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In response to
"In further Houston school destruction news. Following massive layoffs, remainders are told they'll be working weekends and not plan any travel."
by
Qale
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And finally when it comes to Houston schools. Takeover's makeover of learning includes wholesale removal of what the Superintendent calls frivolous.
Posted by
Qale
Jul 27 '23, 19:08
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Miles insisted: no cozy reading nooks, no storage space in desks for personal items, no students catching up in the hallways, no frivolous get-to-know-you sessions on the first day. Every colorless corner, every vacant angle seemed so regimented that it made sense when one principal on the tour cautiously asked if teachers in this brave new world could still have a desk. The classroom we were in didn't have one.
"That's intentional," a district staffer quickly answered, explaining that teachers should be up and moving, interacting with students.
Miles interjected with a chuckle: "I don't know if that was a decision made by the school but for your school, if you have the space, you can have a teacher desk." Classrooms without teacher desks, he explained, are "actually not part of the model."
What about classrooms with personality? A festive seasonal bulletin board with Fall leaves or a Spring bouquet of bluebonnets? Can they have any of that stuff that makes a kid feel welcome and creative and inspired to learn? Yes, we were reassured later, teachers can still have their bulletin boards.
The jury's still out on personality.
Elementary and middle school students will be expected to walk silently, intently, in single-file lines, which, ideally, are less compatible to mischief.
Students will get with the program, Miles says. That includes the new approach to bathroom passes. No more small, flimsy materials that can be lost, flushed or worse. Now students will have to carry a large, orange traffic cone with them when they need to use the restroom. Shame isn't the point; it's responsibility.
For teachers, that means changes to curriculum, classroom setup and content delivery. Individual classrooms will use smartboards, a timer in the top-right hand corner constantly keeping track of each activity. Classrooms will also have webcams, through which students sent out to the Zoom room can tune back in. Lesson plans will be selected by the central office and teachers are expected to stick to the schedule and pace.
Regular classrooms on the Shadydale tour are essentially identical. Students will sit at slightly more spacious desks paired together, topped with a red bin full of white dry-erase boards, note cards (5x8 not smaller, Miles emphasizes) and other supplies. If a student is absent, another student moves forward to fill the empty desk. At the front of every room the teacher must have the day's learning objective and daily assessment prominently displayed. Color-coded bins contain supplemental material sorted by level, from beginning to advanced. Materials inside a few of the bins are less than inspiring. There are worksheets that include grammatical errors and awkward sentences. "Why am I a Learning? I am Learning because I need to work with my teacher and have her to explain planning and writing a conclusion analysis to me because I don't understand it yet," reads the top of the most remedial material. From the instructions: "Determine the main idea by analyzing who or what the paragraph is speaking of." Who writes this stuff? ChatGPT? Seems like a few details escaped Miles' notice.
Most don't, though. Miles has a clear vision, much of it tested throughout his career. He has a plan for kids who desperately need one. His attention to detail is both discomfiting and reassuring. Routines, rules, clear expectations are grounding for kids, all of whom need structure. Kids also need space to breathe, to play, to dream. Miles has the science down on student achievement but what about the art?
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