My day as an ANCS student

Last Tuesday, I took part in the “Shadow a Student” challenge by spending the full day with two of our elementary campus students—Cinque, a 4th grader and Emma, a 5th grader.  The challenge was part of an effort promoted by several organizations to get school leaders to spend a day in their students’ shoes in order see what school is like from a student perspective.  Over the course of last week, over 1,300 school leaders from around the world did just that, including our middle campus principal, Dr. Goodgame, who wrote about her experience in her Courier letter last week.  As we spent the day with students, we were encouraged to take note of these questions:

• How does it feel to be a student for a day?
• What is your student’s favorite moment of the day, and what makes it special?
• What do you notice makes your student feel uncomfortable, anxious, or bored? Why?
• When is your student engaged in learning?
• When/where/how does your student’s learning feel connected to the real world? And when does it not?
• What are the differences you experience in who engages in what learning? Are opportunities the same for all students?
• As you go through your day, what opportunities do you notice for the skills of critical thinking & problem solving, collaboration, and effective communication?

I posted some updates (including pictures) throughout my day with Cinque and Emma to my Facebook page, but, my blog post this week is focused on some deeper reflection about my day.

I saw (and took part in) lots of opportunities for critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration.  For example, in one of the classrooms of a student I was shadowing, students were working together to research historical figures beyond the the simple biographical facts of the figures, probing deeper to think about each figure’s importance to the American Revolution.  And there were also plenty of times when teaching was tiered to provide support and enrichment to students depending upon their needs.  In a math lesson I observed, all students were given a “challenge” problem they were asked to attempt to stretch their thinking about a fairly complicated question.  Yet after that and a brief mini-lesson on multiplying fractions by whole numbers, many students got down to practicing that skill on their own, while others who were still feeling like they needed help worked directly on some problems with the teacher.

Throughout the day, I heard and saw many moments of joy and excitement as students discovered a new piece of knowledge or mastered a new skill.  These were most evident when some 4th graders learned how to tune a guitar and when my 5th grade student and her group were testing out insulators and conductors with a small circuit they constructed.

At recess time, there were a range of different types of activities in which I could take part, from playing basketball to talking with friends to participating in something called “meeping” that appeared to involve acting like a horse (I opted for basketball).  There happened to be a kindergarten P.E. class finishing up when our 5th graders were out for recess, and it was amazing to watch the way in which many older students invited kindergartners to take part in their games—an unexpected opportunity for connecting that all the students seemed to enjoy.

At one point during the day, a bird somehow made its way into the classroom.  I thought the teachers did a masterful job of acknowledging the bird’s presence for the class and helping give students ways to stay focused despite the occasional fluttering of wings above their heads.  It would have been easy for the bird to become a big distraction to learning, but, honestly, after the first few minutes of class, I had forgotten the bird was there because of the calm way the teachers handled it.

There were a few times during the day that left me with some wonderings:

• One was that there seemed to be little “down time” for students during the day—we moved from one activity or class to the next in a way that left me a little worn out by the end of the day.  Do students feel this way too, or did they feel the speed of the day was just fine?  Do teachers perceive the moments there are for reflection or quiet as being adequate?  How much of the pace of a school day is driven by getting students through as much learning as possible?
• I believe that the only times I saw students called upon to speak was when the student raised his or her hand.  There were actually many students who participated in sharing their thoughts, answering questions, and having their voices heard.  But all of that happened through hand-raising.  Maybe this was different than a typical day?  It got me wondering about the Coalition of Essential Schools principle having to do with “unanxious expectation” and what the best ways are to create that feeling that leads to lasting learning for students.  Maybe it’s hand-raising.  Maybe it’s “cold calling”.  Probably some combination of the two.

I’d certainly need more time and discussion with my student (and their teachers) to explore these wonderings.  And I’d definitely say that any teacher who wants to spend a day shadowing a student should be given the opportunity to do so.  For me, it provide me with meaningful confirmation of the deep thinking of our students and teachers and offered up a chance to gain perspective I wouldn’t otherwise have from the shorter classroom visits I do each week.  So thank you Cinque, Emma, and the 4th and 5th grade teachers for making it possible!