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Instead of my usual placement this week I was treated to a special morning.  This week, the middle schoolers get to choose to participate in a three-day enriching seminar-style learning experience.  The topics vary but I was able to observe the basketball option (“Hoops and Dreams”) as that’s what my supervising teacher was assisting with.  The girls (all in different grades) were able to come to school in out of uniform, athletic clothes since they would be playing basketball every afternoon in addition to watching basketball films and documentaries and games every morning.  When we got down to the court and the girls began to take off their heavier sweatshirts and sweatpants (in favor of their tank-top style shirts and shorter shorts) I was immediately blown away by how there seemed to be three distinct discourses of clothing.  One group of girls who congregated together all wore Lululemon shorts, headbands, and tanks.  They weren’t all the same style, but they were all the same brand, and the girls, even though they weren’t all friends and were in different grades, automatically congregated together as the coach divided them up into teams.  Another group of girls that congregated together were the girls that were all on the middle school varsity basketball team.  These girls (from diverse backgrounds, some of whom were students of color) wore basketball-specific athletica clothing (longer, mesh shorts and tanks).  A third group of girls that congregated together wore miscellaneous “athletic” outfits.

At the W school, I had sat through two class periods where the students, 7th and 8th grades, were watching a film on the Salem Witch trials. It was a documentary that attempted to uncover the mysteries behind the series of odd events that happened so long ago, through science and psychological tests. While watching the film, I noticed that the teacher paused the movie several times to reiterate what was said to make sure all the students were paying attention. What was interesting and commendable about her teaching strategy during this section was that she constantly reminded the students that these townspeople of historical Salem were not “crazy” or “stupid”.

For young middle school students, it is easy to judge people as simply “crazy”. Both the film and the teacher’s lesson for the day was to justify what went wrong in the town of Salem, reminding the students that there is an explanation for how this idea of a witch came to haunt the town. This open mindedness helped students understand the reasons behind the Salem witch-hunt and gradually students began a discussion on their own experiences of instances when they thought they were being haunted because of a series of odd events around them. It was a short discussion but I enjoyed hearing how students did not think the townspeople of Salem were merely “crazy”. This lesson to share experiences and digging deeper into the Salem mystery relates back to the importance of experience that Dewey writes about.

3/19/13

Ms. R 11th grade American History

Mr. T 10th grade English

Today Ms. R seems a little more stern than usual. While she is still joking around and not being “mean” in any way, she raises her voice to get the students attention at the beginning of class and tells them to put their “lids down” (referring to their laptops). She begins reviewing what the class accomplished yesterday, and shows a list on the smartboard comparing individual needs/interests in the environment versus business needs/interests in the environment. She says, “I feel like you guys didn’t get the most out of that activity, so we are going to try something else. I’m giving you three prompts: “I notice..” “I wonder..” and “What if?” and you have to look at this chart and fill in those sentences. So for example, I went to New York this weekend, and I noticed that M&Ms sold in Times Square were more expensive than those sold in the regular stores at home. I wondered why they would charge more and if other people noticed this price change. What if they donated the difference in that cost to a charity or non-profit organization?”

Check out these two articles about the college access and experience...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/education/scholarly-poor-often-overlook-better-colleges.html
&
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/opinion/sunday/does-affirmative-action-do-what-it-should.html

Field Notes March 8, 2013

Math Lesson: Fractions

• the class was studying equivalent fractions by working on an equivalent fractions question like a puzzle. The initial question was, which fraction is greater than the other? Teacher L would talk out the problem like he was having a conversation with his class. He did this a few times, with the next question comparing three fractions, and for the last question he asked me to say a fraction (2/5) and had the class independently write 5 equivalent fractions on their own.

• He chose one student, T, to come to the board and write his answers and then explain how he got them to the class, just how he had explained the previous two questions

• He continued the conversation, and waited until the end to ask students to take notes.

• At one point during the end of the lesson, he spoke with one student, I, but directed to the larger class conversation, about how fractions are like pizzas, because his dad works at a pizza shop sometimes.

“I think;

Therefore, I am,”

Said the philosopher, Renee Descartes.

“I think;

Therefore, I am;

Therefore, I can change who I am,”

Argued the neurobiologist, Paul Grobstein. 

I write;

Therefore, I know;

Therefore, I can change what we know.

Might the poet, Martin Espada, write.