Rewards and requirements for our elementary teachers

We have just two kids in our home, and most of our days operate on a frayed, wobbly tightrope between chaos and fiasco.

Rhonda King has 21 first-graders in her classroom at Westfield Elementary in Robins, and it runs like a well-oiled learning factory, with recess and snacks and super cool poems to recite.

'In November's Gusty Gale

'I will flop my flippy tail

'And spout hot soup

'I'll be a whale!

'Spouting once

'Spouting twice

'Spouting chicken soup with rice!”

Who wouldn't want a soup whale? And don't get me started on 'One Fat Turkey.”

I was in King's classroom for about four hours this past Thursday as part of the 'Educator for a Day” program put on by the Iowa State Education Association and metro school districts. Eighteen local folks, including journalists, state lawmakers and others were paired with teachers to watch them do their jobs and get a brief glimpse into how education policy looks on the front lines.

King has been teaching for 30 years, most of that time with Linn-Mar first-graders. Her students have been in school for 59 days. I know this from a chart on the wall, with five dimes and nine pennies.

Her persistence, patience and planning skills are remarkable and obvious as these normally wiggly, giggly first-graders move quietly through math and reading stations, working without prodding, prompted to switch only by a beeping timer.

Sure, there's a minor hiccup here and there. One kid messing around on a computer when he's supposed to be playing a math game hears King say his name, softly, but firmly. He closes the computer.

'Do you know why?” she asks. He nods and goes quietly to his desk.

During math, students move from workbooks, to a hallway station, to laptops and then to videos projected on a whiteboard, where King gives them a lot of one-on-one attention. During reading, in case I get lost, a student named Manasvi leads me through her stations, reading on iPads and laptops, interactive games on the white board, and a lively discussion with King over a book about an octopus.

Did you know an octopus changes color depending on its mood? I did not.

And of course there's writing. Manasvi is eager to show her work.

'Dolphins are amazing,” begins one of her pieces, written neatly on that wide-lined elementary school paper. Her thesis is backed up by amazing dolphin artwork at the top.

'San Deago is the hottest place in the world,”' she writes in a follow-up essay.

She's got the makings of a columnist. Write with authority, even if your argument is a little shaky.

Everything is awesome, literally. At the end of math and reading, the song 'Everything is Awesome” plays while kids scurry to clean up the classroom. The goal is to be done before the song ends. Mission accomplished, twice.

If being really, really busy is awesome, then, indeed, everything is awesome in King's classroom.

And if, like me, you live in a world of politics, online comments and perpetual outrage, first grade is a fine place to take brief refuge.

'I heard we are supposed to get lots of snow,” one kid says.

'It's a perfect day for pajama day and popcorn,” King says, mentioning Friday's planned pajama day. Her students agree, enthusiastically.

'Who would love it if we get lots of snow?” King asks.

Again, the vote appears unanimous, and very excited.

King suggests, since they've been learning about measuring stuff, the kids should get a ruler and measure the snow at home. 'That would be fun,” a kid chimes in. Again, all agree.

We should send these agreeable kids to the Iowa Legislature.

This busy classroom seems a long way from the Statehouse, where legislators often fail to play well with others. But lawmakers' fingerprints are all over this school day.

These students' moves, learning stations and schedules are guided by big binders of state-mandated standards and assessments. Dollars the Legislature provides, or fails to provide, determine staffing, programs and materials.

King clearly loves her job, but it's changed a lot over three decades. She used to have a lot more flexibility in determining how she'd teach.

'I could teach my kids based on what they're interested in. And now, we get all these kits. This is what you're doing,” she tells me as the kids get ready for lunch.

She appreciates the need for high standards and assessments, but she worries they're not getting an accurate picture of student achievement. The state 'FAST” reading assessment focuses on fluency, or how fast kids can read and how they pronounce words. But King is concerned it lacks an emphasis on comprehension. Some kids, she says, do well in fluency but lack comprehension. They score better than kids who comprehend well but read more slowly.

'It's just like a snapshot in an album,” she says, not a whole portrait of their true ability to read.

Along with state standards, Linn-Mar has its own reading standards that add more comprehension emphasis. There's also a book-based classroom reading program. Each requires multiple, one-on-one assessments throughout the year. The tests are important, but also time- consuming. King says even a well-funded district like Linn-Mar doesn't have the bucks to bring in substitute help while she's occupied with 21 separate assessments.

'It costs us a day of learning,” King says.

She's glad to have a manageable class of 21, but worries stagnant or declining state funding will lead to larger class sizes. The state's teacher leadership program provides important instructional support, King says, but larger class sizes would blunt its effectiveness. Associate instructors provide invaluable help, but when budgets tighten, associate hours get cut.

I ask King what she thinks the Legislature's priority should be. She quickly says it should put more resources into early childhood education and preschool. Because, with heightened standards, kindergartners are learning what used to be expected in first grade, with first-graders now doing what was once second-grade work. A good early start, King says, is now critical to keep up.

A second item on her legislative wish list? 'Trust educators,” King says.

Unfortunately, that's a message sure to get lost as lawmakers slug out yet another battle over school funding. Teachers tend to become caricatures shaped by all sides. Some conservatives will portray them as greedy union thugs. Some liberals will portray them as saints, or martyrs.

Truth is, they're people doing a difficult but rewarding job, shaped by social and political forces beyond their control. King's day is filled to the brim with needs to be met and responsibilities as hefty as those big binders. But she also has to know when the school day ends, those first-graders know more than they did when they took off their coats in the morning. My parents taught school for years, and I'm pretty sure that's why you keep doing it.

So I'll try to keep that in mind as I watch the political fight wind its way through the winter and probably into the spring. Maybe they'll swiftly forge an acceptable compromise. And maybe I'll find a soup whale.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com