By Donna Swagerty Shreve
My first classroom experience was in a sixth grade. The teacher was a Japanese gentleman who I secretly ended up calling “Mr. Shitta”. He taught me what not to do as a teacher. The first day I arrived in his classroom, he explained his seating plan as it was very specific. The class was organized in single rows. Each desk position in the room indicated how well the students did academically. I guess the goal was to move up to the number one spot. One of the first things I asked him was if I could make a new seating chart. I used double rows and I made sure I mixed it up.
The next classroom routine I noticed happened on the first day right after the first recess. The students filed in and started chatting. The level seemed excessive to me but I was there to observe. I watched the “master teacher” for a clue. He just sat there at his desk in the back corner of the room doing nothing, as in just staring into space. This lack of activity continued for the next eight minutes. He finally figured out what to do and went to the front of the classroom. He had the students open a textbook and read chapter ten and then answer the questions at the end of the chapter.
This experience sent me to my college advisor after school let out. I walked into my advisor’s office actually shaking. I was so horrified at my placement. There was nothing my advisor could do to help me so I decided I was going to have to become very creative and flexible. I was quickly handed over the running of his classroom instead of a more tradition easing me into it. He was the school’s Vice-Principal in charge of discipline and he preferred to being in the office.
I now knew what the students were used to, so I made sure I was totally different for several reasons. The books became a guide to our curriculum as other resources were brought in. I had them working in groups and they were sharing their research with each other and the class. They were building models and illustrating new information. My worries about discipline disappeared as the students were no longer bored.
After the first spelling test, I graded them instead of having them grade each others and then call out their neighbor’s score. After grading them, I handed them back and the students were stunned. One boy finally asked me, “You actually corrected these and recorded them?” This was obviously a new experience. Any assignment given by me was corrected, recorded and returned.
When it came time for grades, I sat down with the master teacher and brought my grade book. He had nothing written down and marked each student based on Mr. Shitta’s general impression of the students’ abilities. I tried hard to hide my horror.
I had created and introduced an unit on Mexico. In 1964 the sixth grade curriculum was Canada and Latin America. A very quiet student named Maria suddenly blossomed. She sat in the last seat when I first came into the classroom. She was now an expert on something. She brought in many artifacts and even some authentic food. Maria’s English, if she spoke at all, was probably very basic.
Grades were being given out and Mr. Shitta planned on giving her straight Ds including Social Studies. I objected and listed all of my reasons to change her grade. He finally conceded to move her grade to a B. I wanted an A for her but he would only move so far. He told me I was a very easy grader.
As with each of the students, I tried to find Mr. Shitta’s talent or strength. I finally found it. He was quite artistic. I presented and set up an art lesson. He made sure to be in the room. I gave him a daily schedule and lesson plans. The students also knew the daily schedule as it was the board as they came in each day.
The art lesson involved drawing before the painting began. I quickly noticed the master teacher going around with his eraser and pencil and improving some of the students’ drawings. He would not instruct but erase and redraw certain parts of the art work.
There were many more tales to tell but I survived and went on to have a classroom of my own. My second placement was with a true master teacher and I got to observe and participate in a much better way to teach.
At the end of my student teaching, I was leaving California for Connecticut to join my husband. Before I left, I received an invitation from the sixth grade classroom to return for one more visit. The students had gone all out to give me a send off party. I do believe planning for that party was their curriculum for the previous two weeks.
Their desks were now in rows and they were in their original seats. Their books had been collected and were stacked on a table in the back of the classroom. Not much had changed but they went out of their way to give me a send off I still remember.
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