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| 1990's Me! |
I am a Psychologist
certified in the state of Texas to teach Psychology and English. When I began
my career in 1980, no other teacher in Bexar County had my credentials. For my
first six years in the classroom, I taught seventh, eighth, and ninth grade
English. In 1986, the principal from our campus shifted to the high school and
took along some of the best and brightest teachers within our district. He
wanted me on his campus to design and implement the first course in Psychology
offered at the high school level within our Region. I had one stipulation to making
this move—that my classroom would be open to all topics initiated by students
with his support.
That first year, I
experimented freely with my curriculum utilizing a couple of old textbooks, my own
personal library, and the professional journals available through the APA. During
the next decade, my principal sent me to training on Critical Thinking, Cooperative
Learning, and Multiple Intelligences with David Lazear. My education included
Gifted and Talented certification and Advanced Placement training. Within all
of that, I also continued refining my skills as an educator for teaching
writing, which I integrated into my Psychology curriculum. The course I developed
became one our district offered to other campuses throughout Texas with my
availability for in-services and workshops. Because few high schools offered
Psychology at their schools, I became the main teacher for student teacher
training. Over a few years, I trained seven student teachers from Trinity
University, UTSA, and Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State
University). My reputation within not just our District and Region, but
throughout the state was impeccable.
You can imagine my
surprise when one October morning, one of our counselor’s tapped on my classroom
door and said I needed to report to the principal’s office immediately, and
that she’d be taking my classes for the remainder of the day. My students did
their “Oh, Miss, what you do now?” quarry as I grabbed my purse and headed to
the administration building. As they knew earlier in the week a very frank and
open discussion on masturbation had been brought up by a student, we all
figured we knew why I was heading to the office. Mentally, I began my reminder
to the principal that he’d agreed that my classroom was open to ALL topics
brought up by students.
When I entered his
office, he waved me to a chair as he finished a phone conversation. His
expression stern, he leaned forward and stated, “I’ve been running interference
with District Office over a parental complaint. That was the parent.
Apparently, you are ‘endangering the students and faculty of this campus by opening
the door to Satan.’”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
“She says you have
your classes sit in the dark and open their minds and thoughts which allow Satan
to enter. When I told her that her son’s enrolled in an elective, and we’d
change him to a different course today, she refused because it’s her duty as a
Christian to make certain evil doesn’t get an opening at this school. Her son’s
not the only one at risk. So . . . what have you done that would trigger this
woman?”
“I have no idea!” I
began. “Last week I did the heart rate activity. Could that be it?”
This multipronged lesson
integrated demonstrating gathering data (heart rates) after students first
entered the classroom, walked the stairs 3 or 4 times, took a second pulse
reading, and then did a guided relaxation activity with a taking their pulse
rate a third time. I’d done it for several years to teach mean, mode and median
with the data derived along with giving my high anxiety students fairly fast method
of relaxation that they could do easily at home.
I explained that the
final step to lower student pulses involved multiple steps once students
stretched out on the floor, sat at desks with arms and feet uncrossed, or lay
across a few desks. With lights off and Pachelbel (usually) playing softly,
students tensed every muscle in their bodies. Then I’d instruct them to relax
and focus on breathing in a steady, even rhythm with me repeating softly, “In
through the nose. Out through the mouth.” Next, I’d have them think of a
favorite place and “see it, hear it, taste it, feel it. A warm sun, feathery
breeze.” After about fifteen minutes, more heart rate data would be collected.
He asked a few
questions, jotted notes onto a legal pad, and said he’d take care of the
problem. By the end of the day, someone from the main office scheduled an
appointment for the next day to observe the activity with one of my classes. Obviously,
no gateway to Satan opened through this lesson. I don’t know the details for
how the parent backed down, but I never heard another complaint.
Educators today often
ask how I survived for thirty years in education. My years really were
different than what the classroom teacher faces today. That one rare incident
of a parent challenging my instruction occurs constantly now. The support I
received from my principal and the district office personnel doesn’t exist for
the teacher today. They face out of control parents threating their safety.
They combat dick-less men who fear anything that doesn’t teach that white,
Christian males are superior to women and minorities. Their censored
bookshelves sit bare in some states.
The war against
public education started while I still worked in the classroom, but the
conflict grows daily into open hostilities against every teacher who enters a
school. I don’t have any answers to my friends currently teaching except to
chant “in through the nose, out through the mouth” as they prepare for a long,
hard battle.
Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman
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