Field Blog Beachwood middle school

 Visiting Beachwood Middle School was a great opportunity to see how what we have been learning in ED 100 is translated into practice by other professionals. The first class I sat in was a 6th grade science class. The topic of the class was plate tectonics, which in my opinion is not one of the most enjoyable things to teach about. However, the teacher was able to keep the attention of his students with constant problem-posing questions. He would pose question after question to the class and look for responses from a number of his students. Once the teacher had decided that the correct answer had been found, he told them to fill the answer in the space provided on their laptops. Each student had their own individual laptops with the exact same notes that were being projected onto the screen. I really liked how the teacher provided all of his students with the same material that he was looking at, rather than having his own set of notes that he kept at his desk. Therefore the class was able to feel unified and there could be no discrepancy on the notes. The teacher also did a great job of using YouTube videos as examples to keep the attention of the class. I even noticed that when the teacher put on the video, a student who had been trying to sleep watched the entire video and started participating more than he had before once the video was over. Another thing I really liked about this class was that each student had their own colored in map and could see exactly where the different plates were pushing into one another. This allowed all the students to see what the result of these plates coming together (or pulling apart) was doing to the landscape.
   The second class I sat in on was also a science class. However, this class was for the advanced students. The teacher in this class was very professional as well, but talked to his students in a much more serious tone. This was probably due to the fact that these students were working on finding scientific research articles that they could use for their own science experiments. Once the teacher was done talking and told the students to start looking for articles with their partners, they did just that. The students were able to explore freely using their own laptops and could ask questions whenever they felt the needed help.
   The reoccurring theme that kept popping into my head throughout the two classes was that now a days, technology is so important in the classroom. When used correctly a student has a seemingly endless amount of information right at their fingertips. Even when the teachers were not using laptops and powerpoints, they were providing their students with tools such as maps to allow the student to see how what they were learning effects the world.