FieldBlog2 - Beachwood Middle School

When I was in middle school things were completely different. I went to class, talked to my friends, then sat down and listened to my teacher teach. I had a book, a folder, a notebook, and a pencil. My other items required for my other classes remained locked away in my locker down the hall. At Beachwood Middle School things have obviously changed. The children still walk into their classroom and socialize, (I don't think that will ever change), but instead of sitting down and turning their textbooks to a certain page and taking notes in their notebooks, they unzip their laptop bags and pull out a wireless mac. They open it up, log on, and start their assignment. Whether it be blogging, noodle tools, blackboard discussions etc...

Times have changed. I was completely mind-blown by the things I witnessed on this visit. As I continue to pursue my dream as becoming a teacher I now realize that I will probably not be teaching the way I was taught. I will be teaching with smart boards and laptops and I will be using online assignments. Coming to this school was a huge reality check (a good one) for me. This is the future and things have, and will continue to, significantly change. 

Observations of the school

• Kids are on laptops in the library
• They have a library media specialist
• The school consists of the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade
• They are very diverse with 28% black, 11% Asian, 65% Jewish and a small Hispanic population
• They have a large multi-handicap population
• They are very financially stable
• They have a large special ed population

Holman Room 226 Observations (7th grade social studies)

• The desks are paired
• All the kids have laptops
• The teacher teaches from his desk
• They do a lot of group work
• The teacher is very charismatic
• There are motivational quotes all around the room
• The kids seem very comfortable within the classroom and around the teacher
• Everything is electronically digitalized 
• They write blog posts
• The website they use (which was created by students) is very detailed
• When I asked the teacher how long it took the children to catch on to the site he said not very long at all
• They use an entirely student creative written textbook
• There are numerous videos on the site all made by the kids
• The teacher is very proud of the site and was recently interviewed by wiki-spaces