Introduction to Fieldwork

Over the course of 15 weeks the main goal for ERH-411 Fieldwork was to understand and comprehend the the basic tools and principles that go into creating and excelling in our new age of teaching and learning. In order to complete this task, we had to understand where the education system originated from. From there, we analyzed texts, articles, movies, and our own personal experiences to conclude and help realize where we wanted to take our journey in this class.

Once we discovered and formed a foundation within EL and PBL, we were able to venture out into Rock Bridge County High-School and view these learning principles in the atmosphere of Mr. Simms 10th grade Mythology class. The class did not have a specific goal in mind other than to learn and process the teachings of Mr. Simms. Our goal was to observe and analyze EL and PBL being used in real time in a classroom. In doing this, Aubrey and I were able to begin the formation of our fieldwork project.

 

Tyain Smith: Back in High School so exciting… My visit to Mr. Simms’s 9th grade English class was everything you could expect from a high school class. Kids sleep before class, on their phones, others are reading, but once the bell rang and class began, the students locked in for the most part. While we were observing the classroom, I noticed a few examples of the EL Education Design Principles like principle six “Collaboration and Competition”. There was not much of this principle throughout the class period due to the introduction to their new book. The examples that were present were one, the kids had an open discussion about the book and their perspectives of the characters presented. The other example of this principle was their group project they did in class. The project consisted of the children getting into groups and collaborating on how to draw the important scenes they have read so far. This is exactly what principle six means when it talks about the value of friendship and group action. The second principle that was present was principle two “Having Wonderful Ideas”. Throughout the open discussion on the book “Monster”, the teacher asked a few questions that sparked the creation of a few important ideas during class. One of the questions was “What is a Monster?” and one of the students answered saying “someone or something that causes fear and or fearful thoughts in other people ”. This was an interesting answer that I wanted to hear more about but the teacher went onto another student. While observing, I was also tasked with scanning the room for important visuals that promote learning. While there I saw a few paintings on the walls, the daily objective was written on the side of the board, books on the book shelf in the back, and a new and improved board made to look like a jail cell was hanging in the back of the room. Personally, from what I have viewed so far, I believe that this potential PBL workspace could go either way due to the participation of some students but not all. The teacher’s awareness and effectiveness to find what works and does not work with each student. I believe that if these two minimal requirements were met on a consistent basis, the atmosphere of the classroom would increase from good to outstanding.

 

Aubrey Butto: While I was observing Mr. Simms’s students, I definitely noticed how EL education principles were present in the classroom. However, those principles didn’t appear to have been harnessed and put into practice through PBL or EL. The atmosphere of the classroom was certainly welcoming, and the students seemed comfortable with one another and Mr. Simms. However, that comfortability was not seen when it came to the classroom discussion that the TA was attempting to facilitate. I wish that the TA would have encouraged this exciting energy that the students entered into the classroom with. I feel as if, by giving them laptops, turning off the lights, and merely lecturing and showing the students videos, the vivacity that they came in with became lackluster. It seemed as if they immediately disconnected from their educational experience as soon as they realized their course content was just being spoken to them as opposed to partaking in an engaging educational experience. Moreover, when the TA allowed the students to choose a story from their packet, she didn’t actually have the students read, she simply read the story to them. I know that if she would have encouraged the students to read aloud by either picking someone, letting them do popcorn, or even by letting them volunteer, it would have shown to the students that the TA believes in their intellectual capabilities; it would have been much more self-empowering.

Yet, even before the TA carried out her lesson plan with the students, I knew that PBL/EL principles were not in the forefront of her mind while she was working with the students. At the start of the class she simply handed the students a packet. There was no explanation as to what the packet was for, why it was important for the lesson, what the driving question, or purpose of the class was, or what it would “mean to know this.” These two insistence in the classroom – the TA’s neglect of outlining the lesson for the day and her lack of inclusion of the students – showed me that PBL is not a part of her teaching experience. Yet, I do think that the atmosphere of the classroom has potential for being a great PBL workspace. The students came in lively and excited, they all seemed comfortable with one another and the teacher, and they all seemed interested in the course content when they did get the chance to actively participate. With the introduction of the four strategies for building PBL culture, which are: focusing deliberately on beliefs and values, creating shared norms, implementing protocols and routines, and ensuring that the physical environment the students find themselves in is conducive to PBL, I really do think that these students could enjoy a tremendously enriching educational experience.

 

Classroom Portrait

Outside:

The Rockbridge County High School is primarily composed of students from both the Harrington Waddell Elementary School and the Maury River Middle School due to how the Rockbridge County High School serves both Lexington and Rockbridge County areas. The school, according to the VDOE’s school quality profile, exhibits a satisfactory performance in all areas of assessment except when it comes to students with learning disabilities who are struggling with math. Moreover, the graduation rate rests at 91.5%, which is not far off from the state’s overall graduation rate of 92%. The school quality profile does, however, also reveal one of the biggest challenges that the school’s students face – economic issues. In the Rockbridge Community Profile, prepared by Jennifer Borman and Daniela Leon it states that “According to the 2013 U.S. Census, median household incomes in the Rockbridge area were significantly lower than the rest of Virginia… and the United States.” They assert that “the area is not immune from poverty” and that “poverty in Rockbridge is compounded by isolation and relative invisibility.” The Rockbridge County High School, however, as evidenced through me and my partner’s personal experience and through the statistics reviewed from the VDOE, does an excellent job at providing adequate assistance to students so as to create a conducive learning environment for everyone 

Inside: 

Mr. Simms’s and Ms. Trombetta’s classroom most certainly exhibited the same uplifting energy that permeated throughout most of the school. Upon arrival to their classroom, the students were chatting excitedly with one another, Mr. Simms, and Ms. Trombetta. This particular class certainly maintained a positive classroom culture. Moreover, the classroom definitely reflected PBL and EL principles. This was evident to me as soon as I saw the students work on the walls and, moreover, when Mr. Simms remarked to me that he allowed and encouraged his students to assist him with curating the course’s content. This amplification of student choice and voice and Mr. Simms’s practice of identifying and discussing with his students “real-world issues and problems students want to address” certainly reflect the principles of PBL and EL education. Aside from the students holding discussions with Mr. Simms, Ms. Trombetta also heavily encouraged the students to participate in class discussion and collaboration. When I inquired about how she thought it would be best to conduct a class discussion, the first thing she wrote to me was that “it’s important to let students voice their opinions while also respecting their classmates.”  Sometimes you could feel the energy of the classroom shift throughout the class. There was one moment where they did an activity on the board and everyone was excited for it, but once they sat back down it slightly turned into a lecture that the students didn’t necessarily feed into. All in all, the class could reap the benefits of PBL further down the line.

 

Our Classroom Unit

For our final project we were instructed to create a unit based curriculum for Mr. Simms 10th grade class. We used an interactive learning PowerPoint and the “Model of Excellence” card to fully grasp the students into our unit.

 

American Myth Proposal

Summary

 

Freshman students from the Rockbridge County High-School engaged in a reflective and collaborative learning experience that focused on how they, as individuals, engage critically with the media that they consume. This project involved students breaking down step by step, how a critical analysis is conducted, and how learning these steps can help them both in their classrooms and everyday lives.

Over the course of this learning experience the students reached out to, and engaged with, the resources at their very own school. The school’s librarian assisted the students with their research on myths, how Americans have their own modern myths, and how myths may perpetuate stereotypes. The art teacher and several upperclassmen also helped the students with illustrations that would be displayed as their final project. 

For their final project the students produced a reflective essay detailing how their experience during their journey of reflection, class discussion, collaboration, and research or a short story depicting how myths still apply to modern-day along with an illustration for their creative writing piece. 

Link to Proposal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aTVBvP1b8TLCsmG-sE-VpHUpwZ4qk3RdTMFJFzn5lMo/edit

Final Journal Reflections:

Aubrey I. Butto: 

Throughout my involvement in Mr. Simms’s class I continuously learned more about the complexities of teaching – every time I thought that teaching students couldn’t get more complicated, it did. As I went through this learning process, however, I began to realize how awesome it was that these teachers got to play such a pivotal role in the development of these kids and I realized that teachers do so much more than just instruct the students in whatever is on the whiteboard. It was at this point in the semester that I began to ask myself, “If I could impart any knowledge onto these students, what would it be?” And, I realized that the answer to this question did not concern itself with any particular subject area; if I could be a teacher and teach students anything, I would want to teach them that it is possible to enjoy your education. EL and PBT, in my opinion, do their best to also teach students this lesson.       Furthermore, I think that staying open-minded is pivotal to having the capacity to love learning and, in today’s society with such intense polarization and argumentation, remaining open-minded can be terribly difficult. In the book “John Dewey and the Art of Teaching” it states that “thinking is inquiry, investigation, turning over, probing or delivering into, so as to find something new or to see what is already known in a different light. In short, is questioning.” This reading led me to believe that a teach-in on how to conduct a critical analysis of a text would be a great learning opportunity for Mr. Simms’ students. Teaching these students the process of how to conduct a critical analysis, what questions to ask, and the importance of maintaining “a degree of separation from our emotional and intellectual ties so that we can begin to see beyond the limits of our perspective and grow in our understanding.” While I’m not sure if that message truly reached the ears of the students, I think that even being able to instill this positive attitude towards learning in just a few students, or even one, would be considered a success.  

Tyain Smith: This course was an interesting one to say the least. It was filled with headache, long nights, and a lot of emails but it was worth it. It gave me the opportunity to analyze and reflect on my education system growing up and what i realized is that the State of Virginia has and is continuing to fail its students and teachers by requiring the same broad, general, and shallow information to be taught throughout the years. I also discovered that Expeditionary Learning is an interesting tool to use to connect with students. For it to work fully, it must be introduced at a younger age to avoid resentment. For instance, in my observation of Mr. Simms 10th grade class at Rock Bridge High School, the students did not always partake in the open discussions. Leaving the teacher to lead the class in the discussion and slowly turning the open discussion into a lecture. Another way to reach the students rather than starting the Expeditionary Learning process earlier, is to step outside the comfort box as an educator and try to form a deep connection to each student. For example, I was watching “Freedom Writers” and Mrs. Gruwell, or Mrs. G, began to take an initiative to connect with her students on a deeper level than the general teacher would. She gave them notebooks and told them to write whatever they are feeling in them and if they wanted her to read it to leave it in the room storage closet for her to read. This seems so minuscule and small, but it led to the students responding and respecting her as a teacher because she went out of her way to connect with each student. Going off of that, some EL principles I will continue to spread and embody are “Diversity and Inclusion” and “Empathy and Caring” not because I want to see the world become a better place, but because these are the basic principles to live by. I am not just focusing on color diversity either, but diversity in the mind as well. If we could focus more on these two core principles our education system could change.

Thank you.