Sociology and Wendy's and Questions...Oh My!

Part of my student teaching journey is observation. Actually, the majority of the first semester of the student teaching experience is observation. Although I can't wait to be the one standing at the front of the room, I am learning to appreciate the power of observation.

For my student teaching, I will be working with three World History courses. That means that this semester is full of World History content outlines, lesson plans, YouTube videos, documentaries...essentially anything I can get my hands on to spark my memory of high school world history. Up until yesterday, it most certainly did not include sociology. I had learned a lot from observing the World History courses, such as using galley walks, how to keep students engaged for fifteen minutes of notes, and even how to handle IEP's. What really surprised me though, is what I learned from observing a sociology elective.

The sociology class I was observing was a room full of juniors and seniors, so many juniors and senior that they are short four desks. Students are sitting on the couch in the back of the room, the teachers desk, or just pulling up a chair to another desk. There are thirty-five upper-classman, most of which just returned from traveling off campus to get lunch, crammed in a room to discuss society. Needless to say, the room gets a little hectic.

Students were paying attention, but not showing signs of true interest or engagement, until my cooperating teacher asked the question "What values does American society value?"

I was amazed.

Students who had two headphones in, hadn't looked up once, and were far more interested in the Wendy's frosty they were still eating than the content, immediately pulled out paper and pencil. They all started talking to each other about what they felt America valued. Their responses were amazing.

Demographically, this classroom is one of the most diverse I've ever seen. I saw groups of African American students specifically discussing what values they felt they had as black Americans. I saw adolescent girls grouping together to talk about how America values superficial beauty. I had academic students discussing the economic theories that the nation treasures, and latino students discussing what values they felt the natoin claimed to value, but didn't.

Not only were these students listing values, but they were comparing, contrasting, challenging, and applying to real life. They were discussing current events and how they related to certain values. They were referencing music artists who had mentioned certain topics in their lyrics, and how those related to values. The answers were very different, which isn't surprising because so were the students.

The teacher then called on a student from every group, to share what they had discussed. Some groups discussed things that other groups had never considered, while others mentioned some of the same values. Although once the sharing started, some students did disengage again, I was still amazed. I couldn't help but think, "this is what learning is".

I had the pleasure to witness students truly get engaged in content. I had the pleasure to watch students of different background, languages, social groups, economic statuses, and just general interests, find common ground and RELATE IT TO A HIGH SCHOOL COURSE.

It gets exhausting, even to watch. Seeing a teacher struggle to get the classroom's attention back, seeing students who are far more concerned with the fight that one posted on Instagram than the PowerPoint, but small victories like the one I observed today, make it worth it. They show that not every student is going to relate to every topic, and not every student is going to take the same things away from a lesson, but every student can connect on some level. You just have to ask the right questions.