High School Observations

Observation 1:

Cultural Geography. 02/16/2012

Today was my first day of observation at Marquette Senior High School.  I observed Mr. Solinski during his first hour Cultural Geography class.  Class was to begin at 7:30. I arrived approximately 15 minutes before class was to begin, allowing ample time to observe the physical environment of the room. The walls were very busy.  In the back of the room was several race numbers from bicycle and running races that Mr. Solinski had previously competed in. Above the door was a large fish on a mount; at his desk was a picture of himself catching that fish. A poster near his desk was of a Detroit Red Wings player. He had several other decorations which helped define his personality.

A few students started to fill in the empty seats of the class before I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Solinski in person. I didn’t speak to them as we were on opposite sides of the room, however I overheard a conversation between two girls.

Girl 1: “Oh my god, I love your shirt” (her t-shirt covered only one shoulder).

Girl 2: “Thanks, I always get in trouble when I wear it”

As more students began to enter the room, I noticed a seating trend. The boys were on one side of the room, the girls were on the other. Mr. Solinski entered the room, and shortly after an introduction, I addressed the seating observation, asking him if they chose their own seats. He confirmed that they did. These students were all seniors in high school.

As my first day observing in a high school class, the scenario with the gender divided classroom helped me deny my suspicion that I can associate more with the students in the class than I can the teacher. I spent several hours of observing classes at Bothwell Middle School last semester, but found the high school to be an atmosphere I would most like to teach in. One of the main differences between middle school and high school, which I came to appreciate during my first observation, was that Mr. Solinski was able to talk to his students as if they are adults. In the middle school, the teachers seemed to subconsciously talk down to the students.

A short quiz was handed out at the end of the class. One student, seated in the front row, seemed eager to begin the assessment. Mr. Solinski joked with this student, “Andrew, you look like a dog who is about to be given a treat.”

After the quiz, the students were to begin silently reading. Some did willingly, most required some prompting. When the class was quit and reading, three students in the back row were sleeping. Again, Mr. Solinski had to keep the students on track. Frequent reminders of what they were to be doing were necessary.

Observation 2:

Sociology. 02/16/2012

I stayed in Mr. Solinski’s classroom for second period. He warned me that he would not be in the room. Second hour was Mr. Soinski’s preparation hour. Instead, I stayed in the room and observed a sociology class lead by a different teacher. When the sociology teacher strolled in with his mobile classroom (cart with a projector and laptop),  I had the opportunity to chat with him for a bit before class started. He told me that he is in his second year teaching, just out of Northern.

            We discussed to concept of the “mobile classroom”. It turns out he has to deliver his lessons in four different rooms in the school. He confirmed that the situation adds a lot of stress.  He needs to be even more organized and prepared than does a teacher with his own class. Nevertheless, he was appreciative to have a teaching job in Marquette so soon after receiving his degree.

Mr. Schaffer lectured from a PowerPoint for about 10 minutes. The PowerPoint presentation was a call and answer type, where he would ask questions, and the students would respond. It turned out that the PowerPoint was a review of what the students read (or didn’t read) as their homework assignment from the night before. It was evident that only a small portion of the students read the text from which the information came. Those few students were the ones responding to Mr. Schaffer’s questions.

After his lecture, he handed out a reading assignment, giving no directions. It was a long article which several students neglected to read. The title of the article is “The Nacirema”, by Horace Minor.  The Nacirema is a fictitious group, but the article closely relates to the American culture (notice the spelling of American when read in reverse). Horace Minor demonstrates that attitudes about the body have a pervasive influence in society.  

The article was difficult to read, and the students did not seem to engage into the story well. I believe Mr. Schaffer would have found more success if he would have implemented a before reading strategy to spark the interest of the students.  While they were reading he pointed out to me that it was Friday and perhaps he shouldn’t have assigned such a long read for his students.

After they had been given enough time to read, Mr. Schaffer helped them realize that the Nacirema culture is the American Culture. From the reaction of the class it was quite obvious that a large portion of them were not reading at all. I though the article was very relevant, but was poorly presented.

Observation 3:

U.S. Government. 02/16/2012

Still in the same seat in the same classroom, I remained present as Mr. Solinski regained his classroom for the third hour U.S. Government class. I was a bit nervous as I know my current event local and federal government knowledge is not up to par. Shortly after class began though, I came to realize that the class is more based on the history of the U.S. Government, specifics of the branches of government, and significant legal cases through time. 

With hardly any introduction to the lesson, the students began working on a worksheet that had been handed out on a previous day. They were talking amongst themselves but seemed to be working quite dutifully.  It wasn’t long before I noticed a pattern; the students in the back of the class were much more talkative and significantly less attentive to the assignment. Mr. Solinski frequently prompted to students in the back of the class to stay on task. They merely brushed off his request, and each returned to what they had been doing.

Those in the front of the class were asking questions as they worked through the assignment.  I overheard one student mention that they hoped to finish the assignment before the class let out so they wouldn’t have to devote any time over the weekend.

I found it quite interesting observing the students’ behaviors and listening to the conversations. The social groups that had formed within the class were very apparent.  There were the jocks, mostly hockey players. The gothic/punk girls in the back who were off in their own worlds. There were a small group of boys working together on the assignment, though hardly collaborating at all. And then there was the super group of girls, comprising of about one quarter of the class. They worked on the assignment, but the main conversation within the group was about clothing, hair and cosmetics. When Mr. Solinski tried to prompt them to stay on task, one of them usually responded with a complaint of how hard the assignment was. It usually came off in a flirtatious manner. Mr. Solinski brushed-off complaints and reiterated his intent.

In private conversation with me, Mr. Solinski addressed the fact that it was Friday and the weather had been unseasonably warm. Managing the class was exceptionally hard under such conditions. Regardless of whether or not the students took advantage of the class time to work, the assignment was to be submitted on Monday. That fact seemed to fuel the students who were actually being productive.

Observation 4:

U.S. Government. 02/16/2012

Directly after third hour United States Government was another U.S. Government class. It was interesting to see the same lesson presented again. The lesson however wasn’t much of one, besides a brief introduction to how he expected the students to work hard regardless of the fact that it is Friday and regardless of the fact that the sun is shining. This announcement was not given in the previous class. It seems that Mr. Solinski decided to try to prevent a wasted hour of casual conversations by addressing the issue before it arose.

I took the opportunity to talk to Mr. Solinski about the rules he stresses in his class. He told me that he doesn’t subscribe to classroom rules. In his own words he told me that he “prefers class to be less like a dictatorship and more like a community.” There were however a few rules in his class that the students were familiar with. They were printed on regular printer paper and posted on the white board in the front of the class in acronym form.

The first rule was DBD, or Don’t Be a Douche. In short, DBD was Mr. Solinski’s classroom requirement that helped prevent bullying and overall ensured that the students were kind to one another and to the teacher. The other acronym posted in the front of the room was ELE, or Everyone Loves Everyone. Again, this rule was established to help express the community feel he was going for, to prevent bullying, and to remind the students that they are all equals.

There is a cork board in the back of the classroom with a large header, reading Working Agreements. During the beginning of a previous semester, Mr. Solinski had his students draft working agreements. These working agreements, similar in nature to the two acronyms posted in the front of the class, were all conducive of a community atmosphere. Mr. Solinski confirmed that a communal class is the most successful and easiest to manage.

Near the end of the class period, Mr. Solinski reminded his class that weather permitting, they will be going outside during the advisory period which precedes fourth period.  He told them going outside was a compromise. It was a privilege that they had to earn.  He was willing to trade allowing them to go outside, for good behavior. Mr. Solinski then referenced how it was like the Great Compromise, adding a governmental correlation to the non-government related reward.

Observation 5:

Cultural Geography: 03/15/2012

            After a month’s leave from observing Mr. Solinski’s geography class, I was able to make a second visit to the High School. Today was a half day, so the class period was cut down to 25 minutes. Half days present a great challenge to teachers because the students seem to think there are no expectations from the teachers to be productive.

The students began to fill into the empty seats, a young girl asked Mr. Solinski, “What are we doing today?”

Mr. Solinski responded concisely, “Learning”.

Student: “Learning what?

Mr.Solinski: “Cultural Geography”

            As soon as the bell rang, Mr. Solinski asked everyone to take their seats and if there had been any current events anyone wanted to call attention to.  One student mentioned a headline about Afghanistan, but knew nothing about the story. Mr. Solinski had the Projector on displaying the image on his computer. He pulled up CNN’s website and found the related article. He didn’t seem to know about the story, but read through the first few paragraphs quickly, summarized the article for the students, and held discussion. 

He then did this with several other stories, some world news, some national, and some local. He also made it a point to express his disgust with the Detroit Red Wings current losing streak. It turned out that current events were a popular topic of Mr. Solinski’s Cultural Geography class. Three to four days a week class would start in a similar manner. This particular day was followed by a quiz, which I completed concurrent with the high school students.

Current Events Quiz #2 as it was titled, covered several topics that had been discussed both on the day of the quiz, and on days previously in the week.  Admittedly, I don’t follow the news close enough to speak knowledgably about current events, but by paying attention during that class, and a few educated guesses, I was able to fill in 2/3 of the blanks correctly.

Mr. Solinski chose a wide variety of topics from Chinese politics, American pop-culture and NHL record setting.  He strategically designed the assessment meet the interests of diverse students. This practice is important to conduct to help students find success.

Observation 6:

         United States Government: 03/15/2012

            Coming from the Industrial Technology wing on the opposite side of the high school, I arrived in class before most students. There was music playing from Mr. Solinski’s computer. I was not able to identify the artist, but the band surely cane out of the 80’s based on their traditional punk style. By the time the rest of the students came into class, the music was turned down significantly to a level which could easily be spoken over. Still a half day, it was essential that Mr. Solinski use all of the class time efficiently. 

            The first announcement that Mr. Solinski made was that the class would be taking a test on Monday (today was a Thursday). He then handed back a graded quiz from earlier in the week. As the third quarter marking period had been wrapping up, he informed the students that the exam on Monday would be the last one to sway their third quarter grades. The class then began a review sheet for the exam. The majority of them instinctively paired/grouped up with their classmates, opened up their books, and began working on the review.

Most of the students seemed to understand the importance of doing well on the exam to follow and dedicated themselves to committing the review sheet to memory, or recalling it from their memory. Mr. Solinski made himself available to the students by walking around the class, answering questions, guiding their quest for knowledge by finding information listed in the book.  I found it powerful how Mr. Solinski neglected to answer questions from the review sheet, but offered to help the students find the information. He did not allow the students to take advantage of his knowing the correct answers.

 Nearing the end of the class, as not to interrupt the review sheet the students had been working on, Mr. Solinski handed out a personalized rundown of where each student stood for the third period. The one page sheet included the grades of all homework, tests, and quizzes from the third period, and also which assignments had not been completed. Mr. Solinski impressed me by throwing a quick math lesson into the end of his class, helping the students calculate what grade they would need to get on the exam in order to be bumped up a grade or prevent moving down a grade for the cumulative quarter grade.

The Education program at NMU requires students to take a class on how to teach reading within other content areas. I think it would be great if we were required to take a course on how to integrate math into lessons from other content areas as well.  Many students do not see the significance of math, but if teachers can show them, they might start to get the picture.

Observation 7:

Cultural Geography: 03/16/2012

            Today is Friday and the cultural geography students also have a unit exam on Monday which will be their last grades of the marking period. The class is conducted similarly to the government class I observed yesterday. Students worked independently or in small groups on a review sheet for the exam. This class however was not working as efficiently as the government class from the previous day.

After several attempts to keep a particular group of students on track in progression of the review sheet, Mr. Solinski had to intervene and split them up. By this point, some students had already finished the review sheet and were quietly working on assignments for other classes or were reading silently. The girls who had to be split up had only filled in two blanks on a sheet of over 20.

By sending one girl to work on her review sheet on the other side of the classroom from where she originated, Mr. Solinski was able to almost entirely solve the problem with the unproductive girls. He explained quietly to me that she is the “ring leader” of that group and commonly removing her from the situation is enough to keep her and the rest of the “slackers” on track.

Nearing the end of the class, as not to interrupt the review sheet the students had been working on, Mr. Solinski handed out a personalized rundown of where each student stood for the third period. The one page sheet included the grades of all homework, tests, and quizzes from the third period, and also which assignments had not been completed. Mr. Solinski included  a quick math lesson into the end of his class, helping the students calculate what grade they would need to get on the exam in order to be bumped up a grade or prevent moving down a grade for the cumulative quarter grade.

This class was post ceded by an advisory period, comprising of mostly the same students that were in the government class just before. The advisory was structured similarly to study hall. There were few requirements from Mr. Solinski as the teacher. The students remained quiet. Some read, others had a snack and others took the time to quietly catch up with their peers and discuss/make plans for the weekend.

After about ten minutes of a surprisingly quiet class, Mr. Solinski broke the silence with casual conversation with the students.  He reminded the students that their good behavior is being noted and, assuming the cooperative behavior consists, they will be rewarded by spending time outside during the advisory period.

Observation 8:

Cultural Geography: 03/20/2012

As the first class of the day, Mr. Solinski is often responsible for delivering news from the administration to the students. He was given a bulletin to address. Mr. Solinski discussed with his class of seniors that they were to pick up their cap and gown sometime later in the week. Also, in correlation of the unseasonably warm weather, he addressed the issue of appropriate clothing. Clothing requirements were a non-issue for the boys.

The girls on the other hand were the source of concern. In reiterating the dress regulations, Mr. Solinski told his students he would have to crack down if the rules were being overstepped.  He explained how, as the first hour teacher, he was most responsible to regulate. If he were to overlook a dress code violation, the second period teacher of that student would know, and Mr. Solinski would be reprimanded for negligence. 

After these announcements and a few other of minimal significance, Mr. Solinski endulged in the daily current events by turning the projector on and scrolling through the headlines. One thing I noticed, having observed several of his cultural geography classes at this point, is that he deviates the source of his news. He has used CNN.com, Fexnews.com, UpperMichiganSource.com, and miningjournal.net. Doing so is very important, primarily because he is delivering the perspectives of several different reporters, some more liberal and others more conservative.  Students, people in general really, are very impressionable when it comes to news. I find it important to consider the source, and how they may try to give a one side impression of the truth. News can be misleading.

One article of today’s local news stories addressed the spring equinox. Though the news story was quite “fluffy”, Mr. Solinski ran with it by giving a mini lesson on the Earth’s axis, rotation, and revolution around the sun. His passion for the job really showed through here. He clearly hadn’t rehearsed the discussion on how seasons exist, but his strength with the content prevailed. After the discussions lead from the news, the students were released to begin finalizing a worksheet which had previously been administered. This took the majority of the class until the end of the period.

While the students were working, Mr. Solinski and I had an opportunity to talk. I mentioned how surprised I was in regards to the productivity of the class. He was sure to clarify that because it was before 8 a.m., most of the students were still half asleep. He assured that the same group of students would require much more attention to manage later in the day.

            Observation 9:

Government: 03/20/2012

As the students entered the class, they cwere asked to pull out their textbooks, “We Are the People”, and begin reading. Some of the students seemed to know where they were expected to begin from, most however brushed off the direction and engaged in casual conversations. Several minutes after the bell indicating the start to class rang, the students were very loud, many of them out of their seats sitting on desks. Mr. Solinski required that they return to their seats promptly, open up their books to page 537, and read to themselves. Within 30 seconds, the class was returned to silent and the students were either reading, or pretending to read. There was only one sleeper in the back row.

Mr. Solinski explained to me that he knew some of the kids were not reading, but most importantly they were not distracting the students who were reading. While the students were silent, Mr. Solinski took advantage of the time by preparing the remainder of the lesson on political ideology. There were several things in the remainder of the lesson which set me off. I think Mr. Solinski could have construed a lesson on political ideology in a manner that did not require the students to disclose their own with the rest of the class.

Mr. Solinski drew a scale on the board; Strong liberal, weak liberal, moderate, weak conservative, and strong conservative. The students were to walk up to the board, grab a marker, and add a tally to the political ideology that they subscribe to. The class was fairly evenly split, with most of the students either far left, or far right. There did not seem to be any concern from the student about publically defining their ideology, but I know it can be a very sensitive topic of discussion. I personally would not have been comfortable adding my tally mark to the board. Ones politically ideology should remain private if they wish it to. Just the same as I would not ask my students who they voted for, I would not take a poll of their political ideology.

They were then asked to answer a 21item, yes/no questionnaire in regards to their opinions on issues such as immigration, abortion, and war. The theory of the questionnaire is that each yes or no answer is assigned to the views from the left or from the right. I struggled with the idea of the questionnaire being very valid. After completing the questionnaire, the students were reassigned their ideology based on their answers.  They then erased their tally mark on the scale on the board from pre questionnaire, and moved it. The majority of the students moved their tally marks closer to moderate, as Mr. Solinski had predicted.

Observation 10:

Cultural Geography: 04/17/2012

Today was my day to present a lesson to Mr. Solinski’s first period cultural geography class. Last week, we settled on the topic of my lesson, the one-child policy in China. I was excited to teach this lesson because I knew there would be an opportunity for discussion based on the controversial nature of the one-child policy. I had no text to guide my lesson, so I began by educating myself. I watched several credible videos that I found on you-tube. While I watched the videos, I realized that information about the one-child policy was being presented to me better than I would be able to reinstruct the material to the students. I found two videos in particular that I thought could be the basis of my lecture. My lesson was falling into place.

As I organized myself in the classroom on the day of the lesson, several students confirmed with me that I will be teaching the day’s lesson. I overheard on students say, “Cool, I forgot a pencil today, but I’m sure we won’t need one”. I wanted to reverse that thought process. When the bell rang, I stepped in front of the class and announced, “The information I will be covering is significant and will be seen on the next exam”. I have no idea if it will or not, but from my intro, I was able to get the students to prepare to take notes.

I knew I did not want to stand in front of the class and lecture for too long, but there were several things I wanted to discuss with the class about the topic. I constructed a PowerPoint of only 5 slides to lead my lecture of introducing the one-child policy to my students. I started by addressing the rapid population growth from the 1940s through the 1970s. The key points of my lecture included What the one-child policy is, Who the one-child policy pertains to and who is exempt, Where the policy is implemented, Why the one-child policy was implemented, and How  it was enforced. I also took the liberty to explain the concept of ‘son preference’ which has caused a gender imbalance all over Asia for several centuries.

After my brief lecture, I played about 15 minutes of video for the students, which addressed the effects and controversies of the one-child policy in China. I suggested that they keep their notebooks out to help them follow along, noting topics of controversy.  I was happy to note during the video that every students was watching the videos closely.

After the videos the students were assigned articles with more statistics than the video provided. The students were to group up, share information from the articles, and compile a list of pros and cons of the on-child policy. We then had a class-wide discussion and compiled a master list of pros and cons. I was very happy with the lesson. Mr. Solinski expressed his feelings about it similarly.