Elenore+Vena

RAINBOW MOUNTAIN

The first trip we were supposed to go on, we got lost so we're making it up this Friday.

I went to observe Rainbow Mountain School. A major part of the school was a house which gave a very different feel to the place. We went to the office to check in as soon as we got there. The lady there was very nice and took us each to the classroom we were supposed to be in. I went to kindergarten because the pre-schoolers were having naptime the whole time we would be there. The first thing I noticed about the trailor that the classroom was in, was that it was painted brightly with butterflies. As I walked in, there were cubbie spaces for each student that held their coat, shoes and lunchbox. The room had many different bright colors in it. There were books on a shelf and blocks, fabric squares, and other toys on another. The whole week was spirit week, and the day we came was "spirit day" which meant everyone was wearing rainbow colors. None of the children had shoes on, but some were wearing slippers. The classroom was very clean. There were three or four tables that the kids did coloring and learned about letters at.I noticed that there were only four boys in the classroom, all of whom were still doing lettering while the girls (except one) were ready to move on. The first couple of girls that were finished writing helped the teacher by sorting the fabric patches into the baskets that they belonged in. A lesson was taught on the floor about India, which is what the class was studying at the time. When the teacher used big words, she explained the meaning of them to the kids. Despite the books and toys, there was no comfortable reading area or separated space to play. There was a small corner for dress-up. Most of the kids knew how to basically read. The whole school for the most part seemed pretty white. There were a few asian and hispanic kids, but no black ones. I couldn't really tell what the socio-economic status of the school or class was, but it was a private school. The students called the teacher and assistant teacher by their first names. When it was time to leave, the class sat in a circle on the floor, and the "special helper" of the day chose what the good-bye phrase would be. Then they stood in a circle and held hands. They sang a song about a circle and then the helper turned to the kid next to him(her) and made eye contact with them and squeezed their hand. This continued around the circle. When they were done the teacher dismissed each child depending on who was behaving. She said "adios amigo(a)" (which was the chosen saying) and they said the same, gave her a hug, got their shoes, and lined up at the door.

The next visit to Rainbow Mountain was still during spirit week. It was "kooky clothes day". Some of the kids had their pants on backwards and some were just wearing crazy clothes. The lesson began with the "special helper" of the day telling the rest of the class what the weather was. I assume we missed them checking the temperature because we came in once class had started. The boy said it was 60 degrees outside. The teacher asked what the temperature was the day before. He said it was 55 degrees, and they class subtracted one from the other. They came to the conclusion that it was 5 degrees warmer that day than the day before. When they were done with math/weather, the teacher brought out a large tapestry and laid it on the floor. Everyone sat in a circle around it. She explained that it was made out of pieces from Indian saris. She asked the kids to sound out the spelling for "sari" and reminded them of what letter they had learned that could also make the same sound as 'y'. The lesson was in part a spelling lesson, but also a continuation of their studies on India. The task was then to go around the circle and say what you noticed about the tapestry. You could say you noticed the bright colors or the square patterns or anything. Each child said something, and one girl brought up that a patch had the same pattern of that in a book they looked at. They compared the pattern which was a pasley. Once again they learned a new word that the teacher gave an example for. After that lesson was over, they were each given a coloring sheet with different sari patterns and were told to use many bright colors as the saris had these. When the clock said 2:00 everyone got in a circle and sang the circle song and did their farewell routine.

OAKLEY

When we arrived at Oakley, the first thing I noticed was it's size. The school is only K-5, but there are at least three classes of each grade level. I went to visit Ms. Beam's third grade class. When I entered the room, I noticed how well behaved the kids were especially for being third graders. The teacher was preparing the students for standardized testing by reviewing spelling words. The kids were spelling the words out loud- spelling bee style. The class had one of the classic systems of behavior modification. It was something where their names were on clothespins and there were three levels of behavior that the clothespins could be on. There were several helpers of the day that would pass out papers etc... One corner was set aside for reading and a shelf was filled with great board games. Many books had been put on a shelf that were related to black history for February. A large arched window took up most of one of the walls that let in a lot of light. On the walls around the room was the alphabet and under each letter were words that began with the letter. Maps and posters, a tv and vcr, the teacher's certificates, and the American flag decorated the walls. Every child had an individual desk and cubby that things could be kept in as well as an individual coat hanger. A bookshelf had several tubs of math activities as well as number chips and colored blocks. The teacher began to read to the class a story. When she came to a vocabulary word that they had been working on, she would point it out and ask a student what it meant. In between paragraphs she would call a table number to go take a bathroom and water break. The students were also allowed to have water bottles on their desk during class. After story time it was time for the class to go outside. We followed. As soon as they got outside, they had to run/walk three laps. The teacher explained that this was required of all the students in the school as soon as they went outside. She said otherwise some of the students would just sit the whole recess. This was shocking to me. When they were done they could play unless they were in trouble, and then they had to continue doing laps the entire time. I found it interesting that excercise was used as punishment. I also noticed that the three kids still doing laps were minority boys. Ms. Beam told us that the school had a lot of students from immigrant families from Mexico and Moldova that were in the ESL program.

On our second visit to Oakley we observed the third graders music class. **THIS IS NEW STARTING HERE.** It was around St. Patrick's Day when we visited the third grade music class. The teacher was talking with the students about St. Patrick's Day. The kids all sat on the floor, and the teacher sat in a chair. She had them get books out. There were bookshelves around the room with different music text books on them. They were organized by level. when all the kids had their books open to a certain song, the teacher explained the legend behind St. Patrick and talked a little about the song they were about to hear. She said that it was an Irish folk song and explained a little about folk songs. When the main part of the lesson was over, they listened to the song on a cd, and then sang along with the music. After they sang the teacher replayed the song without the vocals and told them to really listen to the harp. Some of the students rocked in place to the music with their eyes closed. The students settled down and when the music stopped it was time for them to go. Before dismissing the students, the teacher chose the person that was best behaved and contributed to class a prize. They received a pencil and a certificate to take back to their teacher which reported the class's behavior. Then they were called one by one to line up in the "quiet zone" which was the corridor outside of the classroom door and before the stairs. The room was fairly large and bare. I noticed that there weren't any instruments out, but they might have been stored in one of the cabinets in the room. The teacher was very positive and had control over the class. She explained things well and knew her material. It seemed as though the students enjoyed the music class, but it wasn't very long.

Elenore: I sat in on a music class there as well. Isn't the teacher so sweet? It seemed to me that what they were lacking in materials was made up for with her knowledge and enthusiasm. The students all seemed so well behaved as well... I thought the prize at the end idea was neat, a good motivator. ~Katie

The last time we visited Oakley, my group shared our experiences with the classrooms we visit. Sara and Claire told me that Ms. Harbison's 5th grade class was worth visiting. They claimed she made inappropriate comments to the students, but said I should see what my impression was. When we stepped in the classroom a woman greeted us. She said that she was an assistant and that Ms. Harbison was taking a break. So we say in the back. I noticed that the room was a little messy and looked lived in. The blinds on the windows were open and the lights were off. The students were sprawled out around the room and were reading textbooks and filling out a worksheet. There were posters and charts on all the walls. The two girls behid me and Sara were giggling the whole time that we were there. They really thought we were funny looking or something. When the teacher came in, the kids took their seats. She began discussing the worksheet which was on WWII. Ms. Harbison would ask a question on the worksheet and say was it A,B,C,or D but she also signed each letter as she said it. The students answered with the correct letter in sign language. I thought the technique was clever, but it seemed rather ineffective. One of the two girls that was sitting behind me and Sara glanced back at us several times to give us mean faces. Many students chatted with their friends the whole time the teacher was talking. Ms. Harbison didn't seem to have much control of the class. When someone would answer a question other kids would argue over what was the correct answer eventually Ms. H would state something with doubt while continuing to search for the answer. Finally a kid would try to clarify if the answer wasn't _, but Ms. H would ignore them until she could figure out the answer. Meanwhile most students focused on other things. A man sat in the back with an individual student to work one on one with him on the assignment. If the students participated in the activity by answering a question, they received a ticket. Tickets were awarded to the students as a method of recognizing good behavior rather than punishing bad behavior. Tickets were awarded based on whether the student was on task, respectful, and participating. The more tickets they got, the better reward they got also like extra recess or a homework pass. When they were discussing Japanese relocation, Ms. Harbison said how many people died and related it to 60x Asheville's population by doing the math with the class. I thought this was an effective way to incorporate math in the lesson but also help the kids get a better perspective. At one point a student reminded her that it was time to do something and she quickly retorted "That's why I get paid what I do, to keep track of these things". I thought this was an inappropriate comment on her part. I think the correct response would have been "thank you". Ms. Harbison mumbles a lot and I couldn't understand much of what she said. Students are asked to read a segment in their books. One of the girls isn't reading and when Ms. H asks her to she just looks at her with an attitude. Ms. H gives the pleading gesture with her hands. I thought this showed that Ms. H tries to plead with the children rather than her giving an assignment and them doing what they're supposed to do. Overall I wasn't very impressed with Ms. Harbison. She seemed nice but didn't seem like she captured or demanded the student's attention. The class was pretty disorganized.

BUNCOMBE COMMUNITY EAST I throughly enjoyed my first visit to BCE. I went to observe the art class. The teacher was very friendly and explained what each student was doing at the time. A couple of girls were editing yearbook pictures, one boy was working on a project, and several others were drawing in their sketchbooks. The classroom wasn't very big. There were posters from different art schools and of different pieces. The students artwork was on display in the hallway and in the classroom. The teacher asked that one of the students show us what they had been working on. She showed us the art that was on display in the library. The library was very small, but the artwork was great. The kids had made masks out of gesso and plaster. They were also working on splatter painting where you sling paint on the canvas. The art classes constructed a large rhino sculpture outside that could be seen from the window of the art room. The teacher's plan was to have the kids paint it using the splatter technique. A girl in the class showed us her sketchbook and explained that each page was split into four sections by drawing either four squares or diamonds. Each square was for Monday-Thursday and on Friday they would write on the border of the page around the pictures. Each day had an individual assignment. Mon. was drawing your hand or foot and another day was free draw etc...

I went to both of these schools as well, my first visits were at Okaley and the second at Rainbow Mountain, it is interesting to be able to compare these two schools. I found that Oakley was much more divers in economically than rainbow mountain. But I guess the obvious reason for this is because one is private and the other is public. It’s hard to decide which one I like better because they are so different. It makes me feel a bit frustrated because I would like to help children who come from lower income families, but the structure of Rainbow Mountain is so much more appealing.

~emma

LT 4/16

On my second trip to BCE, I visited an English class. When I came in, the class was watching a movie about energy in Appalachia. Every couple of minutes the teacher would pause the video to emphasize a statement that was made, or to clarify a point. The students were expected to take notes and were occasionally told when something was very important to write down. I didn't quite understand what the assignment was in relation to English, but the video was very informative. The classroom had wooden floors that creeked in places and was almost empty except for desks and two bookshelves. The teacher was a man but I don't remember his name. He seemed like a very passionate teacher and made sure to stress the importance of what the video was saying. It seemed like the students didn't really grasp the weight of some of the statements about pollution and alternative energy etc...

As we were walking up the steps to Asheville High we heard this alarm go off, so we were all pretty sketched out at first. We decided to keep walking anyway and the alarm went off. The alarm turned out to be the bell to dismiss class. The school is huge! We went to the main office and signed in. They were very particular about us all having name tags and writing on them where we were going. I got directions to the art __building__ that's right they had a whole building for art! (and dance and music but still) The class I was supposed to go to wasn't there because they were preparing for the special olympics. So instead I went to the ceramics room. The teacher's name was Ms. Showers and she was alright with me being there with no notice. The classroom had ten throwing wheels which is about how many we have here. The students were working on making a house out of clay. Each person had a shelf to keep their work on. They had many materials that most ceramics rooms have such as a slap roller that rolls sheets of clay as well as a whole bunch of hand tools. Ms. Showers seemed like the classic art teacher. She talked with the students but made sure they were on task. She was very comfortable with joking with them. The class I sat in on had her son in it, but because she acted mother-like to all the kids, I couldn't tell which one was her son. Her office was filled with books and both her office and the art room were very clean. There were posters on the wall that she made with instructions and drawings of how to properly glaze and wedge (kneading the clay). The room was very organized. The tools were in containers by the sink, there was no clay on the walls or ceiling, and all the wheels were clean. This is similar to our 3D studio but very different to my messy high school class. On each wheel was equipt with a bucket, sponge and tools that were ready to be used. I was quite impressed with her class and the art building in general. There were film making classes, and I overheard steel drums being played in the music class.
 * ASHVILLE HIGH**

On my second visit to Asheville High I went to Ms. Showers's class again. This time I observed the people in her class more. There was a mix of black and white students, but they seemed to segregate themselves to a certain extent. There was one table of all black girls, one with all white boys and girls and one table of different sexes and races. I heard one of the black girls say "excuse you" to a white girl which made me think of my entire school experience. I have noticed that this is a classic comment coming from a black girl in particular. "Excuse __you__" got me into multiple verbal confrontations in school. The white girls didn't say anything, but another girl at the table told the girl she was being rude, but she seemed to disagree. In the beginning of class Ms. Showers tells them what they need to be working on and updates them on new information. The assignments they were working on besides the house were plates and highly decorative bowls. There were craft magazines that the students could get ideas from if they chose to. One of the girls was talking on her phone and Ms. Showers reminded her that she wasn't supposed to have it out. The girl told her it was an important phone call and with a "yeah right", Ms. Showers let it go. I laughed and the teacher told me that a boy in her class skipped one day and pretended like she didn't see him in the hallway. She let that slide also. In the front of the class was a shelf for the kids to put their stuff on so it wouldn't get dirty. They used a cone 6 low-fire glaze for all their work. This type of glaze comes premixed in small containers. Apparently the kiln was in the other room off of the main room, but I didn't see it. They kept lotion in the room because your skin dries out a lot doing pottery. When there were only 5-10 minutes left in class the students were reminded to clean up after themselves. They have four classes a day for one semester and then four different classes the next semester. There were two separate bells that rang. One sounded like a phone and the other like a European ambulance. It was very annoying.

The third trip to Asheville High I went back to the class that I was supposed to visit originally. The class was Art History. When I came into the classroom, the teacher remembered having told me to come back. He re-introduced himself, and then started class. The class was looking at a slide show presentation that the teacher put together of various different modern art pieces. Some of them were sculptures and some were paintings or a compilation of other materials. The teacher would ask the class a question about a piece or the artist or the artist's intentions when creating the piece. It seemed like a review. The classroom was one main room that was very comfortable. There were regular chairs in a circle and the projector screen was at the front of the room. There was a rug on the floor that made the room seem homey and the lights were dim for the slide show. The room almost seemed like a small movie theatre. The teacher was dressed fairly casually and talked with the students openly and jokingly. Although there were enought seats for everyone, many of the kids were sprawled out on the floor taking notes. One of the girls in the class changed the slides when he asked her to so that he could continue talking about them. On the side of the room opposite the screen were two smaller rooms. One was the projector room and one was the teacher's office. He had poster up in his office as well as around the room and outside of the class. The class seemed much like a college class with open discussion. At one point they were talking about public art and liability factors that the artists have to think about when creating the piece. At the end of the class, the teacher read off times when the students could come in outside of class to review any material they were unclear about. He listed the times according to specific eras. I thought the way he taught was very effective. The students seemed to respond to him positively and he seemed to know what he was talking about. I really wish that both of the art history classes that I took in high school were like this class.


 * I really like the description of the art room you gave, it sems like a very calm and relaxing atmosphere to learn in. I have never taken an art history class before, but in all the general art classes I took the teacher had a big impact on the classes expereince. It sounds like in this class the teacher was having quite a positive influence. All in all it sounds as though the classroom was flowing really well with all the kids playing a part, listening, maybe even actually wanting to be there**. **Good descriptions, sounds fun. Do you think you got a bit of a refresher on your own art history? - Jamie Hart**

Hey Elenore, Your view of the art classes and things makes me want to go to this school and check it out for myself. It seems like at most schools art is just such a positive aspect that there is no way to really screw it up because it's always unique and your own individual work and interpretation. Well done! ~ Sara Methven

AHS's AP Art History class is legendarily good. LT 5/15