ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL: MRS. LEADBETTER’S 10TH GRADE ENGLISH CLASS

RESEARCH CREATES GENIUS

Introduction to Field Work:

In this course me and my partner have worked individually and together in order to more fully research a new topic: how to teach. While this was a fairly new way of teaching for us, we have researched and learned. Just as we asked Mrs. Leadbetter’s class to do. But for our purpose, in this class we looked at John Dewey and how he created a way to make education evolve for the better. We researched how a different classroom atmosphere can change how children learn. This dynamic is called, “project based learning” and is being used more and more by educators; hence, why we studied it.

My partner and me (Tahvon Davis and Shamus Bartmess) had learned about project based learning in a classroom, but then had the opportunity to take it to real life practice. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 we were never able to fully complete that image. But when we were at the high school, we saw many things. One of which was our partner teacher, Mrs. Leadbetter. She was full of energy and kept her class entertained. She didn’t allow for a lot of messing around. It was incredible to see the teachers side of running a classroom. While observing her classroom we both got good impressions of her class.

(bartmess, sc): The class I never had to take. Some students finished their homework, others haven’t. She asks a lot of questions and many answer. She would read an excerpt from a book “Night” and have them analyze it. She goes over grammar based on the book. Around the classroom she has Shakespeare up, animal pictured, newspaper cartoons, cool quotes, 7 commandments of writers, etc. She keeps the class engaged by being a little goofy. I have found that to be a high school teacher, you must be a good actor. She is dead tire by the end of class, but keeps a smile on her face and stays busy. By watching and analyzing her movements, I am better able to prepare for when me and Tahvon have to teach the class. It will be challenging but we need to keep them engaged in some manner or another. I think we can pull this off.

(Davis, tg):

During my time in ERH 411, I learned many lessons about learning that I seemed to overlook during my time as a learner. While creating a unit to potentially help the children master the art of research, I had the privilege of witnessing two different classroom environments. The first classroom was an English Middle School class and contained many different types of children. There we witnessed attention to detail and care for the many different student types there. Mrs. Courtney Diette presented her learning style in a professional fashion and showed us what her children were working on. As my partner and I walked around, it seemed that the kids were busy writing letters to their congressmen about concerns they had in their town. This assignment amazed my partner and I, because we personally never witnessed an expeditionary learning assignment of this caliber. This assignment had meaning behind it, which I why I was fascinated by it. Unfortunately, my partner and I were forced to attend another class because our schedules didn’t line up. Our commitment to the middle schoolers would be interrupted and prove to be a drastic change in the remainder of our fieldwork career.

Mrs. Leadbetter’s 10th grade class replaced our middle school class and instantly sparked my partner and I’s attention. When she mentioned the kids were having trouble in their research, we immediately thought of ways to remedy this problem through our own experience. We created a unit that addressed the kids needs in research. The unit covered citations, structure and topic creation. I feel that we could’ve made a genuine difference in the class’s research skills if we were able to present our work; however, due to environmental circumstances, our ideas would forever remain unseen.

Classroom Portrait: 

This was written to show just how good of a teacher Mrs. Leadbetter was!

From the outside:

Rockbridge county is home to a new style of teaching/thinking for their teachers. This style of teaching is close to what we studied in our Field Work class. Rockbridge County is in the Shenandoah Valley in West Central Virginia and according to the Rockbridge county website, serves about 2,500 students. The area is predominantly rural and contains mostly farmers, artists, small business owners, military, and retirees. However, the area is plagued with an ailment that harms many areas nationally and internationally. According to the 2013 census, Rockbridge county maintained the highest poverty statistics in all of Virginia. Federal assistance is usually required in the community and free lunch is required for the children.

From the outside Rockbridge Country High School looks like a giant rectangular box. Then you realize that the architects who built it designed it to be that way which is smart because it maximizes space. As you drive up there is a football field with a black track around it. In order to get inside you have to ring a buzzer and sign in at the front office. This is something new to me because where I come from you can just walk inside the building and go right up to the front desk. Mrs. Leadbetters class seems to be very interested in English… well at least some do. Others are more interested in other subjects but that is how high school is. 

From the Inside:

Walking around you see many mascot paintings, and their school colors. Mrs. Leadbetter’s class looks tired and worn out because they are in the 7th period. I know by that point in the day I was worn out as well in high school. That is to be expected because they are the 7th period. She uses the project based learning in her class. That is one way she can at least keep them awake  and working. She has them learning to write a research paper. She would ask them questions such as, “how do you integrate sources?” and “How do you cite your sources properly?” Her class would respond and sometimes get it wrong and other times they would get it correct. But she would crack a joke and guide them to the correct answer no matter what. She would then put them in groups, give them prompts for their research papers, and ask them to start finding ways to research their topic and come up with a rough outline. The students needed a lot of help on their outlines. A big part of it was narrowing down their topics. But this happened all in due time. We asked our teacher, Mrs. Leadbetter about the demographics and she gave information much like that above. She let us know that poverty was one of the biggest challenges the school faced and that their learning had to adapt to those conditions. This factor about Rockbridge County; However, did not show at first glance. When we arrived in their high school environment, we saw a relatively normal scene. Once we entered the classroom, we experienced firsthand Mrs. Leadbetter’s teaching style. Within her teaching day she began the lesson with one topic and switched to another to cover more ground in the unit. Her children seemed to respond relatively positive to this method of teaching. Her environment was an example of the interesting culture that was Rockbridge High School. Prior to the visits, I would never had been able to see Lexington in that light. I see now that Mrs. Leadbetter’s Class, Rockbridge County High School, and Lexington has a whole had a unique story to tell.

This type of project based learning is coming to more and more classrooms nation wide. I believe that is has always been used (putting students into collaborative teams) but is coming more and more into the light with how good it is.

OUR UNIT:

For our final production for Field Work class, we made two different works which relate to teaching Mrs. Leadbetter’s class. The first is a brochure card relating to the models of excellence. Second is a powerpoint which guides our students through how to cite sources and integrate quotes.

Proposal for Writing a Research Paper:

During our time in Mrs. Leadbetter’s class we saw how the students were learning to write a research paper. We noticed how they were in most need of being able to learn how to narrow down their topics. We also were confronted with the idea of how to teach them how to insert quotes into the text, and how to properly cite their sources. We decided that the best course of action in this was to make our main focus on showing them how to insert quotes and how to properly cite their sources.

We decided to go ahead and make a slide show of how which discusses each of the points which I have just discussed. We found that by using papers of our own writing we were able to more fully grasp the concept of inserting quotes and properly citing sources. But we were also faced with the dilemma of trying to show them how to narrow down their research topics. In doing so we found a couple texts which we wrote bibliographies for and I shall put below.

These are our main texts we used.

Shamus Bartmess

V., Thomas, et al. “Writing a Research Article: Advice to Beginners.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 1 June 2004, academic.oup.com/intqhc/article/16/3/191/1814554.

This article would serve the class well because it is all about writing a research paper for beginners. It goes through and lays down all the issues you may come in contact with, while also solving those. In effect, creating its own research paper whilst still talking about how to write a research paper. It starts out talking about the aspects of which the paper should touch on. It also talks about three ideas which make the research paper, a research paper and not something else entirely. These are: “specificity… originality…. General relevance to a broad scientific community” (Thomas). This is good and all but the article goes into even greater detail. It gets into how the paper should be structured. It states that the structure should be, “the sequence of Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (sometimes abbreviated as IMRAD).” (Thomas). It also tells how the author should format the beginning of the paper, and the body of the paragraph. It does this for every paragraph in the paper. It provides a table which makes it easy to follow when setting up the paper and how to set it up. Almost, cheating because it simplifies the process so much, but would make the process easy to understand for a beginner. It also provides a list of common mistakes that people make when writing a research paper. This should help the author to not make these mistakes. All in all, this is a very good source which should be used by teachers and students because it makes the process of writing a research paper so much easier. It also is produced by Oxford University which is something to be noted. Oxford is one of the oldest and most recognized schools in the world; making this article trustworthy.

Tahvon Davis

Derntl, Micheal. “Basics of Research Paper Writing and Publishing.” RWTH Aachen University, swsu.ru/sbornik-statey/pdf/paperwriting.pdf. Accessed 1 Apr. 2020.

It is my opinion that the following resource would be a beneficial writing guide for the children at the High School. The article is by Michael Derntl a gentleman from a German university RWTH Aachen University. He was a senior staff member for the Advanced Community Information Systems (ACIS) and is the author of Basics of Research Paper Writing and Publishing. I believe that this article is beneficial to our lesson and to the students because it covers the fundamentals of research paper writing which include structuring, thesis’ and conclusions. He helps aid the reader in writing with visual representations of how a thorough work should be written and provides detailed explanations of why his methods are imperative when writing a strong research paper. The article also covers the editorial process and the steps that should be taken before submitting a final paper. His work fits our needs in my opinion because it addresses one of the more difficult concepts when writing. The concept that I feel should be stressed is the importance of narrowing down a topic to encompass a specific exigence that belongs to a larger category. This fact is shown by Derntl when he says, “The introduction leads the reader from general motivations and a broad subject to a particular research question…” (Page 107) The article draws references from many scholarly sources that study and evaluate the most efficient ways of writing. Due to it’s relevance, I think that this work will create an excellent base for our students and our lesson plan along with the article mentioned by my partner above.

Works Cited:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RWTH_Aachen_University

http://dbis.rwth-aachen.de/cms/staff/derntl

We used these slides and cards in order to teach our class. We were to teach them about research papers; mainly how to cite sources and integrate sources. But we found that the high school kids needed help narrowing down their topics as well. We tried to help them as best as we could. But due to COVID-19 we were unable to actually attempt our teach in. However, I do think this would have gone very well for us in the end.

But how to teach them, that would be the question. We had come up with a plan of what to teach them but nothing about how to do it. We decided to scaffold our power point and as we taught we gave them problems to solve and find a solution to them. Such as how to properly cite a book vs. a website. Or a way we could narrow down a research topic, or even how we lead into introducing a quote. We ended up scaffolding part of it and putting a guided instruction into it as well due to the time constraints placed upon us.

All in all, I believe that we were able to fully utilize what was given to us and make the most of what we had. We were able to come up with a creative topic and way to teach the high school children. I think it would have worked very well had corona virus not interfered.

My partner and I tried to create our design based on the criteria of EL principles, a set of Core Practices that were used in class. I think that my partner and tried to achieve many of the criteria in the EL-Education Core practices. Examples of Core Practices are as follows:

· Designing Projects and Products (14)

– While in the classroom, we talked with the High School students about their ideas on the topic templates Mrs. Leadbetter’s class. Our visits were short lived, but they carried value because we discovered the most important topics of our presentation. We were basically in the planning phases of helping them design their products of research which this principle says is an important aspect of learning and plays a large part producing something scholarly.

· Planning Effective Lessons (22)

– When my partner and I created our lesson plans we had in mind the professional advancement of the kids. We wanted them to understand the basics of research paper writings so that they could use it throughout the rest of their academic careers. EL Core Practices states that “effective lesson planning begins with crafting clear standards-based learning targets in student-friendly language.” (22) I believe that my partner and I achieved that in our PowerPoint and presented it in a fashion that is easy to understand. We set our lesson plan up so that there were practical examples and opportunities for the kids to participate which facilitates learning and improve the quality of the lesson.

These Core practices helped define my partner and I’s project and take it to the next level. I only wish that we had the opportunity to teach these lessons directly and that the kids got a chance to see our work because I believe that both parties would have benefitted from this endeavor.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19LIs2GrU_dTx5k9Zie3UL9a6navTnqk2AnIvoeha9sw/edit#slide=id.g7377446585_0_461

Final Journal Reflections:

Shamus Bartmess:

How can I be a good teacher?

This is a question that has rang in my ears since starting this class. I had no idea how much work actually went into being a teacher. But still, I wonder about how I could have been better at times. I have always struggled with getting out in front of people. I’m not comfortable in that position, but I forced myself to go.

How can I help these students?

The first time I was at Mrs. Leadbetter’s class I was shook at how the students acted. They were on their phones and seemingly not paying attention. But then she would ask a question and every hand would go up. How were me and my partner to compete with that. I was annoyed enough that they were on their phones and somehow multi-tasking. But it worked for them so I went with it. When we broke into small groups I let them be on their phones and answered any questions they had. They were much more awake and lively that way.

How do I plan a teach in?

Me and my partner had to plan a teach in for the next class. It wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to do but we got it done. We made a slide show and used our own papers from other classes in order to teach them. I believe that doing this would have helped us teach because it would have been nearer and dearer to our hearts. Unfortunately, the corona virus hit and we were unable to actually teach the class. I will have to keep my expectations of the class asking questions and being locked on high in order to teach them to the best of my ability. 

How did this class help me?

This class helped me understand just how much work teachers put into their jobs. I had no idea what the EL principles were or what PBL teaching was before this class but now I know and I am glad. It provides me with a new found respect for teachers. I think that me and Tahvon came up with some really good stuff that unfortunately won’t be able to be shared with the class… most likely. I am glad I took this class and learned a good deal while being in it though. I am grateful for the opportunity to teach in a high school environment and I learned a lot from it. I kept my expectations high and in the end was rewarded with positive feedback. I only wish I would have been able to stand in front of the class and teach them rather than having to try and teach them from behind a computer.

Tahvon Davis:

As a student anticipating my own classes and clawing through the everyday struggles of my cadetship, I didn’t imagine that I would be teaching a class. It surprised me even more when I was switched from middle school to high school. Mrs. Diette’s 8th grade English was entirely different from Mrs. Leadbetter’s 10th grade English and we had to adjust our observations and work direction for the circumstances. As I got to know the kids in Mrs. Leadbetter’s class a little more, I saw the brightness and intelligence that the kids possessed.

Mrs. Leadbetter’s class was structured around repetition and information being presented unchronological. So, I believe it was to our advantage that we only visited one time a week. My partner and I, during our time with the class, was advised by Mrs. Leadbetter that the students needed assistance in research writing. We mutually agreed that research would be a great topic to pursue. This was going to be our way to help the students. This added value to our presentation because research writing is required in almost all fields you choose to go into. In a way, we would be helping to establish the basics for the rest of their careers. This was our way of achieving our own goal, and impacting the student’s lives.

The world pandemic, COVID-19, put our efforts into a heartbreaking halt. We were unable to present our information due to the circumstances of the current Rockbridge High School. Mrs. Leadbetter explained to us that students there started to grow disinterest in assignments because they wouldn’t be graded. She felt that our project wouldn’t be worth presenting because the capabilities to see it were limited. Our news, although nerve racking, was understandable. I just hope that we can influence another’s project along the way.

I am a Teacher