Field Week 1: Classroom Environment and Culture

Segment proofs, mole crickets, Fog Delay, oh my!

The first week went by fast, with a Fog Delay on Wednesday. First and second period are both Geometry classes, both covering segment proofs this week. Below is a more detailed recollection of some moments that stood out to me. Overall, field is going well!

Mrs. Goney has a very relaxed classroom environment. The overhead lights are never on, and instead she uses a variety of alternative lights, like lamps. The classroom seating is still lecture style, but with the furthest left and right rows facing the middle. During instruction, Mrs. Goney uses an overhead doc cam from the back of the room to go through notes and homework problems. This week, both geometry classes finished up learning about segment proofs.

When it comes to the classroom culture, it is very personable. In first period, there is one student who is especially talkative and participates frequently. While going through notes, they are often the only one to shout out answers or ask questions. This may be due to the fact that it is first period and a geometry class, but that doesn’t get in their way of participating. Funny enough, the student has a twin who is in Goney’s second period class. They are similarly outgoing, but tends to keep to themselves a bit more than their twin. The second period is generally more talkative, with more students answering questions and participating. Mrs. Goney did mention that the second period class tends to understand the material a little quicker than first period, which is why they seem to answer more questions and talk more towards the end of work time. In both classes, though, the culture is relaxed and open. Students seem comfortable to ask questions and volunteer answers, or ask what they did wrong. In first period on the first day, one student was asking about what they did wrong, and another student was able to explain it to him in a helpful manner. 

All of the students seem to love Mrs. Goney. So much so that one student comes into her class during passing periods just to chat. On Thursday, they got into a lengthy discussion about bugs and spiders. The student needed lotion from Goney because they had bug bites on their legs, when the outgoing student from first period just shouts “You probably have spiders in your bed” and shrugs. The other teacher who had come in starts laughing and says “that is the worst thing I have ever heard.” Goney looks up a bug and tells the two "Do you see this bug?? The other night I was sitting on the couch and I looked behind me and it was right there, staring at me!!" The teacher and student freak out, and then the student then tells Mrs. Goney to look up a mole cricket. Spoiler alert, it looks like a mole head on a cricket body. Other students join in on the conversation and look at the picture and laugh. The bell rings and the other student and teacher go back to their class, as Mrs. Goney is left thinking about the mole cricket.

Beautiful Mole Cricket

On Friday morning during CRT (Cowan Resource Time), two students were talking to Goney about football and eventually grades. The students felt safe enough to tell each other their scores on quizzes and even have Goney pull up their previous scores to see their improvement. Towards the end of the conversation, one of the students asks if they had shown Goney their new keychain yet. She said that she thinks so, and the student responds “Really? I didn’t think I had” and Goney thinks for a bit and goes “Ohhh no that was [another student] and their drivers license.” The students jaw drops, their shoulders fall, and goes “Woooooooowwwww did you really just confuse me with them? Wooowwww…. Wooowwwww” and shakes their head as they walk out. Overall that was a very funny experience, but illustrates the relationships that Goney is able to build with her students, as they were both laughing the whole time. 

Overall, I’ve already gotten more out of this field rotation than I did last semester. This may be due to the fact that it is just one person with the mentor teacher, as opposed to three. I’ve already seen lesson plans, unit plans, IEPs/504s, schedules, assignments, attendance, and so on. Mrs. Goney is very enthusiastic about helping me get experience and to eventually teach, as she gave me all of the next units materials already. Yet, due to the setup of the classroom, there isn’t any group work that occurs, so I don’t really have any opportunities to walk around. Students just come up to Goneys desk to ask questions rather than ask their peers. This could be due to the classroom setup, as we’ve discussed in class, or it could also be due to the fact that it is geometry. 

Connection wise, I’m already seeing the importance of building relationships with students and creating a positive and safe classroom environment, as Goney has for/with her students. Along with that, she had mentioned how each year she changes how she grades based off of how the students did the year prior. This past summer, she said that she spent a lot of time researching the new wave of not assigning homework, and decided to semi-adopt it. She doesn’t grade homework, but students have to have all of their homework done in order to do test and quiz corrections. This provides incentives to learn how to do the work without worrying about the grade behind it. Interestingly enough, Goney also uses guided notes for her lessons (as so did my mentor teacher last year). This is a rather controversial topic for math, which brings me to the question of how would you teach proofs in a student centered manner? Guided notes are said to be not super effective or engaging, but sometimes it does appear necessary. Although, Mrs. Goney did mention that the next unit has more activities with Scavenger Hunts and Escape Room activities. I think the way in which you use guided notes can determine their effectiveness; but even then, how are you to let students discover proofs if they have no experience? I understand the importance of student led discovery, but I am having a hard time visualizing how to implement it into a math classroom for some subjects. This is something I’m hoping to speak more with Mrs. Goney on, and learn more about in my math methods course.