[Critical Practicum Reflection] CPR2 SS350 (Made 2024 Fall Semester)

Elliot Maxwell Sibert-Sweeney

10/05/2024

CPR Entry #2

My mentor teacher encourages thoughtful discussions through teaching thoughtful reading and eliciting critical thinking from that. Most recently I witnessed this in his going over multiple versions of events from the Boston Massacre with his class before asking them to vote whether the British soldiers were guilty or not guilty of murdering the colonists. By showcasing both sides, providing a clearly structured sheet on which to take notes and explain one’s thinking, and by giving students many chances to share their feelings about what they had read, he was able to develop their ability to thoughtfully discuss sensitive topics. He also regularly asks for students to give their points of view in class and never shames them for what they might say, even if it is built on faulty understandings and misinformation. I was lucky enough to be given a chance by Mr. Earle to lead a part of one of his lessons regarding critical reading skills and this gave me the chance to engage his students in a way not dissimilar to him. I was able to bring less attentive students into the fold by calling on them and encouraged close reading by pointing out small details in the primary source they had just gone over. It was a truly wonderful experience that allowed me to improve my question-asking ability and push his students to read closer and more critically through thoughtful, if brief, discussion.

I have, in a way, observed my mentor teacher lecture, however it is rare. Mr. Earle mostly prefers to teach through projects and videos, providing “lectures” only in moments when information may be lacking in a video or project, filling in the gaps for a few minutes at most before returning to using other tools of information transferral. While I do not particularly adore this approach to teaching, it clearly engages the students, giving them entertaining sources of information to learn from. It also clearly allows Mr. Earle to work smarter not harder, and allow his students to, during projects, take control of their own learning to a certain degree, building their research skills as they seek information on different topics to synthesize creative end-products from.

While in class, I assume responsibility in largely the same way as my fellow immersive learning students do in Mr. Earle’s class. We walk around the room, staying near the students and regularly checking in on them to make sure they are taking notes, working on their project, or paying attention. When they have questions, we provide answers or defer to Mr. Earle when it is something like if a student can go to the bathroom. We have also each taught a day’s lesson plan and we have also been allowed to teach portions of Mr. Earle’s lesson plans on days that aren’t solely dedicated to us teaching, such as the instance I mentioned above. When students are working, I, at least, also go around and look over students’ shoulders to see what exactly they are writing or looking into, and, if it is called for, engage them about mistakes or possible alternative avenues of research. I believe my fellow immersive learning students regularly do this too. We also have something of a divide in our classroom, with myself mostly sticking to the left side of the classroom and my fellow immersive learning students largely sticking to the right side of the room. We of course patrol the entire room, but because I usually sit on the left side and them on the right side, this creates a rather natural tendency to stay on our side of the room more frequently. This gives us all more chances to work with students since there are fewer of us patrolling the same area at the same time, we frequently get to work with students when otherwise we might find ourselves unable to do so because others take those opportunities while patrolling. My autism and the lack of lecturing in Mr. Earle’s room have certainly proven problematic, but despite this I have been building relationships with the students in the class and have grown a strong rapport with them. The lack of lecturing has led to few chances for me to learn from leading lessons but the times I have gotten a chance to speak with the students in front of the room, I have been exhilarated and found myself figuring out new and better ways to engage my students successfully. My autism has left me open to mistakes and misreadings of situations, but when I have been informed of these, I have been able to grow from them and change my behavior accordingly. In the end, I am pleased with how I have done so far, and I cannot wait to return to class and begin working with these students again.