The Oakridge School
October 24th, 2018
My experience at the Oakridge School was unique in the sense that it was an observation of many firsts: my first time observing a science class, my first time observing a male teacher, and my first time observing a private school. I entered the classroom and had noticed right away, it was extremely well-organized. This classroom consisted of five tables, a teacher’s desk in front of the projector, planetariums, safety stations, and labeled, clear storage bins. The teacher had displayed multiple science related posters around the room which helped create a welcoming and active learning environment. In addition, the teacher had made an organized bulletin board called the “Information Station” and strategically displayed it at the very front of the room, next to the projector screen. I thought this was a clever way to hold students accountable for knowing due dates for projects and homework, as well as important dates for other school events, trips, and activities.
One of the things that impressed me during this observation was the fact that each child had an individual iPad. This was interesting because I had seen this similar distribution of technology previously at Stripling Middle School, which was a public school. However, the ways the technology was used in the classroom were drastically different. At the Oakridge, the iPads were used in place of papers and pens. The students were asked to pull up the lab sheet on their tablet and were to fill out the lab using a stylus. This was intriguing to me as I had always been exposed to the classic learning methods of handwritten notes, yet in this particular classroom, there was no sight of a pencil or paper. The students did not seem distracted by their tablets, so in this instance, the technology proved to be extremely beneficial and useful to the class.
Another impressive item to note would be the teacher’s support for student interaction. This class hour, the students were preparing for their labs on genetics and were required to cut out and glue multiple sheets of “DNA” samples onto popsicle sticks. The process took a while to complete, and some students finished prior to others. I noticed the teacher had said multiple times that, “when you finish, find another student and help them finish.” I found these instructions beneficial in many aspects. First, it allowed students to interact with other students. Second, it benefits the entire class; the sooner each student finished cutting their samples of DNA, the sooner the teacher would give the next set of instructions. The teacher insured that the class could not move on without all the students being on the same page. He encouraged the students to help one another in order to benefit both the students as individual’s and the class as a whole. I really liked this ideology and hope to incorporate it into my future classroom.
I noticed this teacher had a high appreciation for cleanliness. Several times throughout the class, he would repeat instructions for cleaning. He told the students they should not move on to the next step until their areas were clean; this included having student constantly throw away any scraps, put away the supplies they were not using, and being mindful of anything that fell on the floor. In addition, he strategically passed out paper towels to each of the students to place under their work space to ensure the glue would not get on the tables. I believe his method of repeating cleaning instructions is why his classroom was so noticeable organized in comparison to classrooms from previous observations.
At the beginning of class, as the teacher scrolled through the lab sheet displayed on the projector, I saw there was a subheading that read, “Purpose of Lab.” This reminded me of a topic discussed earlier this semester about the importance of objectives. Learning objectives set the stage for what the students are supposed to extract from the lesson. These objectives will allow the teacher to assess whether or not the students were able to achieve what was meant to be from the activity.
Another connect I had made was when each pair of students were asked to assign the role a “mom” and “dad” for their “baby dragon.” Because this lab coordinated with their unit on genetics, each pair of students were asked to choose who would be the mom and dad for their theoretical baby dragon. This relates to the method of learning through roleplay. Although the students were not told to act in a specific way, this mentality allowed them to further understand the concept of genetics and the fact that genes develop through both male and female figures.
Overall, I had a very good experience at the Oakridge School. Because this was a private school, my questions are in regard to private versus public education. There are so many successful students I have known or have known of that attended public school; what real benefits result from attending a private school? In addition, is financial aid provided for students who come from low-class families and have outstanding academic records? If so, what is aid based on and how do they determine which students are more deserving?