Vygotsky in NHS S120

[Anonymous]

In middle school, there was a teacher’s assistant for students for whom English was not their first language, who regularly attended classes taken by these students and always sat in the back of the class. Her job was to take really good notes and distribute these “study guides” to students. I remember, oddly feeling competitive, I also made my own “study guides,” supplementing some missing details from the TA’s study guide, and feeling proud about myself for creating such a comprehensive review sheet. I was somewhat of a naturally motivated student especially in middle school, and I especially liked to observe what I thought was good habits or ways of living from others, and adopted them in my own life. I had a sense that if I became an aggregate of these good habits, I would become a good person. Now that I think about it, I think I was in the Zone of Proximal Development of this TA. Because she was an MKO to me, and I admired her ability to create good notes, I was inspired by her, and eventually got to the point where I could create my own study guides, which is a skill that to this day I find useful in my everyday life.
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As I sat in my little corner in the classroom, two things were apparent. First, this was clearly a study hall, not a standard classroom where lectures and teacher-led activities took place. Study halls are meant to test the student’s ability to independently focus even without a set of guidelines or directions from the teacher. Second, it was just as clear that no one in the room was doing this. The school had given the students iPads, and when I asked Mrs. Battaglia when this policy took off, she led me to converse with a senior student in the room, who was not part of S120 but came here to work on his things before his next class. According to him, the iPad was a gateway to educational software and grade tracking app, sort of like the Moodle and Hub, that the school utilized as a part of their initiative to go paper-free. When I expressed concern over the free browsing capabilities that come with the ownership of a personal iPad, the senior student kindly explained that the school takes measures to restrict app downloads and browsing bandwidth by having separate wifi for the students. I was still a bit skeptical, whether students who are still figuring out how to metacognitively monitor their everyday activities, which includes electronics usage, will be able to handle the all-encompassing, and often tiring endeavor of owning a device that they would not be able to fully escape from as long as they don’t actively seek to distance themselves from it.

Phone usage hidden behind the “wall” of tablets persisted for some time, and as I eyed the silent room, I was wondering how I should implement Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development in this rather placid setting where not a sound could be heard. After some contemplation I decided that, rather than sitting around, I should actively insert myself into the community, and at least have a chance to introduce myself. So I did. I went up to every student, bent forward, and said, “Hi, I’m Yemi, what’s your name?” Most kids were kind enough to look me in the eye as they told me their names, but some did not even look up as I unabashedly stood in front of them–somewhat of an expected behavior from teenagers who had too soon realized the fatigue of getting to know new people.

To be very honest, I have not yet seen any instances of Vygotsky’s prescriptions in this classroom. The previous week, I saw Sam and Twyla, teacher assistants from Americorp, checking on the students from time to time to see if they were getting their work done. I could also see them helping some students with their homework, which could be considered scaffolding. Steve, the manager of S120, also informed me that the issue for the most part was that the students just simply did not do their work, and that they needed some “encouragement” and occasional homework help. But even after Sam had finally introduced me to the class as a student from Carleton “who is able to help with anything, really, except for language,” I was not called upon once. A shy person as I was, only after some awkward “wandering” around the students, I managed to check in on one of the students, who promptly replied that he was “done with everything,” while not taking his eyes off his phone.

I have to say, it wasn’t me, but there was one student peer tutor, by the name Margo (pseudoname), who was mentoring a student, asking if they needed any help, and providing some guidance and “scaffolding” when they expressed a need. Margo in this case would be considered an MKO. For the most part, however, Margo’s friendly offer of assistance was met with “I got it, thanks,” and that was that. I do think however, that peer support, which I am also part of on campus as a writing consultant, is a good construct that could benefit both the tutor and the tutee in ways traditional classroom setting might miss out on. For example, Margo, as a student who is around the mentee’s age, is more approachable, than say, Steve, who is much older. In addition, Margo seemed to have taken some classes that the mentees were currently taking, based on a conversation I saw her having with some students, and I could observe that she was giving them some advice on how to be successuful in that class from a student’s perspective. When Margo was not interacting with the students, she spent the rest of her hours working on her own homework, which could also provide motivation for other students to work on their homework as well. As I walked around the room, I noticed that Margo was referring to notes she took on a paper notebook. There was one other person in the room with paper and an actual pencil. I found this situation somewhat jarring.

If I am able have a chance to be an MKO, there are a few things I would like to mentor the students on. First, that time is precious. Study hall may seem like a waste of time better spent browsing the social networks, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You could read a book, learn a new skill, or even make a paper Ninja Caltrop (someone actually did this). You could think of homework as not something you should do just for the sake of it, but as a learning opportunity, a chance for you to show off what you know. To apply Vygotsky directly, you could have a conversation with me. Practicing language by actively speaking it, will allow one to develop both social skills and the ability to express oneself logically. Second, that taking notes on paper is priceless. Taking notes physically leads you to actively engage with the material, and lets you remember the content more vividly, perhaps owing to muscle memory. So it is rather unfortunate that in an effort to go paper-less, the school ended up encouraging more screen time, which not only leads to more fatigue but also signifantly decreases one’s ability to focus on the material and to get creative with the ways in which he/she interacts with the material. Nonetheless, I cannot help but wonder if whatever I plan to say would actually resonate with the teenagers, or if it would really be not until they advance to college or some type of more “adult” life that they realize these things naturally.

Actually, I do think I had one (failed) attempt at exerting the Zone of Proximal Development. To prove my point about the value of reading, I had brought a paper book with me, and was reading it little by little (occasionally looking up to see if anyone was noticing, which they were not). I guess what I was thinking was that if I am able to display to the teeangers the degree of mental concentration that you could achieve by reading, perhaps they would follow example, and return to their reading homeworks. But of course, no one had noticed me, and the only thing I achieved was being further disspated as a nobody who could not be bothered. Consequently, I decided this is perhaps not what Vygotsky had in mind when he spoke of the Zone. In future visits, I will be more proactive in asking if people need my help. What is there to lose?

In general, the extensive usage of electronic devices and prevalence of social media complicates Vygotsky’s sociocultural development theory, especially when it comes to unsupervised, independent learning environment such as S120. Peer mentoring is made more difficult by the lack of verbal interaction, and diverted attention from multitasking between smartphones and actually doing their homework keeps the student’s mind busy with no place for reflection on their own learning or identification of what they need help on, which further reduces opportunities for the MKO to engage in mentoring practices. Call me old-fashioned, but I got to say, I do miss the times when lack of extensive entertainment forced people to interact with one another, truly being “social” beings. Ironically, popular social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter or YouTube seemed to have relieved the teenagers of the pressure to “socialize” in their immediate surroundings, which although I cannot say I’m completely free of either, nonetheless leaves one feeling a bit sorry inside. After all, all I want is to interact with the students, to get to know what’s on their minds, to become a mentor that could possibly help them with their college application or something. I just hope that my continued presence eases the awkwardness a little and that I would eventually be able to become somewhat helpful to them.

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

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