Lately have
been swimming in a sea of literacy excellence.
Both of my classes consist of 7th grade GATE students, so
they all have demonstrated above-average literacy skills through high STAR test
scores. Truth be told, these perky
little rug rats exhibit far higher academic proficiency than my 9th
grade students at SBHS! Granted,
these Balboa students are all GATE-caliber overachievers, but it is still
striking to me how much more advanced these students are. When I started my Jr. High placement, I
was initially concerned that it would feel like a “step backwards” in
comparison to teaching at a high school.
However, I have found that it is quite the opposite. Even when working with my lower-level
AVID class, I find that your average student at Balboa Middle takes their
learning experience more seriously than at SBHS. Judging by what I have gathered from my observations and
conversations with other teachers, this phenomenon is somewhat common. Something seems to happen in high
school that stymies the academic drive in adolescents; I’m guess that puberty
and social pressures play a big role.
Regardless, I can’t help but wonder: are my bright-eyed Junior Highers
going to regress into the unmotivated and struggling students I experienced at
SBHS? Conversely, did my
underachievers from Mrs. Wagner’s class at SBHS used to strive for success or,
at the very least, literacy competence?
Queries aside, I have observed many instances of literacy
practice in our classroom. Ms.
Edgar’s students have eagerly grappled with explorations of narrative, plot,
characterization, theme, advanced vocabulary, parts of speech, and figurative
language. Working with both the
textbook and novels of their choice, most of my students love to read. Immediately prior to my introduction to
the class, Ms. Edgar’s students read The Cay and completed an extensive
portfolio of assignments associated with it—sort of an extended, drawn out book
report. They all participate in
Balboa’s “AR,” or “Advanced Reading” program, wherein they work to complete
weekly reading goals based on individual assessment of difficulty and page
quantity. The most popular books,
by far, are those from Susan Collins’ Hunger Games series.
Discussion is a regular feature in Ms. Edgar’s
classroom. Much like the Socratic
seminars I observed in some of SBHS’ Honors English classes, her students are
polite and respectful when crafting their responses. Even when they disagree, these students maintain civility
and view their time to speak more as an opportunity to support their own view
rather than attack their ideological opponent. In terms of scaffolding, Ms. Edgar often requires students
to do a personal, quick freewrite before opening up the class to
discussion. In addition, she also
utilizes a discussion technique I have witnessed in our own TEP classes:
post-free write pair share before group discussion. She feels that these are crucial steps toward cultivating
healthy class discussion because they give students time to develop and
“filter” their responses before subjecting themselves to the scrutiny of the
entire class.
Ms. Edgar’s classroom is unique from others in the sense that
she is able to push her students harder and faster than other teachers due to
their advanced ability levels. She
has no ELL students in her classes, so no differentiation is required in that
regard. Ms. Edgar’s class also
differs from any class I have seen in terms of the amount of reading her
students are required to do (as a part of the AR program). Any down time in class is spent reading
and the students are typically excited to do so.
This placement is really a dream assignment, I must
admit. It will surely provide a
wealth of opportunity to test out new techniques thanks to a willing, eager,
and able group of lab rats. The onus
is now on me to make the most of it and try not to slow down the educational
freight train that is Ms. Edgar’s 7th grade English class!
