Field Blog
Beachwood
The first time I was in a classroom
due to the ED-100 class was at Beachwood Middle School where I observed two
eighth grade science classes. This was an amazing first experience and it only
started to cement my belief that I indeed would love to teach. The first class
period was a class on Earth Sciences. The teacher, Mr. Singer, had a wonderful
lesson planned on tectonic plates and how different plate collisions caused
different reactions in our physical world. The things that impressed me so much
about this first lesson was the way he approached it while keeping the kids
interested throughout its entirety. Utilizing the tools at his disposal Mr.
Singer was able to guide his students through an educational journey. The first
tool used was the MacBooks that all the students had. Mr. Singer had
pre-prepared a PowerPoint presentation that had blanks on the student copies.
He had the students use this for their notes and every time a major topic was
presented he told the class to check their blanks. Then the class would
dutifully look down and fill in any answers from the lecture Mr. Singer had
just given. I believe the MacBooks were a very well utilized tool in this case.
But at the same time I am personally wary of them. I appreciate the fact that
all information a teacher could ever utilize is the push of a button away. Yet I
feel as if having computers in the class could be a huge distraction.
Especially in this day and age when many kids are craving stimulation and a computer
and answer that crave more than a science lecture. Another reason I am not the
biggest fan is because, for me personally, I find it so much harder to read
longer passages or assignments off of a screen. Having a physical copy of a
text gives me much more freedom to take notes and mark key points then if I had
to read off of a screen. The second tool Mr. Singer utilized in this lecture
was a three dimensional map of all of the mountain ranges and underwater
trenches throughout the world. After having the kids come look and touch this
map he had them take out maps that they were assigned to draw on their own to
compare and correct mistakes made on theirs. I really enjoyed this first class
and I was excited about the second period. The second period was a Honors
Physics class of eighth graders. Mr. Singer's plans for this class were to
review the lab on Newton's Second Law and then give the class a post lab
worksheet that everyone would work on together. Mr. Singer started the class
with reviewing the lab. He asked the simple question, "Why did we do the
lab yesterday? What is the point?" Off of this relatively easy question
the class went off into an in depth discussion about everything they knew about
the law and the results of the experiment. After discussing the experiment and
the sources of error, such as friction, the class received the worksheet. Mr.
Singer then went around the class and individually helped any student who may
need it. He even asked if I’d like to help and I jumped on the opportunity. It
was a great first experience in the field and I cannot wait for more to come.
Cleveland Heights
Cleveland
Height High school was the second visit we made as a class. The first thing I
noticed about Heights was the very old building in which the kids went to
school. Dr. Shutkin made a point of saying that the school was being torn down.
Personally I found that very sad. In my opinion, going to school in an old
building promotes pride in the community. This is because it is very easy to
look back and see the amazing amount of history that has taken place in the
very halls in which you are walking. While new classrooms and updated
technology certainly won’t hold anyone back. But at the same time losing all
that history has to hurt a sense of community. Once inside I visited an Early
College Program science class. This was interesting in itself. The idea that
kids can get through all of high school in two years bothers me. I know the
amount of stress I was put under in high school and to compact my high school
academic experience would have been impossible. On top of that the classroom I
visited was not exactly invigorating. The teacher had a power point up which
students were supposed to take word for word notes from. No one in the class
seemed interested in the topic and there was no true teacher student
interaction. Overall it was a neutral experience. It was nice having my first
experience in a high school. But there are definitely certain things I would
work to change.
Agnon
The
final visit which was taken by the entire class was to Agnon Elementary. This was a unique experience for me, mostly
because I had never been in a younger classroom as an observer. The first thing
I noticed was the strong religious identity the school had. This was
comfortable for me seeing as I have gone to religious based schools since I was
in kindergarten. In my opinion, it is not necessarily the religious aspect that
makes these schools what they are. But instead the sense of community one
feeling when being in a smaller private environment. It was nice to see these
children practice their faith so openly in a powerful learning environment. For
my actual observation I was place in a second grade math class. At the beginning
all of the class was together as a younger woman led them in a basic overview
of geometric concepts. They talk about how two dimensional drawings could be
transformed to three dimensions. At this point of the class a second instructor
appeared. He came and took away a group of six “advanced” kids to perform an
accelerated lesson. This is where I went as well. We walked down the hall and
into another classroom where the teacher already had set out wooden shapes such
as pyramids or cylinders. He then had the students describe the shapes in as
many ways they could. This included faces, points, and ridges. He was very
engaged in the exercise and gave an aura that he genuinely cared about the children’s
learning experience. This was refreshing seeing as at that age I was not always
interested in whatever I was supposed to be learning. This hands on approach certainly
kept the kids not just engaged but eager to move from step to step. The next
step was for the kids to take a paper with a pattern drawn on it, cut it out,
and then tape it up into whatever three dimensional shape it was supposed to
become. This exercise was a smooth transition from the original classroom into
the advanced room. The students would go on to make a handful of shapes and
then describe them all the same way they had done before. The end of the period
eventually broke up the whole project and all of the kids politely cleaned up
and thanked the teacher. There are a lot of people with countless different
opinions on separating children’s learning environments thru grouping. While
the negatives can definitely be argued, I believe the way Agnon has handled
this specific case has been outstanding. These kids got the opportunity to
spend time with their class as a whole. But at the same time it was recognized
that these students are gifted in math. It would be unfair to not allow them to
grow to their fullest potential. I would say that Agnon did a very good job of
allowing community through the class as well as promoting those who are more
naturally talented.
Laurel #1
From the minute I arrived at
Laurel I knew I was in for a learning experience. The school was like nothing I
had ever seen. It was as if someone had decided to build a castle in the middle
of some random sub division. The historical architecture brought immediate
prestige to the eye of any beholder. As I walked in there was a royal air about
the place. Everyone acted proper in front of the ever watching paintings of
headmasters past and present. This all-girls school was like nothing I had ever
experienced. The first class I was to observe in was a sixth grade earth
science class, which I had to be led to through a labyrinth of intersecting
hallways and staircases. As I stepped through the door the class fell silent as
forty odd eyes rushed up to me. Ms. Ahmad kindly greeted and introduced me to
the class as a student who would be observing class for the rest of semester.
As I quietly shuffled through backpacks to the back of the class the giggles
began to reign. It was quite weird being one of a handful of men on the campus.
Even with these twelve year olds distracted, there was a great lesson taught on
endangered animals. The class learned different restrictions that would make an
animal endangered or not as well as what is being done to help. At the end of
the lesson the class split up and used their personal Chrome Books to do
independent research on an animal which would be presented during the next
class period. I left this classroom excited with the prospects of this school.
My second class was an all senior AP Physics class. I walking in intimidated
because at this point of my life I have not reached that level of physics. How
could I observe a class that I can’t comprehend? But my fears were wiped away by
the fact that my teacher had total control of the class in a friendly yet
confident way. He seemed to be a friend with all the girls but at the same time
they showed the utmost respect for the man. In a highly advanced class there
was a lot of fun, which was nice to see. The final classroom I went to on my
visits was a sophomore honors chemistry class. This was the biggest class I had
been in as well as the least controlled. While the instructor was a very nice
woman, she seemed to try to be too friendly with the girls and didn’t want to
do anything to make them not like her. While I respect the fact that teachers
should be approachable and on the good side of students, there has to be a line
drawn where their authority is final. This class went over power point slides
on acid base titration. I was excited by this visit and had certain things in
mind for the next few times I went back.
Laurel #2
One thing I noticed on my
first visit was the amazing amount of participation in each of the classrooms I
visited. The kids seemed so eager to answer any question at all. I was curious
about why this was so I started paying closer attention to the body language of
the kids. This attitude was definitely most prevalent in the sixth grade
classroom. Ms. Ahmad could simply as what the day of the week was and every
single student would raise their hand anxiously awaiting the chance to be
called on. As time went on I observed there was no physical reward or even
verbal reward other than a “Good Job” on a correct answer. So why would these
kids buy into this method of question and answer with such vigor? I came to the
conclusion that a majority of this excitement to learn is from the overall
attitude of the school. A K-12 school has the ability to set standards from the
youngest age that they expect the same girls to exhibit once they are seniors
in high school. Having a faculty that has bought into this idea is the only
chance of making it work. Every educator I met at Laurel seemed genuinely interested
in what the students had to say. This school wide attitude of respect for the
thoughts of the children was very welcoming and it allows girls of all ages to
display their ideas proudly.
Laurel #3
During
my second visit to Laurel I picked up some information while observing the
physics class. I learned that Laurel’s high school science program often implemented
tracking. Tracking is when students will have the opportunity to remain with
the same instructor for multiple years. This can be found a lot in small,
private schools. This is because they simply don’t have the need to hire so
many teachers for their small amount of students. While this may be what had
happened at Laurel I would completely support the idea in any school. The
closeness which was felt between Mr. Carpenter and his class was palpable. This
promoted a healthy learning environment where the girls felt even more
comfortable sharing their ideas in front of the class. Even in one of the
hardest high school subjects. While there may be downsides of tracking, such as
being caught with a teacher that they may not mesh with. But I do feel the pros
outweigh the cons and that was certainly the reality in this physics class at
Laurel.
Laurel #4
At
first, being a male going into an all-girl school was a unique and overwhelming
experience. It was interesting to walk into an all-girls classroom and having
all eyes on me. But throughout my experience at Laurel I started to realize
that I liked the idea of a single sex school. Laurel was missing something that
I felt I had dealt with my entire life during school. And that was the tension
of always trying to impress the opposite sex. It was easy for these girls to
feel free of pressure during one of the most stressful times in their life. They
could have conversations with just other girls and have school as the top
priority. It was a very healthy learning environment. While I really enjoyed my
experience at a Co-ed school I now completely understand the rave reviews of
single sex schools!
Laurel #5
All
three of the men and women I observed had very different teaching styles. In my
sixth grade science class the instructor had a very friendly conversational
style of teaching. She openly addressed any questions that her students had and
was quick to have an interactive answer. This happy style of teaching worked
really well for her twelve year old audience. They all looked up to her and
respected her. My physics teacher also commanded respect in the classroom. His
style was more from the perspective of having the kids work through problems
and him being there as a guide. This style worked for him because he was
teaching highly talented students. The chemistry teacher had more of a “molded”
teaching style. As in she taught straight from power point and expected the
students to keep up in the notebook. This was the least successful style I observed.
Summary
I couldn’t
be happier with how my observations went at Laurel School. It was a great
experience to get in the classroom as a freshman. It did nothing but reinforce
my belief that I want to teach. Seeing the different ways that teachers worked
with students of different ages made me think about what my teaching habits
will be like with the different types of kids I will run into in my career. It
was also good to see other schools along with Laurel because I believe the more
opinions you can form on a topic, such as how a successful school looks, the
more educated of a decision can be made. I cannot wait to continue my study of
education.
