Field blog 3

When I go into the class, I am starting to recognize students and learn names. The first period is very talkative. Today they are working on a lab quest. They are using Google Chromebooks. The students are complaining because the computers are slow. The teacher told me that the middle schoolers get iPads. The middle schoolers used to be able to take the iPads home, but high schoolers would wait for them after school and steal them and bully middle schoolers. Now middle schoolers cannot take home the iPads. To punish the high schoolers, they have not given them iPads yet and are forced to use laptops. The lab quest they are working on is about enzymes. Throughout the quest, they must take online quizzes and send their results to Ms. Russell. Ms. Russell does this so that she knows that the students are taking the quizzes and working. This relates to what we were learning about in class. In the reading from Ayers, Chapters 5 and 6, we learned that the curriculum needs to have hands on experiences. The lab quest allows students to apply their knowledge and learn material in a new way. While the students are working, she is at her desk grading papers. Once she finished grading papers, she passed the papers back to the students. Some students did not receive a paper because they did not do the assignment. Ms. Russell announced that the students who did not get a paper handed back need to see her after school. When the bell rings, everyone leaves except for one student because he is asleep. Ms. Russell woke him up and told him that his grades reflect his habits. He needs to start putting in more effort if he wants to pass the course. Ms. Russell says that she is not a babysitter. She is supposed to help students learn and teach them what they must learn. She cannot force students to learn. They must desire it. All she can do is facilitate it.  Ms. Russell’s second period class is very quiet. They all sit down and work on the lab quest silently. This class has a girl who is learning English as her second language, so Ms. Russell gives this student more specialized attention. Ms. Russell helps her with the lab quest and helps her try to process the information.