School: Carl Sandburg High School

Derrick Smith Interview Project

School: Carl Sandburg High School Population: 3500 Classes: Senior Honors English classes and Writing Fiction and Poetry School Make up- Upper middle class predominantly White ***Part of Interview was conducted during a power outage, so more teachers began giving insight to my questions

Interview answers

1.) How would you describe your school? It is an upper middle class school but that doesn’t take into account that there are a variety of cultures represented and a variety of experiences that kids have had to go through most kids are comfortable as far as material concerns but I’m not sure that, there are a lot of kids that have bought into that material lifestyle in that they haven’t done a lot of thinking beyond that. The big questions. What is success? And those kinds of things beyond that it is excellently disciplined very few problems in the classroom clearly over 90 percent go to college. The kids I teach probably work too hard don’t get enough sleep don’t take enough time to relax and when they do they relax in the wrong way. Not a lot of drug abuse or substance abuse but I hear stories and I know they are out there. On the whole it is a great place to work. If I have problems in teaching it’s always with the kids, people I work for or philosophies, new ideas. 2.) How long have you been teaching and how have things changed since you started? I started in 1975 at Bloom High School in Chicago Heights and then came to Sandburg in 1993. I think kids now need a great deal more stimulus in the classroom it’s a lot more work to keep kids involved interested motivated, back then a great deal more distance between teachers and students. Teacher was an authoritarian, still some work it that way but they don’t have a lot of success, kids expect a human being at the front of the classroom someone with a heart or a soul and they want to be entertained and I think they become a lot better at seeing someone who is phony and not for real. Another big change is that the legislature is more involved. Far more of a concern to an administrator but not to teachers, Mrs. Look-A-160 was objective lesson model taught by objective was prototype start with an object and you reach it how the state standard is that you see bench makrs ove time see the progress from early years K all the way to 12 that is the biggest change in pedagogy the other thing is that in this district we were big on trends on establishing solid strategies and multiple strategies to engage students in learning Madeline Hunter sponge activities anticipatory set, stuff now we were on the cutting edge of that practice that was good about here is that they offered institutes and apply it to practice could talk amongst ourselves we were able to build off of it. Back in the middle 80s Johnson and Johnson had cooperative learning groups beginning of research about how you put kids in groups, there were ways that a teacher could construct and reconstuct in practice didn’t always work well that where we got tired and adapted for different situations MR B- At the classroom level you are far better off now segmenting class into three segments start out teaching something and they may go to groups and they talk about what they did in groups big changes and the other change is the personal relationship between students. Few students talked to teachers as a person the rule, LOOK, IN English we are problems solver on our feet connection to what we do like law or medicine 40-50 minutes not following blokc. IE- Sophomore basic, this morning shortened periods class read instructions to make a graphic organizer to write poetty text was so complicated that they need more instructions told them to go to a poem sample knew it wasn’t happening decided to break it down let them work with someone put it up on the board so everyone had their own notes and then they did application Friday warm assembly pretty close to same split second decision making to help other people learn. Mr. B- SOPHMORE BASIC-I think that I am the worst teacher to observe in the world, I don’t keep a lesson plan book what I would put in there is in my head I’ve never done and it has always worked out. I like for example Willie Stark he is so concerned about the hospital has lost track of people in his life now, at that point its good to go to Ozymandius about a guy who built a monument to himself, connections and to talk about how that. For us literature is always about life and how we as human beings have to get through this and remain good people LOOK- not just about reading literature metaphor conflict and setting, but the bottom line is that you have to get to that point and when you do you got them, they may not remember you but they remember the class LOOK- offer them tough stuff, you want to challenge them with a complexity of things and how will they

3.) What do you view as the purpose of schooling? LOOK-The interesting thing is that there is this grass roots thinking that educational funding should be given and stop in HS. Here is the reasoning the best time to be really teaching them is in the early years, in HS there needs to be more attention to looking at schooling as this is what you do as your everyday school doesn’t stop it is when you extend yourself out into the world, and that is what I see about the importance of schooling don’t want to say life long learners the curiosity part of it is really my whole life. That is what I bring to the classroom is a tremendous curiosity. MR B- My upbringing is as the son of a career army officer and so I have a belief that in a democracy public education is perhaps the most important ingredient in keeping it a democracy everyone has a chance and it is a wonderful thing for older people to pay taxes so people two generations from now have an opportunity people who look at vouchers to make public school honest we owe it every citizen of the country to make that opportunity. Bottom line I guess is that education creates better citizens we are better off because everyone has a chance.Mr. B about LOOK-The other day I was doing graduated from University of Chicago with a masters degree asked back people interviewing students for Smithsonian, museum has a display needed people to do research how does this fit in with premed BIO, I hope to find someday that the organic material to her. Her curiousity no classes found research, new materials the bio end of this has to do with how to find those materials as a pacemaker.

Mr. B- If you extend that point it goes back to what we started saying an educated person in his or her own way just makes the world a better place in whatever way it was. Size is the biggest problem and it impacts in so many areas a kid like at Thornridge can walk onto a baseball team with minimal skills, Mike had him last year made the team as a catcher smart not honors smart knows how to make, he got cut yesterday so the opportunity to excel is in those kinds of areas just isn’t there for a lot of kids and a lot kids quit as a result in terms of extracurriculars, class size that honors class that was so small it is the first class ive ever had that is under 29, 30 some essay in three or four classes.

LOOK- We were talking about this yesterday more kids falling through the cracks natural helpers peer mediation, next year those programs disappear what has happened because of the money situation resources for kids who are in huge group of

Mr. B- I was just talking to friend in special ed new dept chair this year and she got everyone’s class size under 15 back to 21 next year says we need those FTES those kids in a special services class need attention and there just is not the money everyone wants a piece of the pie and there just isn’t enough of the pie to go around, In this district not going to speak about the present administration we are coming off a half dozen years of gross mismanagement horrendous decisions financially with new building was built to give more classroom space and gave very little classroom space and the citizens passed a huge referendum not going to ask the community for one again much less pass one. And You are not going to start making a lot of money but you are doing it because you think you are going to love it always true of humanities but where we are going to get nailed is in industrial education a good carpenter and electrician could make much more doing that than IE is over 50. Everyone is vying for the same people. Always going to government initiatives good at what you are doing you are going to be teaching all those skills already

LOOK-one of the things that I hope doesn’t go away but has dwindled, goes back to talking about a solid commitment for teachers to grow as learners, don’t see that supported here, need empowerment through committees people who know their practice those committees have been disbanded for a top down approach, the verdict is out on how it works but it is my opinion that the people in practice have a wealth of knowledge in knowing what works well and together using that is way more powerful than imposing a structure by 5 percent, if anything you will have an internal crumble fine side, Committees mean you have to learn to talk superintendent is telling you,

Mr. B.- If you are saying that you are going to put best minds together and they are going to determine through a year long conversation what are we going to do, you have to be willing at the end of the time you have to be willing to say thank you for your input Ive already made my decisions and where we have been at least since I have been here is we have encouraged people not to serve on committees because that is how committees have been handled, whoever made the decision going through a process to make people feel like they have been listened to, If what you talked about ended up being of no concern in their final grade

Here is how we are going to do Open heart surgery with no experience,

Mr. B.-One of unrealized, NCLB administrators everyone is on them, they are making decisions because they feel they have to because they have to

Good Education has been going on and will keep going on, if you have someone who is doing good interviews and hiring good people you are going to have a good school

This school is exceptional I think sometimes we get a little down on it but there is one reason why this school is another columbine, there are a lot of people unhappy but we have people that make people feel good about being here and tell them that there is somewhere they can go to get help and become happy,

Stressful day just trying to get through the crowd, surprising half the freshman doesn’t transfer someone else after their first year

Boils down to money

I’m going to predict that administrators you will be frustrated by administrators it is your classroom and you are doing the best you can to give those kids what you need

T- English you can create an environment where you are teaching,

Typical Ad- was thinking about getting out before they were getting in, it was five years

After 10 years starting to feel more comfortable,

T- you don’t panic because you L- was an administrator decided that I wanted to be back in the classroom this is not a job this

Look- living by the good ole boy rule like knocking your head against the wall, guy down there was counting red pens and blaming me for his problems

Bartholomew-First two years you have to give them what you want I don’t mind coming into a class an letting them talk for a couple minutes stand there and watch you realize he is a human being and they feel like ill give it to him cuz I feel good about being here but if you are a first year teacher and you stand around and watch kids talk they will write you up, they don’t realize that is part of making wont work without it. Dept chair was huge on bell to bell teaching when the bell rings make sure they are working until the time it ends, I think all of here are still nuts about making sure they work right up to that bell, but they have just walked seven minutes through the red sea a couple minutes to decompress

Tom Sexton-When I take attendance what did you have for breakfast doesnt have to take all period and even expose yourself letting them know that you are human too did you see the movie over the weekend, You have the Who t-shirt on today, You sound like such a mom and then they say my o

Mr. B-least important requirement for good teacher knowledge or subject matter, if you can’t read Gilgamesh on your own shouldn’t me

Most important sense or humor Patience with yourself and the kids, sense of humor patience knowledge Be prepared,

Situation, Setting, Context and Observation Overview-

I observed three classes at Carl Sandburg High School over a two day period.

Sandburg High School is located in Orland Park, Illinois, an upper middle class suburb. I observed two Senior Honors English Classes and one Writing and Fiction and poetry class. The Writing Fiction and Poetry class was on the “academic track” of the English

Department. English classes at Sandburg are an example of ability tracking with three different levels. “Basic classes” are for lower level students who are not performing at the requirements of their grade level. The “basic classes” are divided by grade level. For example sophomores who are not performing well in English could be enrolled in

“Sophomore Basic English.” The “honors” classes are arranged similarly to the basic classes except the classes are obviously for students who are performing above expectations. The rest of the English department is organized into a number of “academic classes.” These classes designed for the majority of students at Sandburg. Students are able to choose which class they would most like to enroll in. Course offerings include

“Writing Fiction and Poetry”, “College Prep Writing”, and “Shakespeare”. These are just a few of the academic courses offered by the English department. I am aware of the arguments against ability tracking in schools. Some say that ability tracking adversely effects many students and prevents equal educational opportunity for students. In my short time at Sandburg I was unable to see if these problems were at work in the tracking system, however, I was made aware of an interesting trend in Sandburg’s “honors” system.

“During the past couple years the quality of the kids who are in honors classes has really gone down,” Mr. Jim Bartholomew said. “They have expanded the amount of classes, and not as many kids are at the same level anymore.”

From the reading of Spring’s text I thought that the added challenges faced in upper level “tracked classes” could only be a benefit for students, but here I see it as a possible detriment to some students education. Some of the lower level students in these honors classes may not have to basic skills to succeed at the “honors level.” The curriculum of the “honors” classes has been modified so it can effectively serve all students at the honors level. Consequently, lower level students may not be getting the same quality of education that they would on a lower “tracked” class, while the upper level students are likely not being challenged enough.

I observed classes taught by Jim Bartholomew. Mr. Bartholomew has been teaching for almost thirty years and for 11 years at Sandburg. In his Honors English classes the class make-up reflected the make up of the school. The students were predominantly white. The first hour class had 27 students with 23 of them being white.

The minority students in the first class were all of Asian heritage. The second class was much smaller totaling only 17 students with 15 of those students being white and 2 students of minority backgrounds. Students who are enrolled in the Honors English class are eligible to take the A.P. Exam for college credit. The Writing Fiction and Poetry class was slightly more diverse. There were 28 students with 19 being white and the other nine were minority students.

The seating was arranged in a “U” shape that allowed for Mr. Bartholomew to move around the center of the “U” and conduct instruction. In both honors classes the students were split into groups to work on a group project. The class was divided into groups of 4-5 students. The students were to each assigned a Shakespeare Play and were working on study questions for the play together in a group. Ultimately, the students are to perform a scene from the play in front of the class. Mr. Bartholomew started the

Writing Fiction and Poetry by reading a poem and then the class wrote in their personal journals. After a 10-15 minute journal writing period, a class project was explained. The assignment explained by Mr. Bartholomew involves the students taking lines or topics from their journal and turning them into a poem. The poem will then be read in front of the class.

Data Interpretation

The data makes Carl Sandburg High School look like a portrait of privilege. Here is a school that is obviously well funded. The school has recently undergone a large renovation that has added classrooms, gyms, a performing arts center, and other amenities to the school. Sandburg houses over 3500 students on any given school day.

More than 90 percent of all students at Sandburg will attend college. This statistic was an astounding one to me. Sandburg fits the mold of the school that many people believe “has everything.” While Sandburg’s impressive make up and landscape are interesting to consider, the social interaction that occurs in many of its classrooms is even more interesting. Mr. Bartholomew makes a genuine effort as a teacher to develop a relationship with everyone of his students. He waits by the door before each class and shakes each student’s hand before they enter the classroom. I think Mr. Bartholomew’s effort in getting to know his students and make them feel comfortable means a lot the students in his classes. The students seem to feel comfortable speaking to Mr.

Bartholomew about things in and out of the classroom. Mr. Bartholomew’s style allows student some latitude in what they do and how they behave in the classroom. His classes are not run with an authoritarian style. He doesn’t stand at the front of the room and command that his students do this or that. This classroom management technique is intentionally used by Mr. Bartholomew.

“I like to allow the students to talk for a couple minutes after the bell rings,”

Bartholomew said. “Many people will look at this as a waste of time but you really will get those minutes back later on.”

Bartholomew allowing the students some time for themselves at the beginning of the hour makes them more willing to work later in the class period. “They will think ‘Hey this guy gave us some time to work earlier, so lets do some work for him now.’” From my observation this is how things worked out in the classroom. The students were able to relax for the first two or three minutes of class, but once the class began the students were willing to work hard and listen. Essentially, the students “inaction” at the beginning of the class helped their “action” later on in the class. This laid back style is really how I would like to run my classroom when I become a teacher. I believe that high school students respond best under these circumstances. I think back to when I was a teenager and it seemed like everyone was an authority telling me what to do. The teachers who were more relaxed and tried to get to know me were the ones that I respected to most and learned the most from because I was more willing to learn for them. Mr. Bartholomew tries to get down to the student’s level and get to know them as people, while still preserving the role of teacher in the classroom.

“There are a lot of people who come into a class and try to talk down to students and control everything,” Bartholomew said. “I don’t believe that those people have a lot of success.

Often teachers who come into the classroom and try to command and control the environment have students that are more defiant. I believe that students enjoy these types of classes less. I believe a class is more enjoyable when the students know that the teacher cares about them as people as well as students.

A number of beliefs and assumptions about education in general were demonstrated during my observation. Most of these assumptions relate to Sandburg’s position as a wealthy school. First of all, Sandburg’s school profile perfectly fits the community around it. Most students at Sandburg are from Orland Park. The suburb is filled with wealthy families and the amenities at Sandburg reflect that wealth. The recent renovation at Sandburg and the two other District 230 high schools was funded by the largest public referendum in Illinois state history. Obviously, the assumption that a wealthy community creates a wealthy school holds true at Sandburg. Sandburg’s profile then makes it obvious what assumptions can be made about the students, teachers, and learning in the school. “Most kids are comfortable as far as material concerns but I’m not sure that, there are a lot of kids that have bought into that material lifestyle in that they haven’t done a lot of thinking beyond that,” Bartholomew said.

Many students at Sandburg do come from affluent backgrounds, and like many might expect that does translate into success in the classroom. As noted earlier, over 90 percent of students from Sandburg will attend some college. I thought this was an impressive statistic even for a school with Sandburg’s socioeconomic background. I observed some of the most successful students in the honors classes. One the second day

I was observing the school was having an assembly to honor students for academic achievements and participation in a number of extracurricular activities. Students who were being honored in the school wide assembly needed to report to the gym early. In the class I was observing more than half the class got up and left to go be honored at the assembly. This phenomenon was an accurate reflection of the assumption that kids in higher ability tracking groups succeed more easily in all areas of school.

The teachers and teaching resources at Sandburg give insight into the learning at

Sandburg High School. The faculty at Sandburg is over 95 percent white and enjoys a fairly lucrative salary, at least by teaching standards. Teachers’ beginning salary at

Sandburg is around $39,000. The teachers at Sandburg have access to a number of teaching resources. All classrooms have a Dell Computer in them with internet access.

Also, all teachers have access to projectors that allow for different types of technology to be integrated into classroom instruction. These teaching resources translate into students having the opportunity to learn through a number of different mediums. The number of teaching resources reduces the amount of barriers to students who learn with different styles.

Overall, most of the assumptions on students, teachers, and learning at Sandburg are related to socioeconomic factors. Sandburg High School is from a wealthy community that sends students from wealthy backgrounds into classrooms. The educational benefits that many students see at home, and also given to them in the classroom through the money provided by the community. Sandburg is a perfect example of a school that is able to offers effective education students largely because of the community it rests in.

While there are many advantages offered by Sandburg High School, I was most intrigued by some of the limitations and barriers I found. At first glance it appears that students have Sandburg have almost every opportunity. However, the school’s sheer size and number of students can serve as a limitation and barrier to some students who wish to participate in extracurricular activities. Students can participate in many activities but sometimes their degree of participation is limited by the amount of students participating or by competition in extracurriculars. Mr. Bartholomew shared with me the story of a student he had in his class last year and is in his homeroom this year. The student was a baseball player on the freshman team last year. He played baseball since he was about 5 years old and he loved the game. Last season was a member of the team but didn’t get very much playing time. Mr. Bartholomew said he was disappointed by not being able to play as much as he wanted. This season the student did not make the baseball team. The student was a skilled baseball player, but the amount of competition to make the team and also for playing time on the team was too much for this student. Almost 100 students try out for the baseball team each year and only 24-25 students make the team. If this student went to another high school he may have had a greater opportunity to participate in the sport. This trend is seen in other activities as well. The large student body makes it difficult sometimes for students who are not extremely proficient or talented in their area of interest to fully experience extracurricular activities. Consequently, these students have deterred from continuing their participation in the activities. So while there are a number of advantages to attending a school like Sandburg, there are also some disadvantages that go along with it as well.

I’m sure there would be mixed reactions among other students, parents, teacher, and school personnel to Mr. Bartholomew’s teaching techniques and to Sandburg’s educational environment. I’m sure other students would enjoy Mr. Bartholomew’s teaching techniques. However, I believe the techniques would have varied effectiveness in the classroom depending on the background of students in the class. Mr.

Bartholomew’s laid back style that allows students some freedom is extremely effective with honors students. These students are obviously motivated and intelligent, and also exhibit less behavior problems. These students have a level of maturity that allows for less structure in the classroom. It’s easy for Mr. Bartholomew to establish a relationship with these students because they are eager to learn and are motivated in the classroom.

However, Mr. Bartholomew himself says that there are dangers with becoming too close with students.

“When you have students who are bright there are potential problems with becoming too close to them because the line between friend and authority becomes blurred,” Bartholomew said. “You have a harder time sometimes keeping authority in the classroom.”

Mr. Bartholomew says that he has seen the danger this year in his 17 student honors class. The class is the smallest that he has ever had at Sandburg. He has become really close with the students, but there have been a few times where the class has gotten a little too comfortable with him and gotten slightly out of control.

“It’s nothing that has been a really large problem but there have been times where

I have had to step in,” Bartholomew said.

For most other students Mr. Bartholomew’s teaching style is effective but he definitely needs to take more time for discipline in some of the lower level classes.

During the journal writing assignment Mr. Bartholomew had to talk to three students several times to quiet down. He noticed the students talking several times before even saying anything. I could see the laid back teaching style as being a potential problem for students with behavior problems, and also for students in lower income schools.

However, for the most part, I believe that most students would enjoy Mr. Bartholomew’s teaching style and would effectively learn from it.

I believe there would be mixed reactions among teachers and other school personnel to Mr. Bartholomew’s classroom. Allowing the students a few minutes to themselves would undoubtedly be looked down upon by some other teachers and administrators. The beginning of class could be looked upon as a waste of time but Mr.

Bartholomew believes that the time is made up later in the class period. I’m sure many parent would also have objections to Mr. Bartholomew’s classroom management. The laid back style that allows many students freedom is a far cry from the rigid structure and discipline that many parents experienced during their schooling years. I can sympathize with those who do not believe in the loose structure of Mr. Bartholomew. It could be easy for students to get out of control and difficult to keep them on task. Also, why should anytime be wasted in the classroom? While these things may occur sometimes, I believe in the long run that the benefits outweigh the problems. It would be possible for all of these classes to be subject to this rigid structure and discipline but it would be ineffective with many of today’s students.

“The students want to see someone up there who is human,” Bartholomew said.

“They need to see that you are person and that you are not just someone who is there teacher wanting to tell them what to do.”

Mr. Bartholomew’s classroom management may not adhere to traditional education practices, but I believe that his techniques in the classroom are extremely effective.

Personal Feelings and Vision for Practice

The three classes that I observed at Sandburg caused me to think inwardly and examine how I would handle to situations presented and the content being taught. I am planning on teaching English at the high school level. After four more years of undergraduate education I have formulated many of my own ideas for how I believe writing and literature can best be taught to students. I believe that frequently children are not challenged enough in their writing and reading at the high school level. I also believe that many students become disenfranchised with their English classes because they don’t feel that the material relates to them. High school English curriculums are comprised many canonized of literature that were often written 50 to 100 years ago. Students automatically feel disconnected from the things they are reading because it seems “too old” or “too boring.” It is my experience that works of literature are not only applicable to the time period in which they were written, but also to the present day. It would be easy for teacher to finds ways to relate the text to their students. The Shakespeare activity

I observed in Mr. Bartholomew’s classroom actively engaged students interpreting the text of Shakespeare. I thought this was a great activity because I don’t think literary interpretation is put in the hands of the student enough at the high school level. However, if I were doing this activity I might take it one step further. I would still have the students read and choose a scene to perform from the play, but I would have them perform the scene in a modern context. Making this change to the activity would force to students to relate the text to their lives, while at the same time enhancing their literary analysis.

This class has focused much on the importance of multicultural education. The high school I observed at and the classes I observed are not the best examples of a multicultural educational environment. The school is predominantly white but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t expose students to a multicultural curriculum. I examined the reading lists for the classes I observed, and I believe there could be more minority works integrated into the curriculum. Authors like Toni Morrison, Zora Neal Hurston,

Tennessee Williams are just a few example of black authors who could be included in the curriculum. Other Native American as well as Hispanic authors could be integrated as well. The works of minority authors serve as effective social and educational tools for students. During my education I have read and analyzed a number of works by minority authors. I have learned more about the plight of minorities as citizens in this country, and consequently I have been able to be more sensitive to the backgrounds of these minorities on a social level. Including these works could have a positive effect on student’s education and possibly enhance the interaction between minorities and dominant groups in our schools.

Overall the observing, interview, and reflection experience has helped give me significant insight into how some of the topics discussed in class relate to a real life classroom. I also have developed a clearer vision of how I would like to address these concepts in my practice as a teacher.