Education Psychology

Ed Psych

04/20/05

This semester I was fortunate to do observation hours in a 7th grade history class at Smart Intermediate. I also had the chance to observe at Williams Intermediate and after completing hours at Williams Intermediate and Smart I believe that these are grade levels I would be interested in teaching. I had a good experience working with a teacher, who I will call Mr. Smith. The first few times during my observation I just observed the classroom as a whole, but after learning about this assignment I decided to try and choose a particular student to write about. I mentioned to Mr. Smith that I would be picking one student to observe, but I did not yet know which student I would focus on. Mr. Smith asked me if I wanted his help in choosing a student, but I thought it would be better if I chose a student that interested me. The classes that I attended the most were the morning classes from the first period to third. I decided to narrow my search to the first class because this group seemed a little more outgoing than the other classes.

While thinking about the class I decided on a student that made a memorable impact on me the first day. My first day at Smart I was sitting in the front of the classroom and a student soon caught my attention by asking me if I was the substitute teacher because Mr. Smith was in the hallway before class. I replied, "No, Mr. Smith will be here shortly". This seemed to answer his inquiry as he darted off and stirred up another conversation with a classmate. This student who I will call Tommy caught my attention because before class he was very vocal and talkative with his friends and during class he was very quiet and obedient. I remember thinking that Tommy might be the "class clown" in Mr. Smith's first hour classroom before I had observed him in the classroom. I thought Tommy would be a student that was often off task and very vocal in the classroom. I am not sure why such things were running through my head, though it probably came from the stereotypes I developed about others when I was in high school. It was not long into the class that I realized those initial thoughts about him were not totally true.

Mr. Smith's class usually consisted of a power-point lesson while the students took notes. Most of the students would write down the information that Mr. Smith had on the projector, but Tommy would only scribble down notes here and there. He simply sat quiet and while still remaining attentive, did not write much on him paper at all. Tommy continued this behavior throughout the time I observed him. My thoughts of Tommy went from a troublemaker to a lazy and unmotivated student. I wondered why he was so unmotivated to take any notes. At the end of class Mr. Smith allowed for homework time and a quiet reading time if students finished their work. I observed Tommy hurry through his homework, even copying a few answers off of his neighbors, and then proceeded to put his materials away. Tommy then reached into his bag and pulled out an ESPN magazine. I didn't think about this series of actions from Tommy until I decided to write my paper on him.

The next few times that I observed the classroom I tried to focus on Tommy without making assumptions. I focused on his behavior with a clear mind and simply took note of what I saw. This was generally similar behaviors when compared to my other observations. Tommy sat quietly and listened intently to Mr. Smith the whole class period. Tommy was never disruptive and continued to scratch down minimal notes. At the end of class when Mr. Smith would allow the students to do assignments Tommy continued to hurry through his and concentrated on something else. One day he was playing hangman with another classmate, but most days he had his attention in some form of sports magazine. During one of my observations I overheard him asking another student for an assignment that was due later in the day. I found this interesting because this wasn't the first time I encountered Tommy cheating in school.

My observations of Tommy followed the same general patterns as the semester continued. He was attentive to the material and would write minimal notes. He was able to do the assigned work very quickly. Then he would quickly take up another activity, most of the activities were reading related. This was the pattern that I observed until Mr. Smith started using group work. Mr. Smith formed groups of four students to make a poster with something relating to the Civil War. Tommy was placed with three other students, none of which seemed to have behavioral problems. Mr. Smith wanted me to get involved with the group work, which allowed me to observe Tommy from within the group.

From the beginning, Tommy took a leadership role in the group by introducing different ideas and asking for feedback. I was surprised to see his interaction and initiative in the group work. The group decided on a poster of Abraham Lincoln, which was one of Tommy's ideas. The group began working on drawing and coloring Lincoln's picture. Tommy was very vocal and involved in the group activity. The group decided that they needed something to fill space on the poster. Tommy asked me what would fill space and still be related to Lincoln. I asked them if they heard of the Gettysburg Address, but none of them had until I stated the words, "Four scores and seven years ago.". Before I could finish the sentence, Tommy and another student recognized it and cut me off. Tommy was curious about the topic, which excited me because I had not seen Tommy that interested in class before. I explained to him that Lincoln gave the speech during the fall at Gettysburg after the battle. In his speech he dedicated the land to be used as a resting place. Tommy and the group decided that it would be a good idea to put Lincoln's first sentence of the Gettysburg Address on their poster. While watching him during the rest of the group work it was evident that Tommy had many personal and leadership skills.

I wanted to find out more about Tommy home life, extra curricular, and schoolwork. Before class one day I asked Mr. Smith how Tommy performed on tests. Mr. Smith informed me that Tommy usually scores very well. I was surprised to learn that Tommy is one of the best math students in their grade. Mr. Smith showed allowed me to look at the grade book and I noticed that Tommy received an86, an 89, and 90 on his three tests. I wondered how he did so well with doing minimal note taking and hastily doing his assignments. Mr. Smith explained to me that Tommy does what he has to do for school, but his major focus is sports. He explained that during his teacher-parent