High School Reflection

Curriculum:

The curriculum at this high school seemed to fit the students level of intelligence

in each class I sat in on. This might be due to the school having standard, honors, and

advanced placement classes so students can match their academic level to the classs

expectations. The teachers all appeared to be extremely knowledgeable about their

subject, which I believe engaged their students.

Instructional Process:

The material in standard chemistry was presented to the students in the beginning

of each unit in a unit calendar, which is similar to a syllabus. The teacher explained that

this helped his students stay on top of their work and was especially useful when students

are absent. He gave a lot of real world examples when he was explaining conservation of

mass and used his lesson on that to move into explaining how to balance equations. The

sign language class had a vocabulary review as a warm-up, which lead into going over

the homework. The class uses dialogues on a DVD to practice reading the language and

then answering questions about what the characters were talking about. The standard

environmental science class I sat in on was given a warm-up of working in groups to

complete a timeline of the events in Earths history. That assignment lead into the

students working in those same groups to do research on each of the events included in

their timeline, which they would then transfer onto a storyboard. The honors English

class started out by discussing the Shakespeare play they just finished reading, which lead

into the students working in partners to complete a flow chart about a selected character

in the play. The cooking class I sat in on was making homemade pizza. The students
came in, got their recipes, and worked as their given job to assist their group in making

the pizza.

In each class, the different activities and lessons were all connected in some way.

This might help students understand the purpose for their learning since each topic

connects to the next. Also, almost every class had some kind of group work incorporated

into the class. Knowing that in high school, adolescents are very focused on their

friendships, they probably appreciate their teachers allowing them to work with their

friends.

Teacher-student interactions, teachers role in classroom:

For the most part, the students were very respectful to their teachers and all the

teachers seemed to be well liked. The only exception was in the environmental science

class where the teacher seemed like a new teacher. He did not have much control over his

class, as they were not listening to him when he spoke and they did not follow his

directions when it came to behavior. Even with his students disobeying him, he did not

employ any kind of punishment or discipline. The other teachers on the other hand had

great control over their classes. Although I did not see any form of discipline taking place

in those classes as oppose to the environmental science class, I assume the other teachers

have a system in place since their students were so much better behaved. The sign

language teacher was deaf, but also had an interpreter in the class if she were ever

needed. I was in a level two class so the interpreter was not needed at all, but perhaps she

would be of greater use in a level one class. My favorite teacher was the chemistry

teacher because he was very enthusiastic about what he was teaching. Being that it was
7:30 am, I believe he knew he had to teach enthusiastically to keep his students

attention. He also checked in for questions often to ensure everyone was following along.

Students:

The students at this high school are majority white in every class I sat in on,

which reflects the nature of the school as a whole. The classes were all relatively small

with no more than about 20-25 students in each class. From what I could see, all the

students got along with each other and there were no major behavioral problems in any

class. Again, the environmental science class had students who were consistently off task

and who were not the nicest to each other. The students in this class were either talking

off task, out of their seat, or listening to music. When the teacher tried to redirect them,

they were not responsive. There was also a time when a student tripped over a chair and a

group of students laughed at him instead of making sure he was okay. Aside from this

class, there seemed to be a sense of community among the students in every other class.

They were able to work together in groups to complete their assignments and appeared to

have a relationship with one another.

Structure of the classroom:

Each of the classes were arranged in groups of four or five with the exception of

the sign language class in which the students were sitting in a U shape. This is probably

so the students can always see the teacher signing. The classes were all 120 minutes long,

which in my opinion was a great amount of time for the teachers to be able to get through

their lessons without interruption. All of the classes had posters up around the room and

the teachers instructed in the front of the classroom. Aside from moving to the groups for

group work, there was not any movement in the classes.

Classroom culture:

The rules and regulations were pretty much the same in each classroom whether

the students followed them or not. The students were expected to come in quietly, find

their seats, and get out what they needed for the class. When working in groups, they

were expected to get their work done and produce their best work. Each of the classes

started with a warm-up, which lead into their main lesson. Then, the majority of teachers

would give a lecture style lesson followed by explaining their group work before the

students moved into their groups. There were some classes like the environmental science

and cooking class that did not have a lecture before the group work because the students

already knew what was expected of them.

Every class had posters and student work hanging around the classroom. The

English classroom had the most up around the room. Many of the posters seemed to

relate to Shakespeare in some way, which correlated to the play the students just finished.

The teacher also hung the students completed flow charts on the wall after they were

finished. The students in each class also had an ample amount of resources to assist their

learning. The science classes had at least five desktop computers per class as well as

microscopes, sinks, and science glassware. The English class had a class set of the play

they were reading. The cooking class had six miniature kitchen areas in the classroom

with an oven, sink, counter, bake ware, glassware, utensils, plates, measuring tools, and

enough ingredients for each group.

School culture:

This high school has about 2200 students with the majority of them being white.

The vice principal explained that there are about 200 African American students and
about 200 Hispanic students but the rest are white for the most part. She also explained

that there are only about three or four African American teachers. I thought it was

interesting though, that out of the five classes I visited, three of them had male teachers.

This is surprising since I know education is a female dominated profession. The students

and teachers in this school appear to have a positive relationship with each other, as I did

not see much harsh discipline or a need for it. The teachers also have a positive

relationship among each other.

The school is organized by subject, for example, the English classes are all in one

area of the school and the math classes are in another area. The cafeteria and the library

are located in the center of the school. There is also a courtyard outside the school that is

available for students to sit and eat their lunch. This high school has something called

Bruin Block, which is when the whole school has lunch for an hour. During this time,

however, every teacher is available to students for at least half of the block. The vice

principal explained that every student is required to see a teacher for one of the two

blocks during Bruin Block. I think this concept is extremely helpful for students to either

be able to get extra help on material they do not understand or to be able to make up work

from an absence.

The students at this high school were very well behaved. I did not see any

behavioral problems throughout the day and the teachers as well as administrators

explained that it was rare to have any major behavioral issues. The school is high

achieving, offering honors and advanced placement classes as well as having many of

their seniors graduate and attend college. The students behaved in a responsible manner

at all times during the school day. It was shocking to me that the whole school ate lunch
at the same time and there were no issues between students. I also was pleasantly

surprised to see the maturity in the cooking class, as they were handling food and

operating ovens with such care. Overall, this high school seems like an excellent school.