The Influence of American Society and Organization of Schools

The grade levels I went to see were not yet exposed to drugs, sex, sexual harassment, bullying or alcohol.  That being said they were plenty old enough to experience the changing family and the effects of SES. The Community Christian School where I observed 3^rd grade seem to have the most well adjusted children.  Even if they were dealing with anything you could not tell it.  They all seemed happy and well behaved. 

On the other hand when I did my service hours at Shadeville Elementary you could definitely tell there were children who had been dealing with issues at home.  There are a lot of low income families in Wakulla County and that contributes to the students having a Socioeconomic Status. (pg 571 and Dr. Barrett’s notes)  A lot of the children were disheveled and seemed to be behind in their studies.  You could tell that their parents did not spend a lot of time with them because they were either working long hours to pay the bills or they simply did not care one way or another how their child was doing.  For example there was one child who was really far behind his peers.  I was informed by the teacher that he has six other siblings at home and he was the youngest.  His parents both work and therefore have no time to spend with him.  More than likely he will end up in the ESE classroom next year because he is so far behind mentally.  This child was really the definition of an SES student. 

The purpose and goals of school during my ASL experience were so apparent.  School is supposed to be a learning environment that is tailored to fit the needs of each student whether that student is dyslexic, is at risk, a slow learner, etc.  Each school I visited did a wonderful job of really making the learning process their goal.  Community Christian focused on a small class size, with a calm learning environment.  There was lots of scaffolding (pg. 571) in place at that school which helped to produce “a higher rate of success” in learning.  The children were able to use those instructional assistances to further their thought processes.  It was so interesting to watch. 

Woodland Hall Academy was the greatest school I have ever visited.  My whole experience there was like a song.  It was very structured and the children were kind and encouraging to one another.  The teacher was so very organized (pg. 570 and from Dr. Barrett’s notes).  She had all the things she need for her lesson on a clip board and went through it with melodic precision.  I have never seen anything like it.  Not only was it interesting to watch and observe but the children were actually learning and retaining the information. 

Shadeville Elementary was a whole different experience because it was a public school system.  When the parents are paying for their children to attend school they have a certain expectation.  (Dr. Barrett, notes).  But when they are in a public school environment, especially one that is SES it is such a different environment.  You go from higher success rates in these other two schools to lower test scores and just more at risk students.  The attitudes are different about school you can see it in these children.   I also noticed to keep the children on task at Woodland Hall and at Shadeville Elementary that there was a high questioning frequency, meaning there was a high volume of questions during the period of instructional time.  (pg. 570)

The monitoring of the students was also different at Shadeville than at the other schools I observed at.   It seemed that the teacher had to spend more time correcting their bad behaviors and making them understand that they are there to learn.  Although she was spending more time on behavioral things the teacher was well organized and had so many wonderful techniques to help the children learn the material.

Considering what I know about elementary, middle, junior high and high schools I feel like elementary best suits my academic and personal characteristics.  I am much better with smaller children.  Everything they are learning from Kindergarten to second grade is right up my alley.  There is no pressure for teaching anything related to the standardized test and there are more intrinsic rewards in elementary school.  I am suited for coloring, easy math and hard work, not for attitudes and algebra.  There are many complexities of the classroom no matter what grade you teach.  At times students and classrooms are unpredictable, public and require immediate responses.  (Dr. Barrett’s notes)  I feel like I am cut out for the rigorous work environment and the multiple roles that come along with teaching. (Dr. Barrett’s notes)  I feel like it takes a special, giving person to be a teacher.  Although elementary age children give back with hugs, pictures and little notes, I still feel like you have to be able to be a giver, of your time, money and whole heart to really be a wonderful teacher.

Productive Learning Environments and Effective Instruction

During my observations and my service hours I heard a lot  more positive than negative language being used with the children.  I saw more of the “praise in public, discipline in private” rule (discussed by Dr. Barrett).  You could immediately see whether the teacher had withitness and was a good classroom manager(notes from Dr. Barrett) or not.  For example, one of the children was in the morning circle goofing off and the teacher, Mrs. Weather looked down and gave him the stare.  While she had her back turned writing something on the board, ‘Tyler’ started up again, acting crazy and making the other kids laugh.  Without missing a beat Mrs. Weather turned around, looked directly at ‘Tyler’”, knowing good and well he was the culprit, and said “we will be having a talk when our morning circle is over”.  Knowing he was in trouble, Tyler sat still and was relatively quiet for the remainder of the morning circle.  After the children were in their centers Mrs. Weather pulled Tyler aside and dealt with him. 

During my experience in Mrs. Weather’s room, I noticed that time was used very well and the children were on tight schedules.  It was hard to tell which she was better at efficiency or effectiveness.  I fell like she cut down on instructional time by having classroom management.  She was able to keep the kids engaged and on task which helped them get to the academic learning time quicker.  She also helped them remain on task by making them raise their hands to ask a question, not just letting them shout out.  This way she was not bombarded with little bodies all around her desk causing lots of noise which would have drawn onlookers; thus, getting everyone off task.  Less correction on behavioral problems means less explaining and interruptions which means more learning. 

Organization in the classroom is key to giving the kids more learning time.  Mrs. Weather the Pre-First teacher always has her room ready for the day.  She would put things out and organize them the day before or the morning of to have them classroom ready for the kids to learn.  She has sheets copied, books picked out, activities planned and songs to sing so all she had to do was teach and not prepare.  This creates improved achievement because the kids were staying on task and remaining focused because their learning environment was organized. 

The different learning styles (notes from Dr. Barrett) were addressed not only through, reading and writing about a subject but by also singing, dancing, and talking through the subject.  The children are able to gain comprehension on every level.  For example, the children were learning about the weather one week while I was doing my service hours.  So the teacher picked out a book, a song, and an art project for the kids to do.  The book was read to them during morning circle, and the book was full of big words like condensation and evaporation.  Which were explained by the teacher, then the children were asked throughout the story what was going on and what these big words mean to test their comprehension of it.  Once the story was read, the teacher followed up with a song that also contained these words.  The children stood up, did a dance and sang it with her.  Then they sat back down and were once again ‘tested’ on what they were learning.  Last she gave the children an art project where they had to pick out the cloths they wanted their paper doll to wear.  The clothes they chose had to match the scene they drew.  For example, if it was raining they would pick rain boots and an umbrella.  Then they had to write four-sentence story about their picture and what they were doing.  This not only helps the read/write learners but it also helps the visual, auditory and kinesthetic learner by all the activities involved. 

The pedagogical cycle (notes from Dr. Barrett) was also used during these activities and learning about the weather.  For example, while reading the book, Mrs. Weather started by saying, ““Charley” When you take a cold glass of ice water outside on a hot day and the glass gets foggy and wet, that is called condensation.”  Then Mrs. Weather asked ‘Charley’, “What is condensation?”  Charley responds, “It is the foggy wet stuff you get on a cold glass when you take it out in the hot sun.”  Mrs. Weather, “That is correct Charley, good job!”  Mrs. Weather also asked another kid, “what word rhymes with condensation?”  ‘Sammy’ raised his hand and answered, “Evaporation?”  Mrs. Weather replies to him, “Yes Sammy, great job!” 

Not only did I see the pedagogical cycle (notes from Dr. Barrett) in these examples of question and answer I saw Bloom’s Taxonomy(notes from Dr. Barrett) as well.  There was knowledge of the subject matter, in this case weather...It is sunny, it is rainy, etc.  Comprehension of sunny and rainy or condensation is tested when the teacher asked them to explain those words.  They then applied the knowledge and comprehension in their activities.  To do this they were made to analyze a thought during their art project of, where do I want to be?  Should I be in a rain storm, at the beach, in the snow, etc?  Then they had to pick out the right outfit and write the story to evaluate and show what they had learned!

I saw that the children were so engaged.  A great example of John Kellor's ARCS Model of Motivation (notes from Dr. Barrett)  could be seen here.  By reading a story, following with singing and dancing, then sitting and writing it was like a roller coaster which children need.  They do not and cannot just sit at a desk all day.  By having low activity balanced with high activity it helps them stay engaged thus learning so much more.  I saw the children paid attention and had so much confidence in the subject matter which gave the teacher satisfaction in knowing that she was teaching and they were comprehending!

Teaching profession, philosophy and historical roots

Teaching Profession -

I firmly believe that teachers do not get the respect they deserve.  They work harder in one day then some people with a desk job do all year.  Not only are they expected to teach children but to listen to the children, evaluate thousands of situations in an day, act on said situations, be aware of every single thing that is coming out of their mouths, be encouraging, be understanding, be attentive, be assertive, be intriguing and the lists goes on and on and on.  People who argue that teaching is not a profession obviously have not spent one day with a teacher.  Even after one hour with the teachers during some of my observations I was almost in shock.  I realized quickly that teaching is not all crayons and rainbow. 

One of the many things that come to mind as an example for this would be during my observation with a third grade class.  When I arrived the teacher was bringing the students back from recess.  They were all riled up and raring to go.  So to calm them down she read a book, which pertained to what they are studying, for 30 minutes straight.  Kids were all around the room, quietly listen, whether they were lying on the floor or sitting at their desks’, they hung on her every word.  Then as soon as she had their attention and they were calmed down she went straight into small group with them.  This transition was so smooth they did not even notice how calmed and attentive they were. They were covering sentence structure and she made sure they were all keeping up and following along.  During this visit, since I was just observing I got some intrinsic rewards from learning something new.  The children looked so happy and loved listening and learning and that just filled my heart with joy. 

Also, now that I am doing my service hours in a Pre-First classroom I am also getting a lot of intrinsic rewards.  All of the children want to run up and hug me when I come in and leave the classroom.  They all want to talk to me when we are in line, walking to lunch or to recess and I have to remind them to stay on task.  It is just so precious.  Being in the Pre-First class is when I realized how much teachers are juggling during the day.  Not only does this teacher have 19 students, 16 boys, 3 girls, but she had two students with low I.Q. and one student who she believes has a form of autism called Asperger's.  When dealing with these special needs students she has to have different work prepared for them or spend one on one time with them so that they can complete the work correctly.  Although it is hard work, seeing those kids do something new, and doing it right just seems to make everything worthwhile for the teacher.   

Philosophy -

The teacher that I did my service hours with I believe had a mix of the Essentialism and the Progressivism.  Obviously since the school I went to was a public school they must follow the state and county guidelines but this teacher mixed in something I never seen before.  She had her basic subjects and everything was covered but she allowed the students to move around in an orderly manner from center to center.  They were expected to keep themselves calm while changing centers and while doing their work.  But they were given the freedom and respect to do so.  The teacher showed them that I trust you and expect you to behave but in return you must do your work and respect my time.  This shows the slight sign of progressivism.  I believe that this style of teaching is something that I would in cooperate into my teaching style.  I think that children, no matter what their age, when given expectations and consequences will have respect for their leader, thus, in turn allowing that progressivism to work in the 'normal' classroom setting.

Historical Roots: 

I feel like I have two people from our historical presentations that affect my outlook now on teaching.  Both are somewhat one the same.  One is Sylvia Ashton-Warner and the other is Rafe Esquith.  Both of these people had to deal with the lower income and the students who no one thought would ever amount to anything.  They took their job seriously and understood what it meant to make a difference in a child’s life.  These teachers sacrificed a lot in their own lives to be able to be present in the lives of those children.  They also used music and the gift of song to inspire and intrigue their students.  These things also helped their students learn things beyond their years.  For example, Rafe Esquith students were understanding Shakespeare when some of the world’s most acclaimed critics don't even understand Shakespeare.  That is the power of a good teacher.  I want to have that power, that love and passion for teaching children. Not only teaching them but firing them up to learn.  These people created passion in those little hearts.