Have you received a call about Obama's speech?

[madeline_con]

I've gotten two calls from area schools. One from the middle school where I work, and another from the high school my son attends. They're automated calls informing me that the school will be airing the speech, what the main points will be, and that I can call to ask questions if I have "concerns".

I'm on the Space Coast. Have any other DUers received a similar call?

[endless october]

1. full text of the speech at link :

http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

concerns? i don't see anything even slightly controversial there.

[RagAss]

2. Good for the Space Coast !

[madeline_con]

4. Meaning what?

I thought the fact that the schools even felt the need to respond to the crazies was rather telling. what say you?

[RagAss]

8. Beats the places where it was cancelled.

[LWolf]

3. No.

We (teachers) got an email from our superintendent and our principal. Apparently, our district office has fielded a lot of calls. Our school site...one call. Probably from one of my families; the one that bought their 3rd grader a shotgun last xmas because "the democrats were coming."

The Superintendent's email left it up to school sites to decide whether or not to air the speech. My principal's email said that we will not air the speech live, but that teachers who chose to could download it and show it at a later time.

Not that we COULD air it live. It will be closing about the time students hit our doors here.

[madeline_con]

5. Sad that teacher politics could censor Obama's speech. n/t

[LWolf]

6. "Teacher politics?"

:wtf:

It's not "teacher politics" that have the phones ringing off the hook from our public.

It's not "teacher politics" that has made this speech a political battleground, instead of the public service it was supposed to be.

It is, first and foremost, a really stupid error on the part of the DOE, putting out lesson plans encouraging teachers to support the president's plans. That's what made it political. If such a suggestion had been tied to a speech by GWB, we all would have been in an uproar, too.

Once it is political, professional ethics require a delicate handling in the classroom.

It is, secondly, the gleeful pouncing of the right wing media on that gaffe that whipped the opposition into a frenzy.

Teachers have been getting ready for the school year. Meetings, room prep, lesson prep, etc..

We didn't start this fire.

[madeline_con]

7. "... teachers who chose to could download it and show it at a later time"

That sounds like teacher discretion, which leads to censorship based on political leanings. I'm just saying.

[LWolf]

9. "teacher discretion"

means "professional discretion."

That means we are professionals, and we decide what fits our classroom, and what does not.

If you are unaware of this, since the inception of NCLB, we are held accountable for making sure that every activity we do directly relates to a state content standard.

The speech will fit what we'd be doing anyway, in many cases. The first days or weeks of school are spent establishing expectations and procedures, and teaching students how to be successful. The speech fits there.

I open with a unit on civics. The speech will be a good fit there, at some point in the next week or two.

Secondary math teachers may not find a way to justify that speech, where social studies teachers can.

Kindergarten teachers, especially those who are charged with teaching babies a full academic curriculum in half of a day, may not find the speech a good fit.

For the rest, it depends on what their units of study to begin the year are, what kind of time they are given to "cover" them (budget cuts pared my district down to 147 instructional days this year,) and how productive they think it will be to make the time.

Professional discretion.

BTW, not showing the speech in the classroom is not "censorship." It will be available to anyone who wants to see it, 24/7, from any computer, at least for awhile.

I think it's a great speech. I also know that the WH doesn't dictate how I spend my time in the classroom. That speech isn't a mandate; it's an opportunity. Districts, school sites, and teachers, have a choice.