Conclusions

Note: To better understand this blog, start reading from the beginning, and many of the comments by the researchers are important to note.

Mr. Tree's class shows the great effect that social groups can have on a classroom environment. As the example of this third hour class shows, you can't always have the same teaching style with two different groups of students, and being responsive to one's class is imperative in maximizing each student's enjoyment of, and learning in, the course. Additionally, there is something of a trade-off between pleasing the more dedicated students with a rigorous curriculum and high expectations and those who would prefer not to be in class by being more relaxed about classroom norms. Going too far to either extreme can be extremely alienating to some people, and teachers must carefully assess how and why the apply discipline to maximize the overall enjoyment and learning of students. Simple things, however, such as implementing a seat chart, as Mr. Tree has done, can go a long way in rectifying the problems that student's focus on socializing can have on a classroom.

A View from Ms. Appleseed

Ms. Appleseed is a former team teacher of Mr. Tree and a close friend of mine. While no longer working with Mr. Tree she is full of insight. She currently teaches in the same district but as a special education teacher now. With my many conversations with her, I have determined that Mr. Tree is the creative one and Ms. Appleseed was the disclipinarian. She took charge of the class and kept them in line. Mr. Tree was responsible for the creation of the atmosphere, the assignments, and keeping it fun. She was also the primary task master. She kept the class organized and things on track. This is the role I see myself taking in Mr. Tree's class. I am the task master. I expect great behavior from the kids, and why Mr. Tree does as well I will for a lack of a better term demand it. Ms. Appleseed had nothing but positive things to say about Mr. Tree and I can truly see Mr. Tree's greatness through her eyes.

The Battle

Mr. Tree does not fight many battles in his classroom. The kids sit wherever they want even though there is a seating chart. While he might get upset about kids talking while he is trying to teach he doesn't fight it. The kids throw stuff and nothing. Very rarely does he get upset. He might be inwardly upset but he does nothing to stop it.

However, there is one exception to the rule. This is when a student used a racial slur in class. He was an African-American student and used it towards another student of the same race. This set Mr. Tree off. The words people use is what annoys him. He believes that words with that much hate should not be used, no matter what the context. I have never seen Mr. Tree that angry before. This really set him off.

While it is nice to see him fight one battle I wish he would do it more. I cannot handle the lack of respect I see in the classroom. This is why I believe I have such a problem reaching students in the class because I have uber-high standards where his are just high.

Katie...Katie...Katie

I don't know where to begin with Katie. Katie is a girl who will put you in your place. She is a no nonsense type of girl. She knows if you are pulling a fast one on her. She has all the talent in the world but from what I have noticed she throws it all away. She does not care about her school work. She procrastinates so much that much of her homework is done in first and second hour so it is done by the beginning of her upcoming classes. She is a brilliant thinker but I'm afraid she is going to waste it. School is not her favorite thing in the world. She basically does enough to get by. Her grades might not be highly effected by this but if she continues her trend I can easily see her go into a downward spiral.

However, my favorite thing about Katie is I always know where I stand with her. If I do a horrible lesson she will tell me. If I do a great lesson in my eyes she is the one who will tell me how to improve. It is Katie who keeps me in check and I highly appreciate that.

The Curious Case of Amanda

Amanda is one of the quietest girls in the class. She is a hard worker and wants to learn. She has many extra activites outside of school including dance. However, she has the closest bond with three of the loudest boys in the class. When asked about this she did not have an answer. She was like it just works and for some reason it does. The main boy she is friends with Michael. They balance each other out quite well. They are both intelligent kids, Michael however is loud and sarcastic the complete opposite of Amanda. As a result they are the ying and yang to each other. Amanda will forever be willing to try hard and I expect nothing but great things from her.

Alejandro and Me

Alejandro has openly admitted he does not like me. In every clash we have he always relies on the "you are not my teacher card." He is openly insubordinate of me in class. For some reason we do not see eye to eye. I treat him like any other student. I do not purposely yell at him. I do not wake up everyday and determine how I am going to make Alejandro hate me. That has never been my target. This leads to question why does he battle me. Mr. Tree does not understand it either. The main battle occurred on my African Slave Kingdom lesson. He was not paying attention and I called him out on it and he proved he was not paying attention.

I believe the primary reason Alejandro dislikes me is because I will not put up with him not listening to me. I believe that if rules are in place those should be enforced. However, Mr. Tree is not always enforcing the rules and the seating charts. I expect that of my students and I am willing to enforce people the rules. I believe this is why Alejandro and I are so combatable. We are both alpha's and are willing to fight for our opinions. I want Alejandro to follow the rules, even the ones Mr. Tree does not enforce. Alejandro is not used to this and as a result we battle.

Conflicting Voices

As with any class, the various members of World Studies have a wide variety of opinions on the class. In this class, however, students' opinions seem to be strikingly in line with how they act in class, that is to say, those who are most disruptive love the class, those who are quiet but don't complete many of their assignments say that it's ok, but a joke, and those who want to learn are extremely frustrated. Additionally, those who are in the cliques are unaware of their existence, while those who are frustrated with the constant disruptions from certain groups are constantly irritated by the presence of cliques.

Alejandro is a Black student in World Studies who seems quite intelligent, and often says interesting things about race in conversations with his peers, but has continual behavioral problems, particularly with Brandon. When I asked him if he liked the class, he said yes, and that there really was nothing that he didn't like about it. He liked Mr. Tree's style of allowing students to reason through the material and hint at things until the class comes up with answers for itself, rather than simply being fed information. In addition to this, he said he doesn't feel it's any more cliquey than other classes. Given that, Alejandro is a member one of the main cliques of in the class, though, made up of some of the Black male students.

Jenny, one of the numerous students in the class who is quiet and respectful, but often fails to turn in assignments, has a different view of the class than Alejandro. "This class is kind of a joke," she said. "Mr. Tree gives us a lot of freedom and I think people take advantage of it," she continued, hinting at the preponderance of socializing in the class. She also commented directly on how the issue of seating charts fed into this. "We've had a lot of seating charts, but they never last, and Mr. Tree doesn't enforce them." This exemplifies one of the ways in which students have taken advantage of Mr. Tree's laxness. Jenny did not have any particular grievance, with the class however, though she thought it was silly. Amaya, a student in a similar position to Jenny, but perhaps slightly more talkative and with a definite clique of friends in the class comprised of a couple of others who play sports and appear to be popular, said that no, she didn't think the class was that cliquey, and that everyone was friends. On the subject matter of the class itself, however, she felt academic rigor was missing, but did not appear to particularly miss it. "Mr. Tree doesn't really make us do anything, or stay in our seats," she offered.

More invested members of the class did have grievances though, and strong ones. Katie, a student who is extremely smart and dedicated to her education, but opinionated and sometimes disrespectful, wants much more out of the class, and offered this comment: "This class is stupid. I feel like I'm not learning anything...The seating charts never work...I wish it was more boring and strict like my other classes." This surprising comment to come from a 16-year-old was not alone, wither. Amanda, another dedicated student, said in frustration, "I can't deal with this class. I'm thinking about switching out. I'm just not learning anything. Mr. Tree won't control the class. Everyone is friends and don't know how to be quiet." When I asked her to comment further on the the class's friendships and cliquey-ness, she rolled her eyes saying "yes," its very cliquey. Amanda's desire to switch out at the next trimester was not along. Katie mentioned at another time that she wanted to switch out, but ultimately decided against it, because in one of her later hours there was a boy she had a crush on, and if she switched this class, the later class would likely change. Katie's priorities were perhaps not entirely out of the ordinary, then.

These examples show a couple of things. First, the existence of cliques was most noticeable to those who were not in them. Alejandro and Amaya, who both had a solid contingent of friends that they sat with and talked with during class, did not feel that cliques were prevalent in the class. Dedicated students like Amanda and Katie were extremely frustrated with the cliques, and Mr. Tree was acutely aware of them as well. Satisfaction with the class seemed to be negatively correlated with one's awareness of cliques. This who felt the class was just a large group of friends had something of "clique privilege," and did not have to see the the presence of cloistering groups of friends who were often disruptive felt the class was just fine, while those were aware of it, who were also often the best students, were greatly irritated by it. This points to the need for teachers to be responsive to what's going on in their classrooms. Maintaining a relaxed atmosphere in which students are not shut out by rigid discipline policies is important, but shutting out the whole class from being able to learn by letting discipline, and with it, content, go completely out the window denies those who do want to learn the right to.

Other hours: A Comparitive Analysis

They say you can't teach the same thing to two groups of kids in the same with and expect the same results. They are correct.

Last semester, I spent my observation time in second and third hour, so I saw this group of students as well as another. This semester, I am with World Studies the whole time, but I did sit in on a session of Mr. Tree's third hour World History class to further explore the different cultures in a classroom. It's surprising not only how different World Studies is from third hour, but also how different the first trimester's session of third hour World History is from the current trimester's group. Even though probably half of the class is the same, the dynamic is totally different. Your audience, then, is extremely variable as a teacher, even between hours of a required class for all 10th graders.

To give some background, the third hour group from last trimester was, in Mr. Tree's opinion, his most well behaved class. There were a number of special ed students in the class, as well as a para pro to assist them. Students were generally respectful and on task.

Many of the students, including the special ed students and the para pro, remain in third hour this tri, while others have changed, making the class more talkative than before, but the manner in which the class is talkative is very different from World Studies. Observing third hour on the day that there was the large group work activity that I discussed in the previous post, there were some definite differences. Though the classroom had groups of talkative people, the discussion seemed to be largely on task. The discussion and environment seemed to be much more respectful than in World Studies, where open animosity is somewhat common, and passive aggressiveness is the norm. A few students did offer pointed comments to others, but the level of segregation in only one's typical friend groups was not as high, with disrespectful comments limited to one student, who was quite smart and had a disregard for his classmate's feelings. Additionally, segregation could best be viewed on a scale of popularity, where one could observe the students who played "the cool sports" (i.e. boys' basketball, girls' soccer) gathered together within work groups (and out of them in their free time and seating in class), and other students gathered in groups accordingly within their social strata.

This is somewhat different from World Studies. On the same day to which I was just referring, the students were even more segregated within these large groups. Oftentimes, the segregation was on the basis of race. There are a number of Black males in World Studies, who almost always group together socially in class, while in third hour, there is only one Black student, so this situation does not arise. Mr. Tree has said that were this an American history class, he might bright race more to the forefront. One day, a white student made a racist comment (which the group of Black students next to him thought was hilarious), Mr. Tree deflected and ignored the comment with no discussion about it. I asked him after class if he would ever try to use that as a teachable moment, and he said that in this case, he wished he had pulled the comment maker aside after class and discussed it with him, but that he had forgotten to. Mr. Tree added that were this the American history class he used to teach, he likely would have made a full class discussion about it, as race plays heavily into American history.

The comparative lack of social grouping in third hour point to the fact that first, all classes will simply be different, and teacher's must be responsive to the social environments in each of them to make sure that the class has a positive learning environment, and second, that classes which are obviously different, in this class with one spending two hours together, and with a different racial composition in a school where racial mixing (i.e. the lack of it) is a problem, both personal conflicts and friendships can grow quite strong and both hinder and help the learning environment, depending on how they are treated.

The Problem with Group Work

The class's clique-ey-ness in seating presents challenges when faced with group work as well. This is not to say group work falls on its face, but sometimes there are unexpected obstacles.

This was most obvious when I was teaching a lesson one day. Granted, I'm not the actual teacher and my word is generally afforded less heed than Mr. Tree's, but I had thought my plans were rock solid. To keep students from flowing between groups, I had note cards with numbers on them that I passed out. Students were to enter groups of 3-4 based on the number on their card. For most students, this is not how it happened. This became clear when I heard students discussing switching groups and the like. Though I felt this was somewhat irritating, as I had purposely assigned groups outside of the students' cliques, I did not think it was worth a power struggle, nor that I had the authority to back up any rules that were outside of the norm in the classroom. Then students began merging groups, and it was possible that this sort of fluidity was a norm in the classroom, but probably more likely that I was an interloper who did not afford much respect, especially if I was going to make students read difficult text. In this case, the class's social environment was clear to me in a different way as well. A couple of students either switched groups or gaped at the group they were put in because of personal differences. Despite what some students have told me, not all in this class "are friends," and many members have a strong distaste for other members (or sometimes, nearly all members) of the class.

Another activity, this time with Mr. Tree at the helm, showed a more limited version of the issues arising with group work with in the class. There were three groups, so each group had about eight students. The students did largely remain within their groups, but with such large groups, students were able to segregate themselves within each group, and those who did not wish to participate really had no impetus to do so. So they didn't. Additionally, within a space as large as 1/3 of the classroom seating, were able to segregate themselves spatially as well.

More recently (today, in fact), there was more group work and yet another interpretation of the ground rules for groups. In this activity, the class evenly had three readings divided amongst themselves more or less evenly, and then were split into groups unrelated to this reading, so as to be able to jigsaw the reading and have members of the group who had reach each. Students counted off in 3s for this, and then Mr. Tree would take one group while Brandon took one and I a third. Mr. Tree's group was about 10, as was mine, but Brandon's was only 5. Additionally, nearly every member of one clique was in my group. This was likely not a coincidence.

The problems with group work pose a couple of conclusions about the class culture. First, students act in their self-interest. Given no constraints regarding where they should be, students will choose to be with their friends. Second, the way students work in group work, i.e. some will complete the task quickly, while others won't even begin to complete, points to the necessity for clearer group work expectations and norms.

Musings on Seating Charts

To mark the inaugural post of this blog investigating the classroom environment in Mr. Tree's 10th grade World Studies classroom, I will discuss the use of and problems surrounding seating charts in the room. We have investigated the effects of social groups on the learning environment in this classroom, and how individual personalities create and react to this environment.

To give further background on the class and school situation, this class occurs first and second hour at a school outside of Lansing. The class combines the required World History and English 10 classes that sophomores have to take. The same students are with Mr. Tree for the first two hours of the day, generally spending the first hour on history and the second on English. The two are often linked thematically or by time and place. Though in a rural to suburban area, the high school is a school of choice for students in Lansing. This creates an environment in which students who differ socioeconomically and often racially are mixed together at the high school level.

Along with the personal differences that mark any classroom environment, this racial divide asserts itself as a major dividing force in Mr. Tree's class. Mr. Tree is an extremely laid back teacher. He allows students to do much of what they please while in class, so long as they are not being highly disruptive. This is an avowed philosophy. "I don't allow it to become a power struggle," said Mr. Tree. "I'll hear other teachers saying certain kids are giving them a terrible time and I think 'really? I've never had a problem with that student.'"

Now back to the topic of seating charts. In the beginning of the year, Mr. Tree gave a seating chart to his World Studies class. They did not always follow it, and in keeping with his philosophy, he did not force them to. This had worked for him before and worked in other hours this year. In a third hour class I recently observed, students generally did sit where they chose, but the classroom environment, though somewhat talkative, was positive and respectful. In World Studies, however, it can often turn to competing voices and disengaged students. Throughout the year, this problem has worsened.

About halfway through the second trimester, Mr. Tree sought to address this. He gave the class a new seating chart, displayed on the projector as they walked in. Most students followed it, but even on the first day, a number of students had traded places with one another. Mr. Tree brought this up and made some students move. Shortly after, they had traded again.

Later, Mr. Tree grew annoyed with this continued situation. During a particularly loud day, he became irritated with the class and got the class's attention and remonstrated them for talking. He reminded them that they have not been sitting in the correct seats. He then returned to the day's topic without making them move back to their given seats or telling them that they would have to tomorrow. And they did not.

The amount of time these students spend together, and their ability to cloister themselves, have allowed cliques to develop. Often these cliques form on the lines of race and social group. Gender seems not to be a significant factor, but the most vociferous cliques are mostly male. Today, the way in which the students generally sit consists of four cliques of 3-4 students, while a number of groups of two friends who sit near other exist as well. There is mixing between some groups who sit near each other, but not all.

In this case, the lack of a followed seating chart has brought ill to the class, but not having a seating chart has its merits as well. Not subjecting students to a chart can make them feel more comfortable in class, as well as create a more relaxed atmosphere. Additionally, power struggles can be avoided. In this class, they often are. But at what cost?