Middle School Observation

Today we were able to go to Crest Middle School and observe a sixth grade classroom. I have always had my mind set on teaching grades K-2, but today made me realize maybe 4th or 5th or 6th grade would not be so bad. I would definitely not want to go any older than 6th grade though.
   There were a couple things that shocked me while observing. First, in our education class we talk so much about how all these schools are up with their technology and have laptops, smart boards and all the latest technology. However, this was not the case. This classroom did not even have a smart board. They only had an overhead projector. I talked to an assistant that was in the classroom and asked about it and she said that only 2 classrooms in the building have smart boards and that the technology is too expensive and their budget doesn't cover it. I was also surprised that in 6th grade they were not doing the common core math. They were still doing the standard algorithm method. The second grade classroom I observed last week was even doing the new common core ways of adding and subtracting but the 6th graders were not, so I was a little confused by that.
   I was happy to see that the teacher really got her students involved. While they were doing their math warm-up she was walking around the classroom observing what the students were doing so she could get a better understanding if they were understanding how to do the problems or not. Then when they were reviewing the problems she called on the students to answer them and explain how they got their answer. There was  a certain few students that were always raising their hands, but she did a good job on calling on the students who did not have their hands raised so she could see if they knew how to do it as well. After this the students broke up into partners and did a scavenger hunt around the classroom. I though this was a great idea because the kids had just got back from lunch and it was their last academic block of the day so they did not want to just sit there and do work out of the book. They had to go around the room and solve each problem on the cards around the room. During this time the students were able to ask the teacher questions about the problems or if they did not understand something she was explaining it to them.
  I thought it was a great experience to be able to go to a middle school classroom. I am excited to observe the high school classroom next week!