First Week Back in Middle School

[Jalen Causey]

I’m observing an 8th-grade Algebra class, and from the moment I pulled up to the school, I was already comparing it to my middle school experience. This school’s campus was much bigger than my middle school’s, and when I walked in the school truly looked immaculate. There had clearly been a lot of effort put into not only the building of the school but also in the maintenance of the school. Not only this but all of the students were issued iPads. Things like this signify, to me, that the quality of education and even the affluence of the general population.

Going into the classroom, the first day was a bit uneventful. They were taking a test to measure their mathematical abilities, so I wasn’t able to do much outside of introducing myself to the class. Mrs. Hebzynski, the teacher, allowed me to grade students’ homework assignments because I couldn’t really interact with them. I think Mrs. Hebz is kind, attentive, and conversational with the students. Along with her, there’s also Mrs. Gannon who assists in the class as well. She, similar to Mrs. Hebz, is very patient and willing to help the students think through their issues and what they’re learning. I think all of those different qualities combine well to make sure the students feel safe enough to learn something that challenges them, like Algebra. And speaking of which, I love what I’ve seen so far. Their homework makes me feel so nostalgic! It reminds me so much of my 8th-grade year, how hard the teacher pushed me, and how that prepared me for my high school career.

In the class, there are 24 students in the class, consisting of 14 white students and 10 students of color. Those 10 students are eight Latinx students and two Black students. There are 10 female-identifying students and 14 male-identifying students. Overall, the students responded to me a lot better than I thought they would – they welcomed me into the class and even complimented the earrings I was wearing and my hair. I definitely remember how mean students that age can be so I expected a little resistance, but I’m so happy that I didn’t get any. And I don’t really feel any pandemic hangover from the students nor the teacher. I think they are adjusting back to school rather well, but I also think that’s because they had schooling before the pandemic and can readjust back to those expectations.

After my first day, Wednesday the students did a practice test and then Friday they took the actual test. Taking the entire week into perspective in trying to understand how well these students fit into Piaget’s theory, these students are around the age of 13-14, so that would place them in the Formal Operations stage. With Algebra, I think it’s a perfect way to measure just how well they’re developing because formal operations are all about dealing with abstract ideas and their introduction to algebra is having them integrate variables (letters that represent unknown numbers and thus are abstract concepts) into what they already know about math. Something I noticed on Monday while I was grading their homework assignments (Mrs. Hebz also gave me access to her grade book so that I could input the homework scores into her record) is that some students consistently received 5/5 on their assignments and others who more often received maybe a 2/5 or 3/5. This to me meant some students were understanding the material – understanding the abstractness of the subject – more than other students. They’re all in this early, early stage of formal operations, but clearly, there is some difference in development.  Thus far, I think they would follow Piaget’s theory – they’re just transitioning to a new mode of thinking, and though some are handling the transition better than others, I think they are all in that formal operations stage.

Some other things I noticed include the responsiveness of the students in different situations. They’re overall a lot more willing to answer in a group setting, feeling comfortable enough to answer without even raising their hands. Helping this is Mrs. Hebz’s rapport with the students as well – she’s able to talk to them about the things that interest them and that engagement might allow for a more comfortable learning environment. I’ve noticed that the teacher will draw the students’ attention to different things by saying “hey this will be on the test,” to make sure they really pay attention to this topic. We also talked about wait time in class, and when it comes to Mrs. Hebz I’ve noticed that her wait time often depends on the topic (if they’ve been going over the topic for some time, she’ll have a shorter wait time, and if it’s a new topic she’ll wait longer) or she’ll alternate between that and asking a variation of the question “are you sure?” Along with this, I also notice that the teachers will proactively help students. They don’t wait for students to raise their hands and ask for help, but rather go to them and check their work and help them through whatever problem they’re on. That is very different from high school or college, and perhaps that has to do with their budding personalities – since they don’t have a firm sense of self yet, they might be more comfortable talking/asking in group settings than being “the one that doesn’t know.”

Overall, I found this week to be so surprising and exciting, and I can’t wait for more!

[Author]

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