Course Description: This course introduces middle school and high school structures and philosophies. Students will investigate appropriate school environments, activities and curricular organization aimed at meeting the range of developmental needs of early adolescents and young adults.

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Click here to see my presentation of what a “perfect” school is to me.

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Image of a Learner Assignment:

I come from a completely different background than most IPS students.  I went to a private Catholic high school in a rich suburb of Chicago, so when I first heard that our class was going to Shortridge, I assumed it would be nothing like what I have experienced. The text explained how they are young adolescents who have a million things on their minds; their bodies are changing both physically and sexually, and they have a hard time staying on task in class.  That description was exactly what I observed on my visit to Shortridge.  I did not have the privilege to see a typical classroom setting because my class was at a science fair, however during that science fair I saw everything I needed.  While making my observations, I tried to put myself in the shoes of a teacher and see if I could have handled it, and I learned a lot from what I observed.

The first thing that I noticed when I walked into the classroom where the science fair was held was that it was exceptionally loud.  My first impression was that this classroom was very unorganized because kids were running around, throwing papers at each other, flirting with each other, all while two teachers go around grading their science projects.  This made me realize that if a teacher gives young adolescents free time, or not enough attention, things will be chaotic.  There were also a lot of interruptions throughout the classroom.  I tried to pay attention to how the kids reacted to all of these interruptions and announcements, and they mostly ignored them. As our class discussions stated, the more interruptions, the worse it is for the classroom.  That might be why the students were too busy running around and playing with each other—because there was just too much going on.  However, I was pleasantly surprised on how organized and well thought through some of the presentations were that the students gave to me.  The kids that were acting out a lot actually gave the best presentations.  I remember one of the kids that was busy throwing paper around gave an excellent presentation on what household items will clean off permanent marker.  It was a very well thought out presentation and I was surprised about how excited they were to tell me about it. However, many students were still running around and goofing off, which raises the question of, how important is teacher authority in the classroom?  Are students still able to learn even though they are goofing around?  This tells me that the kids just have so much energy in them that they need to let it out, just like Vatterot states, and they will learn better after all of it.

What all of this tells me is that young adolescents are very eager to learn but they need as much structure as they can get.  I had the chance to go into an actual classroom for the last couple of minutes of my visit and listen in on a lecture the teacher was giving.  A couple of the males who were acting out earlier were fully engaged in the teacher’s lecture.  The teacher was very strict and was yelling at the kids to pay attention at first, but once he got their attention, they were ready to learn. This can be tied back to Vatterot’s definition of the teacher-student relationship.  He found, “That middle schools that nurture positive relationships among students and teacher reap the benefit of more students engaged in learning and consequently, higher student achievement” (Vatterot 84) .

After I got back from this visit and was able to sit back and reflect on it, I realized why the kids were so chaotic. They had a field trip that day, had just came back from a week off of school, and were trying to squeeze a science fair into their busy day.  They were so used to a routine that they felt like they were “free.”  I could see all of Vatterot’s points being made throughout the day, but it makes me wonder if they are only valid if they are on a regular day of school.  Overall, I learned that students might be thrown off task if they are not in their comfort zone or in a different environment.

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