"Oh my gosh, I can't believe anyone would not want to know more about this. My kids come home with stories of how pointless movies are shown in their classes almost every week."
— Reader comment, "Film Study? Board Debates Classroom Movie Policy," Leesburg Today, 12/1/2010
One of my favorite stratagems as a child when trying to avoid eating something on my plate I really didn't want to, was to push the food around (a lot), making me look busy while mixing things up into a confusing mess. Unfortunately, my parents were far from stupid.
The recent school board brouhaha over films in the classroom (always a perennial favorite) is nothing more than the straw man equivalent of my brussel sprouts when dealing with learning quality. I really must ask the school board and LCPS central office staff members, if you're going to act like you're concerned about the quality of teacher interaction with students, why concern yourself with mere movie screenings?
All these county education "leaders" are doing is avoiding the unpalatable idea of managing the full spectrum of classroom learning activities. Seriously, what percentage of the total classroom schedule is matinee time? If we're seriously questioning a teacher's judgment and skills in using a particular film in class, why aren't we seriously questioning that teacher's judgment and skills in all aspects of classroom and homework activities? Who's kidding whom here: if I can't trust my child's teacher to make an appropriate and authentic use of a film in class, how can I possibly have faith in the quality of the homework assignments, his communication skills, his classroom "management" skills, his ability to foster positive social-emotional learning skills, his ability to design and interpret meaningful assessments, his capabilities when emergencies arise, and everything else I entrust him to for seven hours a day?
Unlike board member Jennifer Bergel, I do believe there needs to be more involvement of the board, central office, and administrators in what goes on in each and every classroom, but not as school cops, as she advocates ("it should be the responsibility of principals to walk the halls of their schools, checking in on teachers and questioning why movies are being shown"). Tom Reed suggests that principals and deans "be more involved in the process and for teachers to demonstrate that showing a film has educational merit." But why stop there? Shouldn't all classroom activities have "educational merit?" It should be the responsibility of principals to spend time in classrooms, working with teachers, developing their judgment and skills in all areas of learning.
But like many public officials, our leaders appear to be succumbing to the lure of making cosmetic changes rather than actual change.
Ms. Bergel, Mr. DuPree, Mr. Guzman, Mr. Waterhouse, and Mr. Reed should stop pushing food around and deal with the whole meal.
As should principals. Last year some parents of one high school's students complained when their kids mentioned seeing the same movie on the same day in two different classes as winter break approached. The solution? Establish a procedure so certain movies would be shown only by a specific department, thus ensuring Ice Age wouldn't be shown in both Earth Science and World History 1. Of course, the throw-down between the English department head and Social Sciences head over who "owns" Twelve Angry Men would have been amusing if it weren't completely missing the (learning) point. (And talk about putting lipstick on a pig!)
Hazel (the Leesburg Today reader who asserts, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe anyone would not want to know more about this?"), I agree, but why should we limit our concern with mere movies?
Guys, parents aren't that stupid.
Postscript: I must say, however, that if I see Ice Age in one more Earth Science class, I may just be tempted to step on certain talking mammals.
Post-Postscript: This is the danger of not maintaining a tight focus when writing, which is what happened when I caved to the temptation to comment on Ice Age. While I do agree there are a great number of times "pointless" showings of movies occur in classrooms, lack of authentic learning is not limited to these times, not by a long shot. To address only movies – or even address them at all since they represent such a small aspect of classroom activities – is to miss, or more accurately, avoid, the point. We are band-aiding a symptom and ignoring the disease.
Films are a wonderful opportunity for learning, but I've yet to see or hear of a high school level discussion or application of the learning opportunities offered by Ice Age in any of the classes in which I've seen or heard of it shown. Similarly, many other less visible activities lack any true learning applications, and they go on all the time.
The recent school board brouhaha over films in the classroom (always a perennial favorite) is nothing more than the straw man equivalent of my brussel sprouts when dealing with learning quality. I really must ask the school board and LCPS central office staff members, if you're going to act like you're concerned about the quality of teacher interaction with students, why concern yourself with mere movie screenings?
All these county education "leaders" are doing is avoiding the unpalatable idea of managing the full spectrum of classroom learning activities. Seriously, what percentage of the total classroom schedule is matinee time? If we're seriously questioning a teacher's judgment and skills in using a particular film in class, why aren't we seriously questioning that teacher's judgment and skills in all aspects of classroom and homework activities? Who's kidding whom here: if I can't trust my child's teacher to make an appropriate and authentic use of a film in class, how can I possibly have faith in the quality of the homework assignments, his communication skills, his classroom "management" skills, his ability to foster positive social-emotional learning skills, his ability to design and interpret meaningful assessments, his capabilities when emergencies arise, and everything else I entrust him to for seven hours a day?
Unlike board member Jennifer Bergel, I do believe there needs to be more involvement of the board, central office, and administrators in what goes on in each and every classroom, but not as school cops, as she advocates ("it should be the responsibility of principals to walk the halls of their schools, checking in on teachers and questioning why movies are being shown"). Tom Reed suggests that principals and deans "be more involved in the process and for teachers to demonstrate that showing a film has educational merit." But why stop there? Shouldn't all classroom activities have "educational merit?" It should be the responsibility of principals to spend time in classrooms, working with teachers, developing their judgment and skills in all areas of learning.
But like many public officials, our leaders appear to be succumbing to the lure of making cosmetic changes rather than actual change.
Ms. Bergel, Mr. DuPree, Mr. Guzman, Mr. Waterhouse, and Mr. Reed should stop pushing food around and deal with the whole meal.
As should principals. Last year some parents of one high school's students complained when their kids mentioned seeing the same movie on the same day in two different classes as winter break approached. The solution? Establish a procedure so certain movies would be shown only by a specific department, thus ensuring Ice Age wouldn't be shown in both Earth Science and World History 1. Of course, the throw-down between the English department head and Social Sciences head over who "owns" Twelve Angry Men would have been amusing if it weren't completely missing the (learning) point. (And talk about putting lipstick on a pig!)
Hazel (the Leesburg Today reader who asserts, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe anyone would not want to know more about this?"), I agree, but why should we limit our concern with mere movies?
Guys, parents aren't that stupid.
Postscript: I must say, however, that if I see Ice Age in one more Earth Science class, I may just be tempted to step on certain talking mammals.
Post-Postscript: This is the danger of not maintaining a tight focus when writing, which is what happened when I caved to the temptation to comment on Ice Age. While I do agree there are a great number of times "pointless" showings of movies occur in classrooms, lack of authentic learning is not limited to these times, not by a long shot. To address only movies – or even address them at all since they represent such a small aspect of classroom activities – is to miss, or more accurately, avoid, the point. We are band-aiding a symptom and ignoring the disease.
Films are a wonderful opportunity for learning, but I've yet to see or hear of a high school level discussion or application of the learning opportunities offered by Ice Age in any of the classes in which I've seen or heard of it shown. Similarly, many other less visible activities lack any true learning applications, and they go on all the time.
I definitely agree that the principals need to "police" the watching of feature films in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think the first commenter is missing the point.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that school board member is concerned about "taking away teachers' rights." What about the taxpayers' families' and students' "rights" to a quality education?
Oh... please, it is not as if they spend all day watching movies in school. I work in a school, it is not something that goes on daily... it is rare. In Spanish class it was used as a reward and the movie was shown in Spanish. The kids were learning... imagine that, learning something from a movie. People really need to concern themselves with more important things. Kids do need breaks from learning every now and then. Could you sit in a seat for 6 hours everyday and do nothing but listen to lectures and do worksheets? I can count on one hand the number of times my kids came home and said they watched some movie in class that had nothing to do with education..and that is over 11 years of public school!
ReplyDeleteOk, if we are going to attack movies, then the next topic should be coloring in school (ad I do not mean maps in geography) but all the other pointless coloring that is graded outside of art. Mt children spend far more time coloring than watching a movie.
ReplyDeletemean to say (and I do not...)
ReplyDeleteAnother example of how loudoun county teachere are over-paid and lazy. They have no idea what it is like in the private sector where you are expected to work hard and perform at a high level each day.
ReplyDelete"Ok, if we are going to attack movies, then the next topic should be coloring in school"
ReplyDeleteNice try but Reductio ad absurdum.
The fact is some teachers who get pinched for time, say because they are coaches for example, use movies as a standard tool during their season to "trim" their workload. It's a fact, been there, seen it, heard it from my child so don't bother with the coloring silliness. Suffice to say it is a valid issue that merits examination. Don't try to reduce it to the absurd to make it go away.
"Could you sit in a seat for 6 hours everyday and do nothing but listen to lectures and do worksheets?"
ReplyDeleteIsn't that what this is about? Shouldn't the instruction be something better than doing nothing but listening to lectures and doing worksheets? Why can't education be more engaging? Why aren't you concerned that your kids' learning is something they "need a break from?"
"They have no idea what it is like in the private sector where you are expected to work hard and perform at a high level each day."
ReplyDeleteARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Let's see, private sector workers, get to go out to lunch, come in basically when you want, work from home on occasion, take off when you need to, if you are ill- you are not expected to come up with plans for your replacement, you can make a phone call when you need to, check your e-mail at will, go to the bathroom when you need to-- I could go on...AND be accountable to 27 or more students for their learning! If teachers are so bad, how is it that we are doing so well on our testing?
This was about movies in the school room, it does not happen all the time- it is a case of someone with too much time on their hands. What do you want, our kids to be little robots sitting in desks all day? Kid do learn more when they are engaged and active participants in their learning. And what class does all the coloring?? Must have missed that one over the years!
You're right, movies don't happen all the time, but this is not all about movies. I too get concerned that no one is paying attention to how good those other activities are. movies aren't the problem, everything else might be!
ReplyDelete