Observing a New Classroom

[Arlo Hettle]

This week, the Global Studies class that I normally tutor in had a test on Tuesday, which gave me the opportunity to observe an AP Psych class instead.

Objectives:

Learn the unit vocabulary words on attention and apply them to real world situations.
Distinguish between bottom-up and top-down processing and give examples of each.
Identify the sensory phenomena that cause various optical illusions
Warm-Up:

Mr. Stevens began by giving a quick refresher of what the students had talked about at the end of the previous day, which was vocabulary about the parts and functions of the eye. He asked a few simple review questions and had students call out the answers in unison.

Motivational Strategy:

This psych class, like many AP classes, was about as teach to the test as one can get. It was pretty clear that Mr. Stevens had a list of vocabulary that he knew would be required for the test and that he needed to get through it in a timely manner, with little to no opportunity for exploration. However, he tried to invoke intrinsic motivation in students’ desire to be in the class and learn the material by incorporating a variety of memes, pop culture references, and interactive activities into his explanations of the material. This has a dual process of helping the material “stick” in the students’ minds and increasing the enjoyment of the time that they have to spend learning a lot of dry content. I forget exactly which psych term this was (something about our tendency to focus on the broad strokes of an image rather than its specific parts), but illustrating it with this funny Ed Sheeran picture is certainly a more interesting and helpful way to remember it than just the textbook definition.

It took me a while to notice what was wrong with the photo (if you’re having trouble, focus on the “leaves”)

Activities:

The class wasn’t broken up into distinct activities as much as three mini-sections of vocabulary that each contained a similar set of activities. Mr. Stevens would begin by giving a standard definition of the term, which the students would copy onto the handout he had provided them. He would then move to some sort of example or activity to help illustrate the term. Some examples include memes like the Ed Sheeran one above, illustrations of different optical illusions, a funny video to demonstrate selective blindness, and an activity involving adding numbers of cards together to demonstrate another term. The entire 50-minute class followed this vocab word-activity pattern.

Closure/Follow Up:

The lesson did not have a true closer. He ran out of time and was trying to get the students to copy down one more definition as the bell was ringing. The class would pick up the next day with a continuation of the unit vocabulary.

This structure, although not incredibly inspiring, is definitely intentional. Based on my own experience taking AP Psychology, I remember it being a slog of vocabulary. However, my high school teacher did the same thing that Mr. Stevens is doing, focusing on making the class entertaining as a way to somewhat cover up the drill and kill nature of the course. This worked for me as a student, AP Psych was one of my favorite classes despite how repetitive it could be, and I could tell that the students found Mr. Stevens funny and were engaged in the activities. However, this was a class likely full of students who are motivated by the desire to learn this material to pass the AP test and get college credit. Other students who do not have that same motivation may find the repetitive nature of this class draining and wish there was more of a chance to slow down, ask questions, and explore the material. In this class of juniors and seniors, many of them have gotten very good at memorizing vocab words and taking AP tests, and this class likely plays into their strengths, particularly with the fun class environment keeping them engaged. I would guess that from Mr. Stevens’ standpoint of getting his students to pass the AP test, the lesson was very successful. However, this speaks to the larger philosophy behind AP classes/tests and whether these bright students could be learning more in a more exploration-based or constructivist classroom. I would imagine yes, but this type of exploration is rarely allowed under the strict time constraints of an AP curriculum.

One other interesting tidbit from the week came from the Global Studies class. Mrs. McDonald showed me the “exit slips” that the students filled out after their class about US immigration law on Wednesday (which I was not in attendance for). They were asked to finish the sentence “US immigration law is…” and give one question or comment they have regarding immigration to the US. I wanted to highlight some of the responses that I found especially striking. I think these responses show both the variety of different levels of processing that students have in response to a class and the ways in which kids wrap their heads around a political topic that they are beginning to understand is more complex and nuanced than they might have previously thought. There is so much to unpack here that is probably way beyond the scope of this blog, but I found these responses really thought-provoking.

 

Finish this sentence: US Immigration law is…..

A complex process that makes it very difficult for someone to enter legally

A question or comment I have regarding immigration to the US:

As a teacher, if a student tells me that they are here illegally do I have to ell the government?

 

Finish this sentence: US Immigration law is…..

Strict and often hard to get around. It is a barrier for many immigrants who are coming in search for a better life.

A question or comment I have regarding immigration to the US:

Why is the US allowed to just deport immigrants? Why isn’t there a way to help those immigrants instead of sending them back to a life they were trying to escape?

 

Finish this sentence: US Immigration law is…..

Very complicated and confusing

A question or comment I have regarding immigration to the US:

I would like to know the truth about how people are treated. The real truth.

 

Finish this sentence: US Immigration law is…..

A complex set of laws which can make migration more difficult for immigrants.

A question or comment I have regarding immigration to the US:

How many children are stuck at the border right now? What condition are they in?

 

Finish this sentence: US Immigration law is…..

Very complicated

A question or comment I have regarding immigration to the US:

Why does it take so long for a person to come in the legal way?

 

Finish this sentence: US Immigration law is…..

complicated

A question or comment I have regarding immigration to the US:

None

 

Finish this sentence: US Immigration law is…..

Complicated

A question or comment I have regarding immigration to the US:

My mom is a citizenship teacher in Faribault, she helps people get ready to take citizenship tests! I don’t know, I think it’s cool

 

Finish this sentence: US Immigration law is…..

Very very complicated, not easy to learn

A question or comment I have regarding immigration to the US:

What does the government do with all of these immigrants?

 

Finish this sentence: US Immigration law is…..

Dumb

A question or comment I have regarding immigration to the US:

None

[Molly Schwartz]

Arlo, your explanation of the lesson plan and in class observations are fascinating! I think it’s super interesting how your previous experience in AP Psych align with your observations of the class. I really appreciated your discussion of how Mr. Stevens intentionally made the lesson more interesting by bringing in pop culture references. Just because it’s an AP class being taught to the test doesn’t mean that they can’t have some fun while also building in unique ways to allow the material to stick. I completely agree with you that students taking AP classes may already be intrinsically motivated given that AP classes are a lot of work. I will say based on my preppy high school experience that I knew a lot of kids who took a bunch of APs but didn’t seem motivated by learning in the same way. They took APs to improve their transcripts not because they loved the classes they were taking. I would be curious to know how AP tests and classes play into students intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to succeed.

I also found your examples of student responses in the Global Studies class super cool. I haven’t really gotten to observe any of the students assignments on a large scale so it was really cool to see a whole class of responses to a very open ended question. I think it’s really cool that Northfield High has a Global Studies class and that students are learning about issues like immigration. I would be curious to read your blog post next week how issues of equity and diversity have come up in class, both in the subject matter and in the classroom politics.

[Author]

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