Jonathan Paul Loomis
October 18, 1998
Field Experience: Education
Dr. Chace
Science Focus School
They believe that Science is wonderful, and that students can learn science at any age. I saw examples of them learning material in Kindergarten that I didn't even get until my senior year in high school. They are demanding, but willing to teach it at a level the students will understand.
The student body was majority white, with a strong, perhaps one quarter or one-third, Hispanic population. African-Americans made up a lesser portion of the students and Asians came in with a strong showing of at least %10. The principal was not sure of the gender breakdown, but I noted it to be almost even. The students were of all ages, but I noted that there were a larger number of young students. Economically, I felt like the students tended to come from middle class neighborhoods in Arlington.
The school seemed open and friendly. There were examples of student work covering every wall in the place. I was tremendously impressed with the building, although from the 50's or 60's, still in good condition and well used. The principal was very friendly; but then again, it was a parent visit day. The teachers I was seemed more than enthusiastic about their work. They let us join in some of the activities, and were almost all similes. Even when they were serious about their subject, as was the case with the music instructor, they still managed to bring life to it at a level appropriate to the students. One of the special education teachers, and the fifth grade teacher I saw looked like they had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, but other than that, the staff was wonderful.
Although the principal indicated that she did not plan activities herself, she had noted that the staff would readily seek out improvement seminars on their own. She was tremendously impressed, she said, with the level of professionalism that the SFS teachers brought to the job. I seemed like most of these seminars were planned by the school district.
I saw very few volunteers during the course of my visit. The principal did indicate that the school was open to having students do their student teaching at SFS, and it would seem to me that parents must be involved in planning special events.
The "aids" I observed seemed to be younger teachers who were acting in a secondary role in the classrooms. The special education instructors were also around, but they seemed to follow specific students. I did notice a very high number of teachers in general. So high, in fact, that there were often two teachers to a grade. The upper grades did lack this second teacher.
I managed to view a very wide range of lessons. I will describe the three that are most prominent in my memory. First I saw one of the stops on the "Science Train." The teacher was going over the parts of the atom in such detail that there were things she mentioned that I had a hard time recalling. I was very impressed with what she was asking the students to understand, but at the same time, she was also makings sure the did my presenting it at their level (K-2). The teacher in this lesson was in the front sitting and the students were collected around her on the floor. She actively engaged them with questions. The second lesson I saw was the paper tower lesson with one of the upper grades. The students worked in pairs to try to build the tallest tower out to index cards. The teacher walked around the room making general comments and encouraging the students. The third lesson I viewed was the music lesson. There were a very large number of students seated on the floor for this lesson and they were somewhat restless. The teacher was in the front behind his keyboard most of the time, and control of the children seemed to fall mostly to the other assistants seated around the outside.
During the "Science Train" activity I notice that the grades were intermingled. Kindergartners through the second grade were mixed. I was not able to view this sort of mixing at the upper levels. In the classrooms almost everything I views was solo work, with the exception of the tower project which was done in pairs. The whole group teaching method seemed to be most popular.
Most prominently was the tower project, in which the students were able to play with the cards and try to devise a tower that would be both strong and tall. I do not recall any other hands on work.
Yes, they perform up to the standards that are generally described in the article. However, I also believe much of their success can be credited to the fact that they don't have such a wide base of material to concern themselves with. While they do teach all the subjects, it seemed to me that everything but science got a bit of the shaft, which means that the teachers hardly have as much to worry about. This will increase efficiency and productivity, but I thought was a detriment to the students. What if there is a student who is linguistically gifted? What about the visually gifted student who is great at art? Do the teachers and parents believe that by sending children to SFS they are going to give them natural talent? They might give them knowledge, but they can't give them those gifts.