BLOG POST 2 - #shadowastudent Challenge

#Shadowastudent was a great experience. I followed a very sweet, 6th grade student around our district’s middle school. I look forward to the opportunity to shadow a student again in the future. I thought I was prepared for my day...nervous, but ready for the day. Now, a little background about my teaching experience: I taught middle school math to students who attended Summer School for several summers in an urban district. I also taught 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students for eight years. I thought for sure that I was prepared for a day in the life of a 6th grader.

I was not quite as prepared as I had originally anticipated. Let’s just say that by the end of the day, I was ready for a nap. I attended six classes, ate lunch in a room with over 200 students, learned Spanish (when I took French in High School), and visited a Band Class with no prior knowledge in music besides singing in my car! But still, the experience was great, to say the least! I learned a great deal about middle school teachers and students, was reminded of the independence our students experience once leaving our 3-5 intermediate building, how quickly four minutes really goes, and how early 9:56am is to eat lunch...yes, lunch...and how hard it is to get somewhere by 7:20am (especially when you have small children). As I reflect on my day, I begin with academics. I learned something new in every class. Back to my day shadowing a 6th grade student.  Let’s start….)

Advisory (Homeroom): I previously thought that building relationships at the Secondary level of education was more difficult. I still hold true to this perception, but I see that it is possible, especially because of the Advisory. Relationships and trust can be built between middle school teachers and students, although the time is simply limited so our decisions and continued commitment to connections are that much more crucial.

Band: 6th grade Band Class was by far one of my favorite parts of the day. I have no prior musical knowledge, but could still hear the difference in the students’ sound when the teacher pushed them to keep practicing a line of notes. There was positive encouragement and at the same time, students knew when they needed to try harder. Students were asked to say the notes, push the notes, and detach their mouth pieces to blow the notes as additional practice. I could follow along with visuals posted around the room so I wasn’t as lost as I thought I would be as I entered a room full of instruments when I have never played one. We ended the class with Ms. Chabitch playing the drums to a song the students loved...reminding me that, “After a tough practice like that today, it is always best to end on a positive note.”

Social Studies: I really needed to brush up on my Central American countries before coming to Social Studies...and I got a chance to practice. Students were randomly selected to say the countries as a student clicked through a Google Slide presentation that highlighted the countries one at a time. I wish I could come back for the test later to see how I really did.

Math: It was so great for the students to get up and move around during their Math class. Solving problems around the room with mini whiteboards and erasers...what a simple, yet successful strategy used to make a review lesson more engaging. There's just something about whiteboards that make students more excited about the math problems. There was also a multi-step math problem posted on a nearby hallway window. Students had to take a mini walking field trip to see the problem, solve it, and write their name on the window after they solved it.

ELA: Well, I guess I anticipated at least one test. It came my last 57 minutes of the day during English Language Arts. I found that since lunch ended at an early time of 10:27, I had been in class since 10:31 and was losing steam quickly. Of course, I got four minutes in between classes as my brain break, but I had to focus on a lengthy test as of 1:34pm, over 3 hours into classes since lunch. (If only I had studied ahead of time, I may have felt less pressure.) As my shadow student became a bit nervous with me, I suggested we take out the study guide and review it as we waited for the class to begin. All the anxiety was for naught, as students said the test was “easy peasy”. It was enjoyable at the end of ELA to have a break once the assessment was finished, to chat with the students in class about the day.

All joking aside, the #shadowastudent experience helped me to truly experience what students may feel like when they first get to middle school. I was nervous before I went. I even questioned if my outfit would be okay or if I would have someone to eat lunch with that day. Even the social aspects of middle school were something I could experience from a middle schooler’s viewpoint.
A special thanks goes out to my sweet, energetic, friendly 6th grade shadow student, and teachers and staff at Gull Lake Middle School who made my shadow experience a great one!