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American Morning
Teaching For America
Aired December 24, 2002 - 08:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A CNN documentary, though, is taking a look at something a little different than that, at the challenges that new teachers face. It follows four rookie teachers in a program called Teach for America. The program takes you into the classrooms of some schools in low-income areas, and our senior correspondent Beth Nissen put this story together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can we all please stand for the Pledge.
BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The school day usually starts around 8:00 a.m.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five, four, three, two, one. Thank you.
The whole day is just go, go, go, go, because I don't want to cheat my kids out of a good education.
NISSEN: Most teachers are on their feet for the next seven hours, doing their best to teach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do all animals have the same kind of covering?
No. They don't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Velocity is just a fancy word for speed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you write a letter you need to have the date.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what is a thesis statement?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: It's the main idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you feel more resistance from the air, when you are going really, really slow or really, really fast?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please raise your hand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jimmy, Andrea (ph)!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not -- do not use your fingers. Once we start adding bigger numbers, you don't have enough fingers to count that many numbers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What operation could you do between these to make it a smaller fraction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many are covered by skin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are almost finished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE; The bell is about to go. I'll be here after school if you want to go over three-paragraph essays or anything else.
NISSEN: School is out around three. But most Teach for America teachers still have hours of work to do. Matte Kelly tutors after school, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do we spell teenagers?
NISSEN: Torenda White (ph) stays to work late with Vivian, who is lagging behind her classmates.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vivian, she's reading on kindergarten level, so I give her a full hour after school.
What makes the...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 's.' It's OK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And she eventually got it. Beth Nissen joins us more to tell us about her experience.
Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
NISSEN: Very nice to be here.
ZAHN: I know you've been working 15 hour days putting this together. You've spent countless hours in the field with these teachers. You and I have had an opportunity to teach some programs with these kids. It's a remarkable program. What makes it work?
NISSEN: First of all, I think what was so impressive to my camera crews and to me in these classrooms is just how hard the work of teaching is and all that you have to go through before you can teach. You have to corral a group of jumping bean first-graders and second-graders before you can teach. You have to shout over a group of belligerent back-talking seventh graders before you can teach. You have to get the attention of 11th graders who are sort of professionally disengaged and disinterested before you can begin to teach. And these Teach for America teachers do that.
ZAHN: And these kids come from everywhere.
NISSEN: They do.
ZAHN: And they're brought into the program. They go to teacher boot camp. Did you watch them in training?
NISSEN: Five weeks of teacher boot camp, which isn't enough. It doesn't -- it isn't the equivalent of a degree in education, but it's enough to get them started.
ZAHN: Just watching the short clips, you see the passion that these teachers have. And obviously, they haven't been in the classroom long enough to be burned out, because we know the challenges all teachers face in the classroom. Do these kids stay with it?
NISSEN: Many of them do. Sixty percent of them stay in education after their two-year commitment in classrooms, and many of them go on not only to teach but to try to effect systemic change. They become principals. They become school board members. They become legislative aides on the issue of education.
ZAHN: Well, I very much look forward to seeing this, having seen some of these teachers in action, and this will be a "NEWSNIGHT Special" tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. And will get a second play in January.
NISSEN: Yes, January 1st.
ZAHN: Congratulations. I know you worked your heart out on this one, and it shows.
NISSEN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 24, 2002 - 08:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: A CNN documentary, though, is taking a look at something a little different than that, at the challenges that new teachers face. It follows four rookie teachers in a program called Teach for America. The program takes you into the classrooms of some schools in low-income areas, and our senior correspondent Beth Nissen put this story together.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can we all please stand for the Pledge.
BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The school day usually starts around 8:00 a.m.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five, four, three, two, one. Thank you.
The whole day is just go, go, go, go, because I don't want to cheat my kids out of a good education.
NISSEN: Most teachers are on their feet for the next seven hours, doing their best to teach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do all animals have the same kind of covering?
No. They don't.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Velocity is just a fancy word for speed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you write a letter you need to have the date.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what is a thesis statement?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: It's the main idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you feel more resistance from the air, when you are going really, really slow or really, really fast?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please raise your hand.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jimmy, Andrea (ph)!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not -- do not use your fingers. Once we start adding bigger numbers, you don't have enough fingers to count that many numbers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What operation could you do between these to make it a smaller fraction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many are covered by skin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are almost finished.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE; The bell is about to go. I'll be here after school if you want to go over three-paragraph essays or anything else.
NISSEN: School is out around three. But most Teach for America teachers still have hours of work to do. Matte Kelly tutors after school, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do we spell teenagers?
NISSEN: Torenda White (ph) stays to work late with Vivian, who is lagging behind her classmates.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vivian, she's reading on kindergarten level, so I give her a full hour after school.
What makes the...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 's.' It's OK.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And she eventually got it. Beth Nissen joins us more to tell us about her experience.
Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
NISSEN: Very nice to be here.
ZAHN: I know you've been working 15 hour days putting this together. You've spent countless hours in the field with these teachers. You and I have had an opportunity to teach some programs with these kids. It's a remarkable program. What makes it work?
NISSEN: First of all, I think what was so impressive to my camera crews and to me in these classrooms is just how hard the work of teaching is and all that you have to go through before you can teach. You have to corral a group of jumping bean first-graders and second-graders before you can teach. You have to shout over a group of belligerent back-talking seventh graders before you can teach. You have to get the attention of 11th graders who are sort of professionally disengaged and disinterested before you can begin to teach. And these Teach for America teachers do that.
ZAHN: And these kids come from everywhere.
NISSEN: They do.
ZAHN: And they're brought into the program. They go to teacher boot camp. Did you watch them in training?
NISSEN: Five weeks of teacher boot camp, which isn't enough. It doesn't -- it isn't the equivalent of a degree in education, but it's enough to get them started.
ZAHN: Just watching the short clips, you see the passion that these teachers have. And obviously, they haven't been in the classroom long enough to be burned out, because we know the challenges all teachers face in the classroom. Do these kids stay with it?
NISSEN: Many of them do. Sixty percent of them stay in education after their two-year commitment in classrooms, and many of them go on not only to teach but to try to effect systemic change. They become principals. They become school board members. They become legislative aides on the issue of education.
ZAHN: Well, I very much look forward to seeing this, having seen some of these teachers in action, and this will be a "NEWSNIGHT Special" tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. And will get a second play in January.
NISSEN: Yes, January 1st.
ZAHN: Congratulations. I know you worked your heart out on this one, and it shows.
NISSEN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
