When I began observing Liz Topa's teaching, I was surprised to see the amount of "audience participation" that occurred.  The students would often call out answers or comments as Liz taught.  When the students were giving presentations on ancient civilizations, other students would shout out questions to challenge the presenters.  As I taught the autobio poem format, the students would offer suggestions for my poem and brainstorm (aloud) for their own.  Over time, though, I became used to this continuous classroom dialogue, and found that I much preferred the chaotic exchange of ideas over the half-asleep, passive, yet obedient students I taught at McAuley last year.

Another aspect of my culture shock was the interesting dynamics of the co-ed classroom.  I have noticed that in these co-ed classrooms, often the boys have cornered the market on loud, obnoxious behavior.  In Liz's accelerated class, one boy often yelled out in class and disrupted the lesson, while the girls were strangely silent--almost like they wished to disappear.  I have noticed that while the boys will disrupt class, the girls will quietly resist classroom activity.

Finally, I was shocked by the home situations of many of my students.  Many of my seniors, it seemed, lived in homes where they had adult responsibilities of caring for younger siblings and, occasionally, ailing parents.  Several students had faced difficult home situations growing up, as well.  One morning, a very nice student came up to Liz and I at the teacher's desk and asked to go to the nurse.  He had hurt his hand in a fight with his uncle.  He told us that he had been at work, and that his grandmother called him home when his uncle was beating up his mother.  Stories like this break my heart, and I wonder how anyone can be expected to learn when their home life is this horrible.

I learned a lot about teaching from Liz and the students at Thornton, too.  Liz taught me how to play by ear, and to always have an activity ready in case the planned activity fell through.  The students respected Liz and went along with her plans most of the time.  I liked working with Liz because she did not get into shouting matches with the students.  Liz also often gives students class time to work on their projects, so that they can get a start and ask questions if necessary.

We also had a successful technology project, which allowed student to get my response to their college essays.  This was helpful because I was only at Thornton on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the technology allowed me to help the students even when I couldn't actually physically be there.  When I am a teacher, the first technology lesson I am going to give my students is how to save their work on a floppy disk.  Many times we had unnecessary complications because students did not save properly or they pulled their disks out when the light was still on.  I also found at Thornton, like at McAuley, that Lab Assistants are not actually there to assist, but rather they seem to exist for the sole purpose of policing the computers and making sure that no one is eating or drinking in the lab.  When one of my students lost her work, the L.A. just gave her this sarcastic smile and said, "well, I guess you are going to start over."  Wow.  I can see why the school district pays that woman for her unique services!

I had a really positive experience at Thornton.  I enjoyed learning from Liz and her students, and I think I learned a lot.  I liked the college application essay assignment and the letters I exchanged with the sophomores because I enjoyed giving them authentic writing assignments.  When I am teaching I hope to push for more individual reading, so that students have meet their interests rather than reading the same, dull (according to the students) school assigned books.  I hope to continue student-centered methods in my own classroom and my upcoming clinical experiences.

In this clinical section you will find narratives of four days in Liz's classroom, artifacts from my teaching, and my original clinical plan.