Northfield Middle School and Vygotsky

[Anonymous]

I think an example of me learning within my zone of proximal development is my experience in my political philosophy class in my freshman year of high school. Throughout middle school, I was not particularly challenged by my academic coursework, so starting high school was one of the first times that I experienced an appropriate level of difficulty. In political philosophy, I was confronted for the first time with very dense, obscure academic language as I read philosophers like Rousseau and Mill. I initially struggled with these texts, but my teacher provided guiding questions and advice on how to tackle difficult readings (such as paraphrasing the author in the margins), which helped me immensely. By confronting and overcoming this barrier in reading comprehension, I became a more confident student and developed skills that have continued to serve me as a history major at Carleton.

An example of scaffolding that I observed in the classroom was the use of organizational aids and assignments being split into small, manageable pieces. For example, students have a work completion tracker that outlines all their assignments and due dates to help them keep track of their responsibilities. Plus, the students are starting a unit on argumentative writing, where they are preparing to write an argumentative essay. They are provided with a lot of scaffolding to support them through this assignment; there are numerous sub-due dates for their topic proposal, bibliography, outline, first draft, etc so that the teacher can provide feedback throughout the writing process. As the students become more adept writers, these assignments that emphasize the steps of the writing process can be removed and students will be ready to write an essay independently. I think that this illustrates Vygotsky’s theory of development’s focus on preparing students to work independently by first helping them complete tasks collaboratively.

Finally, I would like to address my role as a more knowledgeable other in the classroom. So far I have not interacted much with the students, but on Thursday I did walk through the classroom and answered students’ questions about their argumentative topic selection, and search for reliable sources. I think that it is helpful for students to have another source of support in addition to their teacher because I might be able to offer different perspectives and advice than they would have received otherwise. I think that this is one reason why having a TA or other classroom assistant can be valuable; in addition, these helpers may be closer to the peers in age, making them more approachable for students. Talking directly to a professor or teacher can be intimidating, so having a peer go-between can be especially important to ensure students get the support that they need.

Some overall reflections
– The students have to complete a lot of worksheets and short assignments for their argumentative essay. For example, in class, they had to work through a worksheet where they listed three subtopics for their argumentative essay topics and then had to check off if they could find credible sources on each topic. I understand that this can be helpful scaffolding, but I don’t think I would have appreciated this level of micromanagement as a middle schooler. I have always struggled with the control and standardization required in public schools, which I worry will diminish students’ creativity, and limit their appreciation of otherwise interesting subjects.
– We had a student in the classroom with a paraeducator on Thursday. He seemed like he needed help staying focused, and the paraeducator worked to keep him on task during the class.
– I am curious to learn more about Ms. Bloom and her experience teaching. I plan to ask her some questions soon; How many classes does she teach in a day? What does she enjoy most about teaching? How much freedom does she have in shaping her class versus having to conform to state standards?

• This topic was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by admin.

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