Student roles in the classroom
In this section, I’m interested in exploring the myriad roles that students take on within the classroom environment. Within any class period, some students become leaders, while others demonstrate indifference or lack of interest in both peaceful and disruptive ways. High school students have the capacity to engage deeply in a given text or “act their age," as some people would put it. By noticing the roles they take on in the classroom, as educators, we can infer the need for classroom rules of conduct, engaging strategies to activate student interest, and a teacher that brings all these personalities together in a cohesive unit, to name a few.
First, I’ll briefly touch on students taking on leadership roles in the classroom. Here, there is potential for wide variability – for instance, contrasting student interaction in upper level, advanced placement, or college-in-schools (CIS) courses as opposed to those in general level, or required courses not freely chosen by the students. Within upper-level courses, you will inevitably see more students taking active roles in leading discussion or exercises. Still, in general level courses, there are still a few students that stand out as leaders. Sometimes the teacher focuses discussion in their direction to encourage their continued assistance in keeping the ball rolling, so to speak. These consistently cooperative students tend to sit towards the front of the classroom; perhaps the pressure of being so close to the teacher encourages their participation, to some degree. In a CIS English class that I observed, one student brought an image of a central symbol in Toni Morrison’s Sula – through this action, the student models active participation, leads others’ interest in the discussion, and illuminates the discussion of symbolism in the classroom.
On the opposite end of that coin, some disruptive students seem to be encouraged, or even passively affirmed, by other students to continue their perceived roles as resistant learners. Meanwhile, there are always a few students in the general classroom who assume active roles in learning (seemingly) in spite of their peers’ or teachers’ expectations of what they’re capable of. Too often, I feel that these students may be neglected by some teachers, instead of recognized for their active interest in learning.
Often the most unpredictable or impulsive students are found in the general classroom. Several general classes begin with multiple students arriving late for class, while their peers may be loud, or even obnoxiously loud, until the teacher has to prompt them to settle down. Some students may blurt out frustration at having modest amounts of homework. Meanwhile, some classes have one or two students who seem willfully set on continuing their impulsive behaviors. One student in the poetry class I’m observing is usually off task and disruptive (one day, he complained about being in terrible pain, got a hall pass, and disappeared for the rest of the period; whereas on other days, he usually uses either expletives or offensive language to get his point across, usually just low enough that the teacher can pretend he didn’t hear it).
In the following class period, I observed one of the most distractingly loud students I’ve ever met. This girl frequently asks questions at the teacher that have no relation to class work, never raises her hand before speaking, and often asks to go to the bathroom. One day she twirled strings of beads throughout most of the hour-long class. On another day in February, in the middle of a discussion of e.e. cummings poetry, she blurted out, “Get some culture in here! What about black history month? Let’s talk about something different for once." While this expression of frustration might seem reasonable if put in a less impulsive way, she doesn’t usually seem genuinely interested in any discussion of literature from male, female, Black, White, Asian, or Latino authors. Though she seems to pay no attention to any of the class work, on a day where students were supposed to read their poetry aloud, she was the first to read before the class. And, when no students offered to read next, she offered to read others’ work aloud anonymously. Following this, she read three other poems aloud to the class. This suggests that she is interested in the creative voices of her peers – people who have immediate, authentic relations to her experience.
Looking at how students participate in group activities, it’s no surprise that upper-level English students seem to be more engaged in focused classroom discussions. Often, students defer to others to speak, and hold their thoughts until they appropriately fit into the discussion. These students often have the capacity to pack a lot of information, and learning, into a class discussion. General students may raise their voices when others are talking, but usually they are respectful when discussion is happening. Often, even the rowdiest classes can turn very quiet when someone is reading aloud or performing before class; this tends to be the case, too, when visitors who are giving a lecture, speaking, or showing a film to the class. Regarding how general students participate in small-group activities, often I’ve noticed bright, or even “loner" students choosing to work alone, instead of within a group; these students, busy with their work, often complete more of the work than many others who are distracted by their fellow group members, but also engaged in the collaborative process of learning.
During free moments in the classroom, I’ve often observed the most immature behaviors in the students. One class saw boys exchanging punches, or licks, while others watched. Sometimes, one, or several, students talk loudly, becoming the center of the class attention. In an upper-level classroom, I witnessed the teacher reprimanding a boy for pointing an extended rubber band at another boy’s face. And at the end of one class, as students stood up to take their place in the exit line of the class, a boy grabbed another boy’s folder to play keep-away, inciting a chase. The important thing to remember is that much of this behavior is relatively healthy, and expected. Adolescent boys tend to engage in more rough-and-tumble play, and many students (male and female) are interested in being the center of a social spectacle.
Most students in the general classroom seem to demonstrate clear allegiance to their peers of similar race, interests (e.g., sports or music), or demographic background. Often, the students who seem most different, at least superficially (according to the above criteria), tend to be excluded from the social world of the classroom. These excluded students may not necessarily excel in the classroom; in other words, they are not excluded because they are perceived as intelligent. They seem to be excluded on account of their perceived differences. Students may disregard others who are overweight, representative of “foreign" cultures (e.g., Asian, Somali), or even for having different physical abilities.
Students express levels of interest in various ways, as well. Indifferent students may space out, daydream, ignore instruction, put their heads down (sleep), or even speak with a sarcastic tone about the material. Interested students make eye contact with others; use positive non-verbal cues to express they’re paying attention; take notes; follow the guidelines of the classroom (e.g., raise their hands, defer to others); respond to what others have said about the topic at hand; ask questions; and correct any potential misunderstandings of their peers. In an upper-level English class, one student asked for an extension on the journal writing assignment that was due that day, whereas many students in the general classroom often take a more fatalistic approach when assignments are incomplete.
These observations suggest a greater need in the general classroom for scaffolding lessons to build upon student learning, asserting the purpose of proper classroom etiquette, and clearly assessing student performance to stress the importance of their continued engagement. I worry that the separation of students between upper-level classes and general classes might make it more challenging for students in general classes to achieve to greater heights. More specific to my student teaching experience to come, I will need to establish an honest, authentic rapport with students that clearly communicates respect and the need for their collective respect. Similarly, there is a great need to authentically engage them with the material in ways that are meaningful to their lives and experiences.