On Wednesday August 11th, River City High School welcomed student back with excitement and apprehension. The first day was full of schedule mix-ups, students getting lost on campus, and nervous social interactions as students return to campus after a year and a half of virtual learning. At River City High School, teachers work together within their department and grade to create comprehensive and cohesive lesson plans. Each teacher I observed had they own unique style.
I observed two of Michelle Mejia-Hayes 9th grade Building Foundations classes. The agenda for the day was projected on the whiteboard. As students entered, Michelle welcomed them and told them to find the desk with their name on it and take a seat. When students are seated, she lays out the expectations for the class. She is very honest and upfront with her students. She prepared a quick presentation about herself that later connects to a project the students must complete the following week. She has the calendar of assignments and important dates on a different whiteboard to the left of the students and the bell schedule at the front of the class. She walks the student through how to best use these systems and what to expect from her regarding updating assignments and projecting the daily agenda and important reminders on the front board. Since these are 90-minute classes she will provide some class time for individual work. The focus of this time is to complete class work, but if you have completed your classwork you are allowed to work on other classes.
I observed Kate Forman’s 12th grade English class on Friday. They are reading 1984 and we were able to watch her introduce the book and engage with the students. She has had a handful of these students before and since they are older there is more of an expectation for certain behaviors than there are for freshman. There are already two students that she has had to separate due to consistent talking. There is no initial punishment as RCHS practices PBIS. Kate is very upfront about her personal life to connect with her students. For today, she is having her students work together in groups. She uses the excuse that they don’t have enough individual whiteboards to create the groups and encourages both group collaboration and classroom collaboration through quick think activities regarding the book. During group conversations she keeps an ear out for discussions, bringing students’ attention back to the board when they start to get off topic.
Finally, I observed my RT’s, Melissa Baldwin, 11th grade English class. Again, I noticed that there is more expectation for certain behaviors with older students. Melissa uses standards-based grading and has no penalty for late work. She provides students with time to color in their name tags and takes roll during this time. Later in the class she goes around to the students to check in with them and find out who they had 10th grade English with. Melissa allows an open seating, but requests they stay in the assigned seats while she works to learn students’ names. Since 2nd period is homeroom, Melissa has to present the schools behavior matrix, RISE, to the students. When some of the video’s technology and speakers do not work as planned, she flexibly shifts to reading the slides allowed or explaining the message to the student. She works to build relationships with her students by giving them agency over their education. She also briefly discusses how the skills developed this year will assist with their 12th grade English class next year. While explaining the syllabus, she explains the term as a whole and then dives into our fist unit. She also explains and provides (through Canvas) the California State Standards that are targeted in each lesson. She utilizes technology a lot in her classroom, this week she is providing worksheets and documents physically and online as students transition back to in person. She also works to provide students with multiple ways to ask questions or comments privately and through written communication on any documents they turn into her.
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