Kali Pawlak Pupik-Dean EDUC 515 10.14.2012 I.

Inquiry into Design of Physical Space My everyday experience with the physical/environmental challenges of North Central High School has provided me with a lens to view the realities of budget limitations in the Philadelphia School District. The school is overcrowd, leaving most classrooms at the brink of legal student capacity (33 students per teacher). The first few weeks of school seemed to be dedicated to teachers fighting under their Union agreements to have students removed from their class (one teacher I observe still has 38 students in one of his World History classes). I have also observed rooms like classroom 121, where there are not enough desks for students, forcing kids to write on their laps and throw their possessions on the ground (Raw Notes, 9/13/12). Yet, despite the lack of material accommodations for learning at North Central, the attitudes of the students and management of teachers and administrators keep the school running with what they have. During an interview with Ms. Shields, I learned that just around half of the teachers at North Central have a classroom to call their own (Interview, 9/12/12). Ms. Shields, is what Weinstein (2011) would consider nomadic: for four out of seven periods of the day, Ms. Shields has to pack up her materials (usually a stack of papers, a backpack, and a laptop) and shuffle back and forth from room 206 to room 03 (Weinstein, 40). Major time is lost at the beginning and the end of each class period. Nomadic teachers like Ms. Shields typically arrive late to a class full of students and is forced to hastily set up her materials for the upcoming lesson, which severely limits the creativity in planning a lesson. Ms. Shields is also constantly paranoid of locking up her possessions in a personal locker in both classrooms and extremely wary of leaving any materials behind, playing into Weinstein's warning about, ...war stories about materials that disappear, (43). Furthermore, being a nomadic teacher completely nullifies any suggestion made in Weinstein's The Teacher as Environmental Designer,

unable to involve students in environmental decisions and designing the class space to accommodate specific activities (p. 40-43). Thus, the actual layouts of both of her classrooms are fairly standard: rows and columns of desks with the teacher's desk and smart board at the front. Whether this is strategic on Ms. Shields' part or a common ground she agreed upon with the other sharing-room teachers, this layout is conducive to the idea that the teacher is the focal point of learning and knowledge while at the same time limiting discussion between students. I noted previously in a Field Journal from 9/15/12: Ms. Shield moves up and down the rows during her lectures, expecting students' gazes to follow. This seems to backfire on her, however, as the students behind her engage in quiet conversation, put their heads down, or doze off into their own thoughts (Raw Notes, 9/11/12). Row-style seating in Ms. Shield's class also creates what Weinstein calls an action zone, where kids in the front are more frequently given attention than kids in the back corner (p. 34). I see this as fitting Skinner's behaviorist model as cited in Charles' (2002) discussion on discipline, arranging students in a way that most efficiently controls discipline (p. 20). As a stark contrast, my Classroom Mentor, Mrs. Moore, has the luxury of having one room to call her own for the entire school day. Around the room, one can find drawings from previous students of Dorian Gray and empty cork boards waiting to be filled by work from students this year. There is also a personal library at the back of the room, filled with around 150 books, donated by Mrs. Moore's friends, families and colleagues, for students to borrow at their own will. I find this element of the classroom to both promote further interest in literature and also serve as a comforting sign of trust and care. Mrs. Moore tries to adhere to her students' inherent wide range of interests, including books that range in subject matter from Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography to Hunger Games to Jane Eyre. Furthermore, having one's own room ensures a clean and consistent environment, as noted in my previous journal: Between each period, Mrs. Moore has the time to fix desks, pick up extraneous sheets of paper or litter from the ground, and calmly look over her lesson plan for the upcoming period. Planning time is also able to occur in her own classroom during her off period. Personal items are located around the room like a hot water heater for coffee (Field Notes, 9/15/12).

The ability to begin a class on time and fully prepared, along with having an achieved level of comfort in one's environment, makes a dramatic difference in a teacher's lesson delivery and relationships with students. Having one's own room allows a teacher to cuts down on stress and allows for a maximum amount of organization: as an example, Mrs. Moore is able to keep bins of students' notebooks, writing folders, and files of turned-in homework out in the open of her classroom for students to access at all times. In terms of spatial organization of the students, Mrs. Moore has the desks arranged in groups of four with the teacher's desk and smart board at the front of the room. The groups of four have a creative and efficient design: the two back desks are facing the front of the room and the two front desks are facing one another. Mrs. Moore's classroom serves as a prime example for Weinstein's theory regarding this clustered-desk formation: This arrangement is most appropriate if you plan to emphasize collaboration and cooperative learning activities, as each day's lesson averages around 20-30% smallgroup discussion time (p. 29). Mrs. Moore stated: The kids just have too much to learn from each other, making it clear that student discussion is more fruitful for her teaching-style to be the focal point of learning (R.N., 9/10/12). While creating a space that maximizes student discussion may leave a classroom open to more discipline issues, Mrs. Moore seems to put all of her faith in her students' behavior, even allowing them to choose their own seats. As I noted in my 9/15/12 Field Notes: In terms of discipline, I think Mrs. Moore is able to delve into Redl and Wattenberg's ideas of group dynamics, developing her students' identities and roles in the class through each other (Charles, p. 18). Even though students are able to choose their own seats, the diversity of the classroom remains in tact in terms of their clusters. I expected all-girl and all-boy clusters or allwhite and all-Asian clusters; yet, I was pleasantly surprised that students do not seek out those categories of classifications (R.N. 9/10/12). Not only does this desk formation promote discussion, I also see it as a teacher's conscious effort to distribute and extend power of teaching and learning to the students. Mrs. Moore's physical environment creates great possibility to cultivate the democratic classroom Oaks and Lipton (2003)

encourage (p. 285; 294-299). I personally find working with this cluster-formation fruitful in discussion-based subjects like English and Social Studies; furthermore, these subjects have a lot of potential to form a community of collaborative inquiry and critical thinking amongst the students. In light of our course with Nakkula in Adolescent Development, I find student collaboration with one another extremely important as they learn to communicate, co-construct, role play, and learn from one another educationally and socially. Oaks and Lipton discuss Vygotsky's and Fogel's philosophies on encouraging a learning environment that relies on co-construction of meanings and community, creating an overall caring environment for both teachers and students (p. 281-82). Moreover, I am a firm believer in including personal objects to decorate a classroom, not only making the space one's own, but also allowing students to understand who the teacher is, what they are interested in, and even provide visual aids to what they may be learning. Personal photographs, movie or book posters, and personal pieces of artwork are all colorful decorations that I think would help add to a warm classroom environment. Furthermore, I have already been looking into libraries , thrift publishing companies, and bookstores that offer very cheap copies of books (around 30-90 cents a copy) to begin building a personal library for my students. I also want my classroom to feel like it is equally inhabited by my students as well, as I will consciously leave room for student work to be hung throughout the year. II. Inquiry into Classroom Procedures, Expectations and Consequences As I mentioned in the discussion on physical environments, Mrs. Moore's classroom allows for students to safely leave their own class materials (notebooks, assignments, etc) behind each day. This allowance works wonders for smooth classroom transitions, which Weinstein stresses to reduce disruption, activity delay, and attention loss (p. 197). Students have their own Do-Now notebooks specifically for English class, which they leave in a bin in the back of the classroom after they are finished with the exercise. Upon walking in the door, students immediately grab their Do-Now

notebooks along with the notebooks for the remaining three members of their group. To further cut back on transition times, Mrs. Moore has placed a different colored sticker on each of the four desks (red, blue, green, yellow) and each day she announces that it is yellow's (or one of the other colors) turn to put the notebooks back for the entire group. These simple procedures ensure that students will not forget or lose their notebook as well as ensure that there should be no difficulty or time wasting in retrieving or returning the notebooks into their proper place. Mrs. Moore's attitude towards homework completion leaves little room for students to make excuses. Utilizing the technology available to her, Mrs. Moore both informs her students of their homework in class and also reminds them that the assignment is posted on their Schoology.com website for them to refer back to. Yet, while Mrs. Moore excels in Weinstein's advice of Communicating Assignments and Requirements, I cannot help but see her fall short of Weinstein's advice Holding Students Accountable, (p. 201). Mentioning that around this time every year she stops collecting homework and instead simply walks around the room to check for completion, Mrs. Moore fails her students in monitoring her students' progress in the class, let alone making sure the work is even done up to her standards (R.N., 10/5/12). Not only does simply checking for completion discourage a student from attempting their best work for each assignment, but it also unfortunately shows a lack of the teacher's respect for the student and their work. I cannot help compare the stacks of papers building in Mrs. Moore's homework bin to a statement in Weinstein's Organizing and Managing Instruction: Sometimes turning in work to a teacher is like dropping it down a black hole, (p. 222). Weinstein also includes a study conducted by Fisher et al. (1980) that shows a direct relationship between teacher feedback on homework assignments and student motivation and progress (p. 222). On days when Mrs. Moore simply checks assignments for completion (these assignments can at times be a response to a reading that is a page or two), students seem frustrated and often ask of their next assignment, Will we be turning this in? (R.N. 10/4/12). Yet, not being able to comb through every assignment is a daunting reality of being a

teacher: being responsible for multiple curriculums and nearly two hundred students leaves very little time for articulate criticism on petty assignments that really only check for comprehension. Furthermore, Mrs. Moore has over the years learned how to prioritize what elements of teaching should take up her time; this is most apparent in her smooth ability to multi-task during class time. Attendance is taken and homework is checked for completion during the students' completion of their Do-Nows. If a student arrives late to class, time is not wasted on scolding the student or changing the computerized attendance roster; students have been trained to enter the room quietly and write their names in the Late Book. Keen organization is also apparent in this classroom: a bin exists for orphaned' work (work turned in without names); binders are arranged for her AP Lit and English II classes for worksheets that were handed out during a student's absence; a dry-erase board hangs over her desk where she lists students who need to make up tests and quizzes. Technology also plays a huge role in classroom organization, as Schoology.com allows both Mrs. Moore to directly enter students grades and students and their parents to view them at home, seeing what assignments were not turned in and tests with which they may have struggled. Not only does this organization and multi-tasking cut down on stress for Mrs. Moore's daily procedures, but they also provide an articulated and regimented structure for students to follow and ensure they do not fall behind. One thing that I have become increasingly conscious of is myself being a possible source of distraction for students. Trying to be helpful on a day when Mrs. Moore had a very time sensitive lesson plan, I took initiative and started to hand back graded assignments to the students at a time when Mrs. Moore was explaining rules to an upcoming activity in which the students were about to participate. Afterwards, Mrs. Moore warmly told me that I provided a large distraction from her instruction, as students' attention were taken from the activity being explained by Mrs. Moore to the grades they received on the papers I handed back to them. In my lesson planning, I am now aware of when to hand back student work, distribute materials, and set up instructional time to ensure maximum student attention. I find myself constantly reassessing ways I am organizing my class activities and

procedures to ensure smooth transitions and minimum disruptions. For my discussion on consequences and expectations, I find my observations from my Field Journal (9/29/12) to be most helpful: Mr. Simon on the other hand took the first few days of his class time to democratically establish rules for the classroom that were deemed appropriate and fair by both himself and his students (R.N. 9/12/12). By including students in the rule-making process (yet never contradicting school policies), Simon became attuned to the kind of environment his students would be c omfortable learning in and also allowed his students to have agency in their own disciplinary fate. Once the rules were determined (no cellphones, show up on time, complete work to best of your ability, respect one another, participate constructively) each class posted their own rules so they can be referred back to and reminded. While the students were able to determine their own rules, Simon warned them that he has the ultimate executive say if anything seemed out of line, incorporating U.S. civics (veto power) in their democratic process. Mr. Simon also contrasts Shield by not relying on reinforcement and punishment to control his s tudents. When students participate by stating an opinion or providing the right answer, Simon nods his head or says correct, and quickly moves on with the lesson. I feel as though Simon's reward for student participation in his class is just that: a majority of the time and space of the classroom is dedicated to the students' voices, rewarding them with their own agency of classroom discussion and learning. Simon does, however, throw in occasional rewarding surprises.... When it comes time for punishment, I have seen Mr. Simon address these unfortunate circumstances in two main ways: individual conferences removed from the class environment and addressing the entire class as the wrong-doer rather than specific students. In the event when a single student exhibits a grossly disruptive behavior (in this case, a student threw a book across the classroom), Simon immediately addressed the behavior by removing the student from the classroom into the hall, where the student was to wait for him (R.N. 9/19/12). This technique allowed Mr. Simon to wrap up the lesson-at-hand for the remainder of the students while giving the student in the hallway a few moments to think about his behavior. When it came time for Simon to step into the hallway, he instructed the students to continue in groupwork discussion while he had a one-on-one conference with the guilty offender outside to determine the source of the misbehavior and how they both can work together to assure that does not happen again. When the entire class seemed to be chatty, Simon turned off the lights, stood firmly at the front of the room, and scolded the entire class for failing to meet his expectations (R.N. 9/19/12). After his speech, Simon flipped the lights on and continued on with the lesson without interruption. I like this mode of discipline for the entire class where Simon allotted a confined and concise amount of time to the discipline itself and did not allow it to disrupt the rest of his lesson planned for the day. In terms of consequences, when I have my own classroom I will plan on co-constructing rules and expectations with my students to promote a sense of democracy. I am still learning and wrestling with expectations: how many completed assignments I should expect; what my daily attendance should

look like; how active will my students be in discussion participation. It is hard for me to make a definitive evaluation at this moment, as I have yet to even assign my own designed homework to my students. I imagine that the longer I work on designing lessons and homework for my students, the more attentiveness, discipline, and effort from my students I can expect. Just as Kelley Dawson (2002) infers in Best Discipline Curriculum is Good Discipline, I would expect my efforts in planning will directly correlate with my students' efforts in learning and participating. As I start planning my first lessons, I find myself asking: How can I prevent my students from becoming bored during my lessons? What are ways I can keep my lesson plan activities changing at a proper pace to pay respect to an adolescent's attention span? What are ways I can evaluate my teaching methods in terms of captivating my students' interest while encouraging critical thinking? III. Inquiry into Relationship and Community Building I would like to start off this section revolving around community building with the greatest contradiction I have seen between my field observations and my assigned readings for this seminar course. Ms. Shields' class progresses through a series of power point slides in which students are to copy down verbatim and respond to basic rote questions after each slide's completion. I noted of Ms. Shields' patterns of calling on students early on in a Field Journal, viewing this pattern with a lens of democracy: When a student offers a correct answer, Shield smiles, gives brief praise and thanks to the student, and keeps in mind that this particular student is a reliable participant to return back to (R.N. 9/14/12)... Shield only calls on those who raise their hands rather than calling on students at random; I feel this allows those who were not originally comfortable answering questions from the start to further fall by the wayside throughout the year. I'd like to compare this situation to the aphoristic phrase: The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Shield only calls on those who she knows she can rely on and does not take a chance on the quiet student which creates an unproductive environment for democracy (F.N. 9/29/2012). After further observation, I started to notice that it was males, especially those prone to disruptive behavior, who have been given the most attention during class time. In one of our interviews, Ms. Shields affirmed this pattern, stating that the more she calls on the misbehaving males in the class, the

more in line she can keep them (R.N., 9/14/12). Whether this is a simple method for classroom management, I cannot help but notice this relating to David and Myra Sadker's research study (as mentioned in Oaks and Lipton, 2003, p. 293): The Sadkers suggest that teachers can keep boys from dominating the classroom by waiting longer for answers after asking a question, monitoring cooperative-learning groups, and making comments to girls that encourage academic process. I think it is extremely important in a classroom environment to not only pay heed to cultural differences in the classroom, but also gender differences. A male-dominated classroom, in my experience, is run by their aggressive participation, louder voices, and humor (while all my be positive attributes) that often serve as silencing and intimidating environmental factors for the females in the class. I have started to realize that taking an extra moment after asking a question to wait for more timid hands to raise is not wasted time; rather, it strengthens a greater range of participation from students. Furthermore, I believe that a student's comfort and participation in the classroom has a direct affect on their performance on classroom activities and in forming their interest in the subject at hand. Furthermore, I have found that a classroom, especially a Social Studies classroom, predominantly guided by a teacher reading from power point slides, does not create an environment where lessons can connect to students' lives or foster a democratic atmosphere. I pulled two students out for an interview from Ms. Shields class, searching for ways to create a Social Studies curriculum that can grab student interest and cultivate a genuine desire for students to pursue critical thinking in the subject area. Before the interview, I had in mind a project-based curriculum that revolves around student inquiry. Yet, both of the students I interviewed mentioned that Ms. Shields' World History class, based around rote memorization and no class discussion, is their favorite class in their schedule. Here is an excerpt from my interview and analysis with students Micah and Bria: When I asked why this was their favorite class, Micah replied, I just like the stories. They i

nteresting and not too hard to get. Bria replied: It's 'cause we never get homework and don't ever gotta use the book. It just more interesting that way. Perhaps it is the consistency of the classroom, operating the same way every day, along with the lack of homework and bookwork that makes the kids feel comfortable (Interview, 10/8/12). I am still wrestling with the distinction between a students' favorite class to be in and a class where students walk away challenged with a sense of subject mastery and a new formed interest. Perhaps it is the reality of a teacher who constantly pushes their students past their learning comfort zones to be resented by their students. Is it part of a teachers' onus to make their students aware of the rewards that come with a challenging education, or does this realization just come with the terrain? What are ways to ensure one's students that the difficulty in their coursework is beneficial to their emotional and intellectual growth without explicitly saying so? I understand that proper scaffolding to a challenging concept or project alleviates students fears to engaging in an activity that is new and challenging, but how can I make sure these fears do not inhibit them from challenging themselves? In addition to the development of a democratic classroom, Jacob Kounin (as mentioned in Oaks and Lipton, 2003), mentions the importance of a teacher's withitness. in developing positive caring relationships positive and community in the classroom (p. 275). Mrs. Moore exhibits keen withitness in her class: enacting appropriate discipline while taking her students' cultural and personal lives into consideration; designing literary lessons that are pertinent to her students' lives; and simply staying consistent in the way she addresses her students. I provided an example in my Field Journal (10/6/12) about a moment Mrs. Moore addressed a student's misbehavior in class by getting to know the context of the misbehavior rather than immediately resorting to punishment. Miranda would have days at a time when she would come to class and just stare at Mrs. Moore. Not only was her presence threatening in nature, but she also refused to complete any work and disrupted her classmates around her. Rather than scolding her or making her stay for an afterschool homework detention, Mrs. Moore pulled her out into the hallway and asked Miranda what was going on in the classroom and what was going on in her life (Raw Notes, 9/20/12). I feel as though this instance exhibits Danforth and Taff's (2004) claim that, Punishment focuses attention on avoiding the punishment itself- not on the behavior, much less the reason for behavior, (p.

356). Mrs. Moore realized that that instance was an opportunity to address Miranda's issues in the classroom for a sustainable solution, developing an open and communicative relationship with one another, rather than resorting to dismissive punitive measures. Mrs. Moore also actively models Sonia Nieto's (2008) idea that, Looking carefully at an individual member of a group dispels stereotypes about the needs of all people from particular backgrounds, while at the same time gives teachers a more complete understanding of how group membership affects the contexts in which students live, (p. 31). Mrs. Moore explained that if a student is having a problem in a majority of their classes, all of the teachers of the SLC (Special Learning Community) schedule a CSAP, which is a meeting involving the student, their parents, and all of their teachers. This is where, Mrs. Moore believes, teachers are able to learn to cultural contexts from where their students are coming as well as explain to the parents and students the cultural norms and expectations of the school's community. Mrs. Moore stated that this is especially fruitful when meeting with families that come from more group-oriented cultures; she said positive breakthroughs usually happen in the student's performance when parents are made aware of the importance of individual achievement in American school systems (R.N., 9/27/12). Sometimes teachers simply find out that students have to help out in the family store after school or have siblings that need care. Regardless if the initial problem concerning the student was solved, I find these meetings extremely proactive and fruitful for the classroom community, ensuring a reciprocative cultural/personal understanding between students, parents, and school staff. Also, Weinstein defends parents who may be wary of entering the school's atmosphere or engaging in conversation with their child's teacher: Some adults have unhappy, even traumatic, memories of their own experiences as students...Still other families may be unnerved and intimidated by schools, (p. 161). Thus, I am extremely interested in creating a social networking system, not only between my students, but also one that extends to the parents of the classroom. I think it is important to provide and facilitate a space where parents can network with other parents or adults in the school to stay in-the-

know regarding their child's education. I am becoming more aware of the limited schedules some parents may have due to working odd or long hours, making in-person meetings or phone calls hard to schedule. This is where Schoology.com and other technology play a huge role: short, simple, and colloquial e-mails can create an open and communicative relationship between myself and my students' parents; Schoology.com gives parents a great opportunity to check in on their child's school performance on a daily basis. What are specific affects a parents' greater involvement with the school or other parents may have on my students' educational experience? What are common grounds for parents to engage in networking over? I believe the more I get to know my students, their families, and their cultural backgrounds, the more they will be willing to engage with the classroom community and form a relationship with myself, the teacher. When dealing with discipline issues, I want to resemble Mrs. Moore's example, seeking long-term solutions by getting to know my student. I want the rules of my classroom to be coconstructed with my students and myself while making sure they are clearly defined and consistently enacted. Moreover, I want my students to view my classroom as a safe environment, one in which they can express their opinions, take risks, and even fail while still having the support of their classmates. With all of these things considered, I would ultimately like to achieve these three particular elements Oaks and Lipton believe create a democratic and constructive classroom: Students will tell their 'life and work experiences' in caring and democratic classrooms,; Students are able and eager to explore felt, but usually unspoken, reservations about the American Dream, in caring and democratic classrooms,; Students express humor and emotion in caring and democratic classrooms, (p. 297299). What are writing or discussion-based exercises I can present to my students to encourage exploring personal feelings about contentious issues regarding race, gender, and class? What are ways I can incorporate the proliferation of a democratic community in terms of my daily objectives in my English lessons?