Alex Jeppson

August 19, 2016

CIA Part I
General Observations
The Halls

Between classes, the kids are in various places. There tends to be a gathering around
classroom doors, beginning with students who are not in the popular crowd. The cool
and popular kids gather in clumps all long the lockers.
They walk between classes in various sized groups. Some are alone, quietly scurrying
between, many walk in pairs, and then there are some who walk in large packs.
No groups stand out as being entirely one ethnic group. The school is mainly white, so
those few students who are more ethnically diverse are in groups with other white
students. However, I have observed one exception to this. There is a group where all but
one of the students are not white.
Those who are alone are sullener and tend to keep their eyes down. Those who are in
groups are loudly talking with their friends. Some of the students who are alone wear
baggier or older clothes, though not all do. Those in groups tend to be better dressed. In
all there isnt a huge range in the differences of clothing, so those I point out are subtler.
There is little student work from classes hanging in the halls. There are, however,
posters advertising clubs, anti-bullying messages, inspirational quotes, historic photos
from the school, trophies for a range of endeavors (academic, cheer, sports, chess, ect),
and past students artwork which has been framed. Of the framed art, the main subjects
are animals, landscapes, and people working hard (mostly white, but a few Native
Americans).

Lunch Time

There are a few pairs and singletons of boys just

out of the lunch room in a secluded corner.
Another boy is alone. Not eating. Playing on phone.
There is another lone boy near him doing the same
thing
There is a whole pack sitting on the stairs to the
lunch room. These students seem to be the more
eccentric artists. All the students who have their
hair dyed bright colors (or jet black), sit here. I also

Moderatly
packed

cool

Pack on stairs

windows

Moderatly
packed

Sparsely
filled

Food line

know some from class that doodle in their sketch books often.
Clusters of friends in the halls, sitting and eating on the floor
Most SPED students tend to stick to themselves or other SPED students, but there are a
few exceptions where they seem to be fully part of the group
There is a detention table, marked with D on the diagram, but no one is at it
A girl is sitting alone on the stairs. She is wearing cat ears and glasses
The kids mostly talk, eat and play on their phones
There is a group of boys, marked with * on diagram, alone on this table, they are the
group I mentioned that is all different races, except for the one white boy
The cool section, labeled cool on diagram, is the most crowded, a well as the slowest
to unpack. It seems to be mostly comprised of girls.
Kids go outside to play around a bit in the outdoor classroom.

Dress

Lots of hoodies, hats, sweatshirts, t-shirts, shorts, and jeans.

Most are dressed nicely and meet the dress code. A few look like they just threw on
whatever
There is also a lot of school clothing, with the school name, mascot, and teams on
hoodies and shirts. There are a lot of cheer uniforms as well.
There is not a great variance in the clothing between different groups, as I noted in the
fourth bullet in the halls section.

Language

The language is more casual and crass in the hallways. I hear lots of curse words,
exclaimed without shame. In the classroom, kids tend to keep it more under control. If
they do curse, it is quieter so their teacher doesnt hear.
In the hallways, the emotions are vivid. They are excited to see friends, complaining
about classes, laughing about the latest thing they saw about Donald Trump on
YouTube, and cursing the world. In class, you see a more muted version of these
emotions, if you even see them all; in class, they are mostly bored and void of all
emotion.
There is a lot of greetings as they pass their friends. One introduced herself to the new
principal

Interests

I overheard many Im so happy to see in various shapes and forms. I also overheard
many things that I will not repeat. The following are the more interesting snippits:
o How do you get an A in the class? But you actually remember the content!

o Donald Trump! and then laughs

o Its not working. Its not working as she taps his shoulder with a poke ball, to
which he replies Its not going to work
o Talking about a classmate earning money on iTunes for publishing a song, and
how they should all get together and write one
It seemed like the more popular kids had the most superficial conversations because
they were greeting friends left and right, the more middle class (on the popularity
scale) were actually engaged in conversations about grades, current events, stories, and
plans for after school, and the more eccentric, artsy, or less cool kids would talk about
things like anime, art, and Pokmon.

Groups

There is a popular/cool group. This group seems to have more flexible boarders,
depending on what cool kid is around at the time. I mean flexible in terms of it grows as
cool kids join and shrinks when they head to class or other groups. I do not mean
flexible in the way that anyone could join.
The more rigid groups are the smaller groups of friends. These kids are the middle class,
in terms of popularity, though may have some popular connections. Kids with
exceptionalities are more part of these groups. I saw kids in wheelchairs, with cochlear
implants, and super short kids included in these groups.
There are loners, and they tend to be overweight and not as nicely dressed. Sometimes
the loners are in pairs, but in terms of popularity, Id still consider them loners.
Groups are mainly male or female. There isnt a lot of mixing of the sexes.
There are also the groups I mentioned in previous sections (the artists, the ethnic group)

Territory

The main territories I identified were those at lunch, as I described above. There is the
cool kid section in the back of the lunch room, which has the most. Then there are
smaller territories scattered throughout the school. I say territory in this case,
because these are where the uncool kids spread out to. They arent territories, but more
like an absence of territory, which is what makes it safe for those loners.
It doesnt seem like any area is more guarded than others. The cool territory is mostly a
big bubble that follows the cool kids around, but tends to be a certain area in the
lunchroom or outside. If someone uncool were to enter this territory, the bubble would
just move away slightly, for the time being.
I talked to the school secretary and she was confident that there were no territories in
the school. She said, we dont have that in this school. There is no group who always
stays together and has a place they dont allow anyone else.

Classroom

Their language is a bit better, but they otherwise seem to act the same. Well, it depends
on if they have friends in the class. If they have friends, they talk, laugh, and joke
together, sometimes at the expense of learning, but not always. If they dont have
friends, they are either studious, or completely zoned out.
Conversations in class have a similar tone, but are at least somewhat centered around
the content or their subject. Not always productive about their assignment though. With
some kids it is just heckling each other about doing something wrong, how to do it, etc.
Of course, there are conversations that are completely off track (one student is trying to
sell a Herseys kiss for a quarter, to which another says, You are selling prostitution)
The composition seems mostly the same. Obese kids more alone in back. More
unpopular boys on back fringe. Girls tend to take the half of the room closest to the
teachers desk and boys take the half as far away as possible. Again, very little mixing.
One student has a cochlear implant, but seems well accepted by the kids. He is maybe
treated as the class genius. Another student is permanently in a wheel chair. He parks
his chair next to a desk, and all three boys there are always working together. He too, is
accepted. There is another boy who is a total jerk, and other students mostly try to
ignore him. This boy has an adult who follows him around to help him (and help the
teacher contain him). The teacher works with this adult, helping with content, where to
focus, activities, etc.

Synopsis
I learned that the school community is similar to what I think is the typical school. there
is the "in" crowd, the middle class, and those poor loners who have been ostracized for one
reason or another. However, I think it differed from other schools in the sense that while it has
these three groups, the scale between them is not that drastic. I think that this is because the
school is in a medium to high SES area, so many of the kids are on the same playing field. The
school is also quite white, which could have something to do with it. It seems as if the
community is more welcoming towards those with special needs that cannot be helped
(cochlear implants, wheelchair bound, incredibly small, etc), while its not as much towards
those with weight problems or who are socially awkward. It also seems like boys are more likely
to be at the bottom of the totem pole.
Questions

Why do some of the less popular students sit in the stair wells. I think that if they
wanted to be alone, which it seems they do, they would go to a less traveled area.

Why is there such a division of the sexes? Is it this way in every middle school and I've
just never noticed before?
How are the students at the detention table treated at lunch by their peers?

Student Shadow 1: Megan (name changed)

3rd period Math
Interaction with -Just stares at desk as
teacher
he talks
-Not listening to
answers to
assignment
-Sits in seat far from
the teachers desk

4th period Geography

-Sits in seat as from of
teachers desk as
possible
-Immediately does
what teacher askes to
fix an assignment
-Is honest with teacher
about not finishing the
assignment yet
Interaction with -Came in talking and
-A neighbor gave her
students
laughing with two
colored pencils so she
other girls
could finish her
-Put book into hood of homework in class
friend in front of her
-Does minimum
-Passing pens to friend amount of talking to
in front of her during
neighbor for interview
lecture
activity
-Not working with her -Even though she had
friends, just talking
time to socialize, she
with them. She
chose to quietly draw
eventually started on
her own, even though
it is group work and
the others havent
started
Type of work in -Starter (a math maze) -Homework of coloring
content area
-Team work to find
a map of the world
number tricks
-Get to know you
interviews

5th period French

-Raised her hand to
answer a question in
French
-Not listening to teacher
-Head down, not
following teacher

-Went straight for her

friend (same one from
math)
-Only interacted with
one other student, and
that is because he
approached her.
-She slowly did part of
the assignment with her
friend, but then just
goofed off

-Starter (write and

answer greetings in
French)
-Duolingo practice

Quality of work
in content area

Other

-Worked quietly on
starter. She got
halfway and then
erased all her work.
She didnt finish.
-Took time starting
assignment
-Wrote down
multiples of numbers
rather than dividing
rules. She either
didnt hear the
instructions or is look
for a pattern
-Doodling on hand. It
appears she isnt
paying attention

-Draw a picture about

themselves
-Didnt complete
homework at home.
She had only colored
the continents, and
very neatly. Now she is
rushing and sloppily
coloring in the oceans
-Slow to start
assignment

-Speak to five
classmates in French
-Gave correct answer in
French, in response to
the starter
-Only spoke to one
person in French, her
friend.

-Doodling in
sketchbook

-Doodling in sketch
book again
-Drawing on desk

I chose Megan because she seems to be disconnected from school. She zones out and
doesnt seem to hear a thing going on around her. I found that this occurred in all the classes I
observed, though to different extremes. When the teacher is talking, she pretty consistently
either stares at her desk or doodles. I dont believe that doodling is a bad thing if the student is
still listening, but I get the impression that she is doodling at the expense of other activities. In
math class, I know that she didnt hear his instructions. In French, she was aware enough that
she could repeat French phrases with the rest of the class when asked.
I also found that the extent of her shut down was effected by the classmates around
her. When she has no friends nearby, she zones out. When she has acquaintances around her,
she is semi-aware. When she has good friends with her she is fairly alert. Unfortunately, when

she is with her good friends she is almost completely distracted, though she does start
eventually. When I teach her, I think that I will move her so that she is with only one friend. It is
my hope that with one friend she wont be zoned out, but with only one friend she wont be so
distracted. As she is the one who tends to work in her group, maybe she can even get that one
to work.
As for her doodling, I thought that she would enjoy more artistic assignments. When she
was assigned a project to draw a picture about herself, she just ignored it and kept doodling.
This really surprised me. She did eventually start the art assignment, but not with the
enthusiasm I would have expected. I can think of a few reasons why: she wanted to finish her
doodle first, she was thinking about what to draw, she wanted to use her own art supplies at
home, or she didnt like what she was being asked to draw. I would probably need to see the
finished product to at least narrow down this list but, even without knowing why she didnt
start right away, it is likely that she would prefer artistic assignments. To help her, I would have
the class draw images in their notes to help them remember concepts and, where possible,
have more visual assignments.
If I could ask her some questions, I would ask her what it is about school that she enjoys.
Is it only the social aspect and some art, or is there something else that appeals to her? I would
ask her what she would change if she could?

Student Shadow 2: Andrew (name changed)

Interaction with
teacher

Interaction with
students

2rd period Geography

-Asks for the date
-Asked questions about
assignment without
raising hand
-Out of seat to ask
teacher if he can use
the hall pass
-Raises hand for pretty
much every question
-There is no color on
these! Teacher says
she isnt rich. Thats
fine, thats fine
-Asks if North Korea
has McDonalds.
Teacher says no. Then
he says Yeah, thats
why Kim Jung Un
sucks
-What do we write?
Teacher says you tell
me. He says No, you
tell me!
-The teacher ignores
his inappropriate
comments. She tries to
acknowledge or
answer those that are
relevant

3rd period Math

-Raised hand to ask
for help on starter. He
said he has tried, but
from what I can tell all
he has been doing is
talking to his
neighbors
-tapping teachers arm
to get his attention,
trying to check his
answer
-said the teacher
graded it wrong. He
did it right, but didnt
show his work which
is why he lost points
-actually being pretty
quiet today. So far
there has only been 1
shouted out comment
-working on
something when
teacher is talking
about test

5th period Biology

-Interrupted twice in
the first 30 seconds
-tapping teacher on
arm to get their
attention when she
was talking to
someone else
-asked a question
about a different kind
of sugar
-said Miss Jeppson
is inorganic
-He asks, what are
farts made out of?
(this is an actually on
task question).
Teacher says
Methane. He says,
METH?!. She says,
No, we had this
conversation last
week.
-This teacher
acknowledges most of
his
comments/questions

-Walks back to desk

slowly, walking like a
chicken and making
animal noises

-Talking to classmates
during starter
-Asking classmates for
answer to starter

-Told a classmate a
funny story that
happened in the last
period. It sounded like
the story was about

Type of work in
content area

Quality of work in
content area

-Talks quietly to his

neighbors. I think he
said, Thats why in
Iraq, (incoherent)
bomb. Haha when
talking about chains
changing their menu to
meet local needs
-Arguing with fellow
students about how to
pronounce data
-Some students seem
to think he is funny. It
seems like they mostly
laugh at the audacity of
his comments. I think
that, for the most part,
he annoys them but
they have come to
accept/ignore him
-gives a classmate a
high five when
returning to his seat
after presenting
-Case study on the
location of fast-food
chains. Read, and then
answer questions
-discussed a map of
McDonalds, then had
to write a so what
-Fill in a table of notes
-present one section of
the notes
-Did some of starter
-In response to where
is a food court located

-student accused him

of changing the
answer on his test
after getting it back.
He seemed genuinely
angry that she would
assume that of him.

how he annoyed his

teacher.
-He is studying with a
classmate for the quiz
-talking to another
student when teacher
is trying to talk

-Starter
-a few in class
problems as practice
-homework

-Quiz on atomic
structure
-notes on organic vs
inorganic

-Didnt try until it was

required to leave the
room

-He is concerned with

how he spelled words
on his test.

Other

he said, food in a
court
-sometimes answers a
legitimate answer,
mostly just says first
thing that comes to
mind
-is filling in the guided
notes
-did his part in the
presenting. Teacher
said he did well. He
managed to do it
without goofing off
-Making some noise
(dinosaur), but semiquietly
-Frequently shouting
out yes maam,
answers (sometimes
right, often
intentionally wrong),
random things,
responding to other
students responses
-When teacher points
out the middle east, he
says, thats were ISIS
lives loud enough for
fellow students to hear
but quiet enough that
teacher cannot
-I cannot write even
half of the things he
says, because there are
so many
-he is actually being
quiet when others are

-took his time but did

eventually copy down
the homework

-He finished pretty

quickly.
-writing a few notes

- spends a lot of time

turned around in his
seat
-only a few shouted
out comments today.
He was actually really
well behaved

-stretching and
holding his arms in
the air a lot

presenting and he is
required to take notes
I choose Andrew because he is a classroom management nightmare. He one of the
students I anticipate to have the greatest struggle with. He seems to crave to be the center of
attention as he is frequently speaking out of turn. I wanted to follow him to discover if he acts
this way in other classes and how other teachers handle him. From what I could tell, he acts this
way in every setting. He does seem to sense when it is terribly wrong, though, because he is
mostly quiet during tests and quizzes (with the exception of humming for a bit). All teachers
mostly ignore him, unless he is going over the top. They try to answer any questions he has that
could be legitimate.
If I were to talk to him, which I plan to, I would ask him about his frequent comments.
Why does he do them? Does he really think they are appropriate? He often seems genuinely
amazed when he is told he is misbehaving. He asks, What did I do?. Is it possible that he
doesnt really know that that is inappropriate behavior? I find that hard to believe, but I
suppose there is always a chance.
My plan for him is to sit down and have a talk with him. I want to tell him that we both
have something to work on and that we can help each other. I want to ask him why he has his
many comments, and point out that they are not appropriate for his age. We will set a goal for
how many comments he can have in class. Up to a certain point I will allow, but after that he
will lose points. If he makes his goal, I will give him a treat. We will both keep count of his
comments. I will also tell him my problem, which is saying you guys because it is too informal.
So I will also set a goal and we will both keep track of how many times I say it. This way it is

more of a give and take kind of thing and hopefully he wont feel as defensive (also, if he has to
keep track of how often I say guys that means he has to actually pay attention, but dont tell
him that). I definitely want input on this plan before I proceed, though.