Middle School Observation Form

Observer (Cadet): Jack Tanklefsky Date: 10/4/18

Site: Broomfield Heights Middle School Teacher’s Name(s) Laber

Approximate Age (Or Age Range) of Students: 12-13

What impressions do you have of the overall environment?

The environment, especially with a “take no nonsense” teaching style, is largely based on
listening to the teacher’s instruction with no arguing. There are desks that face the board and
the front of the room where students can look at the teacher and vice versa.

What are the students learning?

Students are learning about The Giver and discussing chapters of the reading, almost a
socratic seminar where they are marked based on participation. They tie puberty into this unit,
learning about themselves and seeing how it applies to Jonas. They are learning to better
articulate themselves with a “lose ‘em’s” board that gives a large amount of words that make
one sound inarticulate and intelligent, such as “like and umm”

What stage(s) of physical development do you observe? Give evidence.

They are in the middle of Middle Childhood Development and Adolescent Development as
some, if not most of the children, are still growing and beginning with puberty, while others are
dealing with “raging hormones.”

What stage(s) of cognitive development do you observe? Give evidence.

They are in the Formal Operational Stage because they are able to fully deduce reasoning
from questions, such as rhetorical questions asked by the teacher. They are also able to find
a greater meaning in things-- deduce the “why” from the questions, find the larger meaning
behind what they are asked and what they analyzed.

What student-to-student interactions do you observe?

They have a solid friendly relationship with each other, however, the idea of “tattling” has not
earned social disapproval yet. For example, when I observed, there was a kid making
screaming noises that the teacher addressed and asked from whom the noise was coming.
The children wasted no time to blurt the name of the human who did it. This shows that they
do not worry about “snitching” as one does in high school.

What teacher-to-student interactions do you observe?

Students listen and respect the teacher’s opinion-- what the teacher says is gospel; they carry
a “we should listen to the teacher, they know best” mentality. The teacher instructs and makes
sure that there is as little nonsense as possible, and the kids listen to what is said.
What technology is being utilized, if any?
They have reading technology that is utilized and other reading methods. They incorporate
technology into their reading, using things like “reading plus” to see how people are growing
as readers. However, in this environment, technology is almost eschewed, as the teacher
prefers somewhat archaic devices like physical copies of books and physical worksheets

What are the strengths and/or challenges of this classroom?

The kids are developing strong personalities that show strong understanding, especially about
book assignments. They are able to dissect information from the activities that they have
done. However, these developing personalities might conflict with classroom activity.