Casey Marchant and Aaron Kempf

ERH-411

29 April 2020

HR: Observation notes and Field Journals. VDOE website (links in works referenced)

Classroom Portrait

The Classroom situation we are in is an Honors 9th Grade English class. The teacher is relatively young. The classroom itself is very laid back with an attempt to bring positivity and encouragement all over the room. Additionally, it is focused during class time but it isn’t extremely strict. The learner portrait is a bit more difficult for me to create as we really didn’t get much of any experience with the students other than a very short activity where the only conversation is on what they were learning and what the activity was. We can say that they are in an honors class so it is safer to assume that there is a little bit more motivation internally. As for what we saw, there was a significant amount of engagement and it did not seem like the students were interested in anything other than what was going on in class. From the start of the class to the time that we left everyone was focused and on the ball with the material that was being covered. Moreover, this is even more impressive as this class is the first one of the day and typically it can take a couple hours for the mind to really get going. All of the students seemed relatively competent in the aspects of what they are learning. Motivated, interested, engaged, and competent is the learner’s profile that we are dealing with. This may have something to do with what the teacher brings to the table Mrs. Holton is young and has had only a few years of experience. She is local both in where she was raised and went to her primary education and where she went to college. Being an alumni of James Madison University her life shows that there is a connection to the Shenandoah valley and Rockbridge county. Additionally, her energy and enthusiasm for her profession shows that she has a serious interest in educating the young people in her class. If she is apathetic about the progress of youth in the community then she hides it well.

Once we take a step back from the specific from the class room and look at the school as a whole we can start putting this environment into context. If you look at the statistics provided by the VDOE the SOL pass rate for Rockbridge high school is not bad. For all students out of the tested subject matters two have a 90+ pass rating, Two have in the 80s pass rate, and the lowest, mathematics, has a 77 percent pass rate.  Breaking these testing scores into sub categories based on race, gender, economic status, and English language ability there are some definite patterns. For example Black students perform higher in two categories but slightly lower in the three others. Economically disadvantaged perform lower in all subjects and hispanics and english learners score well below average. Females score higher. Males and whites score average in all subjects. These statistics are indicators that while this school doesn’t do terribly there are certain groups without a doubt need more attention. Finally, the amount of students that accumulated more than 7 unexcused absences in 2018-2019 in the entirety of the Rockbridge county school system numbered 65. These statistics, however, do not seem to affect time graduation rates or dropout rates terribly. This school is only slightly under the state average for on time graduation.  This number is not terrible, however, it is not great. It sets lower in ranking them other school districts but this is the raw number, meaning that it does account for the size of the districts. Unfortunately, we do not have the tools to calculate or find the ratio but judging from the raw truancy count this is only a minor issue for this school system.

Overall, Rockbridge county school and Rockbridge county high school is not bad but it also has some issues. Our judgement from our point of view is that it is a very average school for Virginia. That being said there is far more information that could be looked at to be more accurate but we simply do not have the time or ability to use it. Our classroom, however, was good and certainly can foster some great experiences and set students up for success well especially because it is a 9th grade class and can teach good habits early on.

Word Count: 732

Works Referenced:

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/sol-pass-rates/index.shtml

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/graduation_completion/cohort_reports/index.shtml

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/school_climate/index.shtml

As I look back on this semester in Fieldwork, I can certainly see different instances of academic development through the course of the class. In the first half of the semester, my development was based primarily around the fantastic experience of getting to teach in a classroom. Teaching a lesson in a Fifth-grade classroom opened up areas of development for me especially with regard to the use of rhetorical strategies to captivate the classroom. I found myself reflecting while I was in the classroom on some of my first classes at VMI, in which I learned basic rhetorical strategies. I employed those strategies, unwittingly at first, to aid in keeping the attention and engagement of the class. For example, using the “Think Aloud” method of teaching strengthens the ethos of the teacher by allowing the class to think that they are witnessing authentic invention of ideas. That authenticity engages the class and pushes them to think on their own.

In the second half of the semester, after the transition to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I saw another kind of academic development. I struggled to remain on top of the class in an environment in which I was no longer subject to a disciplined schedule or lifestyle. Academics in an unstructured environment were difficult for me, especially because I am used to the structure of VMI and the structure that I had in high school at an all-male military boarding school. However, being forced to maintain a disciplined academic schedule on my own became an enormous developmental experience for me. I realized that this is how most college students and all graduate-level students are compelled to conduct their work. Being able to maintain the discipline of VMI by my own means is a skill that I will have to learn if I am going to pursue education after VMI, which I would like to do.

So, my academic development this semester was both in (a) realizing and implementing knowledge from other classes within the English major at VMI and (b) developing my ability to conduct academic work outside of a regimented lifestyle.

From the Outside:

Rockbridge County, nestled into the breadbasket of the Shenandoah in mid-western Virginia, is the home of a particularly inspired and forward-thinking public educational program. This program is, of course, driven by passionate and informed educators such as Coleen Cosgriff, a fifth-grade teacher at Central Elementary School in Lexington, Virginia. 

Cosgriff, the subject of this article, has the opportunity to teach a very special group of students. The location of Central Elementary School, just within the limits of quiet Lexington, draws an eclectic crowd of students. These students might be called “city kids,” though Lexington is not exactly a bustling metropolis, but these small-town residents commingle in the classrooms with a few students from the rural surrounding areas of Rockbridge. Consequently, the student body presents a mix of students with both rural and urban backgrounds (and resources), a combination found only in such tucked-away havens as the Shenandoah.

From the Inside:

“Project Based Learning” by Suzie Boss, a textbook for the Fieldwork class and an example of Cosgriff’s technique.

Cosgriff approaches this diverse and unique teaching opportunity often by adopting a teaching style known as “project-based learning,” in which the instructor steps back and acts as a facilitator for the students’ owncreative thinking. Cosgriff responded to questions we posed to her in an email, saying, “I hope that when it comes time to plan their project[s] that they have a sense that I am stepping back and becoming a facilitator. I won’t have all the answers, but I will have some “tools” to offer. I will give them some ideas, but each class is going to have to decide what they do with their time.” In this way, somewhat out of the norms of traditional, more dictatorial teaching styles, Cosgriff hopes to unleash creativity and learning potential of each student in order to allow for their unique situations, thoughts, resources, and experiences to come forth into the classroom in a beautiful way.

A snapshot of the classroom depicting the class pet, a bearded dragon

This form of project-based learning is becoming more relevant in the thought surrounding education in the United States today. Coleen Cosgriff is leading the charge into a “hands-off” teaching style which may very well become the prevalent method of 21st century educators, all from her quiet station in Shenandoah.

Through the classroom visits, teach-in development and expeditionary learning experience as a whole, I learned a lot about the difficulties of teaching and communicating academic material that may seem a bit complex to younger students. In addition to academic and personal lessons, I gained a better understanding of my purpose and impact on the greater community, with the students, through health.

Through my initial visits, I witnessed the short attention span of the kids and their lack of attention to the main purpose of their homeroom, which is to get work done. However, towards the end of my first visit, the students were given the chance to ask my partner and I questions about any topic they wanted. Through those exchanges, I witnessed two things, kids who enjoyed physical activities but also individuals who seemed to be fairly overweight. I concluded that the only explanation for their negative health attribute must be a poor diet. Nutrition is something that I have become very passionate about due to my own experiences with being overweight as a kid. And so I ventured into trying to explain to these kids, through my teach in, the health lessons I slowly figured out for myself. The main point I wanted to get across was to always critically thinking about your food choices, or as I like to call it your fuel, and that different fueled effects different individuals differently! That is a confusing topic and one that not many individuals want to come to terms with, however, I believe it to be one of the most important realization in my own health journey.

I also gained a better understanding of my own limitations through this expeditionary learning experience. Even though I already understood the difficulties of communication, I figured out even more so that trying to convey a message, or lesson, to young students who are not familiar with the concepts is quite difficult. Also, trying to teach a complex health philosophy from a remote location is even more difficult. Specifically, it took me a couple drafts and revision with my teach-in in order to formulate my points in a way that young students should hopefully understand while also being entertaining.

Lastly, in addition to simply offering students’ new knowledge and different perspectives, I wanted to offer students these health perspectives to enable them to influence their environment, both within the classroom and in the greater Rockbridge Community. Through the knowledge and perspectives that I provide, hopefully, each student would take what they acquired into their communities and be a positive source of change. And if they don’t fully comprehend the points I tried to get across, then I hopefully planted a seed to be foster by someone, or some other experience, later in their lives. Correspondingly, I saw my influence in the community and the school environment as attempting to encourage or normalize conversations about nutrition, health issues and different health philosophies. I believe teachers and community leaders typically shy away from discussing these issues, like childhood obesity, due to the fragile self-esteem of young people, especially when the young individual is overweight. However, I believe that we should make nutrient and a healthy lifestyle a daily and common topic of discussion in the classroom to both motivate and educate students constantly on issues that affect them for a lifetime.

In the historic town of Lexington, the classrooms at Maury River Middle School are small, and the faces are familiar. The teachers stay incredibly involved, and know each and every one of their students personally. With Lexington being so small, teachers have the opportunity to get to know their students closely, and work together in the classroom. Throughout this semester, Mrs. Diette and her 8^th grade English students have given my partner and I an in-depth look at a middle school environment here in the Shenandoah Valley.

Kirk and I first started in a helper class during Eagle Academy time in the mornings. For the first hour of school, students sit in a classroom that most students would call their “homeroom.” For most students, this can be time to relax and get ready for the day ahead. However, for the students that need it, this first period is critical in making sure that they are understanding the content being covered in other classes and are staying on top of their schoolwork. Not only was this interesting to observe, but it was not something that was provided during my time at middle school. This first period proved to be helpful for the students if they used their teacher and her resource correctly.

In Mrs. Diette’s English class during last period, where Kirk and I spent the remaining of the semester, the classroom appears to paint a clear picture upon first glance. Mrs. Diette has the week carefully planned out on the white board in the front of the class. Vocab words, posters, and literary devices are scattered throughout the classroom’s walls. A mini library sits in the corner of the classroom with the quote “books are a uniquely portable magic.” Mrs. Diette is in front of the classroom giving an upbeat presentation with some videos and pictures, and will most likely break the students off into collaborative groups soon. However, if you take a closer look at the students, it paints a blurrier picture. The students cannot seem to stay engaged. The laptops they have open in front of them are probably open to a game, and not the given assignment. The students do not feel the want to participate and answer questions in class, and conversations are being secretly had in the back of the classroom. For the students in Rockbridge county, the majority of them do not seem to have the “love of learning” that one may be able to see in a different classroom or school setting elsewhere.

In 2015, the “on-time high school graduation rate” for Lexington was at 92.4%, which was higher than the national average. As well, over 75% of those on time graduates, went on to attend a four-year college. Based on these positive statistics, it is interesting how Kirk and I observed quite the opposite inside an actual 8^th grade classroom in Lexington. Are the laptops given out so early in middle school a distraction from the learning material? Is this how the last class of the day looks for a normal eighth grader?

The learning environment of a Rockbridge County 6th grade classroom is filled with group learning, guided discussions, independent learning, and lectures. Additionally, the environment itself reflects so many of the major characteristics suggested by EL Education and Project Based Teaching, such as classroom Norms and many displays of individual expression. Though the Rockbridge county school system serves as a place to unite all of students, it is undeniable each student comes from a different background. The Community Academic Research Alliance at Washington and Lee University conducted an investigation into these matters, and according to their report entitled, “Poverty in Rockbridge,” many of Rockbridge County students come from impoverished households. However, there are also many students who benefit from the surrounding institutions, being VMI and W&L, either directly or indirectly. Accounting for the differences in student’s backgrounds, teachers and administrators must understand this perspective when enacting different strategies within their classroom and schools respectively.

In our experience, working in Mrs. Dowless’ 6th grade classroom, Maury River Middle School understands that and does well with implementing strategies that connect the students who vary widely. For one, the teachers invest in their students’ success and constantly stay aware of the varying abilities of those in their class, focusing on those who need help while allowing those who are better off to conduct more independent learning. Additionally, the classroom environment itself is conducive to learning and interactive learning through the organization of the tables, easily moveable and put in small groups, and a classroom pet which makes the classroom more inviting. On top of that, the school as a whole does well implementing technology, specifically centered around computers, into their curriculum. They assisted those who may be less fortunate with providing loaner Chromebooks so all students can have the same educational experience regardless of their background. Though an educational environment may always have room for improvement, Rockbridge County’s Maury River Middle School is on the right path towards fostering success for their students.

With the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, everything has changed, for both us and our partner teacher. Specifically in the Rockbridge County environment, the movement from class in person to class online greatly  affects our ability to connect with students who may either need the extra motivation or have a poor home life and need a place away from home to do their learning. In addition to those factors, as mentioned before, some students may not have access to a computer or the internet at home, which again inhibits their learning. Accounting for those factors, teachers are working hard to figure out ways to circumvent those challenges. For Mrs. Dowless, she is currently utilizing google classroom to try and reproduce the positive classroom environment that she had at school. a completely new environment. As the pandemic continues on, this struggle will continue on and  the Rockbridge County school system will continually try to recreate the positive environment that they successfully create in their schools.

Works Cited

“Poverty in Rockbridge.” Washington and Lee University, my.wlu.edu/the-shepherd-program/academics/community-academic-research-alliance-(cara)/rockbridge-community-profile/poverty-in-rockbridge.

When first going into Ms.Dowless’ sixth grade science class, our priority was to focus on the classroom environment. We wanted to see how the learning process worked and connected it to our own experience of middle school. When we first were able to converse and interact with the students, it seemed like they were your normal middle schoolers. It can be easy for instructors to just do their job and teach their lesson plans, but will this be meaningful? Over our years within academia, we have been able to realize the teachers who had a more personable connection seemed to get more of our effort and attention. But in order to develop this personable connection, instructors must understand who they are teaching. Rockbridge county is very different than where we are from: Richmond, VA and Aberdeen, NC.

Well, at least that’s what we thought as we observed the landscape and demographic around us. Before doing research on Rockbridge county, we had an objective view that it was just a rural agricultural area, filled with a majority Caucasian demographic. By seeing a majority of Caucasians, we assumed the county had to be decently well off. After reading data from the U.S. Census and the Virginia Department of Education, we now know there isn’t that big of a difference between where we grew up and Rockbridge. The area including Lexington, Rockbridge, and Buena Vista have a median income significantly lower than the other parts of Virginia. In the city of Lexington, around 17% of the population receives food stamps from the government. Within the school system itself, almost 70% of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch and almost half are eligible for free or reduced breakfast. We are glad to have discovered this information because if we ever go into the classroom again in the future, there will be a different approach. We would talk to the students and ask about their lives outside of school. We would try and develop a relationship that shows we care if they’re experiencing hardships at home.  This is important to us because realistically students spend more time with teachers than their families. The connection between students and teachers is key, and it starts by teachers understanding where their students come from.

Casey Marchant

ERH-411

21 March 2020

HR: Observation notes and Field Journals. VDOE website (links in works referenced)

Classroom Portrait Draft

The Classroom situation we are in is an Honors 9th Grade English class. The teacher is relatively young. The classroom itself is very laid back with an attempt to bring positivity and encouragement all over the room. Additionally, it is focused during class time but it isn’t extremely strict. The learner portrait is a bit more difficult for me to create as I really didn’t get much of any experience with the students other than a very short activity where the only conversation is on what they were learning and what the activity was. I can say that they are in an honors class so it is safer to assume that there is a little bit more motivation internally. As for what I saw, there was a significant amount of engagement and it did not seem like the students were interested in anything other than what was going on in class. From the start of the class to the time that I left everyone was focused and on the ball with the material that was being covered. Moreover, this is even more impressive as this class is the first one of the day and typically it can take a couple hours for the mind to really get going. All of the students seemed relatively competent in the aspects of what they are learning. Motivated, interested, engaged, and competent is the learner’s profile that we are dealing with. This may have something to do with what the teacher brings to the table Mrs. Holton is young and has had only a few years of experience. She is local both in where she was raised and went to her primary education and where she went to college. Being an alumni of James Madison University her life shows that there is a connection to the Shenandoah valley and Rockbridge county. Additionally, her energy and enthusiasm for her profession shows that she has a serious interest in educating the young people in her class. If she is apathetic about the progress of youth in the community then she hides it well.

Once we take a step back from the specific from the class room and look at the school as a whole we can start putting this environment into context. If you look at the statistics provided by the VDOE the SOL pass rate for Rockbridge high school is not bad. For all students out of the tested subject matters two have a 90+ pass rating, Two have in the 80s pass rate, and the lowest, mathematics, has a 77 percent pass rate.  Breaking these testing scores into sub categories based on race, gender, economic status, and english language ability there are some definite patterns. For example Black students perform higher in two categories but slightly lower in the three others. Economically disadvantaged perform lower in all subjects and hispanics and english learners score well below average. Females score higher. Males and whites score average in all subjects. These statistics are indicators that while this school doesn’t do terribly there are certain groups without a doubt need more attention. Finally, the amount of students that accumulated more than 7 unexcused absences in 2018-2019 in the entirety of the Rockbridge county school system numbered 65. These statistics, however, do not seem to affect time graduation rates or dropout rates terribly. This school is only slightly under the state average for on time graduation.  This number is not terrible, however, it is not great. It sets lower in ranking them other school districts but this is the raw number, meaning that it does account for the size of the districts. Unfortunately, I do not have the tools to calculate or find the ratio but judging from the raw truancy count this is only a minor issue for this school system.

Overall, Rockbridge county school and Rockbridge county highschool is not bad but it also has some issues. My judgement from my point of view is that it is a very average school for Virginia. That being said there is far more information that could be looked at to be more accurate but I simply do not have the time or ability to use it. My classroom, however, was good and certainly can foster some great experiences and set students up for success well especially because it is a 9th grade class and can teach good habits early on.

Word Count: 732

Works Referenced:

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/sol-pass-rates/index.shtml

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/graduation_completion/cohort_reports/index.shtml

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/school_climate/index.shtml

During my last visit to Mr. Simms’ and Ms. Trombetta’s classroom I had the opportunity to lead a class discussion about what the students thought of lawyers. Did they see lawyers as amoral, greedy, manipulators who were willing to do whatever it took to win their case and make their money? Or did they see lawyers as advocates who pioneered for the societal issues they believed in fighting for? To be honest, the discussion was pretty painful. I barely got any response from the students and, no matter what I said, it seemed as if they had no idea what I was talking about. I think that the biggest issue with me just jumping into the classroom in the way that I did was because it didn’t match up with the way the classroom is traditionally run. It very much felt as if I had disrupted the culture and the norms held within the classroom. Just from my speaking to the class I could tell that the class took a more insular approach to inquiry, discussion, and instruction. I knew from my previous experiences with the class that they had experience with reflection and discussion, but in my experience leading that reflection and discussion I really struggled with engaging student interest and curiosity (there didn’t really seem to be any, honestly). I came away from leading that discussion with more questions than confidence. I couldn’t help but wonder, how do you engage with a student, pique a student’s curiosity or interest, if they don’t realize that they could be interested in the subject?

My own learning activity that would support my team unit would definitely be geared towards really trying to discover what the students would like to be involved in or learn. Ms. Trombetta’s lesson plan appeared interesting to me, and maybe it would have been more interesting to the students if she would have led the discussion instead of me, but in regard to this particular unit I didn’t see any student contributions to the lesson plan. That is the main thing I would like to include in my learning activity – student contribution. Honestly, I would prefer to simply have a conversation with students and hear about what aspects of their learning experience they’ve enjoyed most far in Mr. Simms’s and Ms. Trombetta’s classroom. I would like to create a big poster board on the wall with different sections including favorite topics, favorite activities, favorite forms of media, etc. I want to hear directly from the students so that we can work on something together. Sure, I would be guiding the students, but I would want them to know that they are the driving force of their own education. This way the class and I can have a starting point from which we can begin putting ideas together about a larger activity culminating in a goal of their choosing. Ideally, I would create a big poster board that would keep track of all of the brainstorming activities we would do so that we could keep track of our progress.