Field Observation #4
Middle School
Human Growth and Learning
April 18, 2007
Human Growth and Learning
Observation #4
April 18, 2007
ABC Middle School in Omaha, NE is a source for education, development,
personal growth, and identity exploration for the adolescents that attend. This middle
school encourages positive student- teacher and teacher to teacher relationships as a way
of improving its educational systems. This paper will discuss what was observed in ABC
Middle School on April 9, 2007 along with what is expected behavior amongst
adolescents of this age. Many of these observations and conclusions are based on the
ideas about child development of theorists Piaget, Vygotsky, and other researchers
including Tanya Goosev, author of “Help! I’m the Principal, Now What?”, an article
about Principal leadership in the Middle School system. A few areas of interest will be
examined: the setting of the classrooms, instruction of the classroom, the children and
their behavior, as well as other reflections.
Setting
The first impression given about the middle school is a feeling of openness. Right
through the front door there is a large open sitting area in the middle of two long, wide
hallways. The sitting area is located between the two hallways; similar to a street
intersection, on the opposite side of the hallways is the main office. The main office is
also very open, aligned with glass windows that allow anyone to see through the office.
This gives students, teachers, and visitors the impression of an inviting, open- door
policy. Many adolescents feel that their schools lack support and comfort which may
restrain motivation to learn. This main area gives the students and administrators a safe,
comfortable area to share. Adolescents need support and encouragement of student
interaction as well as student- teacher interactions.
The first classroom observed was a seventh grade algebra class. Immediately,
there were noticeable student- teacher interactions. The algebra class was set up as a
typical math class would be. There were rows of desks in the middle, whiteboard up
front and on the side wall. There was a teacher’s desk towards the other side wall along
with a couple of bookcases. However, one slight difference from a typical math class at
this level is that the students’ work was posted on the back wall. The students had made
colorful posters of tessellations which the teacher decided to hang for everyone to see.
Although this may not be unusual for an elementary classroom, it was a surprising
observation for a middle school math class. However, hanging their drawings had the
same purpose in either classroom, to encourage creativity and uniqueness, as well as
recognizing achievement, all of which are important for adolescents’ cognitive as well as
social development. By posting their good work, the teacher gives them a sense of
competence and pride in their work and encourages self efficacy.
Another interesting attribute of the classroom was a “Snapple Facts” section
toward the front of the room. This week’s particular Snapple fact was:
Did you know that koalas are the only other animal besides humans that have
distinctive, identifiable fingerprints?
Although this random fact seems more appropriately suited to a Science or Biology
classroom, it does respond to adolescents’ expanding abilities to reason, a vital task in
understanding Mathematics. Students may not realize their increasing potential to reason
and think abstractly, but aides such as this encourage them to practice using their abilities
without even knowing they are doing so.
The second class observed was a seventh grade English class. On this day, the
class was in the computer lab where they were typing fractured fairytales that they had
written the week before. The computer lab consisted of mostly computer desks in the
center of the room facing the front of the room where there was a large overhead screen
used for computer instruction. There were two windows in the back of the room along
with many extra chairs. The computer lab was pretty typical of most computer labs,
consisting of two rows of desks with aisles between them that allowed the teacher to walk
around and observe what they were working on. Since the room was probably shared
among most of the seventh grade, there was nothing posted on the walls or any other
unique characteristics to engage students’ attention.
Nature of Instruction
Perhaps one of the most interesting things about ABC Middle School is their
educational strategy. They use a “Pyramid of Interventions” strategy towards modeling
their policies as well as classroom instruction. This pyramid of interventions allows the
teachers the ability to consult each other with any questions they may have about
instruction, classroom management, or any other useful strategies. The teachers form
“Professional Learning Communities” where they meet to discuss what is working with
their students and what isn’t. During this time, teachers share information and lesson
strategies. One result of this “Pyramid of Interventions” is that the school has a “no zero”
policy. In other words, they will not allow a student to accept a zero as a grade. While
many of the teachers are not fond of this policy because they feel that it does not reflect
real- world survival, many of them agree that it forces the student to work through their
problems and get the job done. In Tanya Goosev’s article “Help! I’m the Principal, Now
What”, she explains that creating a pyramid of interventions and supports for students
leads to success for both the students and the faculty (p. 38). As a middle school
principal herself, Goosev realizes the importance of communication not only between the
teachers and students, but among the faculty as well. ABC Middle School has reflected
this strategy in their principal’s leadership where she requires the faculty to meet and
discuss students’ progress on a regular basis. ABC principal introduced the first teacher
observed as a third- year algebra teacher that the students find very likeable. She also
immediately exclaimed that this teacher was showing a lot of progress with the students’
test scores. Perhaps this involvement in teacher progress is a reflection of the pyramid of
interventions.
The seventh grade algebra class appeared to be a traditional classroom, where the
teacher did most of the talking, decision making, and was the sole authority. However,
the students did have freedom to discuss with the teacher or shout out any questions that
they had. Their freedom to do so did not appear to limit progress in any way; in fact it
kept the atmosphere of the classroom light and comfortable. The teacher did do all of the
instructing while the students took notes and asked questions. The teacher had one
female student come up to the front of the room and draw a slope on the overhead, an
activity from the previous assignment. As the student took her seat, a boy sitting beside
her asked for her help. By allowing the girl to demonstrate before the class as well as
help another classmate, the teacher is responding to gender intensification. The teacher
had the girl act as temporary instructor while combating certain gender “norms” that have
become accepted such as “women are bad at math”, a traditional gender stereotype.
However, in doing so the teacher also has the student form another stereotype by having
the female pose as the teacher, another typical gender role. This particular teacher
appeared to be very young. However, the students seemed to respond well to her. She
was able to joke with them and even relate to their stories, not only their questions. She
used relatable scenarios in her story problems. For instance, one story problem involved
an increase in basketball player salaries.
She asked, “What would be the cause of an increase in salary of Coby Bryant?”
The students responded.
Then she asked, “What would be the cause of a decrease in his salary?”
One student exclaimed, “A lawsuit!”
The teacher laughed and then asked the student to explain why.
The student responded, “When you see your favorite person doing something
wrong, you don’t like them as much anymore. So then you stop watching them and they
get paid less.”
By having this conversation with the students, the teacher was not only asking
them to evaluate cause and effect but she also asked them to evaluate a moral situation
out of a spontaneous remark. Instead of shutting the student down and telling him to
“talk about math”, the teacher chose to take advantage of the situation. Adolescents at
this age are going through Erikson’s identity versus identity confusion stage in which
they need positive experiences and role models to help them discover who they want to
be. At this stage, adolescents are trying to find their ideals and discovering what they
believe as well as who they trust. The students seemed quite involved while many of
them debated. The teacher quickly brought the discussion to an end when it began to get
heated, soon after the students were back to discussing math.
Later on, observation began in a seventh grade English class. On this particular
day, the class was in the computer lab typing “fractured fairytales”. The students were
asked to pick a fairytale of their choice then creatively change it to fit into either another
fairytale or a real- life situation. They were allowed to use comedy, drama, horror, or any
other genre of their choice. While some student wrote plays, others wrote poems, stories,
letters, newspaper articles, one student even wrote a rap song. During this lesson, the
students were asked to use their abstract thinking abilities and channel them into
something that they were interested in. Many of the students seemed to really enjoy this
assignment because many of them were getting up and sharing their papers with each
other.
This particular teacher was very easy going about classroom noise and behavior.
There were students in and out of their desks constantly but she seemed to do a good job
of keeping them on task. Some of the students also appeared to be quite close with the
teacher. They were referring to her any time they considered changing a sentence or two.
One student even commented on her outfit saying that “she looked nice”. Adolescents
need close relationships with their teachers. Students at this age develop an identity
outside of their family as opposed to middle childhood; they seek out adult role models
other than their own parents (Berk, 570). This teacher appeared to be very interested in
what they had to say, she also seemed to do a wonderful job relating to them, which was
surprising considering she was much older than the other teacher observed.
This teacher also appeared to be responding to the “no zeros” policy. One student
turned in a paper and asked her if it was too late. The teacher explained that she would
have to give her a late grade but she was very pleased that she worked on it until it was
finished. She then explained that she was hoping to see some progress in the students
work and that she had discussed with another one of her teachers and they were willing to
give her some extra help if she needed it. According to Goosev, this teacher was working
with her professional learning community (the other teachers), by collaborating and
discussing how to improve another student’s progress (p. 39).
Individual and Group Characteristics
Many of the students at ABC Middle School displayed obvious physical
characteristics of Adolescents. Many of these secondary sexual characteristics, such as
breast development, were obvious in the female students. However, many of the male
students appeared to be behind the females in physical development. This is typical of
adolescent development, where the females mature physically before the males. Among
those females that had matured, many of them appeared to be hiding or trying to hide
their breasts. Many of them wore baggy shirts and hooded sweatshirts. Although their
body image did not appear to be completely negative, their shyness toward their
development reflects typical reactions of early- to- develop females.
Despite physical differences, the opposite- sex relationships seemed very positive.
Peer support within the classroom appeared to positively affect the group dynamic
overall. There were students helping other students with assignments as well as
discussing social issues. Many students were excited to read each other’s stories in the
English class. While in the computer lab, a few girls seemed especially interested in one
boy’s fractured fairytale. At the seventh grade level, this is to be expected. An interest in
the opposite sex is probably a reflection of hormone development as well as a
combination of peer interaction. However, the peer interaction in the computer lab would
be greatly supported by Vygotsky, as students helped each other develop creative ideas
for their stories. While in the English class, the students were given the freedom to
explore their creative identities, a necessity for adolescents in this stage.
In the Algebra class however, students were moving on to a new lesson. While the
students were learning a new lesson about scatter plots, the students discussed the
influence that location has on temperature. They were plotting temperature in relation to
latitude. When given five locations, the teacher asked one student where he thought the
temperature would be the highest. Without realizing that the temperatures were an
average for the year, the student asked “What month is it?” According to Piaget, this
particular student was demonstrating his ability to reason and think abstractly, a growing
operation for students of this age (Berk, 552). By facing possible factors that may
influence a change in temperature, then coming up with a hypothesis for what would
work, the student used hypothetico- deductive reasoning. He realized that there was a
possibility for all of the locations to have that temperature but then was given more
information and decided that as an average, the real- world probability was only for an
average of one location. His ability to use formal operations in decision making strongly
supports Piaget’s pendulum problem.
Many of the students at ABC Middle School appeared to be respectful of their
peers and of their teachers. While in the classroom they were calm most of the time and
focused on learning. However, during passing periods both the male and female students
were very loud and boastful. During this time the students know that others are
observing them, especially their peers, and they become inflated and at times obnoxious.
This behavior is a reflection of the cognitive distortion of a personal fable that many
teenagers perform (Berk, 559). Interestingly, these students are just typical adolescents,
playing to an imaginary audience. This behavior is understandable and also fosters their
need to form their own identities.
Reflections
While observing at ABC Middle School, I became very interested in the behavior
and functioning of the students as well as the staff. Their Pyramid of Interventions policy
seemed to be working well for them. I found the staff to be warm and inviting to not only
to the students but to myself as well. The students seemed to be functioning and
developing normally according to standards of theorists Piaget and Vygotsky. Their
social, cognitive, and physical characteristics were typical of those displayed by other
adolescents. The teachers and principal I observed were extremely respectful and
receptive of the students’ needs and emotions. While observing, I began to remember my
own middle school experience. Looking back I see most of my teachers and especially
my principal as unresponsive towards my needs and feelings. I had negative feelings
about my middle school experience. However, now I see that much of my feelings may
be just due to the difficult transition that all adolescents face. After observing at Kiewitt,
I have decided that I am going to look into teaching middle school as well as elementary.
I feel that if I had the chance to make my students’ experience different than my own that
would be an achievement. Overall, I was very impressed with the teachers, students, and
faculty at ABC Middle School and I am very thankful that I had this observation.
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