20/20 Live Exclusive: Inside the Public School Classroom

We've all seen the controversial documentary Waiting For Superman and the comedy Bad Teacher. We've heard administration after administration tout their education plan but are any of us sure of what REALLY goes on in the public school classroom? During this hour long (minus 1/2 hour of commercials) special, we will enter the classroom of Sarah Widdop, a young and naively ambitious public school English teacher in Camas, Washington. Stay tuned to check out what really goes on inside the public school classroom.

Hello 20/20. I'm really excited to have you in my classroom today. I think it is very important for our public to see what really goes on in the public classrooms as this is what our public pays for.

1st period- English 9
"Hey guys, I need you to read the announcements on the board and get your materials out before the bell rings."


Student who has been sitting in class for the past 10 minutes, listening to his i-pod: "We have a vocab test today? What! I didn't know about that!"


Ms. Widdop: "I posted it on the blog all week and we reviewed the words yesterday. You were suppose to write the test date in your planner."


i-pod kid: "Oh, I lost my vocab list."


Students slowly get ready for their test, some are reviewing while others pull out their math homework.


Ms. Widdop: "Ok guys, clear your desks of everything but something to write with. When you finish your test, read the board and begin reading chapter six in Animal Farm."


Students begin to settle and quiet down. Minutes later, one student rasises her hand. "Ms. Widdop, what does merit mean?"


Ms. Widdop walks over to student and quietly explains. Minutes later a boy, whose eyes are hidden by hair blurts out, "Ms. Widdop what does merit mean?" Ms. Widdop takes this as a teachable moment and addresses the class.


"Class, it seems that I need to explain what merit means. In this case it means valid, as in Squealer's actions had no validity. Does that make sense?" Collective group of students nod.


Moments later, "Ms. Widdop what does merit mean?" Other kids snigger. Ms. Widdop raises her eyebrows and quietly reminds the student what merit means.

The class quiets down, some students hand in their tests. One student raises her hand, her frumpy hair bobbling as she asks, "So Ms. Widdop, does merit mean to be true?" Some students snigger while frumpy haired girl growls, "Shut-up!" and looks back up at Ms. Widdop. Ms. Widdop grits her teeth and once again explains what merit means while she bangs her head against her white board, careful to not disturb her new mobile Smart Board.

2nd period- English 9
Students enter in much the same fashion as period 1. Some students comment on their surprise about the vocabulary quiz while others appear oblivious as to the fact that they are in school. Two boys unload messy backpacks in search of old Halloween candy. One kids finds a smashed Snickers while the other seems to be sidetracked as he is smoothing out crumpled assignments and examining them. As students settle into the class routine one girl raises her hand, "Ms. Widdop I just pointed out to my dad where you live and he was wondering if, since we love so close to each other, I could come over to your house in the evenings to get help on homework?"

Ms. Widdop nearly chokes on her gum. "Rachel, how about you just stay after school a few days a week. I'm not sure you really need to come to my house."

3rd period- Freshman Success Study Hall
Partition wall is open and students begin writing in their planners as the bell rings. Soon after students are divided into groups, Ms. Widdop takes 10 or so students and announces the students who will be giving their Book Talks that day.

A student, who appears to be on crack, but probably just has severe AHDH, prances around as he asks, "Ms. Widdop, can't I just give my book talk tomorrow? I forgot my book."

Ms. Widdop, gritting what is left of her teeth, "No Trevor, you've already postponed this three times. You have to give your Book Talk today."

Trevor: "Ok." He prances up to the front of the group. "So, uh, I read this book Malice. I forgot who wrote the book. It's about 300 pages, maybe less. It's about this kid who says this chant, something about a guy named Jake and the next thing he knows he's in this other world and stuff. It's like a good book because the kid has all these things happen to him." Trevor looks at Ms. Widdop with a tad bit of fear in his eyes.

Ms. Widdop: "Is that all? Do you have a favorite part?"

Trevor: "No."

Ms. Widdop: "Did you like the book?"

Trevor: "Yeah."

Ms. Widdop: "So were there other interesting characters?"

Trevor: "Yeah."

Ms. Widdop gives up and lets Trevor sit down.

Ms. Widdop quickly grabs her lunch and switches to another classroom. Before she can post the schedule on the board, students begin to file in. One plops down on a stool in the front of the classroom.

English 10- Sophomores
Student on stool: "Ms. Widdop, did you always want to be a boring English teacher?"

Ms. Widdop: "Yeah Jarred, that was my dream when I was in high school."

Jarred: "It's my dream too." He sits down.

Students start to work on analyzing Jack in Lord of the Flies. During their discussion, Jarred turns to Kyl, another boy sitting behind Jarred. They start to talk. Their talking changes to arguing. Other students become distracted and Ms. Widdop perks up her ears and begins listening to their conversation.

Kyl: "Shut up! I've done just as much work as you."

Jarred: "Whatever, you can't talk, you're still in Algebra 1."

Kyl: "So are you."

Jarred: "Yeah, but you have a D."

Kyl: "So do you."

Jarred: "Mine is better." Ms. Widdop contemplates letting the intellectual debate continues but decides to encourage them to return to their analysis of Jack in Lord of the Flies.

Voice over: "Well, there you have it. A day inside a public school classroom. Clearly, students are engaged and ready to learn. They truly value their education, as should the public. This is an example of public education at its best. We'd like to thank Ms. Widdop for opening up her classroom to our viewers. As compensation, because we know how little Ms. Widdop makes, we have provided her with free dental work, as over the years Ms. Widdop had ground down her teeth to small nubbins. But thanks to our local sponsors, Ms. Widdop can now have a fresh new smile and her new titanium molds will allow her to grind away."