Claire+Winship

ENTRY # 1: (2/19) On Monday I visited the Rainbow Mountain School. The school, from the start, had a warm and relaxed feeling. All the classrooms had individual entrances from the outside. I observed a 5th grade science class. Because one of my main focuses in observing is to see how teachers and schools teach conflict resolution, I played close attention to how the teacher dealt with the constant pushing and bickering among students. The teacher was a male that had only started 3 weeks ago. He seemed to be having a hard time controlling the class if 12 students. Because he was new the students were taking advantage of him for being in a fairly vulnerable spot. I think that no matter what the schools values are, I think this is typical of twelve eleven year olds. He simply ignored the student’s bratty remarks to him and other students. This made me feel a little bit uncomfortable so I instead focused on the decor in the classroom, which turned out to be more interesting. Another idea that I am focusing on is the curriculum in different schools. I tend to really appreciate the schools that steer away from normal curriculum because I feel that it does not teach people how to communicate and become aware of our connection with the natural world and other peoples. Just from the décor of the school I noticed that Rainbow Mountain was an advocate of these ideas. What grabbed my attention the most was that on the porch that all the classrooms connected too, there was an easel that had a large map of the Middle East with Iraq in the limelight. It was evident that they were studying the conflict in that area (which I still have yet to do.) In the classrooms I really liked how the walls were covered with maps and lots of little lessons or reminders. Some examples of hand made posters by the teacher and students said: “we believe we should be self reliant” “what should a secure person look like?” “noun= subject” There were also directional signs that pointed north, east, south and west. I learned that the students do not receive grades, nor are they penalized for not doing their homework. It is all about initiative. -I also really liked the way the classrooms were set up at Rainbow Mountain, you could tell that both the students and teachers had put alot of effort into making it a comfortable and inviting place to learn. When I went up stairs to visit the middle school the walls in the stair well were painted with an unfinished mural of the solar system. I was told the students were making it while they studied space. I didn't see anything about the middle east in the classrooms I visited, that sounds like it was very interesting. Emee Morgan

Entry # 2: (2/21) Today I visited the 3rd grade at Rainbow Mountain. I observed a music class that is called a "special". I enjoyed the 3rd graders more than the 5th graders because they seemed more interested in me. The music teacher taught his students a song in Hebrew. I learned the words translated to: "the world is sustained by three things: Truth, Justice and Peace. But the teacher did not talk about what any of those things were or how asked the children what they thought it meant. They also sang a song that went something like " I love the mountains, rolling hills and the daffodils..." The music teacher was a terribly awful signer and was not very nice to his students. I left the class with the students, following them to their PE class. On the way I found their main teacher Eddy mediating a conflict between two students. This is exactly what I had been waiting to experience! I stood back from the mediation and could not hear what was going on. After about 10 minutes they finished up. I approached Eddy and we introduced ourselves. He talked a lot about his philosophy with conflict resolution and about emotional development at a young age. I agreed with what Eddy was telling me and I felt like I learned about some new ideas as well.

Entry # 3. On this afternoon, we arrived at RMCS without an appointment and they were unable to accommodate us for the afternoon. While the rest of my group was being scolded for arriving with out notice I managed to have a chat with the executive director John Shackelton. He invited me into his office where I explained to him my interest in the holistic approach to education. We talked about the values of an integrated curriculum verses traditional liner education. We discussed the values of communion skills, conflict resolution, and service to the earth and it’s people at RMCS. In regards to conflict I the classroom, Shackelton states, “in a holistic environment the object isn’t classroom management, but the growth of the child and for them to be an active participant in solutions, not passive.” I wrote down almost everything he said and all of it is worth noting but what I liked most of all was how he ended our conversation. He opened his file cabinet and handed me a watercolor painting done a piece of printer paper. It read, “I serve your coming to know who you are, and then finding that which is greater than you and worthy of your service.” This what the teachers at RMCS believe in and teach by.

Claire, It's encouraging to hear how you were able to turn that situation around. You took personal steps towards conflict resolution and were able to have what sounds like an amazing interaction with John Shackelton. His (the schools) philosophy about education and its interativeness seems to fit in with Dewey's ideas. Mr. Shackelton followed through with his schools intentions by meeting you in such an honest and personal way. Was the painiting something he had made or was it the schools? -Laura

Entry # 4: (2/28) Wednesday was my first visit at Oakley Elementary. I Observed Jamie Harbison’s fifth grade class. She is a young, white, pretty lady who wares a large engagement ring next to her wedding band. Her class is diverse. There are about 20 students and about half of them are white and other half is Latino or black. The room had a chaotic feeling about it but Jamie’s voice is strong and demands respect. She mentioned to us (Sara and I) that she had just come back from her maternity leave in January, which helped to explain some of the chaos and clutter. It reminded me a lot of my firth grade classroom. There are six large windows along on wall that ran the length of the classroom. The room was brightly decorated. The walls are covered in posters that give definitions have mathematical and science terms. There are phrase limited and posted in the students cubbies that say things like: “climb high”, “go places” and “shoot for the stars”, all saying that I remember from elementary school. But different from Rainbow Mountain is that these phrases don’t really mean a whole lot, to me anyways. I can’t imagine a 10 year old making much more sense of it either. “Climb high”? Climb what high? It seems too vague to me. I think that the students should remember to “be patient”, or “use your words”. Simple, yes, but more clear. Every student had a water bottle. This really excited me! I never drank water or anything really through out the day until I was about 16 years old, and neither did any one around me. I learned that staying hydrated keeps you awake and being dehydrated makes you irritable and unfocused. I was very impressed that students were drinking. I am curious to know is that is a school wide practice or something that Mrs. Harbison introduce. Mrs. Harbison asked her students to silently read while sat with each student individually to go over a writing assignment. It was very difficult for her to give full attention to her student and also control the class. It seemed very unproductive.

I can really imagine the class you talked about at Oakley. It sounds fairly similar to my class in fifth grade besides the diversity. Am wondering what the actual class was like? -Rachel

Claire, its really interesting to read your observations of Mrs. Harbisons class. I think we get a pretty different feel about here. I admire your positive attitude about why her classroom might be cluttered and chaotic, i didnt give her that benefit of the doubt. I agree with your statement about the things hanging in their cubbies. They sound cute and motivational, but to a rowdy fifth grader, they probably dont mean alot. I agree with you that the way Mrs Harbison did things was unproductive, i wish we could go for a few more visits to other oakley fifth grade classes and see what those teachers are like. I didnt even notice her rings, good eyes my friend. I love you, sara rubin Entry # 5 Today I visited Mrs. Harbison’s class again at Oakley. When I arrived she was trying to gain attention from her students but seemed very frustrated. Her students seemed satisfied that she was struggling. Today I was rather flightily as there was so much disruption in the classroom. My attention darted back and forth from each interaction to the next. All the students were engaging in conversation with one another while Mrs. Harbison’s relentlessly hollered and stopped her foot in hopes to gain control. Her efforts were useless. It seemed as though they were all in it together. Some of them would look back at me, still talking to their classmate, I made me feel like I was being held hostage. What I found most interesting was that Mrs. Harbison’s used threats in attempts to gain control. She said that the guest speaker would not come tomorrow if they keep this behavior up. Her threats were clearly routine for, this is not even phase her students. Next she threatened to keep them all after school for it did not matter how late she stays because she "gets paid to stay here as long as she needs to". This comment threw me for such a loop. I saw it coming too. And I remember exactly how I felt when I was told his in school. This comment makes children feel that teaching is just another job and they do not really care about the children. It is so inappropriate on so many levels. This chaotic mess continued until we left the classroom 40 minutes later. Entry # 6 Today I visited a second grade classroom at Oakley. I entered where 23 students worked, at first glance, very diligently at their desks. They were working on math work sheets. Their teacher sat in the back of the room grading with out paying attention to the students. I noticed that only about half the class was working diligently. They were hyper focused on their work. The rest of the students either engaged in conversation or drew on their worksheets with their faces pressed against the desk. Inevitably, an argument started between two students whose desks faced each other. The boy was swinging his leg intentionally into her desk. The girl wined and threatened the boy but needed up and dramatically stopped over the teacher to tell what was going on. With out question, she looked at the boy, and pointed angrily to a seat across the room where he was to sit. He gathered his belongs and tromped over there. End of Story. This seems like a very passive way to management the classroom for both the students and the teacher. The students are not taught to solve problems. Entry #7 My first visit at the Buncombe County Community School was with MR. Lockhart, a 10th grade English teacher. His students were working on a research paper on energy use and its effects on climate change. He was showing “An Inconvenient Truth” to the class. He paused frequently and asked his students to take notes on what was just said, he was usually repeat the point he wanted then to take note. Mr. Lockhart was good about explaining the points or restating them to class after he asked them to write them down in their notes. His class seemed to respect him but they also seemed to be bored. His style of teaching was a bit drab and serious and business like. He collected the notes after class when the bell rang. All students left the room with out saying good-bye. Mr. Lockhart made sure to tell me that one of his students in the class was awarded by him with student of the month and praised the student publicly about his A average.

Hey Claire, I think it's funny that you found the students respecting Mr. Lockhart yet still bored, because when I went to visit a class with a different teacher, it was the same situation. Except my teacher seemed like he was trying to "get down" with his students. A little weird to be honest. ~ Sara Methven

Entry # 8 The second visit to Buncombe County Community School was with Mrs. Stamey. This classroom observation was definitely the most interesting of all my visits. It was apparent that she was close to her students just from observing her interactions with the class in the first 2 minutes I was in the room. She asked Sara and I to take a sit in the front of the class, facing the students. This made for a great view and more interaction with the students and the teacher than in any other classroom I had visited. We interrupted her sorta of giving a noogy to one of her students and talking to him on more of his level using slang or vocabulary that she would probably chose not to use with other adults. Mrs. Stamey continued to show us and also tell us that she was close with her students and that they respected her even know they had fun together. It was interesting how she talked about her students in front of them, telling us that some of them do not know where they are going to sleep tonight or what if they will eat dinner. At some points though, I felt uncomfortable because she was making me feel these kids were dying and I was just sitting there taking notes nodding my head not knowing what to say because I couldn’t relate. She also let us know that she was once like some of her students and I supposed that is why she was so close to them because they knew she could relate to them. Mrs. Stamey spent much of her class time explaining the school system and its mission and also her mission as a teacher. I learned a great deal that day and it stirred up more curiosity in me to learn more about the poverty and social issues in the area and how they have implications on student’s lives.

Claire, I loved this visit! I would agree with you, it was by far the most interesting and informative visit that ihave experienced in all of my observations. I think that the way we saw Mrs. Stamey teacheing directly relates to what Paley talks about in her book when she talks about recognizing students differences as differences, instead of ignoring them. These kids seemed like they really needed someone to understand them and know who they truly are and love them anyway, and i got a sense that they felt that way about Mrs. Stamey. I loved when one boy started talking to her about meeting his girlfriends parents, i felt like he really trusted her opinion and needed her advice. I liked the balance she demonstrated between letting the kids get sidetracked, but also bringing them back to what they were doing academically in the classroom as well. I think its schools like this and teachers like Mrs. Stamey that can start making a difference in the education in our society. I think its so true when you said the kids want a teacher they can relate to, it hink its true of every student. I know i wanted a teacher i could relate to. I loved loved this school. i love love you! sara rubin

Entry # 9 Isaac Dickson April 25, 2007 I asked if it was possible if I spoke with the guidance counselor so as I to gather a better idea of how the school teaches conflict resolution and communication. Sure enough there happened to be mediation session between five fifth grade girls with Mrs. Hayes, the counselor that I was allowed to observe. I went with Mrs. Hayes to round up the girls and we all met back in her office. The seven of us sat in a circle on the floor with a sheet of paper in front of us called “rules for fighting fair”. The girls at first seemed less apt to talk and share with me in the room. They began the session and some of the girls kept looking at me after they spoke as if for my approval. I would just nod my head and a smile, sort of encouraging them to continue. They became more comfortable but I still felt like I was a distraction so I retreated to the corner of the room so I was not right in the middle of it all. This seemed to help. Mrs. Hayes started by giving me the low down on what the problem was. The girls used to be all good friends but they began to gang up on each other and isolate one side from the other. The conflict was one that is almost expected of girls of that age. Mrs. Hayes talked me after they left letting me know that it is rewarding to work with kids in the third, forth, and fifth grades with these issues because they work hard to learn the steps to communicate. She said she often over hears students in the hall ways say “ lets remember number 3, “we listen to each other”. I cant imagine myself doing that in middle school, I feel like most students after 10 or 11 years old would mock the rules. During the session, each girl went around the room and chose which rule they felt that they needed to work on. They were then asked to explain what they thought that meant. For example number 2 is “we attack the problem, not the person”. Mrs. Hayes gave an example from her personal life. This made it easier for the girls to understand and also realize that other people are also working on these rules. It was easy for me to relate to them for I experienced the same issues during that age and through out middle school with my friends. The mediation was successful and they were truly interested in learning how to talk about their feelings.

Entry # 10 April 30, 2007 Today Mrs. Hayes was unable to met with me so instead I visited Mrs. Ray. Mrs. Ray is a forth grade teacher who ran a class of about 20 students. Her class was ¾ boys, which according to her, makes for a very different social dynamic compared to her previous years teaching fifth graders who were mostly girls. I observed during independent reading time. She told me that her main goal is for everyone not to give up and that meant that she sometimes makes separate rules or requirements for each individual need. She worked with 2 students independently; helping them read and makes notes, while others read on their own. The two students were black, one of which just recently made the transition into her class from a behavioral and developmental classroom. I learned this when she asked me if I had any questions. My question was how she dealt with communicational and conflict resolution skills in the classroom. My question was never answered but she went into detail about the diversity of the class. How some of her students have behavioral issues while others are ranked as “intellectually exceptional” according to testing done in the third grade. Our conversation was interrupted several times in order for her to maintain order in the classroom. She did so with a clam and paticent voice and the students seemed to listen and follow directions.

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