Field blog Hathaway Brown 3

Today I observed a 9th Grade Biology Lab. It was taught by a teacher I hadn't met yet called Mrs. Spano, who I discovered is loved by her students. They were doing a lab on mitosis, to do this they were looking at some slides and working their way through a handout in pairs or threes. She then walked around the class helping students individually. Before this, however, she began the class by doing a short explanation of mitosis and of what they were going to do.

What I wanted to focus on in this blog was a conversation I had with one of the students at the end of class. One of girls whose mother works at John Carroll came up to me to ask if I liked John Carroll and to thank me for coming to class. She seemed genuinely thankful for me being there, which was odd but nice. She then told me how much she liked these biology lessons, what the classes were normally like and how often they had class. She explained that Mrs.Spano gave "the best presentations ever" and when I asked her why she replied that they were fun and interactive. She explained that the presentations always had fun anecdotes and pop culture in them and that she included the class in them rather than just lecturing. This seemed to get her very enthusiastic and really engage her in the topics she was learning. She then told me about the classes that were labs in ratio to the lecture classes and said that they tended to have lab every 6 classes. These labs, she said, tended to be more exciting and more in depth with a lot of joking. In essence this girl had a great classroom experience and loved her teacher.

Whilst I was talking to Mrs. Spano before class she told me about her feelings towards her class. She explained to me that this was her favourite class because they were fun and wild, but in a good way. She explained that she connected best with this class because they were freshmen and therefore close to middle school age. Mrs. Spano then told me about her teaching background, she started teaching in the middle school for a long time and then changed to high school teaching. She loves teaching the high school just as much as middle school but freshmen, she said, was a good mix.

I also spent some time in a senior class, but they were extremely preoccupied because today they had a pep-rally and carnival weekend going on. This is something the seniors planned and seemed to be an extremely exciting thing which all, students and teachers, participated in. This meant that most of the classes were extremely hyperactive and excitable. Something which I picked up on but also something the teachers worked around. They knew their students would be excitable and so did activities that made sure they were moving around a lot, they also didn't lecture very much and encouraged discussion. This made it a more friendly work environment and meant that the students didn't start to become agitated.

Field blog Hathaway Brown 2

Today I observed two classes, one of a junior anatomy class and the other of a freshman general biology class.

First I observed the anatomy class, this was mainly lecture using a PowerPoint and finished with half an hour reading from a book on anatomy. I have never seen reading a book used as a biology tool before so this was particularly interesting, because it was different. However, this was not the most interesting point that I saw whilst observing. As the PowerPoint was being shown many of the students had their laptops out, presumably to take notes. However, instead of taking notes a couple of them were looking at their social media, two were on their phone and one was somehow using her phone and on social media. This was amazing to me because when I was at school I wasn't allowed my laptops in class and if it even looked like you may be on your phone then you would be severely punished. This made me wonder, how useful is it for students to have their laptops in class? In reality very little I believe, they are less likely to concentrate and it provides a great way to be distracted from learning.

The second class, biology, in contrast didn't have their laptops or any other technology and were much more engaged with the class, not only were they engaged but their notes were more thorough. This suggests to me that, because there wasnt a distraction of the technology then they concentrated better and were more likely to learn more. The second thing I preferred about the biology class was that the teacher was perfectly happy to go off topic. They were talking about Blood Types and one child asked about why some people are sick at the sight of blood and others aren't, so the teacher went on a tangent to explain that. This engaged the students better and kept them focused on what she was saying, it also gave them deeper understanding about bodily reaction to external environments which is very important in biology.

Another thing that I have started to notice is that the teacher tries to encourage the girls to do their own work and praise them when they have done well by calling them "Clever girls". This is obviously to make them feel empowered and know that they are capable. However, for some reason, I found this particularly patronizing, but I am unclear as to why this is. However, the others in the classroom didn't seem to feel the same way, and therefore I think that it is fine.

Post 10

Throughout my blogs I have focused on teacher-student relationships a lot. Looking back at my previous blogs I seem to have put significant emphasis on teaching styles and the way teachers interact with their students. I think that this is because I believe that being connected to your students is really important for a students learning. The teachers that have been best for me, and the peers I have talked to, have always seemed to be those that connect to the students on a personal level.

This is particularly obvious in my blogs from my field observations, the teachers I focused on most and praised most were those that engaged personally with the students. This is especially the case for teachers who employed several different learning methods, such as by writing, hands on practical work, etc, as this engaged the students better than just using one style. The other thing I discovered through my observations was that I preferred laboratory lessons than lecture lessons, I thought they were more interesting and there were more opportunities to interact and connect to the students. Also the students seemed most engaged in these because they were actually discovering and seeing things for themselves. This engaged them in the topic better and therefore aided their understanding and learning.

My favourite blog was the one I wrote about what makes a good school because it shows me a core value I believe when teaching: every student is unique and must be taught as such. We cannot expect all our students to act and think and learn the same, therefore we cannot teach them the same. And I maintain the good school is the one that fits the student. It's a very subjective process.

I am not very good at reflective writing, because I don't really enjoy doing it. But I was impressed with myself because in most of my blogs I wrote a lot more than I thought I would. Having said this, I don't think I will continue this or use it in my own classroom. However, I know that some people do find it useful and as such if a student is struggling at all or I believe that they may benefit from this process I know I will have something that they can use.

Throughout writing these blogs I have discovered that although I love teaching I don't like worrying about the issues in teaching. I do like knowing the different options available but I am very person based, therefore I want my teaching to be solely student based. As such I find it important to know the different ways I could help my students but I do not find it important to worry about a lot of the issues because they are more institutional worries and I care more about the students I will teach.

Post 9

Good schools have happy, excited, learning children in them. That, in my eyes, is indisputable. However, the “good school” is the one that suits the particular child/group of children it is teaching. All children learn differently, all children thrive best in different environments. Therefore, it is my belief that a good school will look different depending on the child being taught there.

This belief primarily comes from my lived experiences and my knowledge of others’ experiences. In my education I have been to both Public and Private schools, I have been a day student, flexi-boarder, week day boarder and full time boarder, I have been to a co-educational and all-girls school, and I have seen students thriving and getting lost in all of them.

I know from experience that I do best in a small classroom, with more teacher interaction, which is why I got behind during Public school as there were huge classes. However, there were students there that did amazingly well and learnt well in a large classroom, where competition was higher for recognition and there were opportunities to teach material to those that didn’t understand.

I also know from experience that I do best as a full time or weekly boarder, this is because I can immerse myself better in my learning and I find it easier to do work at school than at home. I like the independence boarding gives you and the sense of family and community that come from it. At a boarding school teachers and pupils become more like a family, which aids the teachers understanding of the students and aids the students understanding of those teaching them. It also builds trust. Equally though, I have met many people who struggle under these conditions, these are the children who are homesick most and during their time at school, especially until the age of about 16, struggle being away from their family support network. This is perfectly fine, and normal, but for these people a boarding school provides an intimidating and counterproductive learning environment. A day school would allow them to learn with a school community but at the end of the day feel safe in the knowledge that their family support network would be in their home with them and they would be able to concentrate on their learning.

Finally, I know from experience that I need a co-educational school system to learn, my time at the All-girls school was terrible. I felt very enclosed, separated and lonely, because I felt like I was missing out on an aspect of life. To some degree I was, the knowledge of how to interact with the opposite gender comes from two places, home and school, without boys at school I found myself more scared of boys, almost intimidated. I also felt like the girls were at each other’s’ throats all the time and I knew that boys didn’t act the same. However, there were girls, and are many, that did fantastically. They weren’t distracted by boys, felt a security in having a group of girls around them and could concentrate and be free from worry.

The same can be applied to learning styles, teaching styles, space, location, and so on. In essence, education is subjective; I cannot describe a good school any more than saying it has happy, excited, learning children, because that is the only commonality. A good school is the one that suits the children learning in it.

Field Blog Hathaway Brown 1

I am spending my 10 hours observing at Hathaway Brown School. Hathaway Brown is an all girls school in Shaker Heights, well known for their science and maths programs. They are the oldest school in Ohio and it is a beautiful building. The school itself has a day care facility, early childhood education, middle school and high school all on the same campus.
Today at Hathaway Brown I observed two classes, the first was a Genetics High School Freshman class, the second was a Flower Dissection lab for the same age group. The first thing I noticed in the classroom was how small the classes were. The genetics class had 11 girls in it, which is considerably smaller than any public school classroom, but is similar to the class sizes I had at my school. The girls were asked to turn in their lab reports first in the genetics class but one girl said that she had completely forgotten to even do it, she was particularly distressed because it was the first assignment that she had ever forgotten about. The teacher, Mrs. McBeath, told her not to worry about it, but instead just email it to her as soon as possible. The rest of the class also comforted her and tried to make them feel better. This was good and it helped her calm down.
The comradary of the girls in both classes was an especially amazing thing to see, they all helped each other out a lot and were really into doing things as a group and helping each other as much as they could. This is good because it shows that they have been taught to work well together and these kinds of actions will help them in later life. They were very talkative but were well-behaved and participated in everything the teacher asked them to. They were also aware of Ohio Laws on education and teaching, especially comparing their school setting and a public schools', which is interesting because it shows that they are aware of the world around them, which many students are not.
In both classes the teachers used PowerPoint to explain their points and go through material. Some of the girls had laptops and used these to have the notes up on them too so that they could also make their own notes.
The genetics class started with Mrs. McBeath going through terms they had done last class and the students had to call back the definitions. This acted as a good review for them so they all remembered what they were doing before moving onto the Punnett Square. Mrs. McBeath went through the Punnett Square using a real life example of Mendel's laws and his pea experiment, which gave what they were doing practical meaning. They then repeatedly practiced this technique on worksheets that were given out. After each worksheet the class went through the answers and the Punnett Squares were done on the board.
Ms. Homany took the lab class on the flower dissection. Tables in the classroom had name tags on them, which I found interesting and I'm not entirely sure why they were there. The lab started by going through notes on plants that were made beforehand, the class followed using their lab notebooks. Each person dissected a flower of their own and worked through questions that were already in their lab books. I helped out one group who were doing a dissection and was amazed by the general knowledge they had and their proactive working. They all enjoyed what they were doing and were very diligent.

Post 8

This week we have been discussing many topics in class about the art of teaching. On Thursday we were discussing tests and their usefulness, especially regarding their reliability. It is my belief that the current climate in education is causing us to over test students, and to do this on trivial things which will be little use to them in the future. Therefore, I thought I would explain why I think this in this blog and what I think this means for society.

In essence, testing is good in moderation and when testing useful aspects. For example, testing peoples knowledge on things which they will use in their day to day life is seriously important. These are tests which are used to make sure people know basic Maths and language skills, sounds mundane and obvious but it is necessary. After this point testing becomes vague, and the knowledge subject to a persons future needs. For example, in a Maths class I learnt how to work out geometric sequences, which has no use to anyone except a theoretical mathematician. I was tested on this and although I could do it I will never use it in my life. Therefore the knowledge is useless to me, and the fact that I know how to do it, or not, is pointless. On the other hand, I learnt how to speak a little Spanish whilst at school as well, and was tested on this. I have many Spanish friends and family in Spain therefore I will use this knowledge a lot throughout my life. Therefore this knowledge and the fact that's I know it is useful to me.

It is impossible to tell what information is important to each person when they grow up and therefore we shouldn't expect everyone to know everything they are tested on. It isn't necessary. Therefore, we need to reduce the amount of testing to useful and necessary knowledge. If a person intends to go into a particular career they should be tested on their knowledge before entering the profession because this is useful and important to know if they have the correct knowledge.

At the moment society is stuck in a continuous test as we constantly assess each other's knowledge and fight for the title of the smartest. Eventually we will not be testing knowledge we will be testing peoples luck and ability to guess or regurgitate. This is not important in day to day life. We have to get out of the testing culture.

Post 7

"But the path to simplicity is littered with complexities. And I suspect that it is hard to figure out how to simplify our lives if we haven't cluttered them in the first place. Sure, we teachers clutter up our classrooms with too much claptrap. The fribble is often alluring at first, and it is hard to recognize that the more gadgets we rely on, the poorer we are - at home as well as at school." (119)

This passage is really good for two reasons, the first is the point Ohanion states that, "it is hard to figure out how to simplify our lives if we haven't cluttered them in the first place." This is an important point because it explains that we have to have cluttered lives to be able to simplify them. As a teacher, you have to try many methods, work out which works best in each situation and then simplify to just the techniques that work. But the important part is to try many ways and clutter to begin with, then to simplify once you know what works for each person.

The second reason it is a good passage is when she states, "it is hard to recognize that the more gadgets we rely on, the poorer we are." This is especially important in this day and age of science and technology, where everyone strives for more technological advances and uses technology for everything. At most schools the goal is to integrate technology into the classroom and use it as much as possible. In fact it seems that many believe that technology in the classroom is the key to successful learning. Subsequently, people are relying more and more on gadgets, which is reducing the amount of human interaction in the classroom. This is making our education more poor, although we think otherwise. Whilst some technology can be good it is important to have mainly human interaction whilst in the classroom, or else we lose a huge aspect of our learning. In school we learn subjects and discover many academic things, but we also learn how to interact with others, how to be polite and courteous and many others. In is this second aspect of learning that we lose when we over use technology, and this is a huge problem in a child's future. Without the ability to communicate successfully and be sociable a person loses many opportunities and it can create many problems in all aspects of their lives: relationships, work, family, etc.