A、trying to deal with a group of kids crowing around your desk between class periods B、having a kid in your class who sits in th

Interviewer: It’s almost...uh...that there has been a feeling or an intent -- much like a sales pitch --
    that it’s all fun...
Miller:    Uh-huh...
Interviewer: ... and sort of...
Miller:    That’s right! That’s right...
Interviewer: ... minimize that there’s any...uh ...laboring.
Miller:    Work involve! That’s right. That’s right. And...-- and the kids, you know. You take that
    kind of an attitude, plus what they get on TV, you know, and it’s... -- and -- which
    is, tome...is...a...a medium that teaches you to be passive. And you sit back and watch
    these things and you expect to be entertained. And they bring those attitudes in the
    classroom, you know. And they sit down in the chair and, literally, if you’re not as good
    as "Batman,"...
Interviewer: Right!
Miller:    ...you might as well hang it up!
Interviewer: You’re competing with...uh...
Miller:    You are! You compete -- you’re competing with all that sound and light and motion and
    music -- all combined into one.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Miller:    And if, you know, if you can’t beat. that, you don’t stand a chance. You’re almost forced
    into that role...
Interviewer: ...being compared with a sort of commercial program on television...
Miller:    That’s right! That’s right...
Interviewer: To a certain extent, educational...
Miller:    That’s right... Interviewer: ...television, I suppose, or...
Miller:    Well, and too, you know...uh -- One of the classes that I teach is a class on minorities,
    you know. And we go on and on about -- for example, we do one unit on...on black
    Americans. And we talk about civil rights, and we talk about Martin Luther King, and
    we talk about the Emancipation Proclamation and all this good information -- much of
    which the kids don’t know, and so it’s intrinsically interesting because it’s new...
Interviewer: Uhm...
Miller:    But, you know, they never get as excited, and, you know, this is just terrible -- I even
    hate to tell you -- They never get as excited as when we show the film of uh ...the
    Montgomery bus boycotts in...in 1955...
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
Miller:    ...in ... in Sehna, Alabama, when they turned the dogs and the troopers...
Interviewer: Right...
Miller:    ...on the black demonstrators. And the dogs are tearing up these black people -- I mean,
    I’m not kidding you, they literally, you know, come out of their chair and make noises!
    You know, like, "Oh, yeah! Yeah!" you know.
Interviewer: Right...
Miller:    And that’s sick! Or like the film that we show on ...uh...on the Indians. It’s about buffalo
    hunting, and their way of life before the pioneer came and what happened to that
    civilization. The best part of the film -- it’s not the ...the hunting technique, or how they
    used all parts of the animal or were very ecologically minded. What is it? It’s when they
    stampeded a whole herd...
Interviewer: Right...
Miller:    ...of buffalo off the cliff and that was one of their techniques -- and killed, you know,
    four or five hundred at a time!
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
Miller:    And the all that blood and gore, and the buffalo screaming...
Interviewer: That’s enough excitement at the stage of the game...
Miller:    But...but these are films that are chosen...
Interviewer: But that’s what stands out in their minds! That’s the high point of it, you know..., boy,
    you ought to wait until you see this film... ! You won’t believe all the buffalo...
Miller:    ...you know, And you don’t know, of course, how much of the rest of it they retain. I’m
    sure something. But the fact that they...audibly react, and.., visibly react to that -- tome
    it’s just so sad...
Interviewer: Right.
Miller:    ...I just...
Interviewer: Right...
Miller:    ...every time it happens -- and it happens consistently every year we do it!
Interviewer: Well, they’re...they’re conditioned...What do you think...uh...some of the most difficult
    things are for...for...uh...teachers?
Miller:    Oh, I think...well, for me, it’s having so many students and doing anything for, you
    know. And I...mean that very.
Interviewer: Sort of...
Miller:    ...sincerely.
Interviewer: ...not enough of you to go around!
Miller:    Exactly. You know, you come in...you come in your classroom, and there’s five minutes
    between periods you know and they’re like -- you know, it’s not unusual to have ten
    kids at your desk, right? You know, now these aren’t -- you know, like adults would do,
    they’s wait patiently -- I mean they’re all talking at one time and clamoring.
Interviewer: Right.
Miller:    ...and pulling on your clothing, and...and you know, all that kind of thing...
Interviewer: There’s just no way of dealing with that...
Miller:    And...and...and in the meantime, so you try to take care of that which is, you know, kind
    of a tempestuous thing...
Interviewer: Uh-huh...
Miller:    ...and then there’s the kid back in the comer who sits in your class and never opens his
    mouth -- who probably needs you the most, right? And he gets the least.
Interviewer: The least vocal...
Miller:    Okay, there’s that kind of kid. And then there’s the really bright kid who doesn’t get
    much of your time either, you know. If you look at it realistically, it’s kids who have
    trouble and who cause problems in class who get ninety percent of your attention!
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
Miller:    And the kid who doesn’t say anything, or the one who’s very bright, gets the least
    amount of your attention...
Interviewer: Uhm...
Miller:    ...because he demands the least amount.
Interviewer: Right.
Miller:    And that...you know, that’s very discouraging sometimes when you stop and look at
    who...who you talk to? Or at the end of a period where, you know, you forget to take the
    roll, for example -- this happens sometimes -- You forget to take the roll, and then you
    remember as the kids go out that you didn’t take it, and you go back to do it...
Interviewer: If you remember who...
Miller:    ...as of then. And you can’t remember if this kid was in your class or not.
Interviewer: Uh -- huh...
Miller:    That’s scary tome! That’s really ... that’s frightening. And it’s...uh...you know, how do
    you combat that?