Jr. High Students interview

Essay by radakstUniversity, Bachelor'sA, July 2007

download word file, 3 pages 3.0

For my student interviews, I interviewed an 8th grade boy and a 6th grade boy. I found theinterviews very interesting as I feel it has helped me gain alittle more insight into some more personal thoughts of what middle school students are thinking.

The two boys I interviewed Stu and Reid, are brothers and go to a private school (Michael Conley) for gifted students in a small suburban town. Despite the fact that they are brothers, theiranswers were unique. This confirms what I have learned and many theorists have proved in thateach child is unique and learns in different ways. For example, Stu, the 8th grader, prefersworking with partners and small groups than work alone. He told me he prefers this optionbecause each person has different views on things and everyone can help each other. Also, insmall groups are nice because the work is split up and students can come back together afterdoing their part and see what others in their group discovered.

On the contrary, Reid (6th grader)prefers to work alone. He says that he is able to get the work done faster by himself. He thinkssmall groups tend to argue, people can slow down the group, and some people will not do thework like he would. These are completely opposite views! As a teacher, how would Iaccommodate both learning styles? I believe the answer is a balance of both. I asked the boys about their favorite and least favorite teachers. Some characteristics ofthe two teachers they described as their favorite were, liked to have fun, told jokes, got studentsinvolved in other activities outside of school to promote their learning, and took an interest in thestudents and believed they could succeed. The teachers they did not like were described as beingmean. Stu said that his worst teacher had abad...