Teaching Teachers : Former Reading Specialists Back in the Classroom

Until June, Terese Sutor had spent the last 20 years helping a generation of San Diego city schoolchildren with reading problems, patiently working with groups of 10 or less to boost both the reading skills and the self-confidence of primary-age children who found themselves unable to enjoy the written word.

But in September, her special job--and those of 55 other reading teachers--was eliminated when the San Diego city school board ended its acclaimed remedial reading program as a budget-cutting measure.

So, for the first time in two decades, Sutor found herself this month teaching a general classroom at Angier Elementary School, with 35 second-graders needing instruction in math, social studies, music, physical education and art, as well as reading.

Along with her colleagues who were also reassigned, Sutor confronted a new and largely unfamiliar world of classroom management and curriculum. There are new paper work requirements, new responsibilities for teaching social concerns such as drug awareness, and new attitudes on the part of children toward education.

To help the teachers gain control and confidence in their new duties, the district set up special workshops, exposing them to the experiences of highly regarded veterans of today’s classroom, almost as if they were brand-new teachers.

“It’s been incredibly positive to have these (special) classes,” said Barbara Allison, who spent 13 years as a reading specialist and is now a first- and second-grade teacher at Tierrasanta Elementary. “We are all dedicated, hard-working teachers and want to be ‘superteachers’ in everything from Day One, just like we were in our reading classes. But we find all the paper work, the district guidelines, the worksheets, all the curricula, almost overwhelming.”

Barbara Zeis, also at Angier teaching second grade after seven years in the reading program, said: “I had terrible apprehensions at the number of subjects that have to be taught. I’m working from 7

a.m. to 5 p.m., and preparing lesson plans on Sunday as well, just to keep up!”

For most of the teachers, it’s not the teaching effort as much as what Maryanne Hart of Carson Elementary called “minding the store.” That means keeping administrative chores in order, from new computerized attendance sheets to collating worksheets and “time-on-task” schedules that are required under the district’s Achievement Goals program to boost test scores of minority students.

“I find myself controlled by the paper-work procedure,” Allison said. “It’s harder to be creative and just let my juices flow with the children . . . and we have (part-time) teacher’s aides who have to be used to do paper work rather than spending additional time with the kids.” Allison pays her aide additional money out of her own pocket so that the aide can spend more time with students.

Diane Sypher of McKinley Elementary School added: “Kids today are more active and restless (than I remembered from a decade ago) and with 32 in a class all day--and I teach in a loft class (where there are no walls but only small dividers between classes)--there seems to be more confusion.”

Helping Transition

Mariam L. True, a staff development teacher for city schools, coordinated the workshops after officials realized that the transition from small groups to a regular classroom could be highly stressful after many years of absence. Of the 55 eligible for the program, 24 took advantage of the district’s offer, True said.

“For example, we had the group spend an entire day at the Teachers Center, where they could talk informally to mentor teachers (specially selected for their skills) and get bulletin boards and design materials for their classrooms,” True said.

“And we’ve had several classes on organizing curriculum groups, on disciplining kids, on motivating kids, all those things for which there never seems to be enough time,” True said.

Last week, substitute instructors took over classes for the day so that the teachers could attend a follow-up workshop with mentor teacher Rick Morris at Sequoia Elementary. They also had the chance to talk with each other about what was working and not working during their first two weeks of school.

The enthusiasm of Morris--whose classroom features unusual visual and hands-on educational treats for his third-graders--provided an upbeat mood for the teachers, many of whom still are struggling to establish a smooth routine in their own classes.

Tricks and Shortcuts

Morris told of various tricks and administrative shortcuts to make certain that all students eventually turn in homework assignments on time.

“Keep an (easily maintained) written record,” he recommended. “The hardest thing for you to do is to keep all the assignments in your head, and the student knows it, and thinks that if he drags his feet long enough, the teacher will forget about it. Having a system, that’s your key.”

Morris showed the teachers a copy of the regular bulletin that he sends home to parents telling them what he is doing in class. “It’s all part of home education--that’s what I prefer to call homework,” he said. “And I find that parents do care and really do want to help out.”

The teachers scribbled notes on Morris’ lecture, cautioning themselves later that only so many ideas can be attempted at any given time.

“I know what I can do as a teacher,” Allison said. All the reading teachers were selected for the now-discontinued program on the basis of their skills and success in earlier classrooms. “But now I have felt I have lost my techniques, so I am thrilled with what Rick has been telling us.”

McKinley’s Sypher said that the workshops have helped the group overcome frustrations that otherwise might have proven unbearable, particularly since many are still bitter over the end to what was considered one of the state’s best remedial reading programs.

“We’ve all already had some wonderful moments with our students,” Sypher said. “There haven’t been enough as yet--but they’ve been enough to keep us going.”