Sara+Methven

Hello Class! So my group and I went to the Asheville Christian Academy on Valentine's day and I was expecting to see a first grade classroom but considering what a festive day it was they weren't sure what would be available. And just my luck first grade wasn't available so I went to a fourth grade classroom instead. The teachers name was Mary Anne Davis. She was an older woman who was very very nice. Her class was about 15-20 students, predominantly white, all in uniform of khaki, blue, or white combinations. They were all well behaved and all kempt. All the girls had their hair pulled back neatly and all the boys and short clean cut hair. The only thing that was un-uniform like was their shoes, there were sneakers, slippers, clogs, and boots. But otherwise everything was really orderly. I got to sit in on writing lesson and the students were learning to write their own stories about the Oregon Trail and if they were to be a part of it with their family what would their story be. The each took turns reading in the front of the class and all the writing was done in neat cursive. As they were reading their stories and going over their spelling, I looked on the walls and saw that one wall had the prophets of the new and old testament on it. Another wall has psalms on it. Another had all the letters in cursive and the new and old maps on North Carolina. All their desks were set up neatly with textsbooks on the bottom shelf from smallest to largest and all notebooks and writing utensils were organized on the top shelf. As I was talking to the teacher, the students began to get a little rowdy and chit chatty but I think it had to do something with the fact that they were going to computer lessons next, which they mentioned was their favotire class. In that class they learned how to use the mouse more and they got to create little cities on the internet. One boy said, "two people displaying love for each other is just wrong!" and immediately following that statement he said, "I'm going to make scenes of Santa Claus being run over by a snow plow!" I seemed that the boys were at that age where they feed off each other for attention and being "cool." Also they did not interact with the girls very much, the two genders were very segregated. And the girls were at that age where they learned how to be overly dramatic and get grossed out by stupid things. My favorite thing that I saw that day in the writing classroom was that one child needed to go the bathroom so he put up one finger. I asked the teacher what that meant and she said that in her classroom they have a finger system so that when they need to get something they don't distract and interrupt the whole class. One finger up means that you need to go the bathroom. Two fingers means you need a tissue. And three fingers means you need water.

Sara: I like the finger system. It's kind of funny. Do they raise their hand with the finger up? I'm just wondering how the teacher would know when students were just sticking up fingers, and when they actually needed something. I vaguely remember in third grade tugging on an ear meaning that we had to go to the bathroom, but that seems even more illogical than sticking up fingers. I love the little differences like that between different classrooms.~Katie

Hello Class! On Wednesday, Feb. 21 I went to visit the Asheville Christian Academy. I thought to visit the first grade since I wasn't able to visit it the first time, but they weren't available again so I went back to my fourth grade classroom with Mrs. Davis. She was happy to see me and I just took the seat in the back of the classroom and observed. I came in right as they were start their bible studies. It was really interesting because I was never a part of the Christian faith growing up and watching how these children were being taught the bible. They were given a work book bible and a normal bible and they were to follow along. Before they started their lesson the teacher told them all to bow their heads and she said, "father this has been a crazy day, calm our hearts, soak it up like a sponge, we love you and want to learn from you, we pray to you Jesus Christ." I don't know why I felt uncomfortable as this was happening but I did, maybe because I wasn't part of this tradition or because I was never raised to do this, or maybe because of the kid in the back who kept looking back at me to see if I was bowing my head or not. After this was done, the teacher had a little question and answer period about their previous reading in the bible. I wondered if the older kids in the school had bible studies as well. As this was going on I watched the children to see what they were doing, thinking they were going to be paying more attention for reasons that they were discussing god and were to be more respectful in that sense. But this one girl who sat near me kept wiggling around and would sit on the floor and organize her desk, and at one point she covered her face with her bible and stuffed a huge piece of candy in her mouth and kept the bible there until she finished eating. I also noticed today that the children were especially rowdy and restless. After bible studies, the computer teacher came to take them to class, but it wasn't the original computer teacher, it was a substitute teacher. All the kids were really excited about this. We got in single file line and the teacher said that everybody has to be quiet in the halls and to stay in line. The children were no obeying the rules and the teacher kept stopping and talking to the class and telling them that they were holding up the class time. To one girl she told her to hold her hand over the mouth and keep it there until we reached class, she wanted to her to keep her mouth shut.

Hello Class! On Friday, Feb. 23 I went to my last observation at Asheville Christian Academy. When I got there I was a little confused because there was nobody in uniform, I asked the teacher what that was all about and she said that it was casual Friday or as they called is "Dress Down Day." So as I stepped into my usual fourth grade classroom nobody was there, they were all in music class. So I walked on over and sat in the back. They were to listen to a piece of music and draw what they think it is or what they see the music looking like in drawing. They were listening to Fantasia! I was so excited. I kept noticing the teacher picking on the boys. I was warned before entering that the boys had a little competition on the playground and a little rough housing went on, it delayed all the boys class time. The teacher said that all the drawings had to be done today at the end of the class period and that the boys had to have done extra good job on theirs. One boy came up to the teacher with what he thought was a completed product, he had left the sky white and the teacher looked at him and said that the sky wasn't white and that he has to take this drawing home and color it in or he will recieve an incomplete. After that we walked back over to the main classroom where Mrs. Davis is and they had bible workbook session. They were to silently work in them. One kid was done and she went up to the teacher and asked what she is to do and Mrs. Davis said that she is to sit in the seat and find something else to do while she sat at her computer typing away. One little girl came up to me and showed me a book she was making. She explained to me that everyone was making a story of their family and them on an adventure on the Oregon Trail and that it would get published by a real publishing company and get hard cover bound and everything. The teacher came over and told me how they used to make them themselves by hand binding them but then god gave them a better idea to get a real publishing company to do it for them. Mrs. Davis then assigned a girl, Michelle, to check all the girls bible workbooks and initial who got it right. And she assigned a boy, Lucas, to check all the boys workbooks and initial who got it right. I noticed that these kids got a little ego boost from this and were put in the role of teacher's pet. They told the teacher who got it right, who did it wrong, and who just didn't do it. From bible workbooks they moved on the math lessons. They were learning long division. The teacher put a problem on the board and a student was to come up and solve it. All the kids wiggled in their chairs, raised their hands, and waving them about furiously. A lot of kids claimed that the problems were easy when I knew some of them were having difficulty getting the problem. But it was really nice to see that when someone was having difficulty, it wasn't the teacher that went over to help them it was a student helping them out and explaining to them why it works out that way.

Hello Class! On Wednesday, Feb. 28 I went to see my first observation at Francine Delany. It was very interesting to go to this school right after being at Asheville Christian Academy, where all the students appeared to be white and of upper-middle class and then seeing these students who were predominantly black and what appeared to be of middle/lower class. The school is mostly set up like a bunch of trailor homes put together and they were split in half and made into classrooms. It appeared that there was not a lot of funding for this school but I honestly do not know the financial situation of this school. I would like to say that when I first walked in I felt umcomfortable. At first I was unsure where this comfort level was settling and for what reason but then I pin-pointed it. At ACA I was in a huge classroom with ten year olds who were fascinated by me, but here I was in an eighth grade class room. It was a classroom of nine hormonal fourteen year olds who did not really have an interest in the new observer in their class. I took my seat in the back of the class and observed Lindsey Hogan's science class. She seemed to be fairly young, mid-twenties.They called her by her first name unlike at ACA where they strictly called all adults by last name. There was no uniform or particular dress for the students, most wore jeans or sweats. The students are unable to sit still through the lesson, students are pacing back and forth. The classroom as a whole seemed unorganized and hectic. The classroom was no larger than Carson 12 and managed to fit a computer corner, a science lab corner, a living room/board viewing corner, desks in the middle for nine students, and a teachers corner, with book shelves in areas they could fit. Papers were splayed out on the students desks, back packs were all over the floors, binders out and notebooks open. The teacher seemed as if she was unable to sit at her desk and work on something while the students were doing their own thing, instead she had to keep her eye on every student to make sure they were doing their work and not fooling around. In class that day they had a project where they cut up a potato and one slice was a control, another was rubbed, and another was blown on. They were to see how much mold was to grow on the potato's after the teacher left them out after a couple of days and record the data. Then they study for their exam that they have tomorrow on AIDS. I was told by the teacher that this class period that I am visiting is more like a study block than an actual class lesson, she just goes over a couple of things. One thing I enjoyed the most about this class was seeing how this age group interacted with each other. It was obvious they were at that age where they tried to look good and were very flirtatious with each other and were really eager when they interacted with the opposite sex or were noticed by the opposite sex.

Hello Class! On Wednesday, March 7 I went back to Francine Delany, into the same 8th grade science class. As I walked in there was a sense of tension in the air. I was soon to find out what was going on, sort of. But I took my usual seat in back of the classroom and followed Lindsey (the teacher) carry on the lesson. Today they were working on fossils. For the past five days or so they had gone on an "archeological dig" and they had paper bone samples displayed on the student desks, they went around collecting samples and each day they recorded their observations of the fossils, what animal they thought it came from and why. So now it was time for them to come to a final consensus on what the animal was, why, and put the fossil pieces together on a poster. After the poster is complete they will informally present their findings to the class. The teacher told me that this lesson was their beginning introduction the process of evolution. Later on they will have a book that will explain it more in depth. It won't be a text books because they don't use text books at school, said the teacher. So as far as this tension that I was feeling, the boy at my desk had been semi-sleeping in the back and the teacher took him to the corner and asked him what was wrong. All he said was that he was having a bad day and he wouldn't answer any of ther questions. So she sent him to an office, I believe, to go talk to someone about it. He left for a while and when he got back he just sat on the couch and didn't say anything to the teacher and just shuffled through his papers. But the real source of the tension, I believe, had to do with this one girl who was really misbehaving. She refused to sit and do work. She would go to other groups and distract them or go to the computer and start playing games on it. She attempted to leave the classroom when the teacher wasn't looking. The teacher had to telling her on numerous occasions to sit at her desk and do her work. Finally the teacher had enough so she called her outside to have a talk. I didn't hear what was said except at some point the girl yelled at the teacher and told her to leave her alone and came storming the class, cussing under her breath, slamming doors, and stomping around the class. She even started stabbing her wrists with a pencil and banging her head against the wall, really hard too. She noticed me looking at her in a state of shock and she said, "What you lookin' at? You don't know me." I guess I shouldn't have been staring but I was beside myself with the way she was acting. The teacher came in and seemed distressed and called the person head of the school and called them to get the girl out of her class. During all this commotion the class just seemed really unfocused. As I spoke with the teacher it was hard for her to keep her train of thought. She continued to interupt and needing to tell the kids to stay on task. But once the boy with the bad day and that girl left, the class seemed to settle down and were able to get some good progress on their posters. My favorite thing about the visit was that the teacher had written a grant to the Pigeon River Fund and got granted money and supplies for a trout hatchery. It will be a school wide project that will be set up in the eighth grade classroom. Each grade will have other means for the trout, but the eighth grade class will mainly be in charge of it and through out they will be studying and recording the trout and learning about different bodies of water they could potentially live in. At the end of the year they will debate and have a vote on where they think it the best place for the trout and then they will go and set them free!

~Hey Sara, It is truly amazing how different our experiences were at the same school only a few rooms down. I was shocked to hear what happened and couldn't believe how upset the girl got. I wonder how the best way to handle a situation like that is? It is one that doesn't fall into the "normal" rulebook we learn about in education classes regarding dealing with upset kids. Its so hard to gauge whether leaving them alone is best, or putting your foot down is better. Either way, I think it is important with an 8th grade class to establish yourself as a person of authority in the classroom, without squelching the openness....it sounds impossible to balance it all. ~Megan

Well thats something different. It is hard to picture someone at that age group doing the things she did. I bet it was hard for you to focus and not stare, was it hard for the other students? I really think thats unfortunate that her behavioral problems have come with her all the way until eighth grade. I'm sure there is an explanation why she acts this way, maybe from a disability or because of issues at home. When the teacher asked her to do work, was she firm, or how did construct herself, did she let herself look frustrated in front of the other students? The second half of your observation seemed pretty awesome, I think that's great about the grant. Doing projects like that with kids, gives them the opportunity to see that there are funds out there to do things that you really start or work on. Well I'll see you tomorrow for our next observation. Marie Bourgeois Site B response

Wow Sara! i want to visit ACA badly after hearing your discription. I cant beleive the thing about the one finger two fingers three fingers, do you think it was effective? i wonder where the boy heard that "two people showing love for each other was just wrong" from...its amazing what kids can pick up from their surroundings, its also a little scarey. I wonder how much of their education is surrounded around religion, and if that impacts them. You write really well friend, i feel like im in the classroom! i wish i was, this sounds like it would be something else to observe! It sounds like the teacher was very kind and supportive of the students. I LOVE YOU FRIEND! Sara Rubin

Hello Class! On Wednesday, March 14 I went to my last visit at Francine Delany. After last times visit I was dreading coming to this one. I was in a panic and really did not want to encounter another scenario such as the one before. I stepped into the classroom with hesitation and found that most of the class was not present. There were only 5 kids there. I had walked in on a lesson where they were learning about what the West Asheville area was like 50 years ago. They were to figure out ways on getting information on the area if there was no such things as libraries and museums. Then they broke into groups and were to learn about the eras and periods and millions of years ago these stages happened and what happened in these stages. When they broke up into groups, the teacher (I'm not sure if it was on purpose or by accident) split the groups into two, boys and girls. But one of the boys refused to work with the boys and stayed at the girls table, I think he's the ladies man of the class, or so it seems to me since the last 3 sessions I have been there. At the end of the group work, the class got together as a whole and answered the questions together, going over it slowly and making sure everyone understands. As they were going over the different eras, the teacher asked them how they could remember them, she suggested neumonic devices. They were to remember Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. The kid at my table made one: Preview Pontiac, Mercedes, Chrysler. Another girl made one: Prada, Polo, Manolo, Chanel. I found it really interesting the cars and the brand names as their choices for memorizing the evolutionary eras. One thing that I really felt strongly today was that I wanted to go walk around to the tables where the students were sitting, I wanted to talk to them, I wanted to ask them questions, help them out, but I was nervous. I was scared. For some reason I felt as though I was going to be judged, riduled, made fun of. But really I don't know what I should care. If I plan on making this my profession I need to get over that initial fear and dive in. It will happen, I'm sure, but if I don't have that first experience I will always be worried and on the look out for it.

Hello Class! On Wednesday, March 28 I went to my first visit at the Asheville School. It was a little hectic because our class period starts at 1 while theirs starts at 1:30 so we were pressed for time, plus we by accident took the long way around to the school so pretty much we had only 20 minutes in the class until we had to get back in the car and head back to Wilson. I got to sit in on John Gregory's english class that consisted of juniors and seniors. Suprisingly enough the class was pretty much split 50-50 boys and girls. Looking around the classroom the students were dressed very, very nice. They all looked like there were going to go to a Bat/Bar Mitzvah. Pretty much opposite of Wilson students. Looking around on the classroom walls there were motivational posters, quotes from famous authors, art work from well known artists, and writing strategies. There was also a white board and a library of books. The classroom was focused on the big square wooden table in the center of the room with wooden curved chairs for the students to sit in. One thing to point out is that there wasn't enough room for all the chairs to fit around the table, so these two boys were sitting outside the class table area and it just made it seem as though they weren't apart of the class. There was no teachers desk that seemed apparent to me. Maybe it was hidden in a corner, highly unlikely, no corners were hidden. The teacher has a clipboard in his lap that he marks how many times each student spoke in class. Today in class they were discussing Conrad's Heart of Darkness and a critical analysis on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The students seemed to be very comfortable voicing their opinions openly and projecting their thoughts on the matters they discussed. They even asked questions to each other when they got lost along the way or if they were confused. There was one kid in specific who seemed to dominate the discussion. He was very eager to say what he found interesting or what he thought this particular passage meant. It kind of created this repetition of him speaking and not allowing others to speak up. Honestly, even I thought so, it got really irritating. There was another moment when a bunch of people were throwing a question around and this one girl tried to answer it and the class laughed at her answer. She seemed as though she thought it was really valid and the class pretty much laughed in her face. As I say through this class I couldn't help but think how it could be really nice to teach at a school like this. But would I really like it? I would have to follow a dress code and I would be working with kids who are paying $33,000 a year for their high school education. I don't know if I completely agree with that. Would it honesly be rewarding? I guess they are no different from other kids, but then again I feel as though education to them is being handed to them on a silver platter. There definitely are ups and downs to private and public schools. It's a matter of personal preference.

Hello Class! On Thursday, March 29 I went to my second visit at the Asheville School. Today was a special day because we got invited to go their sit-down lunch that the whold school (staff, faculty, and students) participate in. I sat the table with John Gregory again but with new students who were not in my previous classroom. At the beginning of lunch they were led intro prayer and then were able to sit. The head of the table was to serve everyone and they had students as the wait staff. All the tables were intermixed with faculty, staff and students. At the end of lunch someone made announcements of who got into what college. After lunch I was led to a freshman english class which was taught by Helen Plaehn and Jim Gardner. Helen covered the english section and Jim covered the history section. They were just finishing up the Odyssey by Homer and studying Odisseus and Socrates. The classroom was fairly small, much like the previous classroom I sat in on. The had stationed wooden desks that was a chair and desk attached, all set up in a circle. Most of the walls were covered with whiteboards or maps. The students were split about 40-60, girls and boys. The class overall seemed pretty relaxed and comfortable. The students were not shy to ask questions or voice their ideas. They seemed so intelligent for their age group and it seemed as though they put a lot into the thought process of the subject at hand. They even dared debate the teachers points and make a discussion out of it. I kept thinking how cute and young and awkward these 14-15 year old boys and girls look. At the beginning of class they went over what was for homework and they had a big screen projector that was linked to their class wedsite to show where they can find out all this stuff, such as upcoming projects and reminders of the sort. Then they went over the quote of the day ("Action is the foundational key to all success" - Pablo Picasso), the question of the day, grammatical challenge of the day, and the genious word of the day (Septum). After they got that out of their system they moved on the the class activity which was solving a mystery dialogue that the teachers were going to act out and the students needed to figure out by listening to the dialogue, ask questions to the "actors", discuss, and compare the discussion to main points in book. I got to be the narrator! One kid, after the whole dialogue and discussion, said in total seriousness, "That was like totally way over my head." I just found it funny...I guess not. I had an idea for our class. Instead of taking so much time visiting schools and spreading it out through the semester. Why don't we get assigned 3 schools and take 3 full days to see them. One day at each so we get a chance to be there in the morning then go to many classes, go to lunch and just watch the interaction of students in and out of the class and with other teachers and students. It's always so sad only staying for an hour. We should just make a day of it! What do you think???
 * Sara- That sounds interesting about the discussion in the class. It sucks that the students laughed at the one girl. I like how you thought about and voiced your feeling about the idea of teaching at a school like this.** -Elenore

Hello Class! On Thursday, April 5 I went to my final visit at the Asheville school. I sat in on lunch again and sat at the same table. It was still a quiet table but it was spiced up a bit because the teachers daughter was visiting today, she is three years old. The school was letting out for Easter break so everyone was really ready to go and get out of school, everyone had no uniform on today. It was still pretty nice but it was casual nice. I was talking to the teacher, John Gregory, and he told me that 65-75% of the faculty and staff live on campus and that 80% of the students are boarding and 20% are day students. After lunch I headed back to Helen Plaehn's and Jim Gardner's class. At the beginning of the class Jim stressed a concern that only 3 out of 9 kids in the class handed in their homework last period. Then they moved on to discuss their new book, Catcher In The Rye. Upon discussing the book, Helen made put two categories on the board, Childhood and Adulthood. The students were face with the question, as students at a boarding school and as teenagers, do you feel as though you are caught in between these two worlds? What makes you feel like you are in Childhood? What makes you feel like you are in Adulthood? For Childhood the students said the following: checks (constant monitoring), no cars, room inspections, blue line (divides the sexes in the dormitory, no trust), mandatory breakfast, no trips downtown alone, net classroom (parents can view students progress online), signing out, and demerits (rules and punishments). For Adulthood the students said the following: lots of work, laundry, own room (independence), managing their own money, grocery store/dining, and travel (especially for the internationl students). At the end one girl explained the the constant watch of school is what keeps her getting things done, I wonder how college will feel to her. Then a lot of the students agreed that before boarding school they had the dependence of their parents with money and food and such, but now that they are on their own, in a sense, that isn't the case. One girl blurted out that her parents still pay for everything while she is at boarding school. To this another girl voiced that this isn't teaching her anything, it's not preparing her for reality. She said that as kids they need to be taught not only the good, but also the bad, not selectively choosing what is best to teach the child, they need to see the broad spectrum of things. Moving on from this discussion the teacher brought about the concept of banned books and how Catcher In The Rye is one of those. They discussed the why this was, what effects it had on the students, the class, the school, society, and even in the literary world. One thing that shocked me was that a lot of these kids were born in 1993-1994! I felt really old!

Feeling really old! 4/16 LT

Hello Class! On April 30 I went to my first official visit to Bumcombe Community East. We went once before but they weren't expecting us so it didn't count because we never got to sit in on anything. Oh well. So I was sent to a Freshman English class with Mr. Loughmiller. When I came in they were reading Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes. I remember loving that book. I was so excited that they were reading it. I looked around the class and there were only five people! Two girls and three boys. On the front board there is a list with everyone's names and how many absences they have and how many they have made up. The rest of the classroom is very bare. On another board they have rules of the classroom: Use rest room before class begins, be in class on time ready to listen and work, remain seated where assigned, remain silent until called on (especially during test time), do the assigned work during time allowed, do not distract others, no cursing, no hats, no food, no electronics of any kind, no arguements (major concerns will be discussed in parent/teacher conferences). Outside the school they had a sign saying that this was drug free and gun free school zone. It seemed a little intense. The class that day was scheduled around reading the book outloud and then they would take a test on what they had just covered. One student is asked to read and she said she didn't want to because she couldn't read nor understand the big words. Another student kept replacing some words in the text with words he was familiar with and then other times would reverse some of the letters as if he had dislexia. The other girl didn't want to read the big paragraphs because she was intimidated. The teacher tried to relate the book to students current lives and keeps asking them questions relating to the book while helping them understand the material. Also they were not allowed to read the swears that were in the book. Like when they came across 'hell' they would say 'heck' and when they came across 'damn' they just didn't say anything in its place. After recapping their reading the teacher hands out a 20 question "quest" (quiz/test) and he also shows me the vocabulary sheet they have begun to work on so they can comprehend the book more. It was funny, when I recieved the book, I opened it and smelled the pages and it reminded me of elementary/middle school years...weird I know!

Hello Class! On May 2 I went to my last visit to Buncombe Community East. I noticed that the class had 2 more student in it. And nothing else had really changed. They were still reading Flowers For Algernon. But today the kids seemed very fidgety and restless. Maybe it was because it was so beautiful outside and they had to be stuck inside. Today I noticed that the teacher, when correcting the students while they read, was very aggressive and it seemed that the student just came out of it feeling stupid and frustrated. They would always stumble on big words but would never ask what they meant. But at the same time it seems that the students don't dislike the teacher, they respect him for the most part. But I feel as though he is very impersonal and not very invested in his students as for their outside lives. I found that the kids were also very distracted because there were people always passing infront of the door and kids waving into the classroom so they teacher would continously pace back and forth from the center of the classroom to the door and back. It was really distracting. I noticed that one kid in the front of the classroom was never called on to read while all the others got turns to read. Also I noticed that none of the students had book bags or notebooks in the classroom. Where are they? I was a little confused. The one thing I enjoyed the most was when this girl who didn't speak all that much raised her hand and said, "You can be smart in certain ways that another is not. There are many different smarts." With this the teacher said that he hoped that this be their one major lesson that they get out of this book and that he is proud of the girl for pointing that out. It was really a nice moment in the class.

Excellent work on this all semester, Sara! Congrats. LT 5/15