I observed Becky, a middle school English teacher at Heritage Christian Academy in
Rockwall. The observation and interviews took place in her classroom on the Heritage
campus. On this particular day Becky’s eighth grade class utilized collaborative learning
to discuss the previous night’s reading of  “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury.

Peer relationships are firmly established in Becky’s classroom. Heritage is a small school
and her eighth grade class has only fifteen students. Most of these students have been in
school together since elementary with only a few exceptions. This familiarity lends itself
to collaborative learning. Most of the students feel at ease communicating in class since
they have known each other for so long. In this particular class meeting, several
students felt free to question other student’s assessments of the reading without making
the situation seem tense. Rather, it was a situation where students were familiar enough
with one another to not feel threatened by peer questioning.

This particular class used a cooperative goal structure to answer questions about the
reading. After answering one question together, the class was split into groups. The
groups each had one question to answer. They were to support each answer with specific
references from the reading. After ten to fifteen minutes, the groups would reconvene as
a whole class and together they would answer each question aloud. This definitely
allowed groups to work together for the overall benefit of the class and it also fulfilled the
need of many middle school students to socialize and interact with their peers.

The students definitely respect and trust Becky. In this class, after her explanation of the
assignment, she turned the class over to the groups. The students had been grouped
according to abilities. Becky had also thought about which students worked best with one
another. One group, however, had a few problems. The boys in the group did not really
get excited about working with the girls and one boy even had his back turned to the
group. Becky, acting as a mediator, talked to the boys and convinced them to work
within the group framework.

Risk was greatly decreased in this classroom environment. The students felt at ease
within the group structure because they were collaborating to come to the right answers.
Later, as they discussed their responses with Becky she very carefully responded in an
affirming manner to students who were struggling to get out the answers. Fear of failure
in this classroom, on this day, was definitely not a problem.

 

 

1. What ways did labels make you more and/or less visible at school?

Labels, particularly in high school made me more visible. As an athlete at a fairly large
private school I was basically a big fish in a small pond. Without the label of athlete I
would have been much less visible since I tended to be a very shy person.

2. Did the labels you carried symbolize certain student attributes? What personal 
meaning, if any, did the symbolization create for you?

The symbol of student-athlete was important and did carry certain attributes. In my early
to mid-1990s high school mindset, the ideal symbol for me was a Duke University
basketball player. According to me, this was someone who was bright, articulate, took
academics and competed at a high level athletically. I liked that symbol and think I
wanted to be that type of person at the time.


3. As a consequence of the school labels you adopted, what self-labels did you give
yourself? Were they positive or negative? How did these labels affect your relationship
with school? with teachers? with peers?

I think I labeled myself as a student-athlete and desired to balance out both aspects of
that label. I think the label was positive. In retrospect, my relationship with school was
love-hate to say the least. The curriculum was strenuous and demanding while at the
same time I dedicated much energy towards athletics. My relationship with teachers was
never harmed by the label, at least to my knowledge, because I did usually always
perform well in school. I can say of course that I feel now I could have been a better
student. My relationship with my peers was probably affected the most by my label as
student-athlete. I was accorded an immediate status and respect from peers that tends
to come with being an athlete. I was a good student as well and this added credibility to
my label also.

4. As a result of the labels you adopted and the corresponding groups you belonged to,
do you think your teachers saw you more as an individual person, or more as part of a
social, academic, or athletic group?

I think that teachers at my school still viewed me as an individual. I think this was the
case because my high school was still small enough for teachers to get to know you. It
also helped that I did work hard in the classroom and had more interests than simply
athletics, though sports were a major focus.