Shaker Middle School

Today we went and visited Shaker heights middle school where I observed a Science class and what we thought was going to be a math class but it turned out to be a social studies class.  In both classes the students were very engaged in conversation and were not afraid to say what they thought.  All of the students in the science class were on their chrome books and were playing a game that involved energy transformation.  I could tell that the students would get frustrated if the failed to complete the game, but once they did I could see the satisfaction on their face and they would say, "Yes!" They were very intrigued by the game and loved the challenge of finishing it.  But the teacher made sure they did not stop there.  He would tell them to try and find another more complex way to win the game instead of the way they just found.

In chapter 4 I think Ayers using the metaphor building bridges to describe the gap it takes to travel from no knowledge at all to using and gaining all knowledge that you can.  I think that he wants to expand one's thinking from going to the knowledge they have and going across that to gaining all the knowledge they can and then applying that to every day life.

An example I saw in the classroom was when the students solved their solution that was their knowledge they had and were able to do it.  But, he wanted them to gain more knowledge and think about it more outside the box and think of another more complex solution to solve the problem.