Alex's Third Post: about observations

One of the greatest things about my fieldwork experience this semester is that I have had the opportunity to start out in a classroom from the beginning of he year. I started my observations the first week of school for two groups of incoming freshman. We have spent a month together now and I think we are learning a lot from each other.

The first book the class is reading this year is The House on Mango Street. There are a lot of themes and ideas that many of these students can relate to. However, though there is a connection there for the students, it is still evident that they are having a tough time getting through the book. For example, the students were asked earlier last week to find quotes and explain what their meaning to the text as a whole in an in-class assignment. However, when I saw my mentor teacher this morning, she told me how devastated she was that the first 15 papers she graded all failed the assignment. She told me how depressing it was to see that the students couldn't find five simple quotes from a text that they have been going through for the last few weeks. Instead of blaming the students and telling them that they need to try harder in the classroom, my mentor teacher took ownership and said that she must have not taught the material well enough.

Though I know she is doing all she can to teach these students, not everything is always understood and grasped by students. Today, she entered the classroom with her spirits high and a new copy of the worksheet for everyone. She changed around her lesson plan in order to make sure that the last 45 minutes of class were left to go over the material again, but this time as a whole group. What was really fascinating was that all the students knew the answers to the questions the teacher was posing! This really emphasized to me that students learn differently and sometimes a worksheet that seems simple is not the best way to evaluate students. Sometimes, a teacher-led discussion is important, so the students can see what message the teacher wants to convey to them.

After reading Smagorinsky's chapter on "planning the whole course" in Teaching English by Design, I also noticed something that works really well with students...When I was in high school, a lot of students would blow off the creation of a portfolio. However, it is extremely helpful in the classroom I am observing this semester. The students are learning organizational skills and are able to look through all their past notes, bellringers, and assignments. The portfolio is an ongoing project that keeps all school work in order. My mentor teacher has made the portfolio worth 20% of each student's grade. Another reason I think this works so well is that homework is not assigned at my school. Instead of having students take home their assignments and risk losing them, instead they are always kept in the classroom.

I hope everyone else's observations are going as well as mine. There is a lot to be learned before our student teaching semester, and I am really glad we have the opportunity to sit in on a class for a few months.

-Alexandra K Wiesyk