ENTRY 7: STUDENT SHADOWING PAPER
Description of Entry:
This was a paper that I wrote for my Adolescent Development class. The assignment was to follow around two students through each of their entire school days. I was to take note of any interesting observations or occurrences, analyze them, and then discuss the implications of my findings. The purpose of the assignment was to make connections between the ideas learned in class to actual students, to become aware of students’ perspectives about school, and to see how school environments impact student behavior.
Program Goals and Targets:
I demonstrate my understanding of how students learn and develop (2A) by addressing issues of students’ intellectual, social, and emotional development. I also demonstrate my ability to assess development (2D) by analyzing those issues and discussing their implications.
Reflection:
The Student Shadowing Paper was one of my favorite assignments while in the Teacher Education Program. I observed two students through each of their school days, and analyzed issues regarding adolescent development. As a result of this, I discovered that even though students are young in age, they are not necessarily few in problems.
Adolescence is a very difficult and confusing time in a person's life. Adolescents are experiencing biological maturity as well as cognitive maturity. If that were not enough, they are also attempting to determine their role in the world with regards to their family and peers. Having to deal with all of these simultaneously can have a major effect on an adolescent's behavior, attitude, and ability to learn.
Because adolescents spend a majority of their time in school, it is important that teachers understand students' basic psychological needs and provide opportunities to support their developments. Eccles and his colleagues (1993) found that students achieve at higher levels in environments that meet those needs, so I consider this an important part of a teacher's job, even though it may take time away from the teaching of purely academic content.
According to Muth and Alvermann (1999), it is especially important that middle-grade teachers be "aware of the various stages of physical, cognitive, personal, social, and moral development and keep in mind that the students in their classroom will not all be on the same level. Teachers should treat all students as individuals and provide tasks and opportunities that are developmentally appropriate for them" (pp. 44-45).
In recent years, however, there has been an overwhelming emphasis on academic achievement shown through standardized testing. The results of tests, such as the WASL, have become the focus of not only state legislatures and school boards, but also the general public. These standardized tests focus on how students perform compared to state-wide or nation-wide performance standards. While they were designed to be measurement tools to obtain information about student and school performance, they have come to play a much larger role.
For many, the purpose of these assessments is to hold schools accountable for student performance. In addition, many states now attach consequences at the school level to these assessment results. As Heubert and Hauser (1999) state, these policies "assume that information alone is insufficient to motivate educators to teach well and students to perform to high standards. Hence, it is assumed, the promise of rewards or the threat of sanctions is needed to ensure change" (p. 35).
As a result of these consequences, there is a great amount of pressure placed on teachers to have their students meet the testing standards. While performance pressure can be helpful when it promotes determination and a desire to improve, for most teachers, those threats foster fear. However, an emphasis on academics alone will results in a loss of teacher attention to meeting students' basic psychological needs.
Although the current emphasis on standardized test results seems to oppose it, I believe that it is a teacher's ethical responsibility to meet student needs. There is so much more to teaching than the number of students who pass a test. It is also important to make sure that kids can handle the incredible amount of emotional baggage that they carry with them everyday. Only then can we completely do our job of helping kids become healthy, educated, responsible, and well-adjusted adults.
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