Capture 4

Last week we went to American Fork Junior High where we observed Jess Carter along with his colleague, Cory Reitzel. It was very interesting to compare and contrast the two different styles of teaching. We observed Mr. Reitzel first, who was teaching typing. His students were all very focused and working hard. They were inputting into excel and when they got the correct input, the cell would turn green. I liked this because it gave the students something to work for. They were working for the green, and it kept them motivated. Part way through, Mr. Reitzel let the kids have a five minute break and play online typing games. They then returned to work and could play those games again once they were finished. I remember from my Junior High days that those typing games were a great motivator for me. I really liked his class.

The next class we observed was Jess Carter. Jess was very different from Mr. Reitzel. Mr. Reitzel, although he was around the same age as Jess, was much more down to business. He had told us that if you give Junior High students an inch, they'll actually take a mile. We saw that in Mr. Carter's class. Jess gave the kids an inch, and they took a mile. There were kids running all around the class, one kid moved his chair from the back of the room up to the front. On kid kept his hand up the entire class period just to be obnoxious. They loved Mr. Carter, and I'm sure they look forward to his class, but I think they view him as a friend more than a teacher. I think that makes class enjoyable, and I'm sure that helps some kids learn some things, but it really didn't feel like he had much control. The candy he offered to the kids controlled the class, and Jess controlled the candy. But I didn't see much control by Jess himself. It seemed like a poor way to handle a class. As I said before though, the kids loved the class. There has to be a way to keep control of the class without forfeiting all the fun. I think the way to do it may be to let them go, but reign them back in quickly.

Jess did do very good at knowing each of his student's names. I really liked that. I am big on calling people by their names. For me-when I was in school-the difference between a teacher I didn't connect with versus a teacher that I did was whether or not he/she always called me by name.