Waiting for 'Superman' (2010)

Video Activity Worksheet

Preview
1. What do you know about the school system in the USA? What is your knowledge based on?
Check the vocabulary. Watch the video and try to remember in which context each of
the words below was used:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

reckoning
abolish
short end of the stick
second-guessing
superpower
leave behind
dropout
pattern
feed
proficiency

11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

aspiration
allegiance
chancellor
frenzy
mixed agendas
blob
tackle
impediment
teacher-parent conference
shoot craps

21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

tenure
infantilize
knock it out of the park
comprehension
tutor
remediate
tuition
report card
disposable crutches
mindset

In view
Segment 1.
1. What does a usual morning ritual consist of?
Name the words the narrator associates with "the hands of luck":

hands of
luck
Segment 2.
1. What do you remember about Geoffrey Canada's personal and professional background?
2. What does education president mean?
Segment 3.
1. What is the goal of the 'No Child Left Behind' Act?
2. What is required of a high school graduate to be eligible for a four-year university according to
California public university system?
3. Which of the following states was not mentioned in the video: Alabama, b) California, c) Kansas,
d) New Jersey?
Segment 4.
Why was Michelle Rhee an unlikely candidate for the position she was appointed to?
Segment 5.
Fill in the gaps with the words from the video:
Howard Fuller fired the worst teachers in the video, but was forced to ______ them with a year's
back pay because of a ________ in the teachers' contract called "tenure," which guaranteed their jobs
for life. The idea of tenure started in universities. It was meant to protect professors from getting fired
for ________ or political reasons. In universities, professors are only ______ tenure after many years of
teaching and a _______ vetting process, and many don't receive it. But for public school teachers,
tenure has become automatic.
So, this is an _______ process for all teachers. It's called the Professional _________ Evaluation
Process, or colloquially the P-PEP. And there are strict rules to replace a _______ teacher. It has 23
steps. There is an _______ conference at the beginning of the year. Weekly assistance must be
provided. Then the observation has to occur, it has to be a certain number of minutes. Then there's a
post conference which needs to happen after the observation. Over those 90 days, the _______ must

do three more observations... If it isn't completed by January, you have to wait until the following
year. There's lots of forms and dates and _________ that have to be followed, and if a single date is
missed, for whatever reason, the entire process can be subject to grievance. I don't know, it just feels
like a strange...________ to me.
Segment 6.
Match the types of schools to their definitions:
1

A magnet school

A charter school

A public school

Middle school

A prep school

is a publicly funded independent school established by teachers,

parents, or community groups under the terms of a charter with a
local or national authority
is a school that is supported financially by the government and
usually provides free education.
is a state-funded school, usually in a poor area, which is given
extra resources in order to attract new pupils from other areas and
help improve the school's performance. It provides a focus on one
subject area throughout its curriculum in order to attract, often
from an early age, pupils who wish to specialize in this subject.
is a private school for students who intend to go to college after
they leave.
a school intermediate between an elementary school and a high
school, typically for children in the sixth, seventh, and eighth
grades

Segment 7.
1. Define "tracking" as used in the video.
2. According to the narrator what is one of the problems with the current American school system?
3. Which argument did Bill Gates give while testifying before Congress?
Segment 8.
1. Which words does the speaker associate with Harlem:

Harlem

2. What was KIPP's and Geoffrey Canada's recipe for success?

3. Which myth did they dispel?
Segment 9.
Fill in the gaps using the words from the video:
For the first time in Washington, D.C. public schools, we've _______ that every single school has
an art teacher, a music teacher, a _____ teacher, a librarian and a nurse. But when she tried more
fundamental changes, the kind she saw in successful charter schools, the more she ran up against
the system. She couldn't _______ the school day, effectively evaluate her teachers or ______ the terms
of _______. So in the summer of 2008, Rhee proposed a _______ change in the way the D.C. school
district and the union had done business for almost a century.
Segment 10.
What does the speaker compare a great teacher with?

Review
Name all the types of schools mentioned in the video:

school

1. Is there anything you would like to change in the Ukrainian school system? If so, would you
consider adopting some of the approaches used in the US education system?
2. Who are the people in the photos? Which views did they express in the video?
3. Which features of the American school system struck you the most?