These past weeks Ive been observing one of the 7th grade science classrooms.

Mickelson
Middle School is in the great city of Brookings, SD. Their mission statement is workings
togethereducating with excellenceinspiring learners for life and for me this classroom
and educator meets this statement.
As youre walking into the school youll see these huge pillars and on top itll say
Mickelson Middle School. Then once you enter on of the 8 doors you have to push a button that
is located on the farthest west doors to enter the final doors. Once you push it someone will come
up on the speakers and ask why you are here. Once you have given the reason they will unlock
the door to let you in. Once in the building you see their cafeteria area and two halls. One hall
goes to the east and has a few classes that include more of the extracurricular activity
classrooms. To the west you will see the office where you sign in, what time you came, who you
are seeing, and to grab a sticker to be let through the halls. To the classroom that Im in you
continue down this west hall till you can turn right. Through these halls youll see lockers, a few
classrooms, and words and projects on the wall. Once you turn you will see room Red Science,
this is where Mrs. Engbrecht 7th grade science room is.
Once in youll be able to see 4 of the 8 peninsulas and a bunch of cabinets. On these
cabinets are a few projects that she has kept throughout the years. One in particular are these pipe
cleaners that are connected all together. These pipe cleaners represent the DNA of living
organisms. All of these are made from the children throughout her classes. Another project is this
this pulley system that a two children built. They are nicely built and time and care was clearly
put into making these. As well on the walls are words with pictures that the will be learned
throughout year. Some of these words include: savanna, DNA, phenotype, Membrane, meiosis,
punnet square, etc. As well on the walls she has a sign and a plank that awards her the 2010

Teacher of year for this school. Where the children sit are on 1 of the 8 peninsulas or on 1 of 4
long rotating desks/bleachers, which have been included into numerous lessons. The front of the
class there is a whiteboard and a new IWB that doesnt need the board and 2 huge cabinets that
store books, supplies, and papers for the projects.
During my time in Mrs. Engbrecht Im in 3 of her classes. The class that I taught included
24 students, 13 girls and 11 boys. Mostly all white, living in town, have siblings, and range in
developmental stages. For one of the boys, he has a teacher who is with him all day, in all his
classes to guide him where he needs it and where he needs to be. As for the other classes that Im
in are completely different. The other 2 classes have 28 students that range about half white and
half other ethnicities. As well there is another teacher for students that are on an IEP or have a
learning disability. In one of them there is a new student who doesnt speak English so we use an
Ipad to translate English to French and French to English.
Mrs. Engbrecht structure is quite unique. Students in the middle and some on the
peninsulas. For each lesson students are moving, being active, are critically thinking through the
labs. As well when she is teaching the students show respect and look up to her. When a student
misbehaves, she deals with it right away. She demands respect and deserves it. When I was up
there teaching the students gave me the same respect because they just know how to act in this
classroom. It is hard to get off task or off topic.