The union representing New York City teachers has published a step-by-step guide to teaching reading and writing, a move that union leaders said would help students meet tough new standards but that others warned might serve as a crutch for weak or lazy teachers in an era of increased accountability.þþThe project began in 1999 with the support of the Board of Education, and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein praised it yesterday as providing ÿrich resourcesÿ that would help improve student achievement. þþRandi Weingarten, the union president, said it was the first time a teachers' union had created a curriculum aligned with state academic standards. The union spent $2 million on the project, and is seeking outside financing to create curriculums in math, science and social studies by 2004.þþThe union's desire to play a starring role in shaping instruction mirrors a broader attempt by teachers' unions nationwide to improve their image at a time when they are increasingly facing accusations of putting job protection before students' education. The New York City union, the United Federation of Teachers, is to begin a new round of contract talks next year, and some educators theorize Ms. Weingarten may use the new curriculum as a bargaining tool.þþÿThe news is in the symbolism of this, not so much in the details of the lessons they are putting forth,ÿ said Robert Berne, a senior vice president at New York University and a longtime observer of the school system. ÿThey are trying to be seen not just as a labor group but as a professional organization trying to enhance education.ÿþþThe language arts curriculum, as the union calls it, is divided into four enormous volumes: one for kindergarten through second grade, one for third through fifth grade, one for sixth through eighth grade and one for high school. It spells out the state and city academic standards — the long lists of skills that students are expected to master in each grade — and provides about 30 detailed lessons for each grade level. While the lessons fall short of providing an actual script, they include phrases for the teacher to use, suggested amounts of time to spend on each part and detailed instructions.þþFor example, a fifth-grade lesson on tall tales begins: ÿElicit from students modern examples of machines replacing the jobs of humans and their opinions about these changes (e.g., the postal service vs. e-mail). Introduce the next tall tale, `The Ballad of John Henry,' to the class. Ask students to focus on the following question while the ballad is being read: `Should the owner of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad use the steam drill to build the railroad?' Tell students that this question will be the topic of discussion after the ballad is read.ÿþþThe state and city Departments of Education have already published a series of guides to what every student should know, saying, for example, that a fifth grader should be able to write a report using three sources of information and know how to punctuate with quotation marks, commas and colons. The guides do not include lessons or lists of required books and subjects, like the American Revolution or the Italian Renaissance. But the city guides offer examples of student work that meets various standards, meant to help teachers judge their own students' abilities.þþAt a news conference yesterday, Ms. Weingarten said the guides and standards merely presented ÿbroad, comprehensive idealistic goals,ÿ and the union curriculum, which she called ÿa how-to guide,ÿ would provide the building blocks to meet them.þþÿStandards and assessments without the appropriate building blocks, without the appropriate how-to's, are essentially meaningless,ÿ Ms. Weingarten said. ÿWe would never expect musicians, no matter how skilled they are, to be able to perform Beethoven's Ninth Symphony without giving them the necessary tools.ÿþþShe added, ÿIf the union didn't step forward to fill the void, this job wouldn't get done.ÿþþAlthough two district superintendents were on hand to endorse the curriculum, it was unclear how many teachers would use it. Ms. Weingarten said she was waiting to see how many superintendents and principals requested it, and the union would need outside financing if copies were printed for all 80,000 teachers.þþSeveral educators said that the teachers' union, which already exerts considerable power over almost every aspect of the school system, should not be writing curriculums. þþAnthony Lombardi, the principal of Public School 49 in Middle Village, Queens, called the curriculum ÿa wolf in sheep's clothingÿ and said the union was trying to shift public attention from the fact that teacher work rules needed to be stiffened.þþÿLike everything the union does, this sets up a parallel system of management,ÿ Mr. Lombardi said. ÿIt should be the role of the Department of Education to set instruction, not the role of a labor union that is also in the business of protecting teachers from bad ratings.ÿþþMr. Lombardi suggested that weak teachers might try to use the union lesson plans as a defense against unsatisfactory ratings, by saying that they were following a step-by-step curriculum that the city's Department of Education had endorsed. Others, however, said the curriculum could prove a valuable tool for the thousands of new teachers hired each year, many of whom have bare-bones training.þþSeymour Fliegel, a former deputy superintendent in East Harlem, said the curriculum would also hold the union more accountable for student performance.þþÿFor years teachers have complained that these things come down from on high, from people who don't understand the reality of classrooms,ÿ Mr. Fliegel said. ÿThis makes them responsible for the outcomes, right?ÿþþ
Source: NY Times
