Opinion
Education Letter to the Editor

A Classroom Memory, Stirred by Kozol Essay

September 25, 2007 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

During my second year of teaching, in 1969, I would have benefited from an exchange of letters with Jonathan Kozol (“Letters to a Young Teacher,” Commentary, Aug. 29, 2007.) That year, my principal set up a class of the school’s lowest-scoring 4th grade readers, who participated in a federally funded program referred to as “Talking Typewriter.”

My 33 kids and I commuted twice a week to a downtown Cleveland location, where they read slides, in a sort of cloze test, and typed words to fill in blanks in a way that made sense. Prior to our first session, I had introduced the keyboard layout to the students and drilled them until they were fairly fast at locating letters.

The program was set at a speed that would allow a nontypist to complete responses without pressure, but the kids in my class soon showed signs of boredom. I requested a faster pace. At first the administrators refused, but they were persuaded to agree through help from my principal, and by my additional suggestion that we also give the kids access to the typing function, free of the programmed reading, so that they could type and publish handwritten material they would create at school. By the year’s end, I felt our efforts showed that if an innovative approach were used, kids who had earlier been unsuccessful could realize success.

That was just one unusual practice I made use of that year. Lyrics to carefully selected songs, such as “Ball of Confusion” by the Temptations, caught the kids’ attention, developed their vocabularies, and gave us great practice in how to decode. One thing I know: That class of kids ended the year proud of themselves. What else does a teacher or the community need?

Mike MacLeod

Shoreline, Wash.

A version of this article appeared in the September 26, 2007 edition of Education Week as A Classroom Memory, Stirred by Kozol Essay

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 13, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read