Observation 2
“Ability” in the classroom
I observed a ninth grade English class on Thursday. Due to the block scheduling of holding class every other day, this was the last day of the week for the students and they were taking a test over the material covered during that week. The test was a combination of spelling, definition, grammar, and overall comprehension. Specifically, the students were required to spell the word correctly, define it in a complete sentence, use the word in a complete sentence, identify the part of speech, give a synonym of the word, and identify a different form of the word and the new form’s part of speech. This test encompassed the majority of the period, leaving about 15 minutes for the teacher Mr. T. to read part of a novel to the class. He didn’t get very far through the book, as he frequently stopped to ask the students what literary tool was being used at that moment in the novel. The bell then rang and the students were dismissed.
Simpson and Rosenholtz have constructed the notion of “ability” in the classroom where students seek to identify who the smart kids are and who the dumb kids are. When a class setting does not promote situations where all students can succeed at least some of the time, then students will begin to develop other means of organization where the “dumb” students will be the cool or funny kids and thus be at the top of that hierarchy. Effort is seen as pointless as students believe their failure is fixed. This would be a unidimensional class. The hidden curriculum, the unconscious rules and patterns to allocate power and prestige, is revealed as many students are brainwashed to believe they cannot succeed even if they try and thus refrain from trying. A multidimensional class encourages different kinds of abilities and ways for students to demonstrate their intelligence.
Mr. T.’s class appears to be multidimensional. The students are given various ways to demonstrate their ability and knowledge. Some students may know how to incorporate the vocabulary word into a complete sentence but not yet fully understand how to change the form of the word. Since not only one method is used the students are more likely to be able to answer some correctly. Mr. T. even told the students while they were working to answer all the questions they knew first to ensure they could pick up as many points as possible. This very comment itself was supportive of multidimensional environment. It suggested to the students that they were earning points for each correct answer as opposed to losing points for each incorrect answer. I found this very positive as it highlighted the students’ abilities and downplayed their inabilities. Although some students seemed less engaged than others, one boy was sharpening his pencil for about five minutes while Mr. T. was giving directions, Mr. T. never degraded them or allowed them to fail. The pencil-sharpener did not hear several of the vocabulary words as Mr. T. called them out because the student was so preoccupied with his pencil. He then asked Mr. T to repeat the words. Although Mr. T. had asked the student to pay attention while he called out the words, he was patience enough to repeat the words and ensure that the student was given the chance to prove his abilities. I was glad to see that Mr. T. did not have the kind of attitude of the boy deserving to get a bad grade because he was not attentive enough. This patience is internalized by the students and they realize that they deserve to do well and are encouraged to work hard. I could not identify a clear hierarchy in the classroom. This may be due to fact that the students were not talking very much since they were taking a test; however, there is evidence to prove otherwise. I found it very interesting that the students were so quiet and diligent in taking the test. Even once many of the students had finished the test, they did not begin talking to their classmates and instead allowed the other students to finish their test in a quiet atmosphere. This seems extremely rare in my experiences; but reveals the respect the students have for each other and their education. After the test as Mr. T. was reading the novel, he would frequently stop reading to have the students identify the literary term be used. He did not directly call on any specific student to answer the question but had all the students shout out the answer together. I found this particularly interesting. No student was put on the spot to answer correctly and risk being embarrassed in answering incorrectly. The stakes were very low but the students were still able to demonstrate and gain knowledge. This was also a different way to have the students learn and become aquatinted with the information. The students got to apply the knowledge to a real source as opposed to identifying the terms in single sentences in a worksheet. All of the students were enthusiastically participating which was also exciting as often times many students do not take part when they are not called on.
The level of the students’ enthusiasm, respect, and effort was incredible in this classroom. Mr. T.’s patience and desire to see each student succeed has clearly had an effect on these students. This proves that when teachers break from the typical mold of teaching methods and actively try to teach each student in the best way possible, the students do respond and are benefited. This is important to remember when entering a classroom to teach. It can be too easy to assume that some students do not try and thus will not succeed even if you try to help them. Teachers should not assume that some students do not deserve to extra help or benefits because they have fooled around; especially in this urban setting where it is all too common for poor and minority students to drop out due to the belief that they are not cut out for school it is important to provide students with every benefit possible to learn the material and express their knowledge to find the encouragement to pursue a brighter future.