Education Fieldwork

2/26/13

Elementary School 2

I decided to use McEntee’s Guided Invidual Reflection Protocol (pg. 52) again this week, as I want to expand on one particular story.

Questions/ideas Laura and I discuss on the train ride over: What type of high school school is it (charter, public, private, and magnet) and what are the implications of that? Laura has described the school as very progressive; I wonder how/if social justice is included in the curriculum.  What is the school community like, including, but not limited to, teacher and student relationships?

Arrive at school about 10 minutes before class begins and so decide to walk around/wander the halls.  There are so many cool things on the wall, which range from posters, to students art work, to big pieces of paper with a question and students’ responses.  The topics all seem to be progressive/current in some way: one paper with student responses on it was about the recent election and Romney/Obama debate; one poster advertises the multicultural club; students’ artwork includes, but isn’t limited to, themes of gender and feminism.  These stood out to me because these seem like difficult subjects for high school students to approach. There was also a sign advertising multicultural club, which had prompting questions (“do you feel like you don’t have a culture?”). Laura points out there is an LGBTQ Ally sticker on most or all of the classroom doors.

February 26th, 2013

Ms. R 11th Grade American History
Mr. T 10th Grade English

Today was a fun day in my field placement because Sarah came with me for our cross-visit! We talked a lot about some issues I’ve been thinking about and she brought to my mind some things I hadn’t thought of before.

As usual, the students in Ms. R’s American History class were working on their big “benchmark project.” I learned that each quarter there is a benchmark project, with a clear grading rubric. There are multiple parts to this project. Last week the students researched the causes of the Great Depression and studied the New Deal. This week they are researching the causes of the Great Recession. The final project will be a comparison of the responses to the Great Depression and the Great Recession. Ms. R has almost the identical assignment as last week, with 3 sources and guided questions. She only says a few words at the beginning of class and then tells them to start working. Sarah and I are walking around looking at their visual depictions of their projects from last week and they are clearly excited to “show off” their work and explain it to us.

February 19, 2013

Private Kindergarten

Goals for the day:
1.) How does R affect dynamics of classroom

2.) Potential teacher discord
3.) What is A’s place as the only girl other than R?

4.) Gender dynamics

R:
Somewhat tangled brown bob with bangs
Tall and lanky
Wearing black leggings with a red flannel nightgown-type dress that often gets stuck in the leggings

Missed interaction. R had small fit with kicking feet (and incidentally me) over having to clean after kid’s choice…then a few mins later she gets to put marble into jar (positive reinforcement – when marble height reaches line, class gets a party treat)

AT (assistant teacher) needs to intervene for R. during share time multiple times

R. seems to be caring (as MT said) – this week’s sharing “I am glad to see that G. is back”, whereas last week’s share time was “I am glad to be back. I missed everyone”
-- is she longing for connection and friendship?

AT feels overbearing??? (SEE BELOW FOR STORY COLLECTION)

F. again criticized R. during sharetime – R says “pactory” and F says rather rudely “it’s not pactory. It’s factory”. R looks like she is about to cry

Before sending students off to centers, MT says she is going to pick who sits on what carpet squares for one center to help “our friends learn the best they can”

1. Collect Stories (italicized the one I'm expanding on)

• Third grade has a field trip coming up and the new Chinese student, Joey, brought his money but not his permission slip and he did not understand the problem (due to lack of English). Nina wanted to help the classroom teacher deal with the situation.
• Standardized testing- testing one student with an IEP in a small classroom with another who doesn’t have an IEP. One student gets more time, extended directions, and the other doesn’t.
• The office staff seemed extremely overwhelmed. Nina and I needed to contact the secretaries a few different times and it was either difficult, or I felt that I was inconveniencing them because they had so many other people waiting on them.
• I was set to sit in on a meeting with my teacher and the principal and then the principal asked that the meeting be confidential. It was about Nina’s increasing course load at Elementary School 1.

2. What Happened?

February 19th, 2013

Location: Public magnet high-school in Center City

Classes: 11th grade American History (Ms. R), 10th grade English (Mr. T)

*Again, sorry these are a little late! I go to my placements on Tuesdays so I tried to upload them as soon as possible. 

After a three-day weekend, Ms. R starts class by asking students about their weekends. A few students raise their hands to tell the class what they did over the weekend, such as going to church, going out to breakfast with their families, having relatives over, etc.

We’ve talked a lot about getting to know your students and where they come from, and simply starting the class by asking about weekend activities seems like a great way to do this. It gives students a chance to share information about their lives and even says something about the different cultures we come from. The only concern Ms. R seemed to have was that so many students want to talk and the classes are only an hour.

The general environment at this school is very relaxed. Students usually stroll in 5-10 minutes after class officially begins, there are no bells and no attendance is ever taken.

Generally this “laid-back” system seems to work, but I do wonder about students that show up very late or do not have as much self-motivation to complete their work without someone reminding them to. At the same, it is very good preparation for college and the workplace.

Initial Findings: Before visiting Wordsmiths’ physical site, I was able to access a great deal of information about the organization through other sources. My initial research about the organization was online. Wordsmiths has a stable online presence– a quick Google search brings up their Facebook page, LinkedIn, Twitter, Wikipedia page, and Vimeo site. To me, their constant output of information suggests an air of both transparency and playfulness. The organization is constantly sharing its goings-on with the online community. For example, a tweet from February 12 reads, “Dorsey Dog visited tutoring today, but despite Erica’s very enthusiastic urging, he did not eat anyone’s homework.” Further, this statement provides a glimpse of the kinds of relationships that are possible within this organization – good-natured, sometimes silly, and friendly. On the Facebook page, photos of daily activities or events, invitations to workshops, and many paragraph-long excerpts of students’ writing, are posted every 2-4 days. Wordsmiths’ website also includes students’ writing, with “Student Work” as the first tabbed section on the website; this page contains stories, magazines, and other projects that have been published/formatted online through sites like Scribd. 

Attached are my first field notes from the semester. Because I got started late, I have gone twice this week. 

What Happened? The 6th grade class that I am placed in started a unit preparing them for the state standardized test today. Between periods, the main classroom teacher and the special ed teacher discussed at length the scores, progress, and IEPs in relation to the upcoming test. During this conversation they discussed methods of preparation to use depending on each individual students' needs. While the class will be taking the 6th grade level tests, the teachers decided to give some students in the class the preparation booklet for the 5th grade level test. These were students who the teachers indicated were struggling in class and were not on grade level based on pre-tests that they had administered recently. The next period, the teachers had me work through a a test-prep packet with a group of two students who were going to be given the 5th grade level packet (although the in-class assignment was at the 6th grade level). At the end of the assignment, the main classroom teacher handed out the packets and when John, one of the two students I was working with, recieved the packet clearly marked "5th Grade" he turned to the teacher and said "no offense, but ive already done this one before" to which the teacher responded "I guess then no offense, but you're going to get to read it again."