Developmental Domain: English/Language Arts (Advanced)
Sequence of Events:
Morning greeting/warm-up writing activity
Discussion of previous night’s reading— chapters 5-7 of The Lord of the Flies
Discussion on Biblical symbolism in The Lord of the Flies so far
Worksheet: symbols, symbolism, and predictions for the end of the text
Discussion: writing a thesis
Homework assigned: 2-page essay on Biblical symbolism in The Lord of the Flies so far
The teacher was incredibly effective in his integration of discussion into the classroom environment. The students seemed ready for the discussion, and they seemed to understand what they were expected to do; the relatively small class size seemed to facilitate this kind of discussion, as did the set-up of the classroom. The classroom is set up in small clusters of students, with all the clusters facing the center of the room. The students were encouraged to do their discussions with their small groups— groups that they were allowed to choose at the beginning of the year— and then the group was asked to discuss their observations with the class as a whole. It seems that this is a very effective way to integrate shyer students into the classroom discussion without putting them too much on the spot. However, by this time, it also seemed that the students were relatively comfortable with each other, and the discussion was quite open and fluid.
When the instructor asked the students to do individual work on the worksheet for their homework, the class seemed very on-task, and willing to do the work before the discussion started. Some of the students seemed very engaged in the discussion of symbolism, and one noted that the pig’s head and the flies were symbolic of the devil, as she recognised the symbolism from her Bible classes when she was much younger. The teacher encouraged these kinds of associations, and asked the rest of the class who had experience with religious symbolism of any kind. This led to a side discussion of different religious traditions and what different symbols mean in the students’ native religions. The students who were comfortable shared their experiences, and those that were not were not forced to, which was quite interesting and good to see.
Analysis of Questions Related to Observation
The school is a large one— there are 2,715 students currently enrolled in the school. Generally, students’ classes are kept to under 25 students, although some classes— like PE classes— are larger. Staff is generally white, as is the student body; however, there is a significant population of East Asian, Indian, and Hispanic students as well. The staff is quite large and includes a number of part-time teachers and staff members, so the exact number of staff is constantly in flux. However, the class numbers are hard limits, and the teacher observed said that the classes are kept to under 20 for advanced and AP classes whenever possible.
The major learning outcomes and goals for this particular visit were the development of a better understanding of the pedagogical structures governing the introduction of advanced concepts of literature analysis to students aged 12-14. This was a very interesting classroom to engage with, because the instructor was working with students who were of quite a high level of understanding; their understanding of the topic was very high and they were very engaged with learning about the subject matter he was teaching. They all seemed to like him very much, which also added to their personal engagement with the topic.
Some of the discussions in the classroom were slightly personal; although this class was very close and seemed willing to discuss religion with the teacher, it would be interesting to see a class that was not as close discussing the same thing, and whether the instructor would tailor his discussion to their comfort level. Of course, part of learning is about learning to discuss difficult issues; however, religion can be a hot-button issue even for adults, and it would be logical for a teacher to be hesitant discussing personal religious beliefs in the classroom.
Family, Culture and Community
Considering the demographic information of the school, what issues might the children face with/struggle with? Discuss them in light of your observation.
These children are all from relatively affluent families, so there are relatively few issues similar to those that impoverished children might face. However, one of the things that the teacher observed stated was that many of his students are so high-achieving that they have problems associated with stress and have trouble dealing with that stress. He has noted that his students have significant problems with depression and stress-related disorders like eating disorders. Many of the students did indeed seem to be very mature for their age, which could potentially lead to increased pressure on these students to succeed and “be mature” when they should be acting more like adolescents.
In what ways does the teacher try to learn about the children’s background and maintain a relationship with the student’s family?
The teacher was very good with integrating with the students, and he treated them very much like little adults. With six classes of twenty to twenty five students, it is unlikely that he has the time or the need to communicate with all the students’ parents; instead, it is likely that he talks to the parents when he needs to and does not talk to parents when the students are doing well. He integrates well with the students and tries to learn about them through classroom discussions and personal journals— the morning write-ups are always personal pieces of writing that he collects once a week and reads.
Observe and reflect on teacher-student relationships.
The teacher, in this case, has done an excellent job integrating with the students. It was quite surprising to see even students who were quite shy integrating well into the classroom discussions. He was gentle with students who needed more encouragement and rowdy with students who were more outgoing naturally. The most important thing that the teacher did in the classroom was to tailor his response to the students— there were no reactions that were standard, and everything that the students said seemed to be heavily valued by the teacher. The students could likewise feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas with the teacher, because even if they were wrong, he would be quite careful to help them rather than mock them for being wrong.
