First Day of Observations at NPHS

Observing the first day of school at NPHS, for me, brought back a flood of memories from my first days of school, from students hustling to find their classes to catching up with each other after summer break. It seemed surreal, however, to observe this because Amy and I were operating in a position of in-betweenness-- as that of students, and that of a pre-service teachers. Before this practicum, I did not expect to see another first day of high school until I got my first teaching job, but this experience has allowed me to observe how a veteran teacher, JR, is able to build rapport with his students from the get-go.

The first class that Amy and I observed, Kingian Nonviolence, was interesting not only because of JR's keen ability to foster community, it is a class that he developed based on URI's Kingian Nonviolence program. JR began the class by taking attendance and joking around with students that he was familiar with, which created a sense of ease and comfort in the class. He was also very communicative about his feelings, such as rationalizing his "babbling" (though I didn't perceive it as such) as a response to anxiety, which is a feeling I'm sure many students felt. By acknowledging his emotions as a human person, he effectively created a foundation of trust and comfort. To build upon that foundation, JR later had a community-building activity where students were paired with other students they didn't know and asked each other four questions: What was the best thing you did this summer? What was your favorite childhood game? Who do you live with? and Why did you choose to take Kingian nonviolence? Once students interviewed each other, each had to pretend to be the other person and state the answers to the four questions. JR also paused to bring metacognition into this first class by asking students why they thought he had such an exercise. While only a few student partners were able to share by the end of the period, I was surprised by how honest and genuine students were with one another. One student even felt comfortable enough to share that both of his parents had passed away, and to me that speaks not only to that student's strength, but to the sense of community that JR was able to build in about 20 minutes, even if he shared out that he was anxious about the first day of school.

The second class that Amy and I observed, however, was vastly different. This class comprised of about 26 students (fewer than the previous class), and since this class was English III, all the students were required to be there instead of electing it, as the students in the Kingian Nonviolence course did. Nonetheless, JR was seemingly able to create strong rapport with the students, from acknowledging that it was asinine that the students' portfolio requirements were withdrawn despite how hard students had worked in previous years to build their portfolios, to relating to them about how it is not fun for both teachers and students to have teachers act as "cell phone police." Immediately, JR tackled this problem of cell phone use, and created a space where students must assert themselves as learners because ultimately, teachers cannot really control students' use of cell phones. After this, JR handed out slips of paper where students were to write down questions they had for him, and he would draw from a jar and answer them (provided they were appropriate questions). While he only got to answer a couple of questions, he told Amy and I that in the next few classes, if he wanted to get students' attention he wouldn't have to raise his voice and command compliance; all he would have to do is start drawing questions from the jar and answering them. This struck me as an especially effective rhetorical device, for not only would students be interested to hear if their question was answered, they would glean an insight into who their teacher was as a person.


This is my second placement in NPHS, and it already has validated my preexisting opinion that, at least as far as the English department goes, it is a tight-knit community that values students above all. One especially noteworthy thing I noticed about JR is that unlike all of my high school teachers, he did not give out a single syllabus. When I was in high school, every teacher would hand out a syllabus on the first day and essentially say "this is what we are doing over the next year, these are the expectations, and if you don't meet them, you are in jeopardy of failing this class." But JR's approach is different--he seeks to build a space of comfort for each student, and in so doing he rejects the model of administering the syllabus on the first day model because it may overwhelm students. While I had thought it would be a good idea to follow this syllabus/first day model that I've been exposed to in high school in college, this experience has made me question that approach because above all, I want my future students to feel welcomed, comfortable, accepted, and honored.

However, something I'm not sure about the pedagogical/scholastic model of NPHS is that in the English department, the teachers have to rotate between rooms (like in the college setting) because NPHS does not have enough space for all the teachers. This is something that's pretty new to me--all the teachers that I had in Warwick Schools had their own room, their own space. For me, when I entered a teacher's classroom, I was entering their space, and based on that teacher's personality I could feel if that space was a proper or improper fit for me, and whether or not I felt welcomed. I've envisioned that in my pedagogical practice in the future, I need to have my own classroom not because I'm unwilling to share my space, but because when students enter my classroom, I want them to feel they're entering a safe space; a place they can be themselves. Not to mention, if students feel a connection with me and I reside in one classroom, they can find me easily; with the NPHS model, students might have to search for teachers for a bit before finding them. For example, a student came into a classroom as Amy, JR and I were leaving, and JR briefly talked to that student. He said to that student that if he needed anything to come and find him. If a student in the future needs to find me, I don't want them to guess where I am; I want them to be able to go room x because they know that I will be there. This is the one semi-grievance I have with NPHS (which is out of the teachers' control); otherwise, the teachers all seem to have a strong connection with one another, and there seems to be a shared community of acceptance, respect, and mutual learning, as both my experience in 407 and today have demonstrated. I can't wait to go back, observe these classrooms more, engage with students, and eventually teach them!