Missouri State Teachers Association

Annual Meeting of the Future Teachers of America

     Recently, a statewide meeting of FTA chapters was held in Columbia, Missouri.  Each year, hundreds of potential teachers gather to be informed and inspired about their future roles in education.  A summary of this year's event can be found at the MSTA website.

     Below are the reflections of MSTA Assistant Editor Rachel Webb.  I'll bet she wasn't the only adult at the meeting to be touched by the keynote speaker's words.

"     I had a really hard time sitting through this year's FTA meeting.

     The theme was Future Teachers, Future Heroes.  In his engaging keynote address, Troy Garrison advised those attending to go back to their schools and express their gratitude to a teacher who had been a hero in their lives.

     I thought back to my school days and thought of an obvious answer.  My dad.  I also thought of Mr. O.  And I began to have a hard time keeping myself together.

     For 30 years, Mr. O taught in the classroom next to my father's at a suburban Detroit high school.  Mr. O was brilliant (like my dad).  He could have easily kept up with any of the literature professors I had in college and probably could have outdone many of them (like my dad).  He even looked the part with a trademark salt and pepper beard and jackets that had suede arm patches.  He and my dad spent many hours in the English teachers' lounge extolling on Shakespeare, Hemingway, Fitzgerald.  The kind of writers that English teachers are supposed to extol upon.

     My dad told me of one incident, a few years before they retired.  They were in a particularly heated and in-depth discussion of Macbeth.  They were using big words.  Discussing subtext and allegory at length.  One of the youngest teachers on staff sat in awe quietly, until she finally piped up with, "Yeah, that's a neat story."

     They had a hard time keeping a straight face.  She was absolutely right.  Macbeth is neat.

     They both retired years ago, but still met for coffee and literary sparring matches.

     As it stands right now, Mr. O is not expected to live out the week.  The cancer that began invading his body when I was in high school has finally taken over.  My dad visits his hospital room every day.  Some days he knows who my father is and some days he doesn't.

     Today he looked at my father and said, "Help me."  When my father asked what he wanted help with, he said, "I want to go home."

     My dad's heart sank.  Not even a hero could deliver that promise.  Sometimes being a hero is about inspiring and engaging.  Sometimes it's about holding the hand of another hero who inspired and engaged so many for so long."

P.O.V. on PBS: Documentary Films Teach Civic Engagement

     This is an unusually long entry, but I didn't want to diminish the significance of the message I received.  The PBS website has much more information about the P.O.V. program, including learning objectives; an outline of the relevant national standards met by the plans; a list of necessary tools and materials; a notation regarding the total time needed to complete the individual lessons; a teaching strategy; assessment recommendations; and extension ideas.  Additionally, the documentaries may be used up to a year after the original air date.

Curriculum-based Lesson Plans and Discussion Guides for Films from P.O.V.’s Collection Promote the Use of Independent Media in Classrooms

“You will never hear a moan of boredom when a P.O.V. film is shown in my classroom. It has everyone’s attention.”
— Carol Powell, Curriculum Assistant at RHAM High School, Hebron, CT

For over 20 years, P.O.V. has pioneered models for civic engagement using independent documentary films by some of the most powerful and acclaimed storytellers of our time. To support the development of young people as actively engaged citizens, P.O.V.’s Community Engagement and Education Department provides access to media resources and reach out to youth by partnering with hundreds of schools and community-based organizations such as public libraries, public television stations, youth serving organizations and social service agencies. 

Partnerships consist of screenings and discussions around contemporary social issues. “P.O.V. wants to involve as many people as possible in community building and educational programming,” explains Eliza Licht, Director of the Community Engagement and Education department. “Recognizing the power of independent documentary to transform people’s understanding of their world, we lend P.O.V. films to educators and community leaders so they can incorporate independent media into their existing programs and tailor events to the needs and interests of their constituencies,” Licht adds.

To support secondary school educators in using media in the classroom, P.O.V. provides lesson plans for grades 6-12 that have been designed to meet national standards, enhance critical thinking skills and address a broad range of academic subjects such as geography, math, science, language arts and social studies. The latest lesson plans range from ”Waging a Living” which challenges students to research and calculate the living wage in their own communities to “The Chances of the World Changing” where students are asked to create a model of an ecosystem with everyday classroom objects to “Made in L.A.” which compares current garment industry conditions with those at the turn of the century. 

Lesson plans are available online here.  Additional companion resource materials can also be downloaded from the website, such as discussion guides and “Delve Deepers”, multimedia resources lists. These are produced with nationally recognized media educator Dr. Faith Rogow, issue-area experts, skilled facilitators and the American Library Association. 

When educators are ready to use P.O.V. films in the classroom, they can apply to borrow films through P.O.V.’s Community Events Planner here. Signing-up online as a screening partner will also keep members updated on P.O.V. broadcasts, local events, downloadable materials and other partnership opportunities.

Increasingly, educators and nonprofit organizations across the United States look to P.O.V. as an integral resource for fostering community dialogue and participation. P.O.V. staff have served on the PBS Teacher Advisory Board and presented workshops on using media in the classroom at the National Educational Telecommunications Alliance and The Celebration of Teaching and Learning at Thirteen/WNET – New York.

P.O.V.’s television series is broadcast on PBS nationally on Tuesdays at 10 pm from June through October (check your local listings).  For more information on P.O.V. programs and to get involved, visit their website.

P.O.V., produced by American Documentary, Inc. and celebrating its 20th season on PBS in 2007, the award-winning P.O.V. series is the longest-running showcase on television to feature the work of America's best contemporary-issue independent filmmakers. Airing Tuesdays at 10 p.m., June through September, with primetime specials during the year, P.O.V. has brought more than 250 award-winning documentaries to millions nationwide, and now has a Webby Award-winning online series, P.O.V.'s Borders. Since 1988, P.O.V. has pioneered the art of presentation and outreach using independent nonfiction media to build new communities in conversation about today's most pressing social issues. P.O.V. is a project of American Documentary, Inc., a nonprofit media arts organization. More information about P.O.V. is available at www.pbs.org/pov.

Universal Heritage: Timelines of the Universe, Life on Earth, and Humankind

     What a bargain!  This poster is available from www.timelineposter.com for only $14.95.  The website describes it more thoroughly than I can:

The new Universal Heritage poster is a valuable reference tool for anyone interested in science, history, and our place in the universe.  Summarizing 13.7 billion years in a series of timelines, it chronicles the evolution of the universe from the Big Bang to the 21st century.  Each consecutive timeline focuses on a shorter span of time, so you can directly compare the scale of human history to the far longer scales of evolutionary history.  An especially unique feature is that the poster shows how we are related to other living things, by zooming inward through successively smaller branches of the great family tree of life-starting with the major domains and kingdoms, then moving through vertebrates, mammals, primates, and finally, humans.  By showing how we fit into wider realms of nature and history, the poster offers a unique and enlightening perspective on our place in the universe.

     This resource may help science and social studies teachers develop an interdisciplinary unit. . .

More Time + More Money = Not Happening Soon

The National Center on Time & Learning will provide research, advocacy, and technical assistance for efforts to increase academic and enrichment opportunities for students, which some experts say can help improve student performance overall and close achievement gaps between disadvantaged students and their better-off peers.

     The real outcome of this study shows that students need a longer school day and school year in order to achieve the goals we've set for them in measures like No Child Left Behind.  I don't see this happening any time soon.  The increased cost of personnel salaries alone is prohibitive.  However, that doesn't mean I don't see the value in more instruction time for students.  I agree it is virtually impossible to meet all standards and grade-level expectations in the limited seat time kids currently serve.

     I wonder how many faculty and staff would flee education if it were a year-round proposition. . .

Commit to Quality Schools

     The Commit to Quality Schools campaign seeks to fix at least one broken element of education in Missouri:  teacher salaries.  This proposed measure would not only raise salaries for thousands of Missouri teachers, it would establish a statewide salary schedule to serve as a starting point for local negotiations related to certified personnel pay.  This legislative goal is long overdue.  For more information and petitions to download, go to www.qualityschools.org.