PC....... Run Amuck:Teacher of the year fired

[BTS]

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS

Teacher of the year fired

over '4-letter-word' quiz

Oral test asked kids to keep minds clean, but adminstrators rule it 'inappropriate'



Posted: May 15, 2005

2:36 p.m. Eastern





By Joe Kovacs

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44281







A former teacher of the year in South Florida is hoping to keep her teaching license after she was fired last week for giving her freshman high-school students a creative quiz hinting of sexuality and obscene language.



Kim Littrell's "Keep Your Mind Clean" assignment asked ninth-graders in her English class at Fort Pierce Westwood High School to write down answers to ten questions, with no "bad words" allowed.



One question read: "What is a four-letter word that ends in K and means the same as intercourse?" Hint: You do it all the time, especially when you shouldn't, except when your parents ask what you did in school." The answer, according to Littrell, is "talk."



Other questions and answers included:






What is it that a cow has four of and a woman (or man) has only two of? Hint: It's what makes them outstanding in their field. Answer: legs;

What four-letter word begins with F and ends with K and if you can't get one, you use your hands? Hint: Think Medieval Times. Answer: fork;

What does a dog do that you step into every morning? Hint: There was a time a female was restricted from this. Answer: pants;

Name five words, in alphabetical order, that each contain four letters, and end in u-n-t. Hint: One is the name for a female relative. Answer: aunt, bunt, hunt, punt, runt;

What is it that all men have one of; it's longer on some men than on others; the pope doesn't use his; and a man gives it to his wife after they're married? Answer: last name.

"I like to have fun with my kids," Littrell told WorldNetDaily, maintaining it was an exercise in critical thinking designed to prompt students to think of clean, rather than dirty responses.



But after a year-long battle, officials reviewing the case came to another conclusion.



"Sexual content and vulgarity-centered assignments, even if intended to promote 'creative thinking,' are not acceptable," wrote J.D. Parrish, the administrative law judge who recommended to the St. Lucie County School Board that Littrell be fired.



Though use of inappropriate words in Littrell's class was not permitted, students did in fact utter words considered obscene by many, including the F-word and the S-word





The teacher explained to her class the origins of the "objectionable" terms, believing "that setting the record straight on the origin of the word would take the amusement value out of using the word such that usage would be deterred," according to Parrish's report.

Littrell addressed that point in an online opinion addressed to "all of the rest of the judges out there."







I did teach what the acronym means (f-word and s-word, as well as what the meaning of flipping someone off or shooting a bird). You should all look it up on about.com under word etymologies. I also fed kids for 16 years that came to school hungry, baked for my students, bought them clothes, cared for them and listened to them when their parents didn't, couldn't, or wouldn't. Maybe some of you should just go in a high school and sub. Why do you think there is a teacher/substitute shortage? Because all the children use the very best manners they were raised with? I am amazed at all the critics out there that have never met me and judge me.Littrell, who was nominated in "Who's Who Among American Teachers" four times, says most of the students in her class "were non-readers – quite a few were felons," contending the whole issue was sparked by one disgruntled student.



"She had a straight-F [grade-point average]," Littrell said. "She was a problem kid."



As far as public reaction, Littrell is receiving both scorn and praise on the Internet:






"How many other teachers have done this and not been caught in this county? Now I am beginning to think I should homeschool my three children to protect them from the ones that are supposed to be teaching them. Do they do this in sex ed as well?" (Cindy Parker)

"I don't want this kind of person teaching children. ... Glad to see that the school district is not tolerating this kind of 'instruction.'" (Kim)

"I know her intentions were to get them to think 'outside the box,' but you can do that without inference to foul language. And it is still considered 'foul' language in this country, like it or not. I do not think that our high school students are 'little lambs' that would be naive, but I do think that those things do not belong in the classroom and some standard of decency needs to be manintained." (Holly)

"You've got to be kidding me, a good teacher, fired for this? You think this is obscene. Boy, would your head spin if you knew how teenagers actually talked to each other! So her question was written in bad taste. Big deal. Find something useful to get all riled up about. If we could refocus all this energy spent policing speech and thought, we could no doubt solve all the world's problems." (Dave G.)

"I wish all of you could see the kids she was teaching at Westwood. When I say bottom of the barrel, I really mean it. These kids were basically on a court order to attend school. She truly is one of the only teachers who even tried to modify the teaching methods to somehow reach these kids. Ms. Littrell is a great teacher, it's extremely disturbing that this dismissal has occurred." (Christie)

"When you see this test you see your own 'gutter' minded answers. Instead you should apply what the teacher wanted and that was to leave preconceived notions and come up with the correct answer. You that judge the test sunk to lowest denominator in your own minds thus making it 'wrong.'" (Will D.)

The point of her class is to get the kids to think, something a lot of them never bother to do. It's a creative writing class, people, it's not kindergarten and Winnie the Pooh. I feel sorry for the teacher and how everyone is treating her. I wish I had a teacher in every one of my kids classes who actually wanted the kids to learn instead of just getting through the day and passing them on to get them out of the school. After seeing the questions and answers (some answers I got before reading them) I don't see anything wrong. (Donna)

The loss of Littrell's teaching position was just the beginning of bad news for her. She says once word spread locally about her case, she was also fired from her other job assisting hurricane victims with Project HOPE in St. Lucie County

[Porpoise]

She went too far on this. I understand what she was trying to do, but she should have known that at some point her strategy was going to back-fire. She should have been warned about this first and then fired if she continued to do it.

[anastrophe]

god forbid they spend their time in class reading mark twain, joseph conrad, thomas mann etc, as i did in ninth grade. they'll learn a hell of a lot more about 'thinking outside the box' - said term which really makes me want to vomit, frankly - by reading some worthwhile literature than trying to play an idiot guessing game of *not* writing or saying the 'dirty words'. that's considered educational? no, it's called trying to be buddies with the students. beware teachers who strive to be considered 'cool'.

and people wonder why the taxpayers feel shafted by the state of our educational system.

[gmc]

I think it says more about the people that fired her than the teacher.

Prurient puritans seem to ber taking over in the US. the least little think they don't like they destroy people's lives over.

[anastrophe]

gmc wrote: I think it says more about the people that fired her than the teacher.



Prurient puritans seem to ber taking over in the US. the least little think they don't like they destroy people's lives over.
as i was saying, god forbid teachers actually teach. this little 'exercise' had little to do with teaching, and a lot to do with 'peer approval' - a teacher wanting all the kids to talk about how 'cool' Litrell is. give me one huge break.



i ask you gmc, what were you learning about in ninth grade (or whatever is equivalent over there)? how to think of non-potty words as an exercise in 'thinking outside the box', or reading joseph conrad (not the greatest of novelists, but certainly worth reading). or perhaps Orwell. anything actually education, i would presume.



"what's a word that starts with B and ends with S, every man has two of them?"



no, not bollocks, biceps. what have you learned? absolutely, positively, NOTHING.

[anastrophe]

gmc wrote: Prurient puritans seem to ber taking over in the US.
and you know, you have every right to say whatever you want, but i'm getting pretty damned tired of your sweeping generalizations about the US. 'conservative christians are taking over the US'. blah blah blah. i wouldn't have the first clue what might or might not be taking over the UK, other than brutish thugs who pummel 'towel heads' or fans of opposing rugby teams. am i right? i don't think so.



stop making boorish statements about that which you have zero firsthand knowledge. you seem to think a lot of things about the US that are founded in your own fictions. wait, maybe i meant the Daily Mirror. is there a difference?

[gmc]

posted by anastrophe

as i was saying, god forbid teachers actually teach. this little 'exercise' had little to do with teaching, and a lot to do with 'peer approval' - a teacher wanting all the kids to talk about how 'cool' Litrell is. give me one huge break.


Strikes me as a good way to teach kids about semantics, you need to have a really filthy mind to find this offensive. Makes you think about how words are used and the meaning can be changed in subtle ways.

posted by anastrophe

and you know, you have every right to say whatever you want, but i'm getting pretty damned tired of your sweeping generalizations about the US. 'conservative christians are taking over the US'. blah blah blah. i wouldn't have the first clue what might or might not be taking over the UK, other than brutish thugs who pummel 'towel heads' or fans of opposing rugby teams. am i right? i don't think so.




Obviously I put it that way to get a reaction, it's something that fascinates me, if I gave offence I apologise. We get similar situations here with religious groups taking local authorities to court and objecting to sex education, the teaching of the theory of evolution or anything else they find offensive. Usually they don't get very far.

But this does smack to me of puritanism, in the UK the teacher would have a good case for unfair dismissal. This is petty and small minded.

Though use of inappropriate words in Littrell's class was not permitted, students did in fact utter words considered obscene by many, including the F-word and the S-word


I'd worry more about why kids couldn't think beyond the obscenity.

posted by anastrophe

i ask you gmc, what were you learning about in ninth grade (or whatever is equivalent over there)? how to think of non-potty words as an exercise in 'thinking outside the box', or reading joseph conrad (not the greatest of novelists, but certainly worth reading). or perhaps Orwell. anything actually education, i would presume.


Let me know whar age 9th grade is and I'll tell you what I can remember, but yes Conrad (agree with you there, crap writer) Orwell yes, newspeak was relevant even then and perhaps more so nowadays than ever before. You need to be taught h tp be critical of what you read and hear and not just accept everything as true. it's an age old debate about education, train to do jobs or educate and train to think for hemselves. there are those who object to the teaching of social history and thought history should just be about the important dates and the names of the kings and queens, if you teach about the rise of the labour movement are you teaching communism or social history, depends on how you interpret the words doesn't it?

posted by anastrophe

stop making boorish statements about that which you have zero firsthand knowledge. you seem to think a lot of things about the US that are founded in your own fictions. wait, maybe i meant the Daily Mirror. is there a difference?


Actually i don't buy any newpapers except sometimes the Sunday Post when on a nostalgia kick, and I definitely wouldn't buy the daily mirror, though I'll read it if one is lying around.

You too have a habit of making boorish statements about that which you have zero firsthand knowledge, you seem to think a lot of things about the UK that are founded in your own fictions, haven't a clue what you are reading though, the only US papers i know of are the los Angeles Times and the Washington post and quite frankly most of the contents is not terribly interesting to a non US citizen.

It's one of the things I like about this forum, boors like us can exchange boorish comments and a have a good arguement about things neither of us know much about. personally I have never found anything said on this forum insulting but I do find it irritating when disagreement criticism and comment about something happening in the world is taken for outright hostility.

You're right I do have an obsession about fundamentalism in the US. It's because i just cannot understand it. It's a peculiarly american phenomenon.

Thank goodness for Jerry Springer, at least there are some normal people in america. :sneaky:

[greydeadhead]

Interesting conflict here... a teacher uses an unusal method to get children to actually think... and is condemned for it.. but then again the innuendo is not truely exceptable.. yet as Di says.. some kids come to school dressed like ladies of the nite .. or gangbangers.. hmmmm.. personally, I found the exercise she gave them pretty interesting..

Paul.. I do agree with you.. thinking outside the box is a trite cliche.. and yes.. they would have learned much more reading the classics.. but then again.. the language in alot of Twains work would be considered non-PC by todays standards.. and before you gimme the what for about that.. I agree.. the language he used was the terminology of the era.. and totally agree that anyone that disagrees should not read it.. I am not real familar with Conrad or Mann... so I withhold judgement on thier work.. unfortunately the classics don't hold the interest of today's generation..

[Peg]

I totally agree canaan. God forbid a teacher try something different or creative to the kids' attention. They knew at the start of the test they had to "think clean". It's just horrible that the kids may not be bored to death in this class. Give me a Mark Twain book and I'd do my best to find stuff on the internet to write a book report about it before I'd actually sit and read a book I have no desire to read. Firing was far too extreme.

[Wolverine]

Good attempt at trying to reach her kids, but even a novice teacher like me wouldn't try something like that. Holy Crap! Now maybe a 3rd grade teacher could try that(7/8yr olds). But I doubt it in this day and age.

And how is that little quiz any less distracting to the class, than the girls in Minnesota wearing the "I (heart) my vagina" pins??

[greydeadhead]

true.. she was making them use their brains.. but I can see where some parents might be insulted by the overtly sexual innuendo used. Surely she could have accomplished the same objective using other means..

Yes.. I agree these are freshmen in HS.. and prolly are used to hearing worse.. I mean afterall they are inundated daily by violence, sex, and other wonderful things on television, in movies, advertisements, video games.. etc... surely teachers don't need to add to the equation.

[Jives]

That assignment was way out of line. Some teachers, usually young and inexperienced ones, forget that all teachers are role models. it's an easy mistake to make.

On the one hand you have to be current with the kids, understanding what they think is cool and is important to them can make your lessons connect to their personal lives.

For example, I'm using some of the Star Wars tech plans to teach area and volume right now.

Onthe other hand, you can never lose sight of the fact that you are the adult,and they are the children. You are the leader and they are the followers. Kids have friends, it's parents and teachers they need.

It's not wrong to be considered a "cool" teacher. It's just wrong to activiely seek that label. Ask Skittles about my class, although I'm considered "cool" by some kids for my active and dynamic style, it's very clear in my classroom that there are rules and lines that will not be crossed. When someone breaks those rules, they find out very quickly just how "uncool" I can be.

That breeds respect.

[BTS]

Jives wrote:



Onthe other hand, you can never lose sight of the fact that you are the adult,and they are the children. You are the leader and they are the followers. Kids have friends, it's parents and teachers they need.



It's not wrong to be considered a "cool" teacher. It's just wrong to activiely seek that label. Ask Skittles about my class, although I'm considered "cool" by some kids for my active and dynamic style, it's very clear in my classroom that there are rules and lines that will not be crossed. When someone breaks those rules, they find out very quickly just how "uncool" I can be.



That breeds respect.
I agree 100% Jives.

One time, a LONG LONG time ago in 8th grade we had a teacher Mr. Long. He was our science teacher and took very little crap but was thought of as one of the "COOLEST" teachers we had. (we used cool back in that century too). One day he took one of my best friends out in the hallway to discipline him. All we heard was thumping and banging on the door. When they came back in my friends hair was a mess, his shirt untucked and he looked like he had seen a ghost. Needles to say after that he never had a a discipline problem for the rest of the year............



Later on in life while going to college, I shared a room with this friend and he told me what happened that day out in hallway.

Mr. Long never laid a hand on him at all. He told my friend to mess his hair up and untuck part of his shirt, all the while he was hitting his hips and back on the door for effect................

It worked to a tee.

Respect was his.



Later on Mr. Long had a stroke and I went to see him and to I let him know how much I loved him.

[john8pies]

Dirtiest word in English language has 4 letters and ends in ".UCK" ........"muck"?! Mmmmm, alarm bells ringing?

[Jives]

Yeah, it's pretty extreme, but then so is education these days. It's all because of the accountibility push.