Casey Marchant

ERH-411W

Blog #2

HR: Presentations in class

How can we connect?

The main expectation and challenge I feel that will be had in many communities is that kids don’t care or they are not motivated. There are different reasons that this happens such as the teacher may be boring, the material may seem to not be applicable, or they may have other things going on in life that may be distracting them. The task which is massively challenging is finding a way which shows the students the applicability of the material, motivated, and focused on the moment. The presentation brought up thoughts I had on my own experience and questions I’ve had on connecting with students in schools. During the presentation I heard plans and ideas on how to connect to kids but just like my own experiences in school I thought “How does this person know what’s best for me and my community?” No matter how qualified the person is to speak on the topic from the education what ends up matter to me the most is where is this person (the teacher/ presenter) present in my community. This is my experience and I believe that it is most students feeling as well. The teachers I receive the best are the first and foremost part of my community and they are invested in the community.  Ability is massively important, however, if someone comes from outside of my community to teach I am always skeptical. The presentation reminded me of my experiences and how this is challenging to educators.

As for the presentation and tour, I found that it was beneficial in that it put on display and explained things, in depth, which I see but may not understand fully. Regarding the aforementioned idea of needing teachers and individuals which are invested in the community for material to be interesting or seeming applicable, this tour and presentation perfectly drew me in. Although, I am not from Lexington specifically, my community is similar and has similar struggles. I am from Winchester, which is in the Northern Shenandoah Valley, and the information I heard is almost identical to what my home must deal with. Moreover, talking about collaboration with other institutions in the community demonstrated the importance of everyone getting involved. It is also an opportunity that can become an avenue for students to get involved in their community.

Last period we had a presentation by the VMI physical plant on recycling. They revealed the problems with recycling and the relationship regarding the topic between Rockbridge county and the Virginia Military Institute. The head of the recycling movement at the physical plant and her top worker presented statistics and facts on the amount of recycling at VMI. After sitting through the power point, they asked for advice and we gave informed perspective on what happens with recycling in barracks. The educated discussion eventually ended and we walked around post to witness firsthand the recycling efforts at post. I personally knew that there was recycling at VMI. However, I didn’t consider its importance until now. I think from the educated discussion we had, changes will be made in barracks to account for the lack of recycling rooms and recycling will be promoted much more throughout the corps. The lessons I learned from the reading and my experience is that expeditionary learning sticks and is an important part of adolescent learning. I would like to promote and implement it in some way when dealing with the kids February 11th.

My first visit for this semester is to a fifth grade class in Central Elementary school. I am excited to engage with the students on the topic of immigration. I am curious on how the teacher will cover such a seemingly controversial topic in the U.S with a younger audience.  My expectations of how the initial visit should go is shaped by my own memories of fifth grade and the reading we have read for class. I try to recall how I acted in fifth grade, attending an International Baccalaureate school in a lower income area. We had a mixture of students who were considered ‘high achievers’ that came from wealthier families and then there were students like me.  A student who couldn’t sit down longer than two minutes and liked to push boundaries by saying ‘crap’ to my teacher. My own memories of fifth grade are similar to the stories that Loretta Brady tells in “The World is Mine. Soon. I Hope. The Struggle To Raise Standards” of Hannah and Alfredo.  Hannah and Alfredo were students I was able to imagine at my own elementary and middle school. I am certain I will see students like them in my first classroom visit. My expectations will be a mixture of fifth graders who are acting out or actively participating for the new stranger in the classroom and quiet, closed off students as well.  I hope to observe how the teacher interacts individually with each student and adapting to better fit the students’ needs. I hope to catch a glimpse of my fifth grade class; a teacher acting as a lifeline for many students, saving them from life at home and giving each a chance to showcase their excellence.

Though the public schools in Virginia are reputable, my parents insisted that I would attend a private high school. Now that my high school years are behind me, I wonder how my education differed from my peers who graduated from public school. Now that this class is giving me the opportunity to think about education as a whole and visit the local high school, I am interested even more to compare my personal experience to what I will see in the public school classroom.

In Loretta Brady’s chapter of Journey through our Classrooms, she discusses her efforts to get her struggling students (particularly Alfredo and Hannah) to reach higher standards of education. The challenge before her was that these students lacked confidence and were low-achieving (Brady 2). Brady had two years to work with Alfredo and Hannah (4). Brady’s role as a teacher resembled one as a coach who had to instill confidence in her students because there was no denying they were intelligent and capable but they didn’t know that. Brady led Alfredo and Hannah to exceed their own expectations for themselves by providing them with projects and exercises that developed and focused on what they were already interested in and capable of doing (6).

In many ways, I see how my own education in high school was similarly taught by teachers like Brady. Essentially, my teachers had the same two year time-frame to work with me. My high school years were split between two schools, one in Wisconsin and the other in Virginia. Both schools prided themselves on offering a highly accredited superior education. In both institutions, I had teachers who wanted me (and the other students) to reach the greatest potential possible which required going beyond doing what I was comfortable with doing. From student-body speaking opportunities to essay competitions I had teachers and advisors who, like Brady, understood the importance of development through opportunities that built my self-confidence.

When Mason and I visit the Rockbridge High School classroom we chose, I expect we will see students at a variety of levels of accomplishment much like there is in any class. Teachers know their students are not all on the same level and must compensate to include every student. I hope to observe how the teacher includes every student so that they may succeed. In the end, I desire to understand how Mason and I can apply this mentality to reaching out to the students as well.

Throughout my time progressing through public schools and looking back on what could’ve driven me to do better than I did, I constantly find myself looking at the same answer I always get. That answer is that I lacked the inspiration to push myself onward in the pursuit of knowledge. Being part of the AIG (Academically Intelligent and Gifted) Program and not being challenged by any of the work the schools provided during the last few years of No Child Left Behind and the entrance of the Common Core Curriculum made learning seem like a chore and a punishment to myself rather than something to enjoy and strive to obtain more of.

Inspiration itself is what drives many students forward and leads to many pushing past the required education to pursue a college education. As I asked with Elise Sheffield in her presentation of PBL and the VA’s Learner Profile, “How does this new form of teaching incorporate a chance of failure that the student can see?” One of the leading creators of inspiration is through the fact that you can fail and continue to press on, and I personally feel that if I would have been allowed to fail more through my time in public school that I would have a completely different outlook on education that I currently do today.

One of the good things that I do see coming from Sheffield’s presentation, as well as the presentation from Michelle Caruthers, is that fact that PBL will be able to bring a more hands-on approach to the learning environment and allow for the students to become more active not just in the classrooms but in their communities as well, with one of the examples being the recycling issues in Lexington as Caruthers covered on Tuesday. I feel that this is a step forward in the progress of teaching and will lead to a rise in student morale greater than any lecture-based instruction block can bring to the table.

Leading up to my first classroom visit at Maury River Middle School, I am a little worried and enthusiastic. I know that as soon as me and my partner are put into the classroom that it is go time. It’s almost exhilarating because I will be put into a role I haven’t really been focusing on. Even though me and my partner are supposed to observe the first day, my drive and passion will encourage me to do more and fully engulf myself in the situation. I will embark on a journey of interacting with a range of different kids from all sorts of backgrounds. One thing in my own educational career is the impact that my teacher had on me when I was a student. I want to make a huge impact in these kids’ lives, the same way my teachers helped me.

Elise Sheffield in her presentation gave me the notion that kids are eager to learn and that they need to be stimulated in ways that motivate them. The process of teaching these kids must be interactive and engaging. These kids need to be in situations where there is project-based learning. That puts these kids in the driver seat when it comes to their education. They need to be able to make conclusions for themselves not what someone tells them they should know. I expect the students to be very cautious of me at first but hopefully they will open up to me the longer they are around me. My partner and I have already contacted the teacher of the classroom. We already know we have a presentation to give to the classroom. I am excited that this is my first opportunity where I will have complete control of the classroom. This will be our first real test when it comes to teaching these kids and we will make the most of this opportunity.