Today in Mr. I’s class we reviewed the study guide for the test the students have on Friday. I walked around the room helping students. Some students were very interested in working and others were not interested at all. I felt that he gave them a lot of time to work on the guide and the students were not that interested in filing it out. However, when they went over the guide as a class the students knew quite a few of the answers.
The atmosphere in the class is very relaxed. Mr. I lets students know when they are out of line, but he also has fun with the students and they laugh a lot! I really like that aspect of his teaching style. This class is a 9th grade World Geography class, and my other class is an 11th grade U.S. History class. The maturity levels betwee the two classes are amazing. The 11th graders are much more engaged and they actually do the work outside of class. The 9th graders seem to need a lot of encouragement and disipline. I am not quite sure while there is so much difference? I believe there is more than just the grade levels, but I cannot quite put my finger on what it is . . .? My goal for the remainer of the block will be to analyse the differences between the two classes and try to figure out while the tones of the two classes are different?
2 responses so far ↓
sv19446block // February 20, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I think a lot of the difference can be linked to one thing you pointed out, maturity, but the second is just comfort with what is expected. The eleventh graders have been dealing with high school expectations for two years more than the freshman. The juniors know the score, they also have a better connection to life after high school and what is expected of them outside of school. You might ask around and see how many of the freshman have jobs outside of school as 0pposed to the juniors.
cm1451block // February 20, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Do you think that the students that seem uninterested are so because the knowledge isn’t new or challenging?