Since I travel so much (last year I travelled 41 weeks) any opportunity to spend time with my children is great. My wife suggested that I be the parent to spend a day at school. Of course, I kindly accepted. When the day arrived, my wife was nervous. I told her I will be myself, and she said "Exactly why I'm worried. Please be quiet."
I attended University and have been teaching at the University for over 16 years and so I know what a classroom looks like at a University. However, I've never stepped into a school in this country. So, I had no idea what to expect.
"May be Mr. A was pulling a version of 'I am not smarter than a 5th grader' on me," I thought. (He did not, but in the end, that was my conclusion, even though this was one level below the 5th grade).
The morning started out with students jumping into solving a set of problems for about 10 minutes. I think this helps to get the students settle down and focus. Mr. M was teaching the class this particular day and Mr. A participated in some activities through out the day, while attending to some other events that are in the works.
The class plan is very agile. There are three sets of students in the class. Those who are at an advance level (they are at a grade or two higher in select areas like Math, reading, writing, etc.). Then there are students who at the right level (some students at advance level in one area may be at the grade level in other areas). And then there are students not quite at the level where they need to be.
If all of these children were grouped together at all time, the advanced students would feel frustrated and the students catching up would feel overwhelmed. So, a few times during the day, the advanced students go to targeted sessions for their area. The students who need extra help go to spend time with some volunteers who assist them with further coaching. There is still good part of the day when the class spends time together.
The time in class is divided into individual activities and group activities. The group activity gives a nice focus. It reminded me of an agile project with collaborative development. The kids who are advanced help mentor the other kids. The distracted kids are redirected by kids who are focused (I saw kids go through cycles of staying focused and being distracted, but the group overall was much more focused most of the time).
One other observation I had (which I think I should do more in my classes) was they spend a few minutes on concepts and a lot of time on exercises. The exercises again are done in group and then individually as well.
One thing that I really liked (but needs a lot of effort on the part of the teacher) was the variable pace of classwork. The students were working on writing organization. Again students were in three groups, ahead, in pace, and slow. The students ahead were given an additional exercise to work while the rest of the class was catching up. This additional work was a bit more challenging but the kids working on it seem to really enjoy it. The kids who are slow are given extra help and time.
Several times during the day I got to evidence the sheer amount of creativity these kids have. For almost every problem they solved, students suggested different approaches. Some of the approaches surprised me as they were not intuitive or straightforward, but they sure were quite good.
Since they were learning about probability, Mr. M used a spinner to select randomly who will answer certain questions. This was giving equal chance for students to participate in various activities and answer questions. In the process, the theory of probability was being reemphasized.
I have to say teaching at the school level is a Herculean task. It is fun to work with these creative students on one hand, but it is so hard to mange these kids. Their attention span is so short and they do silly things all day long. It takes an enormous amount of patience (hint: I should never try to apply to teach at an elementary school).
It so happened that my son gave a 10 minutes presentation on "How the Universe for Formed" as an independent study project. I wish I had helped him more on this project, but I think he did pretty well without it. Given this was the first time he gave a talk in front of people, he did really well. He did make some of the common mistakes people make when presenting, but he's learning quick. He identified things he did wrong and how he can improve. I have to admit, his first talk was much better than my first talk (I apologize to the poor victims of my first talk. No apologies to the current victims of my talks, that will have to wait for another blog!).
What impressed me the most was the questions and answers that followed his presentation. As soon as they were given an opportunity to ask questions, they fired with great speed and impressive quality. Their questions were quite thought provoking. I said to myself, "How old are you kids, again?" The Q & A went almost 10 minutes.
Overall, I think it was a great opportunity for me to spend the time with my son in the class. I learned quite a bit about what it is to be a kid and what it is to be their teacher. I am thankful for this opportunity. I hope I will have the privilege of visiting and spending a day in class sometime in the future.
