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Kayla Stone
Dr. Karla Henderson
EDUC 101: Introduction to Education
October 2013
Reflection 1

I observed the classrooms of four different English teachers at Batesville High School, and
generally the atmosphere of each of the classrooms was very casual and comfortable. Students
exercised the freedom to chat with one another about assignments, and formulate open discussion with
their teacher instead of raising their hands. In all of the classrooms that I observed, each teacher had
remarkable examples of student projects hanging on the walls, as well as several posters with quotes
that connected English to other fields of study such as history or music.
Generally, the English classroom sizes were relatively small, but teachers were able to arrange their
student's desks in ways that made the classroom seem more open. Because students utilize laptops to
perform most all of their assignments, I noticed that it is common for teachers to arrange the classroom
in a way that allows them to be able to view all of their student's computer screens while sitting at their
desk. Since students complete a bulk of their work on their laptops, there is no need for desks with
large writing spaces or hallway lockers. Each day students carry few belongings to school, aside from
their computer case, which they keep at their side throughout the day. In addition, all English teachers
have large, short gray shelves that stretch along the far wall of their classroom, which are used to store
any other classroom materials that may be needed for instruction.
All teachers and students at Batesville High School use Apple Macbook Air laptops that they rent
from the school to complete all of their assignments. Within English classrooms, teachers have
paperback novels and textbooks available on shelves for classroom use, but teachers and students are
highly discouraged by Principal Allen to use print materials. At the beginning of all classes, each

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teacher began with a brief review of what was recently discussed at the previous class session. A
majority of the activities assigned within the classroom appeared to grant students with the freedom to
work with one another at most any time, and freely compare notes in groups.
In all English classrooms that I observed, students were required to take some form of a weekly
vocabulary test with content dependent upon the nature of the classroom, perform brief weekly
academic activities online, such as discussion boards or quizzes, create projects to display their
knowledge of a written work, and take scantron or online tests. Generally, students are given a great
deal of choice regarding the completion of their assignments. As an example, Mrs. Lowry, a freshman
honors English teacher, instructed her students to create a group presentation about The Odyssey
involving technology. In this presentation, the students could choose any part of the Odyssey to present
by whatever technological method desired.
Mrs. Lacey, an honors English teacher informed me that most all English teachers hand out a
syllabus of classroom rules, which basically mirror the school's handbook. I asked each teacher about
their personal cellphone policy, and all teachers except for Mrs. Benjamin said that students are
allowed to utilize their cellphones on a limited basis within the classroom, as long as they are put away
while a lecture is taking place. The teachers of AP and honors students; Mrs. Lacey and Mrs. Lowry
told me that they do not have much trouble with discipline, as they feel that with the more advanced
courses students are more academically motivated and mature. In contrast, Mrs. Benjamin says that she
has to be firm with her freshman English classes, and she must often send students to the office. She
also told me that at Batesville High School, teachers have the liberty of assigning Friday Schools for
small misdemeanors such as repeated lateness or classroom rudeness, and all other acts of misbehavior
are usually handled by Principal Allen. Because Mrs. Benjamin often has to punish her students, she
offers them the chance to receive candy for displaying good behavior and academic improvement.
Because Batesville High School operates on a block schedule, students informed me that it is
not uncommon for them to eat lunch at a different time each day. Mrs. Laker told me that all English

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teachers usually eat the earliest lunch at 11:00, so that was the lunch session that I attended the two
days I was observing. The overall lunchroom atmosphere was typical of a traditional high school lunch
environment, with teachers watching over students in the lunch room, and hungry students rushing
toward multiple lunch lines to buy their meals. Each lunch session lasts about 35 minutes, and then
students are dismissed back to their classrooms to attend their last two classes of the day.
Daily attendance is taken at the beginning of each class on the teacher's laptop, then sent to the
office. Mrs. Laker, a mythology teacher, informed me that when a student is absent, the school
secretary will personally call the parents of the student to inquire about the nature of the student's
absence. If a student is absent, Mrs. Laker and Mrs. Grimsley keep an organized shelf of late work to
hand-out to their absent students. If students are late to their first period class, they must go to the
office and check-in with the secretary so that they may receive an admittance note. In the case of any
other form of a tardy, students are reprimanded, and after three tardies they must attend a three-hour
Friday school as punishment.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays at Batesville High School all students attend an SRC class, a class
which consists of silent reading for thirty minutes of any assigned readings that they may have received
throughout the week. During the second thirty minutes of SRC students are permitted to receive
hallway passes from teachers so that they may attend conferences with other teachers and receive oneon-one help with challenging assignments. The final thirty minutes of SRC is when students have
permission to attend scheduled club events and meetings. Overall, out of all of the events that I
observed at Batesville High School, I found SRC to be the most interesting due to its constructive
nature that grants students easy access to help from teachers. During the SRC session that I observed,
students attended conferences with Mrs. Lacey and had her review and critique their essays before
submission.