Field Blog Post 7

Beachwood Middle School


        For my fourth observation, I focused on the topic of time. This visit happened to be their last day before Thanksgiving break so things were more flexible than usual. When I got there, Mrs. Karim had a few minutes left of her lunch time and we were able to talk about why she wanted to become a teacher and why she chose the grade level that she did. During this visit especially I was able to see how big of a component time is as a teacher. Not only the time of a teacher, but also the different types of time that a teacher needs to deal with at the school. The time right before vacation can be difficult for a teacher to work with because students do not have a desire to work and the schedule may be shifted around. This energy can be used to help the teacher-student relationship, though.
        I asked Mrs. Karim why she chose to teach the middle school level. She said that she always thought that she wanted to teach high school, but during observations and time in different classrooms, she learned that she liked the children in the middle school level. She said that they were more fun and lively and she did not feel like they thought they were "too cool" to participate. This is one of my favorite aspects of the middle school ages. I call this "The Disney Effect." I use this because while at Disney World, kids at the middle school level would still be willing to go along with the stories and activities and are not as concerned about what people around them think. They are eager to learn and love to share stories about themselves. While I do appreciate the creativity of the elementary schools and the intellectual conversations and outlooks of high school students, I love that middle school kids still have a bit of both. They are creative and excited to learn but can also have some conversations that are more mature then those of elementary school. The conversation between Mrs. Karim and I on this visit helped me to think about why I want to teach this age of students, so I enjoyed being able to be in the room before the students came in.
        After her lunch break, Mrs. Karim said that she did not have a specific agenda for the day and the first class had a couple of different options for the students during class time. They could finish worksheets, complete any re-writes (to get back points lost from past tests), or play math games for the second half of class. All of the students were able to finish the last of their assignments within the first half of class. Most of the class wanted to play a game and Mrs. Karim joined in. It was fun to see how much the students enjoyed being able to compete against their teacher and to be able to let loose on their day before break. I realized that as a teacher, I need to not only allow time for students to learn and think critically, but give them time to have fun and connect to me as a person. If I include time to be at a friendly level with them, the relationships of the classroom will be more friendly and bonded as opposed to the students seeing me as the person who gives them homework and hands them their report cards.
       I spent some time learning about the science program and the different tracks that students could be in. There was the advanced classes who worked to get the sixth, seventh and eighth grade science classes in sixth and seventh grade. Then they took a ninth grade class in eighth grade to get high school credit. Then the school hopes that they would be able to take upwards of two or three AP classes to get college credit. The honors track took a similar path, but took more time in eighth grade to go back over the previous classes and then look forward to high school classes. Then in high school, they would take honors classes with the hope of taking one or two AP classes. The science teacher said that it was very dependent on the student's understanding of math and their ability to keep up with the math in the science courses. The grade-level track had students take classes that they would take in the grade that they are in. The goal would be that at the end of high school, they might be able to take one AP science class.
        After learning about this outlook of the school, I started to think about the time of students. Is it necessary for a middle-schooler to feel the looming pressure that their actions at age 12 can affect them when they are in college? I don't know if I think that that is very fair to the students. While I understand that it can help benefit them greatly in the end, I wonder if it is too much to ask of such a young student. Time, in this case, is very tricky. Overall, I got to look at the various aspects of time and I spent a lot of this observation reflecting on how much impact time can have in the life of a student and teacher.