I later found out that on Fridays this school has a different bell schedule. I thought I was entering at the beginning of class, but came in at the middle.
Ms. Jones looks very young - childlike. She says she's been teaching for 6 years. That means she's older than me!
Lanier High School is very old. Crumbling. Much older than the last school I visited (Connally High School). It looks older than the high school I went to. It's oldness is kind-of depressing.
Lanier is the only school in AISD on block scheduling. When I was in high school we were on block scheduling and I loved it. I liked not having to make every book to class everyday. It seemed that the teachers appreciated the schedule as well. 1.5 hrs of quality time every other day rather than 50 min each day was spent with students.
Since I came in mid-class I chose to observe the rest of this period and all of the next. Both classes were regular chemistry. The first class was full. When I walked in the room was quiet. Most students were paying attention, writing notes about the Ideal Gas Law. Students were then given a short piece of paper with problems to solve. Ms. Jones walked them through several examples of mole conversions to gas volumes at STP.
The first class I observed went smoothly. The students were well behaved. The next class was another story. All of the misbehaved students from other science classes were put into this one class. Ms. Jones knowingly and willingly accepted the challenge - and she loves it!
I don't know how she has the patience. Many people have told me. "You would make a good teacher - you have a lot of patience," but this woman doesn't let anything phase her.
Ms. Jones is an excellent teacher. She outlines steps for the students to help solve the example problems. "Underline what information is given, circle what you need to solve for." Ms. Jones repeatedly refers to the "mole map" to help with the conversions. She is doing everything she should be doing. Ms. Jones asks the class, "Does everyone understand where I got that?" - No response.... She does get a few students to mumble the answers after the calculation.
Ms. Jones pretty much works every example herself and doesn't bother prompting students to work the problem with her - participation is unlikely. Ms. Jones shows the students multiple strategies for solving the same problem. After presenting a few more examples Ms. Jones asks the students to work on a few on their own with their front to back and side to side neighbors. She walks around the room to check their work and assist as needed.
Ms. Jones has created a positive and healthy environment for learning. However, I left feeling sad. The students were well behaved from what I could tell, but what was concerning to me was that Ms. Jones had to work so very hard to get the students to perform the simplest tasks. The examples Ms. Jones gave in class were incredibly easy. Each problem given was pretty much the same - one step dimensional analysis.
Most students are paying attention and participating, but do not appear to be trying very hard. Towards the end of class even less work appears to be getting done (I should mention I visited on a Friday).
How do you teach a student who does not care to learn? Ms. Jones keeps doing her job, whether they are with her or not (yet she is going slow enough so those who are partially on board don't fall to far behind).
It also seemed like Ms. Jones had a hard time getting students to turn in work. At the end of class students were given back assignments, asked to correct their work and turn it back in. The dry erase board at the front of the room lists dates for when late assignments should be turned in. Ms. Jones rolls a dice to determine what work will be turned in and what she will allow for corrections. Ms. Jones gave students the opportunity to finish the problem set they were working on now and turn it in before class was up so they would not have homework over spring break. Less than half of the students took her up on the offer.
Some students do not come with anything to class.
The students speak Spanish when they don't want Ms. Jones to know what they are saying. "Lets practice our classroom language." Ms. Jones says repeatedly. She interrupts side conversations by going to help students solve their mole conversion problems.
Ms. Jones uses humor to get the students to do their work. It seems to help them - and her.
I hope that TTT can give me the tools I need to teach any type of student.
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