Making the trip to Mercer Elementary School in Shaker was a far more different experience that what was expected. Since I want to be a high school teacher, I was unsure how the elementary aspect would effect me. Walking into the school was the first thing that had made an impression on me. The halls were so decorated with arts and craft, papers written by the children and many more. Once we had made our way into the library, it seemed like any ordinary library you would find in an elementary building; was not overly large, had sections for younger kids and a few computers to look up books. What really struck me though was when a young boy, probably in the 3rd or 4th grade had walked in and sat on a bench closer to the entrance of the library. I could not help but notice the book that he was reading had to have been somewhere near 500 pages, just by the thickness of it, and the ore impressive thing is that he was at the end of it. I had heard that the school was full of bright young and advanced minds but that really sparked my interest in what I was about to observe.
Our class had a brief introduction from the principal giving the background of the school and then he had let us wander the halls of the school independently. After a half hour we were allowed to venture into a classroom and sit in on a teacher and observe her teaching techniques. As I had made my way around the school it was easy to see that all the teachers had one of the same things in mind; bring the creativity out in all the students. Every floor and hallway was covered with the creativity and imagination of students that had literally gone from wall to wall. It was intriguing to see what the students had written about themselves and what they wanted to do when they grew up. The next stop I made was into the gym/cafeteria and the one thing that had caught my eye was all the different flags hanging up near the rafters. All the way around the gym, they had each countries clad with the name underneath which while the students may not have always noticed them, I think it was to show the diversity of the school along with the wide variety of teaching ways that they use. As I made my way through the halls the morning announcements had come on with the daily announcements first then the pledge followed by core values that they had said after the pledge. I found this interesting because they were four or five words that I can not remember what they were but to the administration they must be important if they say them everyday to instill them in the minds of their students.
When I was finally able to step into a classroom is when my excitement really started. The first thing that struck me was how the walls were decorated with more work done by the kids or just posters of encouragement or to evolve learning. I found that to be very helpful because trying to keep a 3rd graders attention for a whole day is not the easiest thing. If they are going to wander with their eyes, they mine as well look at something that is educational to them and could better them. I walked in and the kids were doing some type of activity before the teacher had instructed them all to move to the carpet to start a math lesson. One of the things that really struck me was the freedom that all the kids were given to get up on their own without having to ask permission unless they had to leave the room. To me that showed a sign of respect that the teacher had for the students and vice versa.
The teacher had a session of math that took place on the carpet in front of the smart board for the students that were better at looking at a problem and being able to solve it and then sent the kids back to their seats and gave them their own workbooks to work from. This was for the children would needed to be involved to learn and she had kept the entire class engaged at all times. What I thought was really great by the teacher is when she would call on all students, even the ones who were not raising their hands. That to me was showing them that there was no time to slack off because they could be called on at every moment. The elementary was much more contained and a better overall experienced than I had expected. Seeing how the school was run and being able to see how the kids interact was great.
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