This year our superintendent challenged all district administrators to shadow a student for a day. After thinking about the grade level I'd like to experience for a day, I requested to shadow a 7th grader. As a K-6 curriculum supervisor, I wanted to see where our students go after leaving the elementary world.
I was assigned a 7th grade girl to shadow for the day. Now, I need to share that my own middle school experience was not full of warm memories. Peer pressure and the social hierarchy, and don't get me started with puberty. Not a fun time in my life!
Excited and a little nervous about returning to middle school, I prepared for my day as a 7th grader. Due to a previous appointment, I missed first period (Spanish) and was introduced to my student for the day in period 2...gym class. Yikes! Volleyball! I broke my hand playing volleyball in middle school and I'm also a terrible athlete....well, really just overall uncoordinated, but I joined in and had fun. Our team went 2-1 on the day, and all of my serves made it over the net. Whew!
Next, I joined my student in band class and then it was off to math class. My student was busy working with a partner on a volume/surface area project. They explained the project to me and I was able to give input as they worked and also join them as they circulated the classroom to offer compliments and feedback to other student projects.
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| Math Project Time! |
After math class we headed to the cafeteria for lunch. I had planned to purchase lunch there, and my student informed me that today our table would be called last to get in the lunch line. Yikes! What if I didn't have enough time to eat my lunch?
The students at my lunch table were very friendly and welcoming, and made sure I got into line quickly once our section was called. I am a slow eater, so while my student and some others from my table went off to play volleyball for the later part of lunch, I stayed to finish eating. I barely made it to language arts class!
Now it was time for language arts, my favorite class! The class was studying science fiction, which happens to be my least favorite genre, but I was still quickly engaged in reading and discussions around Fahrenheit 451.
In science the students were busy completing a video project that was due at the end of the period. My student was working on the voice-overs for her project on cloning, and I even got to contribute my voice to the project!
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| Sketchnoting! |
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| Science Research |
We finished out the day in social studies, where there was a substitute teacher. We read about the "shot heard around the world" and answered questions.
I had several takeaways from my day, and I had the opportunity to share them with my student as the final dismissal bell was sounding.
In some ways, middle school has changed a lot since my days as a twelve year old, and in other ways things remain relatively unchanged.
The good changes come in the instruction and student engagement. Except for my last class, where the teacher was absent, every class was interactive and engaging for students. My student was continually collaborating, using inquiry to ask questions and guide research, self-assessing, providing feedback to others, engaging in higher-order thinking and questioning, and continually moving around the classroom. There was no "sit and get" or body parts falling asleep from sitting too long. Technology was purposefully integrated, and student voice and choice was also a common theme. My middle school experience, oh so long ago, was closer to the worksheet I completed with the substitute than my experience today.
What things remain the same? The social structure and behaviors haven't changed. It was interesting to look around the cafeteria to see the social groups that were sitting together and how students interacted. It was actually nice to see the socializing that occurred, free from cell phone distractions in the school setting. Students actually talked to each other!
As a student, I was encouraged to see all of the student-centered learning taking place for these middle-schoolers. I just finished reading What School Could Be (Ted Dintersmith) and am now about halfway through The One-World Schoolhouse (Salman Kahn), and much of my thinking about education is being both challenged and affirmed.
Shadowing a student was a positive experience for me, and I'd like to think it was for my student as well. I had fun interacting with students throughout the day, and everyone was very kind and welcoming. It's definitely a day well spent for any educator. I am grateful for the experience and my take-aways, and I'm happy to say I once again survived my time in middle school!
