible. Narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, "A Tale of
Two Schools" picks up at the start of the school year,
focusing on two classrooms. One is a first-grade class
at Walton Elementary, a Fort Worth, Texas, school long
considered one of the worst in the state but now in the
middle of a turnaround.
The other school is a second-grade class at Bearden
Elementary, a school struggling to educate some of the
nation's poorest children, in Sumner, Miss.
While the documentary breaks no new ground in examining
the challenges of turning low-income children into
fluent readers, it does put a human face on the
situation.
The show's directors choose to focus on one child in
each class. At Walton the cameras zoom in on Tavares, a
likable and irrepressible boy who is already beginning
life with several strikes against him. His face is
scarred from an accident, his mother has left the
family, and he missed most of kindergarten.
The most heartwarming sequences in this show tell the
story of modest gains for Tavares, and an unqualified
victory for his school. It's almost impossible to remain
dry-eyed during the scene when the principal
congratulates each teacher in an auditorium full of
cheering children.
At Bearden, success is harder won. The school received a
$200,000 grant to bolster reading instruction, but
materials and teacher training arrive too late in the
year to have the impact they should. The focus is on
Kathleena, a girl seen watching TV most nights in her
trailer-park home, and also on her teacher, Jill Todd.
Mrs. Todd is earnest and caring but new to the classroom
and clearly at sea.
The dynamic superintendent of schools at Bearden cares
passionately for these children and pours himself into
his work, to the point that his health and marriage
suffer.
Some viewers may quarrel with this documentary's
assumption that a highly structured reading program with
an emphasis on phonics is the definitive answer to
reading problems.
Nonetheless, one of the best things about this show is
its refusal to point fingers or pretend the parents are
not trying - even when they fail.
"A Tale of Two Schools" simultaneously demystifies and
humanizes the teaching of reading. And at the same time
it stirs viewers to marvel that effective help has been
so long in coming to students like Tavares and
Kathleena.
'A Tale of Two Schools' airs on many PBS stations in
September and October. Visit
www.readingrockets.org for
dates and times.
Its really cool, lots of advice for beginning teachers. Anyone else going for teaching?
