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Ms. Miller and Ms. Bates are heading to Minix Middle School. It is the first day of school and both women are teaching Language Arts. Their classrooms are across the hall from each other. As they drive towards the school, they are both thinking about how their school year will go.

Ms. Bates is anxious. She had a bad group of students last year and she hopes that she won’t be given any troublemakers this time around. She had a hard time keeping last year’s class under control. She is also worried that she won’t get to school early enough to finish setting up her classroom. She left her pre-planning session early to go out drinking with some friends.

Ms. Miller is excited. She got up this morning with a Positive Mental Attitude. Her classroom is all set up and she has her seating chart ready to go. She can’t wait to meet her new group of students. She believes that this will be one of her best years yet.

Ms. Bates is running late. She signs in at 8:01 a.m. There is no extra time to set up her room. When she reaches her door, there is already a group of students waiting outside. She lets them in and heads straight for her desk. She sits and watches the students file in as they all wait for the bell to ring.

Ms. Miller is standing outside the door to her room. Inside, each desk has a book sitting n top of it. Ms. Miller has assigned seating in alphabetical order. Each student has a book with his or her name in it. On the board are instructions on finding your assigned seat and directions to get out a pencil and begin to fill out the information sheet on their desk. As each student files into class, Ms. Miller greets them with a friendly “Hello!” and advises them to check the board for directions and to find their assigned seat. She knows that what she does this first day of school will determine her success or failure for the rest of the school year.

Ms. Bates is standing at the front of her classroom. Students are milling about the room, even after the bell has rung. “Excuse me,” Ms. Bates says. She gets no response. “HEY!” she yells. The kids all look at her and take a seat. Ms. Bates goes around the room recording names and calling roll. While they are waiting for their teacher to get organized, students are talking and a few have started throwing paper. One student raises his hand. “Hey you, what’s your name?” Ms. Bates tells him that all questions will have to wait until she has called roll and assigned seats.

Ms. Miller surveys her room. The bell has rung and all her students are seated and working on their information sheets. She asks for their attention and welcomes them into her classroom. After introducing herself and checking the roll, Ms. Miller begins to explain the classroom procedures, pointing out where assignments are located on the board and what routine they will be expected to follow when they enter each morning. She points out the class rules and has the students recite them aloud. Ms. Miller then tells the students how excited she is to be in the classroom with them and that she is confident that this will be a fun and successful year.

School has been in session for two months and Ms. Bates is tired and frazzled. She feels as though the administration has stuck her with a class of dummies. She doesn’t believe that any of her students will pass their exit tests at the end of the year. She has already “dumbed down” her lesson plans to accommodate the slower learners in her class, but she is beginning to think that her students would be better off if she left them to their own devices instead of pushing them through another lesson. Ms. Bates hopes that she won’t have time to get to the lesson on diphthongs, since she herself doesn’t really remember what they are.

Things in Ms. Miller’s classroom are progressing quite nicely. She looks forward to seeing the students every morning. She has been spending a lot of time at home preparing a new lesson plan to cover some of the more advanced concepts in the novel that her class is reading. They have exceeded her expectations thus far and she decided that her planned lesson wasn’t challenging enough for them. She knows that her enthusiasm for their success coupled with her own love of the material will inspire them to push through some of the tough concepts in the new lesson.

Standardized tests are fast approaching and Ms. Bates is far behind in her lesson plans. She knows that her students aren’t prepared to take the test. As a last minute effort to cover all the material, she hastily throws together a review sheet. She figures that the students are so slow that it will take them several days to complete the worksheets. Ms. Bates will be glad to have some time to herself in class. She can catch up on some paperwork and maybe even write an email or two while the students are busy with the review.

Ms. Miller’s students know that they will be taking a standardized test. They can’t wait to show their teacher how well they will do. Ms. Miller has been telling them all year how smart they are and how proud she is of all their achievements. Some of them have never had such praise from a teacher before. She’s been fair, firm and consistent with them and as a result, they are prepared for their testing. As a reward for their success, Ms. Miller sends her kids home the night before the test with no homework assignment. Well, besides getting a good night’s rest, of course.

Test day arrives. Ms. Bates’ students are feeling a mix of emotions. She hadn’t had time to go over the answers to the long review sheet that she had given them. Some of the kids were nervous. They knew that they weren’t ready to take such a big test. Others don’t really care. If Ms. Bates didn’t think it was important to get them ready for the test, why should they care if they pass or not? The students don’t listen as Ms. Bates hand out the test papers. She thinks that they will need all the luck they can get. Some of them weren’t even smart enough to remember to bring a pencil. They are a lost cause. During the test, several students throw paper and shoot spitballs across the room. Ms. Bates has no patience for this behavior and she yells out across the room, “Stop that, I’ll write up any student that throws anything else in this room!” Several more paper balls go sailing, but she ignores them. It’s not until a spitball lands on her desk that she marches over to the offender, orders him out of his seat and marches him across the hall to Ms. Miller’s room.

Ms. Miller’s class is quietly working on their test. Ms. Miller is walking around the room observing her students when Ms. Bates appears in her doorway. Even though they have been working across the hall from each other all semester, the two have rarely spoken. Ms. Miller has tried to engage her colleague in conversation, but Ms. Bates always comes in early, hides in her room and leaves as soon as the final bell rings. Now, Ms. Bates is asking Ms. Miller to watch her classroom while she takes a troublemaker to the principal’s office. She marches off before Ms. Miller can answer. Ms. Miller tells her students to continue working quietly and she peeks across the hall. Ms. Bates’ room is a mess! Luckily, the assistant principal rounds the corner andMs. Miller isn’t forced to leave either room unattended. Ms. Miller thanks her students for behaving and continues to walk around the room. Her students finish the test with time left over.
Ms. Miller, of course, has a fun end of year assignment for them to work on.

Which teacher would you want in charge of your child’s class?
Which group of students will most likely score better on the end of year tests?
Why is Ms. Miller a more effective teacher than Ms. Bates?