Juan represented a student that may be having a more difficult time in middle school at

least academically based off my interactions with him. Juan is on an IEP and struggles on
occasion in class to remain focused and successful. A reason that Juan is in the class is that he
has to take geography and economics in seventh grade. Juan seems to like to gather his own
understanding when he is learning about different subjects. Juan shared some interesting
thoughts to me in his interviews which I am going to group in three different categories personal
information, education at Lesher, and his personal opinions on some subjects.
Juan has lived in Fort Collins his whole life and is used to the crazy climate of Colorado.
He currently only lives with his mother and sisters a fact that has pushed Juan to seek out support
among his male friends which in turn leads to Juan spending more time outside the home and
being influenced by his peers. As far as Juan's thoughts on school, he sometimes like school.
Things he does like about school are friends, projects and physical education class. Parts of
school that Juan does not like include drama (trouble he gets into), not understanding classes,
and math.
Juan feels most excited to learn about things when he has projects to do. He likes to be
given the opportunity to be in control of his learning and learns many new things, one example
was his project on irrigation in which he realized what a vital role irrigation played. Homework
does not motivate Juan to learn mainly because he feels he cannot get support at home when he
has questions, Juan would like a website he could access to help with homework. As a future
teacher Juan suggested I take the time to really make sure that a student understands a concept.
Juan enjoys playing soccer during his free time and is capable of teaching others how to
juggle the ball. Juan worries about the approach to natural disasters in the world, he feels that

natural disasters take everything away from people and would like to find a productive way to
address the disasters. One thing that Juan would change about his school would be to be listened
to more often, from Juan's perspective he feels that he is not listened when dealing with conflicts
he is involved in.
Through this interview I came to an understanding that Juan becomes more engaged
when he actually understands the content he is learning. One of the reasons he seemed to enjoy
projects was because he takes charge of his learning and explores his topic in his own pace. The
only reason he does not like math is because he doesn't understand some of the concepts. An
interesting feeling that Juan expressed to me was the fact that he was afraid of failure, he will not
get involved with certain things because he fears that he will fail and not meet certain standards.
Juan emphasized he importance of students being listened to by teachers and how that is the key
to keeping some students engaged.
Zoey represented a student on the different end of the spectrum, Zoey is a high achieving
student. The reason I interviewed Zoey was because I asked Mrs. Geisthardt if she knew of any
students that could contrast Juan's experience in middle school. Zoey is an eighth grader part of
the Brain bowl ELO and is in that class because of certain expressed interests. A disclaimer to
add is that Zoey's answers for the interview may have been impacted by an incident that had
occurred the day before. Overall Zoey seemed like a well adjusted student in the Brain Bowl
ELO, and once again my observations will be structured as personal information, education at
Lesher, and his personal opinions on some subjects.
Zoey has lived in Fort Collins for ten years after she moved when she was four. Zoey
currently lives with both her mom and dad. Zoey herself really enjoys school because she feels

that she is accomplishing something. Zoey strives for success and likes the feeling of success in
school. One of this ways is through her Spanish class.
Zoey's favorite class at Lesher is Spanish class, one of the reasons is that she has built a
solid relationship with the teacher. Zoey explained to me that while Spanish is a cool subject the
teacher is really what creates an interest in class. This Spanish teacher in particular treats her
students with respect. Zoey's least favorite class is her Science class and the reasons being
because she does not really enjoy the content. While a certain respect from teachers makes Zoey
excited to learn, when a teacher makes her feel dumb she feels less excited about learning. As far
as advice she would give me as a future leader, she feels that I should always be genuine with a
class and be willing to respect the opinion of students, at least by acknowledging some of the
student's reasoning.
One of Zoey's biggest worries is uneducated people both in an academic and social sense.
Zoey feels that face to face communication is becoming more difficult with the advent of
technology and this takes away from the human experience. Zoey explained her experience of
impact versus intent and how people should think before they saw or even type anything that
could leave a negative impact. As far as something she could change about Lesher to make the
school a better place for her, Zoey would like all teachers to treat all students the same. She feels
she has had preferential treatment compared to some of her friends, at least through her
perspective.
I learned about the power of relationships with students through my interview with Zoey.
Zoey presented a concept that I had struggled through my practicum and that was how to present
yourself to students. I was not fully comfortable treating the students as adults and fell back on

treating these middle school students as younger children. Yet all they are asking for is for
teachers to be their genuine selves.