Memishi 1

Ariana Memishi
TCH 451/201
Student Study
16 March 2016
Student Study Observation
Introduction:
The student I observed, Tom, goes to Lockport Township High School, which is located
in the suburbs close to Joliet. It consists of 3,500 students, 76.1% White, 15.2% Hispanic, and
5.7% Black. Because of the multiple Jr. High Schools that transfer to the school, there are two
campuses: one for the freshmen, the other for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Since Tom is a
sophomore, I was at the East campus, which is a huge campus, and looks fairly new. They are
also trailers located outside, which Tom said that since there are around 3,000 students, they need
the trailers for classrooms to teach in. Although it is a large campus, the school environment
seems friendly and close-knit, especially since Tom said hi to everyone in the hallway and
classrooms. However, students were not allowed to wear backpacks to class, so Tom shared a
locker with a friend, since it is a large school. I learned about how Tom loves football and how
socially involved and connected his is at school by seeing him interact with his peers and
teachers in the classrooms, the hallways, and in lunch. However, he seemed to forget his
materials at times, but that did not affect his participation in the class. His schedule consists of all
regular classes, and during the fall he plays football for the team. During my research, I wanted
to know how social interactions with their peers and teachers/staff could affect the school
experience for the student.

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Data and Analysis:
What emerged from my research were two specific codes: social and environment. Social
is the code for social interaction with peers and/or teachers, while environment is the code for the
overall engagement in the classroom. Throughout my field notes, both of these themes were
present throughout the eight-hour day. For example, in Chemistry, the class was mostly lecturedbased, leaving no room for any discussion and movement. Since Tom was not engaged by the
lecture, he started to move around in his desk, moving/shaking his feet, tapping his pen, and later
started to text on his phone. However, in English, the class consisted of a literary circle, which
was when students moved the desks into a circle formation, and then started to discuss about the
chapter they had to read for homework. The teacher started the discussion by asking an openended question, which then a student would answer. Thus, a literary circle is a method that
provides student-based discussion in literature. During this, the teacher asked students, Why
does Daisy start to cry when she sees Gatsbys shirts? in which Tom replied, Because Gatsby
wanted to win Daisy over by being rich. This then lead to the whole class discussing with one
another, which gave Tom a chance to discuss and participate with his teacher and peers. Because
of this, he was fully engaged with the activity the entire class period by socially interacting with
his peers and teacher. Establishing a classroom where it is discussion-based presents the idea on
classroom environment, and how it connects with students engagement throughout their school
experience. Another example from my field notes is with social, and how interactions with
peers/teachers coincide with the students experience. In his English class, before the bell rang,
Tom and his teacher talk about football, discussing about next fall. I then realized that his teacher
is also the football coach, which is why Tom seems engaged throughout the class. Since he has
an established relationship with his teacher/coach, this ensures the affect on how interactions

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affect experience. However, in economics, they watched a movie the whole class period. Toms
response to this was sleeping the entire period. Because Tom could not discuss during the movie,
he became unengaged and fell asleep. Therefore, having social interaction between his teachers
affect his school experience by being engaged in the classroom. If the teacher did some
collaborative group work, which would give Tom the opportunity to have social interaction in the
class, he would have stayed awake and engaged.
Implications:
Consequently, the social code and environment code means that what happens in the
classroom affects students school experience. This means that teaching has to be presented in
multiple ways instead of one. In chapter four, The Art of Critical Pedagogy, Duncan-Andrade
and Morrell (2008) discuss about how to develop a community for engagement in the classroom.
Since students come from all different experiences and zones of proximal development (ZPD), it
is not acceptable to generalize them into the one-size-fits-all model because, The fact that
each person experiences the world differently means that each student comes to school with
different forms of intellectualism (Duncan-Andrade and Morrell 72). Thus, each student learns
differently, so instead of over simplifying them into one model; it is essential to understand
different learning techniques that benefit each student accordingly. If Toms Chemistry teacher
used different techniques in the classroom, like student-based discussions to develop classroom
cultures instead of the traditional lecture-based class, then he would be engaged with the
environment. Therefore, the reason why Tom is engaged in his English class is because of both
the social interaction with his teacher/coach, along with the class being discussion-based with
collaborative learning.

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Conclusion:
Based on the research conducted, this presents how a students experience can be affected
by social interactions and class environment. This is relevant research because it is happening in
schools right now. Students are being generalized as one group; however, there are all different
individuals that have different intelligence, along with interests. It is also significant because
these factors affect students learning and overall education, which means that they are ways to
help students if they are not engaged or comfortable in the class. Therefore, this informs us that
class is a great place to try out techniques, like Duncan-Andrade and Morrell (2008) have
mentioned, which is powerful in the sense that change starts within the classroom. Not only does
it inform the overall instruction, but also my own beliefs and practice. I believe that factors such
as social interaction between peers and teachers/staff, along with the environment in the
classroom can make students school experience worthwhile. Thus, if we connect with students
by learning as a class through discussion and interaction between one another, this will engage
students like Tom, positively affecting his school experience.

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Work Cited
Duncan-Andrade, Jeffrey Michael Reyes., and Ernest Morrell. The Art of Critical Pedagogy:
Possibilities for Moving from Theory to Practice in Urban Schools. New York: Peter
Lang, 2008. Print.