May 9, 2015 - 09:34
Lilly Chase
4/28
Field Notes #7
- Every morning when I walk into Oakley Elementary School I need to check in at the office.
- Today in the office two of my students (Marlon and Kristen) were tardy and barely getting to school (I arrive at 9:20am; they were about an hour late).
- I asked Kristen why she was late, she told me she was tired and did not want to get dressed this morning. She said she was awake by 7am and did not live far from the school and received a ride from her mother (I asked if she lived far or took public transportation wondering if that added to her lateness).
- Kristen asked me if she looked like she had been crying which took me by surprise. I told her she did not then asked her if she had been crying. She said she cried this morning because her mother had taken her phone way. I asked her why, which she replied saying her mom thought she was being disrespectful because she refused to change and get ready for school this morning.
- I wonder if her mother was late to work because of Kristen. She did not bring this up. I was also surprised a 9 year old had a cell phone. I told her phones are not that important and then explained to her that I did not have a phone until I was 13 years old. Both Kristen and Marlon were shocked and said they had their first phone when they were 7! What do seven year olds need phones for?!
- All three of us walked out of the office and I then asked Marlon why he was late to school. He told me his brother overslept and did not wake him up. I am assuming his parents work early so his brother is in charge of waking him up, getting him ready, and taking him to school. I wonder how old his brother is, I should have asked.
- While walking down the hall Marlon pointed out the honor roll wall and I saw Ms. G’s classroom had about 5 students that made honor roll.
- Kristen said “I’m not on the list because I don’t care about class.” I was taken back by this comment and asked her why she did not and told her school is very important. She told me she does not do anything in class anymore because Ms. G. thinks she’s bad. I asked her to elaborate which she replied saying Ms. G thinks she’s disrespectful. Kristen then told me “Ms. G. threw away my pencils and that’s all I have so I don’t care. I don’t ask other kids to borrow a pencil because my dad told me not to borrow other people’s things if I do not share my things.” I asked her why she threw them away; she said she was tapping her pencils on the desk.
- I was surprised because I had not seen Ms. G. ever do anything closely like that while I am in her class. I wonder if she acts differently when I am not around. How much does having other adults in a class change a teacher’s attitude or lesson plans?
- Throughout the semester I noticed how little school supplies the students have and how they do not have the financial means to purchase more, yet Ms. G. constantly asks them to buy tissues for the classroom and hassles the students for pencils.
- At my placement last semester my teacher had a borrowing system for pencils. A student was able to borrow a pencil for the class as long as they wrote their name on the board and returned the pencils after class. This school was not as affected by budget cuts as most schools in Philadelphia so I wonder if the teacher had a budget for the pencils or if she bought them herself. Regardless, the system was extremely effective. But not all teachers can do this because budget. Teachers do not get paid as much as they should yet they usually need to purchase their own supplies for the classroom. It is a messy issue.
- Once in the classroom the students had story time. The story was about a community that lived in a cove.
- I was reading with Marcus today. He really wanted to answer what a cove was but when Ms. G. called on him he hesitated and got the wrong answer. After this he completely shut down and stopped wanting to work.
- I tried reading along with Marcus but he was not paying attention and did not want to participate at all. He kept putting his head down and refusing to read along.
- After the story (Marcus did not pay attention to a majority of the story at this point) the students worked on questions in their workbooks.
- Marcus did not want to do the worksheets but I insisted (keeping in mind “Accepting Failure”) eventually he started working all the while complaining but that’s okay. He was trying to guess answers but they had nothing to do with the story.
- At one point Kristen asked me to get her a tissue (she sits next to Marcus) because she was sick and her nose was literally dripping. I gave her the tissue but when she stood up to go blow her nose next to the trash can (the students are shy to blow their noses next to one another) Ms. G. told her to sit down and would not let her get up.
- I reread a lot of the book with him which took away a lot of the work time. We were only able to finish a few questions before our time ran out.
- When the students were lining up for lunch I told Ms. G. that Kristen really needed to blow her nose because she was sick. Ms. G. told me Kristen just wanted to get out of her seat and walk around. I can see why Kristen feels the way she does about Ms. G and her classroom. It really is unfair. Is it a teacher/ school’s place to regulate student’s bodily functions? (Blowing their noses and bathroom regulation)
Today showed me how much discipline impacts a student. Kristen gave up on school all together because Ms. G. thought of her as a bad student. Whenever I worked with her in past she was eager and hard working. She is a very intelligent student and I am sad she feels this way. I wonder what someone like me can tell student’s like Kristen to keep them motivated even though teachers are not treating them justly.