Teach Me!

<v Recording>[Singing] Teach me. <v Recording>?Something never done before? <v Recording>Each time I reach out and touch somebody. <v Recording>I've never felt I'm searching all the time <v Recording>and each time I find something around every turn so much <v Recording>to see in this world of mine. <v Recording>So much I wanna learn. <v Recording>I got to get up, make my mood. I won't be afraid <v Recording>of ?unintelligible?. <v Recording>Can't give up nothing to lose nothing to lose. <v Recording>Change me. <v Recording>Teach me. <v Narrator>When was the last time you were in school?

<v Narrator>Chances are it's been a while. <v Narrator>I remember my own school experiences with a personal sense of nostalgia. <v Narrator>I guess we all remember the little things like the smell of chocolate, sun-filled <v Narrator>classroom, the quiet rustling pages in the library or recess, and the <v Narrator>first warm day of spring. <v Narrator>Perhaps the day we chipped a tooth on the water-fountain. <v Narrator>But these are new times, new places. <v Narrator>And here in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system, new things are happening in many <v Narrator>ways. The curriculum has been redesigned and expanded. <v Narrator>Today's classrooms boast many computers, reading machines and videotape recorders. <v Narrator>Modern technology and new teaching methods have enabled teachers to reach the slow and <v Narrator>disinterested as well as the bright and talented kids. <v Narrator>Still the same. They enjoy running, dancing, playing, having <v Narrator>friends, going to football games and generally enjoying life. <v Narrator>And they still come to school expecting to learn, to read, to write and do arithmetic.

<v Narrator>Students of all ages want to learn. <v Narrator>The extent to which that desire is nurtured determines the success of education. <v Narrator>There is nothing more memorable to a teacher than that moment when a student discovers he <v Narrator>understands what's what's happening around him at very moment. <v Narrator>When is his inner being? Seems to say I got it. <v Narrator>Learning is fun and I want to learn more. <v Teacher 1>And the little pig said "No no no, not by the hair on my chiny chin chin!" And so the <v Teacher 1>wolf said, that I'll. <v Children>Huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow this house down! <v Teacher 1>A lot of people believe that school is a very dull place to be, and we <v Teacher 1>as teachers must change that attitude because learning can be fun <v Teacher 1>and interesting. <v Teacher 1>And he ran he ran to the second little pig's house and <v Teacher 1>as soon as he got in front of the door [heavy breathing] and the Little Pig said "Man,

<v Teacher 1>what's wrong bruh?"He said "Man, the wolf was after me!" <v Teacher 1>And then there was a knock at the door [knocks three times] and the Little Pig turned and <v Teacher 1>looked out the door and he saw the wolf and I guess, you know, they didn't let him come <v Teacher 1>in. <v Teacher 1>And so we as teachers must provide as many learning opportunities <v Teacher 1>as possible, because children have different ability levels. <v Teacher 1>They come from different homes, they have different interests, have different wants, <v Teacher 1>different desires and different needs. <v Teacher 1>And as teachers, we must respond to their wants, their <v Teacher 1>needs and their desires. <v Teacher 1>And so they started getting <v Teacher 1>real happy-. <v Child 1>You are not for me. <v Teacher 2>Good! Alright, Jeff, how about the next two for me. <v Teacher 2>Just about everything around you concerned reading. <v Teacher 2>And if you don't know how to read, you won't be an active part of the community or <v Teacher 2>part of the world. <v Child 2>Hey, let me.

<v Teacher 2>Alright. Now when we get over here to the next page. Let's remember- <v Child 3>They are restless on the ground. <v Narrator>Because the basics are so important the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools have consistently <v Narrator>emphasized them in the curriculum. <v Narrator>But sometimes this is not enough. <v Narrator>Some students need extra help mastering the basics beyond the regular school program. <v Narrator>It is no accident that reading and mathematics take top priority. <v Narrator>And the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. <v Narrator>The schools have long realized that the ability to read well, along with the ability <v Narrator>to think of reason and compute underlies successful learning as <v Narrator>well as successful living. <v Computer>But it. What is the same in these three <v Computer>pictures? <v Child 4>4. <v Child 5>Not 4. <v Child 4>1 2. <v Child 5>Oh duh. <v Child 4>1 2. <v Child 5>3 there's 3. <v Child 4>3 4. <v Child 5>But you need to know about math to really know the world <v Child 5>and count how much money you have in the bank or just

<v Child 5>the account. <v Teacher 3>David we're going to make some numbers. Let's make a one. <v Teacher 3>Is it okay if I borrow your pencil a minute? Remember, you touch, down, lift your pencil. <v Teacher 3>Now can you make one for me please? <v Teacher 3>Don't forget your fingers space. <v Teacher 3>Okay, good, very good. <v Teacher 3>Now let's try a T, you wanna try a T? <v Teacher 3>Okay now watch. <v Narrator>All through life we continue to build on the basic skills. <v Narrator>As students grow and progress through school mathematics. <v Narrator>Writing one's own language sometimes leads to reading another foreign language <v Narrator>or even a scientific language. <v Highschooler 1>Where does your graph intersect your limit and your limit minus epsilon. <v Teacher 4>All right. There is your graph right there. <v Teacher 4>That's where it intersects the limit. There y is equal to one third. <v Teacher 4>Now we've got to choose an epsilon that's less than a third-. <v Teacher 3>In elementary school. The learning process, some of them seem like fun and games.

<v Teacher 3>But now, as we've grown older, we realize the importance of what we have learned <v Teacher 3>and the importance of getting a good foundation now for the years to come. <v Computer>Espero que ?unintelligible? ir al bano. <v Students>[Repeats in Italian]. <v Teacher 5>[Speaks Italian] <v Highschooler 2>[Repeats Italian]. <v Teacher 6>Well, all you need to do is make make you a slight cut right there. <v Teacher 6>Okay. Well then cut straight all the way and then go around the sides where the dotted <v Teacher 6>line. <v Highschooler 3>Academics are a prerequisite of what we're going to go out and experience in life. <v Highschooler 3>It's a basic foundation that we all need. <v Highschooler 4>Academics are really educating itself is a preparation <v Highschooler 4>through a building process. It's begun in the earlier years of school. <v Highschooler 4>It increases. You build on it in high school. <v Highschooler 4>And high school is really a preparation for college. <v Teacher 6>It's one point five molar in

<v Teacher 6>ethanol ?unintelligible?. That's our standard solution. <v Teacher 6>In this I want you to go ahead and-. <v Highschooler 5>It's so light it-. <v Teacher 6>Distill this. <v Highschooler 5>Up in here- <v Narrator>But what about the students who don't plan to go to college? <v Narrator>They must also be prepared to become self-sufficient and productive members of our <v Narrator>community for this, a skill or a trade is necessary. <v Narrator>What alternatives do our schools offer these students? <v Teacher 7>There are many students these days who really don't want to go to college or can't <v Teacher 7>go to college. And I feel they should be given the opportunity <v Teacher 7>to start working early in the different vocational fields if they are <v Teacher 7>offered. <v Teacher 8>What we need to do is-. <v Teacher 9>A good school, has well-rounded curriculum not just all academics, not just all

<v Teacher 9>electives, but it has a wide enough choice of different subjects and courses <v Teacher 9>to take that it it can please everybody and everyone can pursue what they really want to <v Teacher 9>take. <v Teacher 10>Now I'm going down to 25. <v Teacher 10>Notice the screen. I'm going down now to 10. <v Teacher 10>Now, these waves, this sweep raise is the thing that you're in control. <v Teacher 10>The rapidity of which these waves move back and forth across the screen. <v Teacher 10>Well, you know, as a teacher, I see kids coming to us from diverse backgrounds <v Teacher 10>in experience and abilities and even in outlook. <v Teacher 10>And since Charlotte is such a big system, we should provide for those differences. <v Teacher 10>We should provide alternatives. <v Narrator>A city's involvement with the education of the youth is necessary and desirable. <v Narrator>Here in Charlotte Mecklenburg, many of its citizens have made this commitment and the <v Narrator>list is endless to parents, businessmen, doctors, bricklayers, <v Narrator>senior citizens. All these talented individuals are sharing their

<v Narrator>knowledge, experience and time with our young people. <v Narrator>Providing awareness of the world and its people outside the classroom cannot get underway <v Narrator>too soon. <v Teacher 11>These brown, things you see down here are the covers over the hatch <v Teacher 11>cover this is where the generators are just under these hatch covers. <v Teacher 3>When you study and learn about something in the classroom and go through and then go out <v Teacher 3>and learn about it firsthand, that it makes everything you've already learned <v Teacher 3>much more meaningful. <v Speaker 1>The government had a computer and this machine is located in Hampton, Georgia, south of <v Speaker 1>Atlanta. Atlanta, at this location we have an in route <v Speaker 1>center that handles traffic. All of this part of the southeastern United States,

<v Speaker 1>the in route traffic. And you have control towers like this with associated radar rooms, <v Speaker 1>separate the airplanes around the airport. <v Highschooler 4>A field trip will relate to the theoretical things you learn in school to practical <v Highschooler 4>knowledge that you're going to need all the way through your life. <v Speaker 2>So Boeing 727 air carrier by Eastern Airlines <v Speaker 2>is coming in and making connections with each other. <v Speaker 2>Several airplanes here on the ground. <v Teacher 12>Field trips make school good because they get out. <v Teacher 12>To learn something that they can't do at school. <v Speaker 3>Out of your eyes, you got air, going through it. That keeps it clear where you can see <v Speaker 3>where you have a small building or a big building or any kind of fire in.

<v Speaker 3>This keeps you from getting it in your eyes. <v Narrator>Going to new and interesting places permits students to interact with friends and <v Narrator>strangers, as well as experiencing sights and sounds brand new. <v Recording>[Singing] Well a buffalo's ?got? up on his back and a big old shaggy beard and the color <v Recording>of his hair is brown and black. He's got horns behind his ears. <v Recording>How do you know it's a buffalo? It might be a cow. How do you know it's a buffalo? Listen and I'll tell you how. How do you know it's a buffalo? It might be a cow? How do you know <v Recording>it's a buffalo? Listen and I'll tell you how. <v Recording>Buffalo's got up on his back and a big old shaggy beard and the color

<v Recording>of his hair is brown and black, he's got horn behind his ears. <v Recording>How do you know it's a buffalo? It might be a cow. How do you know it's a buffalo? Listen and I'll tell you how. Listen and I'll tell you how. [Cheers.] <v Narrator>The sight and sound which comes from within our students is also a <v Narrator>?unintelligible?, creativity and self-expression. <v Narrator>There's a need in all of us. <v Narrator>When students are given this opportunity, they learn the precious value of <v Narrator>just being oneself. <v Highschooler 6>Think I need to do some on the top up there. <v Teacher 13>Maybe some of these are too far apart. You might want to go back in there and ?unintelligible? <v Highschooler 7>I think art is important. <v Highschooler 7>Like for example, with clay you can pound clay and you can mold <v Highschooler 7>it into whatever your feelings or your mind wants you to mold.

<v Highschooler 8>To me, art is a form of relaxation. <v Highschooler 8>It just gives me the chance to bring out my inner emotion. <v Highschooler 9>I like putting together things with my hands, may never be a <v Highschooler 9>great artist, but it gives me my own self-satisfaction. <v Highschooler 10>When I create something with my hands. <v Highschooler 10>It's just the way that I give my feeling force. <v Speaker 4>Just express your feelings, whatever you want to do.

<v Teacher 14>In elementary music, we strive to have each child participate in <v Teacher 14>many activities in a positive fashion. <v Teacher 14>We feel that it's very important for each child to learn how to respond <v Teacher 14>to music and all kinds of cultural activities. <v Teacher 14>It's important to us that you can develop some sensitivity for beauty <v Teacher 14>and thrills us when a child displays this. <v Elementary Choir>[Singing Oklahoma] <v Highschool Choir>[Singing Oklahoma]

<v Teacher 15>2, 3 2 4 2 5. <v Teacher 15>Get 'em up! Arms up! Seven, eight, nine, ten-. <v Narrator>The achievement and discovery essential to a student's total being <v Narrator>manifests itself in many ways. <v Narrator>Helping students discover their physical self is an integral part of education <v Narrator>here in our schools. Developing the body as well as the mind is an <v Narrator>important part of the curriculum.

<v Recording>[Singing] Takes a little effort to scale a mountain high. <v Recording>It takes a caterpillar to make a butterfly. <v Recording>Just one bush helps a little bird fly. <v Recording>Takes a tiny spark to build a blazing fire.

<v Recording>Just a little faith, you can reach a little higher. <v Recording>Keep on tryin' <v Recording>because you got today.

<v Recording>You've got today. <v Narrator>For some students, just getting to school on their own is an accomplishment. <v Narrator>But for others, achievement is singing a song or building a birdhouse. <v Teacher 16>How's it feel? <v Child 6>Real fine. <v Teacher 16>Better? A little better. Little better? <v Child 6>Here. <v Teacher 16>Just a little? Sand some more? <v Teacher 16>OK. Ready? Go! That's it. <v Teacher 16>Keep goin'. <v Teacher 16>You're doing great. You're doing great. <v Teacher 16>Oh, that's real nice. It's going to be very pretty. <v Narrator>These very sick children come to school bringing with them a variety of different <v Narrator>needs and learning abilities. <v Narrator>Each child is a unique individual unlike any other.

<v Narrator>For a school system to be effective, it must strive to meet the individual needs <v Narrator>of all children. <v Choir>[Singing] <v Principle>What can I do with ?unintelligilbe? <v Office workers>[Chatter]. <v Principle>Okay I know when my ?unintelligible? been <v Principle>involved in something like this. <v Narrator>We've looked briefly at some of the programs that the Charlotte Mecklenburg School system <v Narrator>offers over 80000 students. <v Narrator>But what about the people? <v Narrator>Thousands of teachers, principals and others breathe life into <v Narrator>these programs and make them come alive in the classrooms of it's 106 <v Narrator>schools.

<v Principle>But the thing about it, I want you to believe in yourself. <v Principle>That's the most important thing you-. <v Principle>I feel as a principal that you need to respect as a <v Principle>mass to be successful. <v Principle>I believe in students. <v Principle>I believe their dignity and worth. <v Principle>I also believe that I should be available to listen to students. <v Principle>In fact, my door remains open. <v Principle>I've never said that, though. <v Principle>I also think teachers should be available to listen to students. <v Principle>You get to know your students and they get to feel that they <v Principle>can come and talk to you. <v Principle>They've got to feel ?unintelligible?. And they bring the academic problems to you, but <v Principle>their personal problems as well. <v Students>[Chanting] two hut two hut. <v Teacher 17>So good Raxton! You know, when boys and girls do nice things, what can you give. <v Raxston>A smileyface?

<v Teacher 17>As an educator, I feel that one of the most important aspects of a child's education <v Teacher 17>is parent involvement in the school. <v Teacher 17>And by involvement I mean such things as paper drive, eating lunch with their child, <v Teacher 17>taking part in PTA activities. <v Teacher 17>There are many other ways that a school could use parent involvement. <v Teacher 17>To me, sharing in the total education of a child is the most <v Teacher 17>important thing and the greatest gift we can provide our children <v Teacher 17>to me. Parent involvement begins when a school staff opens the door <v Teacher 17>to the community and the parents by making them feel a part of the school's life. <v Teacher 17>Parents and community are a vital part of the total education of all of our children. <v Speaker 5>Welcome to the history through PTA Fall Fun Festival! <v Speaker 5>This is our annual event. <v Speaker 5>Step right up and get your tickets. <v Speaker 5>Fifteen cents each. We're to have a good time, especially Steven. <v Teacher 18>The other day, I was doing some recording and I had an on camera.

<v Teacher 18>I didn't have to turn it to VTR record or play to get anything. <v Teacher 18>What is that knob for. <v Teacher 19>OK. This select-. <v Narrator>Just like any other business changes in education come as rapidly as changing <v Narrator>technology. What you have here for this reason which teachers must continue to <v Narrator>be students. <v Narrator>And like any other good business, Charlotte-Mecklenburg offers its teachers and service <v Narrator>workshops and the opportunity to come together and learn from each other. <v Teacher 18>You would use these other settings, and-. <v Teacher 19>I think it's critical that we keep learning when we stop learning. <v Teacher 19>And I think it's time for us to find a new profession. <v Teacher 19>Bring whether I think it's a parallel to the medical profession. <v Teacher 19>We expect our doctors and others in the medical field to keep up to date with <v Teacher 19>their current applications of medicines and techniques. <v Teacher 19>And our health is really dependent upon that. <v Teacher 19>The same thing is true for the children in our schools. <v Teacher 19>We as teachers must keep up to date because the educational health, the mental <v Teacher 19>health, the emotional health of our children is in our hands.

<v Teacher 18>A group of nine. <v Narrator>Walt Whitman once said, look at what's happening in our schools today and you'll find out <v Narrator>what our society is like and what direction it will take in the future. <v Narrator>We've taken a quick look at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools of today, knowing that one <v Narrator>day these modern buildings of glass and concrete will be referred to as <v Narrator>the old school-houses. <v Narrator>But no matter what special shape structure the schools take on Charlotte Mecklenburg will <v Narrator>always be about the business of education. <v Narrator>For education is a never-ending process. <v Narrator>It knows no time, no age, special structure. <v Narrator>It's a part of life. And life is a part of learning. <v Narrator>All of us parents, community and educators have an investment in this business <v Narrator>of education. Our future will depend on how well we respond today <v Narrator>when a child says Teach me. <v Recording>[Singing] Teach me.

<v Recording>Teach me. <v Recording>Now, each day I discovered something else I can do, something <v Recording>I've never done before. <v Recording>Each time I reach out, I touch something. <v Recording>No. Feelings I have never felt before. <v Recording>And I'm wonderin' and searchin' all the time. <v Recording>And each time I find something new around every turn that's <v Recording>so much to see in this world of mine, so <v Recording>much I want to learn. <v Recording>I got to get and make my move. <v Recording>I will be made [recording skips] down. <v Recording>I can't give up there's nothing to lose. <v Recording>You can teach me.

<v Recording>Teach me.