Visit to Safiya Jetha classroom at Hamilton International Middle School

Date: Feb 7, 2020

Grade: 6th
Observer: Oscar Newman

Notes from Research:

● Part of Seattle School District #1

● From the Washington Report Card there is a discrepancy in the percentage of African
American students attending the school and the rate at which those students are
disciplined.
● Reverse is also true: White students comprise 65% of the student population but less
than 1% of disciplinary infractions.
● Diversity: Low percentages of students who are ELLs (2%) and Low Income (9%)

Looking for: How does the teacher approach teaching science as inquiry?

● Logistics: Lab set-ups organized ahead of time, teacher used a student teacher to
reduce time spent on preparation
● Resources: students had reference sheets on pollinators. These were used differently by
different students.
● Teacher demonstrated how to use equipment and the graphic organizer.
● Student exploration time (10 minutes) before getting everyone’s attention to focus on the
written product and how to formally dissect a flower; Teacher demonstrates safe use of
scalpel
● Students are encouraged to use all their senses to interact with materials before going
into greater detail of the science concepts related to pollination.
● In post-observation discussion, the teacher explained how this lesson fit into a larger
plan to develop reasoning by emphasizing claims and evidence.

Looking for: How does the teacher approach diversity of learning styles, academic
abilities in the classroom?

● (From discussion with teacher after the lesson) Students have clearly defined goals in
their cooperative learning groups; these roles change on a weekly basis so all students
get a chance at experiencing them.
● The lesson we observed was an optional extension; teacher mentioned that this was a
challenge with the new curriculum recently adopted - there are few hands-on inquiry
activities.
● The teacher mentioned she stresses formal vocabulary for those students who can
benefit from a greater challenge.
 ● The teacher is one of several who teach the same grade level and content area, so there
are constraints as far as differentiation because the department needs to offer common
experiences. Specifically, this year, there has been a lot of work on assessments,
especially those related to Science and Engineering Practices.

Other Notes

● We discussed implementation of Aspen curriculum at length. Teacher had some

experience with this from previous school.
● Student grouping strategies came from POGIL curriculum.
● Part of making groups effective came from the work the teacher did to emphasize that
groups need to establish consensus in order to move on to the next steps in an activity.

Classroom Diagram
Analysis

What assumptions did you have prior to your observations, and how were they challenged by
your observations and research?

When I read over the school report card, I was a little concerned. Chicago Public

Schools (CPS) as a system has been grappling with the reality of how racism is enmeshed with

disciplinary procedures. There is a push to restorative practices, yet, this is not implemented the

same way in the over 600 schools that comprise CPS. At the same time, I knew that I was

observing a teacher with experience at Islandwood, so I was interested in seeing how the IW

experience would be manifested in a classroom, rather than SOP setting.

In my observations, there were typical student comments, levels of engagement,

movement, and so on. I noted that the teacher created a graphic organizer that could be

completed in many different ways. For example, focusing on observations invites students to

challenge themselves with the complexity of what they write, but all students were able to

complete the assignment.

After the longest time that I have been out of a classroom in many years, it was nice to

have a chance to observe a regular school day in a middle school science classroom.

Regarding my thoughts when I first researched the school, I am still interested in how the school

approaches discipline and management, even if the lesson I observed did not reveal many

insights into this area.