Observation at Spencer Middle School

I have seen and experience a lot during the 2 week observation period at Spencer Middle School. The school system is different than most high schools I have been to. Spencer is on a linear system for their academic classes (including PE) and then they are on a semester program for their electives, except for the grade 7 exploratory classes that last around 6 weeks (I think). So when it comes time for me to teach art and PE I will have kids that have been in PE since September and then kids starting their first semester in Art. The PE teachers at the school have completely opposite teaching styles and I will be lucky to have 2 sponsor teachers. The PE director has been teaching since 1977 and it is his last year before retirement so I find his teaching methods quite old school and his views and beliefs to be quite extreme. On the other side of the spectrum my Art sponsor teacher is very young and has only been teaching for a couple of years; I feel like I can relate to her more and we share some of the same views and beliefs.
A new program that has been implemented in the middle school is a 30 minute block before lunch called Numeracy and a 30 min block after lunch called Literacy. These blocks focus on skills that will be used in the work force (if the teachers actually teach the block correctly). I have seen teacher take many different approaches to these 30 minute blocks and it looks like the principal and vice principal will have to re-examine their time table and the effectiveness of these classes. I may or may not be asked to teach a numeracy and literacy block. The observation period has been helpful and I really enjoyed getting involved in some of the elective classes including; foods, textiles, drama and dance!