JELLO-O and Homecoming with Mr. Johnson

[Alec Kotler]

Bright and early, 7:51am on a sun shining, birds chirping Friday morning I arrived to Northfield High School where all the stereotypes of an “old school” high school sat before me. Surprisingly, this initial impression faded as I walked in; there wasn’t anything “old school” about this place as its interior revealed more contemporary resources and features. Still, it did match typical pop culture conceptions of an American high school, including the long corridors, bells ringing to switch classes, crowds of gossiping teenagers in the hallways and an attendance booth at the front of the school. I felt as if I was walking through the halls from Degrassi High. Deborah’s note to our class, explaining how we should not dress as if we are going to the beach, inspired me to dress as I was interviewing or making my first appearance at a job. My conservative Polo top, khakis, and no gym shoes stood out; students were dressed in extremely casual, comfortable, unrestrictive clothing. It had me worried that the students would feel skeptical or intimidated by my formal appearance despite being only a few years older than them, sharing similar interests, and my being there to bring my science background into the classroom as an extra resource for their benefit – to expand and develop their scientific knowledge in their biology class.
It was the Friday before a big football game and the day before a schoolwide dance. The spirit was flowing through the halls and continued in the biology classroom as the exuberant, outgoing, engaging teacher, Mr. Johnson was wearing Northfield Raiders gear along with many of his students. His appearance and enthusiasm had to be a nice contrast to the tedious two day lab experiment the students were completing by the end of this class. Mr. Johnson’s easy-going and friendly persona contrasted with the mood of the students who seemed anxious and intense as they worked to complete their assignment with precision. Out of the three classes I observed, the first two consisted of “special education” students, as Mr. Johnson described them. He told me they were placed in these sections as they scored lower than the general student population on the initial standardized exam all students are required to take as they enter 9th grade. These classes had about 12 students each. The general education students came to class during third period. These students seemed more energetic and it was a noticeably larger class size of about 30 students. The special education students were less independently organized, but just as determined to complete the lab assignment (which was the same for all 3 classes). Mr. Johnson had an additional aid to assist the special education students and they appeared to have to work harder to facilitate these classes. The racial and ethnic diversity in all 3 classes appeared to be primarily white students with a few Hispanic students.
To me, one of the most obvious pandemic hangover issues observed in the classroom had to do with how students have gotten used to socializing during class with peers. On numerous occasions, Mr. Johnson demanded his students put their cell phones away. While Mr. Johnson was reviewing topics or giving lab instructions, many times students were using their phones for social purposes that Mr. Johnson did not even notice. One may suggest this is normal teenage behavior in the smart phone age, but I suggest this is a product of the constant zoom atmosphere the students lived during COVID where it was easy to socialize via phone usage during class instead of locking in to the teacher speaking on a computer screen. How many students would you guess sent social texts throughout zoom lectures?
Mr. Johnson did his best to reverse more isolating teaching habits from pandemic times; he encouraged group work, robust discussion between students and led more of a student driven learning environment with less lecturing. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same was going on elsewhere in the school. The first thing I noticed as I left out biology class and crossed the hall were from various classes outside their classrooms with their iPads, each spread out listening to an audio lecture and not engaging in any sort of post-listening discussion. How different is that from sitting at home and completing an activity where the teacher assigns the students to listen to a podcast? This immediately made me think of the “pandemic hangover”. Fortunately, Mr. Johnson did tell me that some teachers were more adapt at moving on from pandemic times quicker than others. Finally, the aid in one of the classes I was in informed me that during COVID times the students needed a 50% to pass the class and grades were not provided regardless of class credit. She noticed that as students filled the halls again in person that there was an effort level hangover from this and the overall class grade has slipped because of it. Mr. Johnson started each class with an assignment that is clearly optional or has little value. The assignment requires brief research on a current science news piece that had to be shared with the class every other Friday. This assignment not only takes effort and organization, but some dedication and diligence. I can imagine students who are used to not having grades may be less motivated to complete this grade-less but valuable assignment. I will report back as to whether this will turn out to be more evidence of “pandemic hangover”.
The Piaget stage of development categorized as “formal operational” would align with what I observed in the classroom. As a 10th grade biology class, most students were well over 11 years. As the students took on a lab where they experimented with jell-o and the proteins that make up Jell-O, they hypothesized and attempted to correlate their findings to what occurs in our bodies at various temperatures based on what they noticed about the physical properties of the Jell-O at various temperatures. This is a great example of metacognition, hypothetical and abstract thinking.  This process was instigated by Mr. Johnson, as he posed various questions to the classroom regarding the experimental findings and how they can be applied elsewhere. Also, Mr. Johnson encouraged scientific thinking besides just requiring completion of the experiment. This thinking was facilitated by a worksheet that required students to have mastered existing knowledge regarding certain scientific principles and language (and many skills that would seem to fall within the concrete operational stage), and then tested and pushed application of this knowledge by presenting questions regarding hypothesis, results, future experiments and experimental error. Also, the students practiced experimental techniques such as caring for solutions in a safe manner and pouring specific volumes that can only be conducted through precise organization, focus, and collaboration, tasks which all fall into the formal operational category. Given I was observing lab work, the classroom activity seemed to support Piaget’s formal operational stage, and its position following the concrete operational stage.
In terms of the focus on the “pandemic effect”, as my visits continue I would be interested to explore how such effect, in terms of substance or how long it lasts, may differ for the special education class versus the general education class. I am also interested to see how much patience the teacher will have in allowing students to get back to “normal” or whether the existing uncertainty with respect to the pandemic means that returning to normal will not really become the expectation. Finally, I will be interested to see how Piaget’s stages align with scientific activity that is even more theoretical and less practical or hands on. My experience students can approach and understand lab activity – which is very concrete – differently from scientific concepts taught in other ways and I am interested to see if Piaget’s stages seem to fit similarly with both types of learning activity.

[Price Nicholas]

Alec, your story about the phones is interesting, and it really could be easy to write it off as standard high schooler behaviour. It makes a lot of sense, though, that phone usage during class has gotten a lot worse after covid. I know that I sent a lot of texts and otherwise used my phone during zoom class last year, so I can only imagine how much it was happening in high school classes. The phone thing made me think about how much the year plus of online class must have affected students at that age. It is such an important time for developing work habits as well as social identities, so it makes sense that kids have come back to school now with habits such as using their phone during class and being disconnected from everyone else, like you observed.

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