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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. We will end today's show for our last 15 minutes or so with a new take on a segment that we run every once in a while around here. Maybe you've heard us ask for news from your neighborhood, or news from your country of origin if you're an immigrant, with nothing more specific than that. You tell us the headline that you are focusing on.

Today, we're going to take advantage of the fact that many teachers in our listening area are on spring break and open up the phones for the headline from your classroom this academic year. Any one headline from your classroom, if you were speaking off the cuff to a stranger who knows nothing about what's going on in your classroom, 212-433-WNYC. If you work in a school, maybe you're a teacher, principals you're invited, teacher's aide, guidance counselor, school nurse, anything like that, what is the news story in your classroom that you think is worthy of saying out loud on the radio? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

As soon as I see our lines light up, I will stop setting it up because I think you get the idea. We're inviting you to give us your hyper-local take on a broader education news story perhaps, or just talk about something in your classroom that deserves more attention that isn't part of the overall news cycle. What's the big story at your school? What's the big story in your classroom? 212-433-WNYC.

Teachers, you know we like to give you the floor during school breaks, and we're doing it this way today, 212-433-9692. For example, maybe you want to comment on how this past Friday we heard the case for removing tech from classrooms completely from New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose who was on the show. How about the impact of tech: pro, con, mixed, on your students the way you try to deploy it in the classroom? Somewhat related, the ongoing concerns about student mental health. Many blame social media and excessive screen time.

Mayor Adams does give the city's lawsuit against the owners of TikTok, Instagram, and other social media companies as an example, back in February, of something the government is doing about it, or maybe other mental health challenges still stemming from the pandemic lockdown periods for students. Then there's a story of the new wave of over 180,000 migrants to New York City who've come to New York City over the past two years. Who's got migrants in your class and want to discuss educating them?

According to Chalkbeat, at least 36,000 migrant children have enrolled in New York City public schools since 2022. There's also the chronic absenteeism that's been in the news. Are you experiencing it? Why do you think students and maybe parents are feeling more free to go like, "Oh, I don't know. I'm not going to go to school today." "Oh, you don't have to go to school today"? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Teachers, principals, guidance counselors, school nurses, anyone else, the headline from your classroom or your school this academic year, we'll take your calls right after this.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Our lines are pretty much full with teachers and others calling with the headlines from your classroom this academic year now that so many of you are on spring break this week. Karen, a middle school teacher in Dobbs Ferry. Hi, Karen, you're on WNYC. Thank you for calling in.

Karen: Hello. My headline for the year is anxiety is at an all-time high.

Brian Lehrer: Driven by what in your view?

Karen: See, I think that that's part of the problem is that we want to say it's driven by social media, or it's driven by the pandemic, or it's driven by global politics. I think it's driven by all of it. When we try to narrow it down to a single thing, we can't solve the problem. It's a much more holistic problem, and we have to look at the problem holistically.

Brian Lehrer: How do you address it holistically in that case?

Karen: I don't know. We have to have more mental health professionals in the classroom or in the school building. I've had situations this year where I've taught things that I've taught every year for the last 20 years and had to stop mid lesson because my students have struggled with it in ways that I never expected to have happened.

Brian Lehrer: Karen, thank you for that unfortunately depressing and discouraging report from the front, but we appreciate your candor. Joseph in Huntington, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joseph. You teach high school government class, is that right?

Joseph: I do, yes. Here in New York State, it's called Participation in Government, so there's emphasis on that first word, participation.

Brian Lehrer: It's a good thing.

Joseph: What we've been doing is hopeful and positive. I'd like to share it quick. We provide an environment where students can work through issues, looking at current issues, local issues, sometimes more national issues, and they honestly share where they are on those issues. Then we walk them through a deliberative process where they listen to each other, even if there's opposing opinions, and they try to come to consensus in the classroom as we talk about these issues. We've had some really positive experiences with that this year and in the past, so I want to share that with you.

Brian Lehrer: Do you think they're doing better at coming to consensus than our politicians who actually do that for a living?

Joseph: Oh, that's a great question. I absolutely do think so. This is not just being done in our classes in Huntington, but the deliberative model is done in other schools. It was coming out of the research of the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, Ohio, [unintelligible 00:06:52] University, LIU here on Long Island, we're looking to expand this to other schools among teachers of Participation in Government who might not be apprised of the process, but it is absolutely a counter to the polarization. The kids do well even though they come from different perspectives.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Joseph. Thank you very much. More encouraging than the first caller. Here's Marty in Yonkers who I was assuming this was going to be preK-12, but Marty teaches at Mercy University, little up the Hudson from the city. Marty, you're on WNYC. Hello?

Marty: Thanks. My headline is future medical providers do not understand medical issues in the news specifically the changes in reproductive health.

Brian Lehrer: You teach future medical providers, is that right?

Marty: Yes. They're all coming in and they're going to go into various aspects, disciplines in medicine. It's not like we're all nurses or something.

Brian Lehrer: What do you find you're not understanding?

Marty: I was bringing up the recent news in reproductive rights just to say, "I don't care what you think about abortion, that's okay, but what would you do if someone came into your ER?" They were looking at me like, "What are you talking about?" First of all, only one person understood that anything had changed, and they had no idea what that was about, and I had to explain all this. I was really shocked that these young people who use contraceptives have no idea of the changes, and they may have to deal with that in the next couple of years.

Brian Lehrer: Of course, the changes are coming so fast, and so many of them are so recent ever since the Dobbs decision. Maybe they're just not up to speed yet, these 18 and 19-year-olds, and that's part of what they can get at Mercy, huh?

Marty: Yes. To me, it's just, is it important to you? The first question I asked was, "Who in here knows someone who uses contraceptives?" I took it from there like, "Okay. Well, this is what you have to tell your friend who uses contraceptives." Anyway, you just saw these light bulbs going on and a number of people getting like, "Really, they did that?" I thought, "Okay."

Brian Lehrer: Oh, good. Well, see, you're doing-- By the way, nice campus there. I was just recently hiking on the aqueduct which runs by and took a spur and walked around Mercy University campus, very nice. Keep it up, Marty.

Marty: [laughs] Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Who else? Maggie in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Maggie?

Maggie: Oh, hey. How are you? Thank you for taking the call.

Brian Lehrer: What do you teach?

Maggie: I teach ELA 12, charter school in Brooklyn. My headline is --

Brian Lehrer: ELA, for people who don't know what that means, English Language Arts. You're an English teacher basically, right?

Maggie: Yes. My headline would be not another chief academic officer. This would be my fourth year and we are heading into the fourth year when we come back from spring break. We will have our fourth chief academic officer. We'll have-

Brian Lehrer: They keep coming in with new philosophies?

Maggie: Yes, they do. It is just a horror show because they'll come in with new philosophies. They come in with very limited understanding of education. The person coming in this year has not taught in a high school in more than 10 years, which means, okay, so the pandemic, just before the pandemic, after the pandemic, this person is coming in with no knowledge or experience of that, or how to help support us.

Brian Lehrer: As we come to the end of the segment, can you do in 15 seconds, like the most important thing that you think there is about teaching English to 12th graders?

Maggie: The important thing would probably be just to get them engaged in reading, and get them engaged [unintelligible 00:11:09]. They're very disconnected.

Brian Lehrer: Maggie, thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks, teachers, enjoy the rest of your break and good luck the rest of the semester. That's the Brian Lehrer Show for today produced by Mary Crooke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Join me tomorrow at 9:30 as we kick off coverage of the Supreme Court hearing on presidential immunity, tomorrow morning at 9:30.

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