field post 2

At Shaker Heights Middle School, I observed two different classrooms, an English class and a Math class. The math class had three teachers. There was one main teacher, one helper teacher and then a student teacher. In that class, they were taking notes about probability. The student teacher was really good about explaining the topics. In the English class, they were using the computers to write their own personal narrative. The English class also had one main teacher and one helper teacher.

"Building bridges" for Ayers means making connections between other students, the teacher and broader subjects. In one section for the chapter, Bill Ayres explains how his oldest son, Zayd, wanted to have a ceremony of adulthood. Ayres explains that Zayd built a bridge from childhood to adulthood. In another section, Bill Ayres explained the story of Avi Lessing's high school classroom. In Avi's classroom, they discuss present issues in today's society like race, gender, love, death, drugs, sexuality, pleasure, pain and disease. However, a white student offended a student of color, and it caused them problems in the classroom. In this example, there are multiple bridges being built. One bridge is bustling relationships with other students. Even though it didn't happen, they just misinterpreted each other. Another bridge is a a connection between the students and issues in the world. A final bridge is a connection between the students and the teacher.

Bridges are also constructed at Shaker Heights. At Shaker, they have an IB program. IB is when certain students learn the required information and then reflect and think outside the box about it. They make connections with the world this way. This program allows the students to think for themselves an learn outside of the school. This is an example of a bridge between the students and the world outside of school.

One bridge between my Middle School experience and Shaker Heights classroom experience. In my Middle School, we were always taught to think above and beyond and connect this to the world. With Shaker Heights IB program, it seems similar to that of my Middle School.