Today marks the end of my first week in a middle school
practicum placement and I have survived! I’ll admit that I was absolutely
terrified to enter a middle school. My middle school years are not something
that I look back fondly on and I don’t have much experience being in a middle
school classroom. These students are foreign to me, they are so short and so
different from the high schoolers that I am used to observing. But like I said,
I survived, and I have a better outlook on middle school.
There are a couple things that I noticed and classified
in a Specific to Middle School list in my head. This list was started with the
fact that the CT told my TP and I that her students were ALWAYS leaving their
belongings lying around the classroom. As she said this, she picked up a stray
sweatshirt and placed it in a pile with a huge green binder that was waiting
for someone to claim it. Apparently this happens quite frequently in middle school
that belongings are left behind. I also noticed that a majority of the students
were writing in pencil. In my observations at many high schools as well as in
my college classes, pen seems to be the preferred writing utensil. The students
in middle school also do a lot more “self-policing” than in high school. By
this I mean, students are more willing to enforce the rules to their peers or
make sure that their peers are doing what they are supposed to be doing. For
example, in the class that I observed, one student was being gently teased by a
classmate, and a third party classmate shouted “don’t undermined his
confidence, he has feelings too!” This made me smile, because it was nice to
see students being kind to one another. My TP and I also noticed that at this
age, cell phones are not an issue. It is actually uncommon to go into a high
school class and not see one cellular device, but in middle school, this seems
to be the norm. The final thing on my list was that I noticed that students do
not need a bell to signal their dismissal from class, they wait for the teacher
to do it. This may be because the school I am observing in does not have bells,
but I’d like to think that the students are just polite enough to wait for the
teacher to finish her thought and tell
them that it is okay to pack up to leave.
Hi Courtney, glad you survived! Some of your observations are not just unique to MS, but to this particular school. ASFMS cultivates a particular culture in that students are explicitly taught to respect one another through methods like "accountable talk," which you'll hear more about in the upcoming weeks. Enjoy your time with the small people--their enthusiasm is infectious :)
ReplyDelete“don’t undermined his confidence, he has feelings too!”
ReplyDeleteWhere was this kid when I was in school??
Middle school classrooms are certainly a strange blend of things left over from elementary school, and things that will successfully continue on into high school. The schools we are observing now seem to transition students from elementary school to high school far less abruptly than I remember. When I got to middle school, the days of leaving sweaters behind and ever seeing them again were gone. Your classmates were no longer you heroic allies but your untrustworthy competitors.
Also, unlike the stark nature of what I recall from middle school ambiance, the classroom Kaitlin and I observed had craft remnants scattered about, they had just finished making masks and coloring things, and student school work was posted up all over the place. It was very inviting with color and educational materials everywhere. Students were up out of their seats and aloud to jump about.
AND, impressively, along with this elementary vibe, there were also a lot of high school style expectations concerning content matter and skill.
I think over the last few years they have managed to figure out a much better, more smooth, way of transitioning elementary schoolers to high school. The cut off is less severe, and therefore, no doubt, less terrifying.
It's so funny that you bring up the stray belongings because as I was walking to the classroom at the end of the day I noticed a huge pile of jackets, backpacks, and notebooks outside the boys bathroom. Thankfully I didn't trip. It was so strange to me that this is "normal" for students to leave their stuff in a huge mess in the middle of the hall way. Emmanuel and I looked at each other with confusion and kept walking. I feel like it is a safety hazard for that to happen but I guess I'm the only one.
ReplyDelete