Buncombe+Community+East+(site+C)

Buncombe Community East (site C)

Hanna- after 3 visits at BCE, I feel as though I have a pretty good understanding of the school. I spent 2 visits around hte Agriculture program which provides training in the agricultural field for a handful of students who chose to be a part of hte program. Much of curriculum in this program is hands-on experience. They have developed a working garden and compost and have built their own work sheds. On our first visit there, students were being trained on the school's tractor, tilling up a plot of land to extend the garden. During hte second visit with the program it was raining so the students were clearing out one of their sheds, organizing and discarding different supplies and materials. Aside from the agricultural training and learning, the students still are required to complete a standard curriculum of courses in order to graduate.

My third visit was spent in a history class which was SUPER interesting. there were a lot of characters in the class and completely different personalities all over the place. The teacher did a good job of explaining herself and getting the information across despite the (perceived) difficulty of communicating and getting through to the group. She was very straight forward and did not tolerate crap from the students. A second teacher in the classroom, who was just helping out, had a very good nature surrounding him. I watched him interact with the students. He was around to help answer questions and I observed him cracking jokes with the students, in a very subtle and appropriate way, and connecting with them in a way that the main teacher seemed unable to do. I could see him having a quiet conversation with a student and the student then suddenly breaking into a big smile or beginning to laugh. He seemed like a very sympathetic, caring, undertsanding presence in the classroom. Good visits.


 * Kaela- For my visits i was in a history class. the first visit i didnt really get to see the class that engaged because they were doing quiet study time, the teacher was giving the students a second chance to do their homework and study before the quiz they were about to take. the second visit the teacher was showing a movie and stopped the movie and allowed her students to introduce themselves to me and to tell me their advice on how to become a better teacher. and third visit the class was acting out imigration by having two lines standing across facing eachother and one side was to go over and explain why it was they were immigrating, and hte other side was to explain what their concerns were for the new people coming into their country. the teacher had to leave for a conferance and Mr. Cupp came in. Mr. Cupp and the history teacher both were comforatble enough with their students to engage them and to joke around with them, but at the same time be able to disipline them if necccesrry. the kids were very outspoken, friendly, and interesting!**
 * awesome class!!

Emmalee- During my visits at Buncombe Community I watched one freshman english class and a history class. The english class was set up in a circle with 11 students. They were reading a play when I came in. None of the students seemd especially intregued, they were looking around the room and not following along, however, when the teacher stoped to ask questions everyone, for the most part, could answer them. Every few lines or so the teacher would stop and have a recap of what was going on. This I think created an environment where the students weren't afraid to ask questions, which they often did. 2) In the history class the teacher used an experimental experiance to introduce the topic of immigration to the class. Though the crossing line didn't seem to hold all of the attention spans of the students they got the point when they had to ask and answer questions in a crowded space. Each student got individual attention and help with their work. Both teachers knew the students well enough that they could tailor everything they said to the students to engage them. It was deffently a great class to be in.**