Field Blog: Heights High

Before entering the doors of Heights High I knew I was going to be introduced to an environment I had never been in. My high school was private, and very small. I had forty kids in my class and knew everyone in the high school and junior high. Walking through the doors of Heights High, I noticed how big it was. Not only was it large, I noticed the many security guards walking around; this is something I have never experienced before. 

Upon entering the classroom at Heights High, the tone and attitude for the day was set; and it was a negative one. The teacher, whose class was a mess and whose students looked to be doing various things, did not seem welcoming to us students from JCU. In fact, she did not even seem to know we would be attending today. 

The teaching habit I observed was one of chaos. Although at the end the principal noted the benefits of organized chaos, I did not see any. This might be due to the fact this is not what I was used to, or that organized chaos simply does not work. While I was in the classroom, the teacher never went in front of the class to address them on what they would be working on. Instead, she went from table to table explaining and repeating what seemed to be the same questions and answers. If I was to teach in this classroom, I would recognize that there is a common confusion and address it to the class as a whole rather than repeating myself to about ten tables.

Unfortunately, my final thoughts on the classroom I was in, is that it is the classroom I would never want to teach in. Although the style of teaching that was presented may help some students, it was not for me and it was eye opening in the sense that I had never seen a teaching style/environment like that before.