On Thursday September 24th, my classmates and I visited Mayfield Middle School. When we walked into the building we were greeted by the principal and his assistant. Walking into the school, I observed it to have a very homey environment. It had bright lights, welcoming posters, and children's art hung up on the wall. We were taken to the cafeteria for a brief information session about the school. The principal shared with us the school's three main objectives to have a successful learning environment: promote learning, monitor progress, and evaluate/reassess to improve. I think that those three objectives are extremely important for a school, so the teachers and students are constantly evolving and growing to their fullest potential. After the meeting we were all allowed to adventure around the school on our and explore different classrooms. I hoped on seeing how well the three main objectives were enforced and to see how they worked.
The first classroom I visited was a 7th grade Social Studies classroom. The classroom was set up in a group work setting, there were six groups of tables on the exterior of the room, with five kids at each table. All the desks were facing the smart board and there was a huge space in the middle of the room, maybe a space for all of them to sit together during a presentation or sharing of something. I observed that the teacher was routinely walking around the room, helping/checking every group. It seemed as if every group was focused and mostly on task. I was surprised by this because, at the 7th grade level, most kids would be tempted to talk to others in the group about non-topic things or mess around - something I have observed from visiting previous schools and own personal experience.To me, this set up of group desks, exemplified one of the three main objectives: promote learning. Having desks at groups allows others to discuss topics, build off each others' ideas, and then create one's own viewpoints. It really stood out to me that the teacher set up the room in this manner, because it showed that he trusts and believes his students will stay on task and collaborate properly with one another.
The next room I went in was a 7th grade Science lab. I noticed that the students were all over the place. Some kids were standing at the sink, others were sitting on top of tables, some were working on a worksheet possibly for the lab, and four kids were all at the teacher's desk talking about science I believe. The teacher was calm, helpful, and patient with his students who were struggling with the task. He possessed three vital skills all teachers should have. He exhibited the second objective the principal had mentioned, which was monitoring progress. The science teacher went around the room checking all the students' notebooks, asking them questions about previous topics, and helping those who were having a difficult time with the lab.
The third and last class room I visited was a 7th grade English room. When I walked in the noise level was pretty loud and the teacher seemed a little overwhelmed, I later found out he was a substitute. The substitute was attempting to keep the kids on track, but was very soft spoken. Three out of the five groups seemed to be off topic. Their normal teacher was in a meeting, but was called to come back to the room, to help the substitute and get the kids back on track. When the teacher came back on, she immediately addressed the noise level and even yelled at one of the kids saying, "You're on my list." (seemed to not be a good list to be on) The kids realized that they needed to focus up and get their work done, before it was assigned as homework. This situation reminded me of the third objective: evaluate and reassess. It seemed that the teacher should re-think what type of work to leave with her students, when there is a sub, because group work was not working out very well. The teacher handled the situation well though, and got them back on track, but for the future might have different lesson plans or ask the kids to behave better.
After observing all three classrooms, I realized how different each teacher is. Everyone had their own style that worked well and best for them/their students. This is significant, because it shows how all classrooms are different in their own ways, but all have the same objective. The same objective being, that teachers want their students to grow, improve, and learn.
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