Interview with a teacher: what’s the best way to teach students?
I interviewed my English teacher, Mrs. Carol Underberger, who retired last year, because I admired and respected her for getting her students interested without teaching to tests. I wanted to know how she motivated students while still teaching the material. You taught for 34 years. How have you seen attitudes toward standardized tests change? The […]
I interviewed my English teacher, Mrs. Carol Underberger, who retired last year, because I admired and respected her for getting her students interested without teaching to tests. I wanted to know how she motivated students while still teaching the material.
You taught for 34 years. How have you seen attitudes toward standardized tests change?
The state thinks it’s more important than they used to. Standardized tests began in the mid-1970s, early 1980s. It used to be a one-hour test given to only ninth graders and seniors, and now it’s grown. Now it’s given to everybody. February is the beginning of testing season for Walnut, and it goes all the way into June. … It’s horrifying how much money they spend giving people tests.
Do you think there’s more pressure now on students to do well on the tests?
Some of the tests students take really seriously, and they put pressure on themselves. [For example,] the high school exit exam. If you don’t pass that test, you don’t get a diploma. But is it really important to an individual student how well they do on 16 hours of tests? … I think students burn out by the time they get to the end and just color the bubbles in. I think freshmen give it more thought than anyone else because freshmen are the most eager to please. But by the time you’re a junior, you realize that there isn’t an individual impact.
Do you think there’s more pressure on teachers to teach specific standards so their students do well on the tests?
Absolutely. I’m being compared to the other ninth grade honors teachers. How well did my students do on this test compared to how well did their students do?
How much leeway do you have to teach what you want?
I get quite a bit, actually. Some of the literature has been chosen by the school district, so every freshman reads Romeo and Juliet and To Kill a Mockingbird. But I have choices. … I use short stories in the textbook that other people don’t use because I like them. I gave a lot of handouts that I like.
Do you have enough time in the school year to teach everything you’re required?
Freshman English is a two-year course. Unfortunately, we only have a year to teach it. They keep adding to it. I didn’t do anywhere near enough grammar, and I skipped mythology. Another teacher didn’t get to Romeo and Juliet because she spent too much time on mythology. … It’s too much. And the state standards require it because in the tests in 10th grade, there is an assumption that you’ve been exposed to mythology, Shakespeare and all that grammar. … It’s unbelievable how much the state testing requires.
How do you feel about the Jane Schaffer writing program?
I hate it. I taught two lessons in it because I was told to. I think it’s formulaic. I think it’s really good for kids who are not academically particularly skilled or interested because it gives them a way to write an essay that will be acceptable. But for a student who is interested, skilled, a reader, or who wants to do something beyond just the cookbook recipe, it’s stifling.
Why do you think the program was brought in?
They’ve had it for about four or five years. I don’t really know because I wasn’t involved in the decisions. They brought it in and I said, “You’re kidding right.” But they said, “No, no it’s really good.” And I said, “For who?”
I avoided it for as long as I could, and now I only do the bare minimum. … It really does happen a lot in education. Someone gets a bug and says, “Oh look I found this really great thing” without really knowing. The program is really too much one-size-fits-all. But when I, as an experienced honors teacher, said that this really is not helpful, they just said that I still need to do it. That’s one of the problems in education. We’re all looking for the solution, but there isn’t one. There are all these students, and they’re all different. So the skill comes in being able to say, “This will help you, but it won’t help you.”
