CF- Students

Students

The classroom that I will be teaching is a 7^th grade Science class at Claggett Creek Middle School. In the classroom that I will be teaching, there are 31 students total; 15 boys and 16 girls. Out of those 31 students, I have 5 ESL and one of those ESL students is also on an IEP. There are 5 TAG students and 6 students that are on an IEP (does not include the ESL student). 2 of my ESL students are with ELPA level 4. 1 ESL student is with ELPA level 2. With my TAG students, 4 of them are TAG for general content and 1 of my students is TAG for Math and Reading. Just under half of my students are of another ethnic background other than Caucasian. By knowing that I have over half of my students may either need more help or more work from helps me plan my lessons and assignments for my students. By knowing their ethnicity, I know that they may not relate to some things that I have presented to them or may not understand a word or phrase that I am covering in class.

This class has gone through a few changes since the beginning of the school year. The above stats are reflective of the current population in the classroom. At the beginning of the year they had 1 more girl that was considered TAG. They also had 1 more boy that as of recently has been transferred out of the class. I do not have the details on this particular boy. He was on a travel card for behavioral problems. He did have behavioral problems in the classroom, which included distracting others and having an attitude that was not conducive of learning. Since this boy is no longer in the class, the other students seem to be more focused. Students leaving the classroom are not the only changes that the students have had. In the beginning of the school year the tables were in rows. Then they changed into groups, were students sat 4-6 per table group and now they are back to rows again. The students did fairly well in the beginning of the year with the tables in rows. When the tables were moved, students were more disruptive and they did not want to work with each other when it was time to work with table groups. When the students were moved back into rows, their behaviors have mellowed and they are back to working with each other again.

            A few of my students that need extra help leave my classroom with an aide for part of the period every day. The aide works with them on being organized, note taking, and helping some of them pass the tests by reviewing their notes.  I will have to review with them what they have missed. If the student is pulled out during group work, I can have another student help by teaching their peer what they missed. This will reinforce the material and catch the student up. I will also have to work with the aide that takes my students out of my class, so she knows when my tests are. This way the students will not miss a test and have ample time to complete the test.

 In this class, Jake (name change) loves to talk to everyone, but he ends up annoying most of his peers around him. George (name change) is unable to work with anyone right now. He has family issues and has shut down. He doesn’t want to do any work and no one wants to work with him. My cooperating teacher has had me pare up with him for group work and he asks to do the work by himself. I do know 1 student has glasses and doesn’t wear them. This student I am going to have to keep him close to the front of the class so he is able to read the board. I also have a student that has a hard time hearing. This student I will also have to keep him close to the front of the classroom. There a couple of girls that loves to talk to each other.

Since I have very diverse group of students, I am going to need a large arsenal of strategies to help my students. Within this arsenal will include a differentiated curriculum. Preparing some of my students before class, may help them learn the material and become confident in speaking in class. A back up plan is going to be needed for those internally motivated students that finish early. I could have them help other students, have practice sheets ready, or just have them read quietly until everyone is done. For the unmotivated students, I may have to talk to them and find a way to motivate them. This will not be an easy thing to do, especially with George (name change).

CF- classroom

Classroom

The 7^th grade Science classroom is a small room that has every table filled when all students are present. There is a storage room off to the back corner of the classroom. The storage room contains supplies for varies Science experiments. It also has a sink, microwave, refrigerator, ad a table. It has countertop space on 2 ½ sides of the room. It has cupboards and or drawers above and below the countertops. There are several sinks in the classroom. There are several things for the students to look at. There is a cupboard that has skulls, one that has formaldehyde animals in jars, and one that has sells and rocks. In several of the cupboards there are text books. One the countertops have a microscope that is set up for the students to look through. My cooperating teacher has set up a piece of bark for a couple of weeks and then changed it to a dead dragon fly. Most of the countertops are filled with other things that students can use or look at. My cooperating teacher has a section of countertop space set up with scrap paper student can use. On another section of counter space is return baskets. These baskets, students can find their work that is getting returned to them. One the walls there are posters and leaves. At the front of the room is a large island that has a sink. The teacher’s desk is right next to the island. This island will make it easier to model experiments show examples, but it also limits my movement in the classroom. The only computer and document camera is located on the teacher’s desk. This limits me to teaching from the front of the classroom if I have slides for the class or if I have to model note taking. This also doesn’t allow me to walk around the class while I teach to keep students on task.

For this class, classroom set up makes a difference. When I first started working with these students, the tables were in rows. Each table has a box of art supplies. Each box contains highlights, colored pencils, scissors, erasers, and ruler. It was hard to move around the room with the tables set up this way. Their behavior was normal for 7^th graders. They pretty much stayed on task and there were a few disruptions. When my cooperating teacher moved the tables into groups of 4-6 it was easier to move around the room but, there was an increase in behavioral issues. Students have been complaining about each other. Instead of working in groups, I have had more students ask to work individually. The desks are going back into rows next week. Hopefully this will solve some of the discipline issues in the class. By seeing the change in attitude, I now know that the desks are going to have to remain in rows while I teach this class to cut back on how much discipline I will have to do in the class. I prefer having the tables in groups versus rows normally; it makes it easier for group work.

 In the classroom I have access to a smart board, document camera, and clickers. The clickers will make it easy to give quick quizzes to find out where the students are at in their learning. These quizzes could be pre-tests or formative tests. The smart boards could allow me to make learning interactive with the students. The document camera will allow me to model note taking to the students.

For classroom discipline most of the time my cooperating teacher verbally tells the class to be quiet or holds up 2 fingers. The class usually responds to the fingers being held up. Once in a while a couple of students may not respond and she asks those students by name if we can continue. When those students are quiet, she continues teaching. My cooperating teacher has a rewards system in place. The class starts out with 3 points. Depending on how they behave they can earn more points of points get taken away. At the end of the class period she looks to see how many points the students have earned. She then randomly draws students’ names and if the students’ names were called and they can answer the question pertaining to the topic they are covering in class, then they earn a prize.

The class has participated in group work and class discussions. This class is also use to a variety of tests. When the students are part of a discussion they are required to stand up when they talk. Any time a student has a question they must raise their hand. When they are called on to ask their question they must stand up to ask the question. For all of their tests that they take, they may use their notebooks. 

I may have several challenges with this classroom set up. The first challenge is going to be having 32 students in my class. With such a large class, it increases the possibility for higher discipline issues. With the art boxes on the table during the whole period, students have the opportunity to draw instead of taking notes. I have witnessed on girl use the scissors to cut all of the loose strings on her sweatshirt. Other art supplies can also be used as a distraction. With such a small classroom, it will be hard to move around. This will make it difficult to get to every student and keep them on task. As a mentioned earlier, the set up in the front of the room limits were I can stand and move while teaching. Another challenge that I will have is making room for stations when it is time for students to do group work.

On the positive side, I have a storage room. I have a place to organize my materials before I put them out. Every student has a seat. I don’t have to worry about having students sit at the counter. I have technology to use. Using the technology that I have can make my life easier. For example, the clicker quizzes grade themselves. I do like the stand up to talk policy that the teacher has set in place. It makes the students speak up and hopefully I will be able to hear them better. They are not able to hide behind a book or their hands when they talk.

CF School

Claggett Creek Middle School has 914 students enrolled. They are considered a Title 1 school that has a met state standards and has a satisfactory report card. There are 52% of students that receive free lunches and 10% receive reduced lunches. They have a diverse students population, which includes 2% American Indian, 4% Asian/ Pacific Islander, 34% Hispanic, 1% Black, 47% White, and 12% unknown. There is a small population of 4% that is considered migrant. 14.3% of the student population is a part of the ELL program. Claggett Creek did have to expel 3 students in 2008-2009 school year due to weapons. Claggett Creek offer extra curricular activities that include football, cross country, volleyball, wrestling, and track and field. They also have activities that students can participate in. They have support groups, for example, if student is grieving over death of parent. These activities include band/orchestra, choir, Drama, B.A.S.E, and AVID. B.A.S.E. is a before school and after school enrichment program. Many students that are ELL, IEP, 504, and TAG are mixed into the main stream classes. Claggett Creek does have ELL classes and other classes for students that need the assistance. By knowing these number it allows me to prepare for having a diverse classroom. I will have to have many ways to teach my topics, since not every student learns the same way. With the different groups and supports that are put into place it shows me that this is a caring school.

Inside the school, most of the signs are in English and Spanish. There are 3 levels to the school. They have an elevator to move equipment and students are able to use it if they have a key (ex. students with handicap). In case of a fire, there are rooms that are labeled,Area of Rescue Assistance, which are located in some of the team rooms for students to go if they are unable to use the stairs. These students go into the team rooms and push a button and these rooms are searched first. The school has many cases that have different things in each case. For a couple of weeks one case had a Science display. This display had different models that included cells, molecules, airplanes, and cities. Each model had a book next to it that showed a picture of the model and a paper that had the similarities and differences of models to full scale. Another case had awards. The staff members are friendly and easy to talk to. On Fridays, many of the teachers will dress down on this day. They will wear jeans and Claggett Creek  t-shirts or polo shirts. When you have questions, all you need to do is ask a staff member. It doesn’t matter if the question is about a policy, student, or about how to better your curriculum the staff is their to help. The Vice Principal is really nice and approachable. In the offices the names are posted of the staff in the offices. Many of the staff eat lunch together in the staff room. There are many staff rooms throughout the school. They talk about the school, students and their own personal lives. Many of the students in the school are polite. I have noticed very few students have bad attitudes about school, class, or peers while in class. During passing time the halls are really busy. It is difficult to more around, especially if you are going against traffic. During passing time, the teachers stand in front of their doors watching the halls and greeting their students. Security is also in the halls making sure that students are on their way to class and not causing trouble. In some of the halls there are students work posted and posters for different events. Students create video announcements that the teachers may or may not turn on during scheduled part of a  class period. The school is really clean.

In the mornings, the school offices do not open until 7:30 am. Teacher contract hours are from 7:30-3:30. Many teachers show up before their contract begins and leaves after their contract ends. Some of the teachers are also coaches and others participate in before and after school activities. I know of at least 1 counselor that also participates in the B.A.S.E. program. This shows me that many teaches and staff are dedicated to their students. School starts at 7:55am and ends at 2:40pm. Students are not allowed in the main part of the building before 7:30, they have to remain in the commons area or outside. The commons area is also the only spot that students are suppose to eat lunch. The students and teaching staff either have first lunch or second lunch. The school is also broken down into 70 minute block periods. A days are periods 1-5 and B days are periods 6-10. Students are not allowed to have backpacks in the classrooms. They must keep all backpacks and jackets in lockers. Over all the school has a nice feel to it. It may be hard for 6th graders to get use to lockers and leaving most of their stuff in it. There are about 41 8th grade students that help with 6th graders. These 8th graders are in leadership roles. that they have to meet the basic standards to before being selected and they have to receive training. They spend 3 days with a student making sure they get to and from their classes, have someone to eat lunch with, and help with lockers.

CF community part 2

Claggett Creek Middle School is located in Keizer, Oregon. Keizer, Oregon is in Marion County and has a population of 36,220. The school is across the street from Weddle Elementary School. Keizer has 7 elementary, 2 middle, and 1 high school that is a part of Salem-Keizer School District. It has a wide range of ethnic groups, but is dominated by a high white population 85.5%. As of the 2000 census, Keizer also has .75% Black, 1.38% American Indian, .2% Pacific Islander, 1.49% Asian, 12.7% Hispanic and 7.22% other. The average age of a person living in Keizer is 34. 80.4% of the people have received their High School diploma and 24.4% have received a bachelor’s degree. Out  of the 36,220 people, 9.3% are below the poverty line. Over half of the population live in houses. The average price for a home in Keizer is $165, 028. Keizer has some anuual events within the community. Every year they have an annual tree lighting right after Thanksgiving. At Keizer Station, which is a shopping center, they hold the Iris festival. Keizer also participates in National Neighborhood Night Out, which is held on the second Tuesday in August every year. Keizer is the home of the Volcanoes baseball team. They also have a Heritage museum inside the Keizer Community Center. The building was an old school house that was built in 1916.

In the neighborhoods surrounding the school, most of the houses look like older homes. Most of them look like they are kept up. There are few that need a coat of paint and maybe a few boards need to be replaced. There is also a mixture of newer and older cars in the neighborhoods. I did see a few motor homes/trailers. One a the neighborhood that was visited had a row of newer homes. These homes were large, at least one of them had a 3 car garage. In this neighborhood, there was a couple of little boys playing on scooters on the sidewalk. Close to the school there are apartment complexes and town homes. Many of the neighborhoods had no sidewalks. Some of the houses had Halloween decorations up. There were a couple of small parks in the neighborhood and there were no kids at the park at about 10 am on a Friday. In less than a mile away from the school, there are cows in a field. About 1 mile away from the school are many fast food chains including Sonic, Burger King, and Muchas Gracias. The Kroc center is also close to the school. The Kroc center is a community center that was open after 2004, when Joan Kroc left money to the Salvation Army. That money was split up between 20 centers across the country. Local funding for the rest of the money needed to build the center made the center possible.

Claggett Creek Middle School is a part of the Salem-Keizer School District. The school district has 40,481 students that were enrolled in the 2009-2010 school year. There are 67 schools in the district, which include 45 elementary, 10 middle, 8 high, and 4 charter. More than half of the student population is considered to be living in poverty. The school district contains a diverse population of students which include, 1% African American, 1% American Indian, 2% Asian/Pacific Islander, 36% Hispanic, 4% multi-Ethnic, and 54% White. Salem-Keizer School District has programs for students with special needs. They have a TAG program, which includes 9% of the student population. 14% of students are a part of the Special Education program. There is also an ELL program, which has 18% of the student population. The top 3 languages other than English that are spoken in the schools are Spanish, Russian, and Marshallese. Salem-Keizer has 28 schools that are receiving title 1 funding.

By basing what I have seen and have looked up from other sources, the students that attend Claggett Creek Middle School come from all walks of life. I am going to have to adjust my teaching style accordingly. By looking through the neighborhoods, most of the families may middle class or lower economically. By reading about the Kroc center, this lead me to believe that many people in this area have a since of community and pride. This is something else that I have to look at when I start teaching. By looking at the percentages of different  cultures, I need to remember that not every student has experienced the same thing. This statement holds true to the students that come from different economic and social backgrounds as well. While teaching, I will need to remember that some things I will have to explain a bit more than others ( ex. not every student has experienced the ocean). It will also be important to have students share their experiences with everyone, this way we can all learn.

CF Equity

Claggett Creek Middle School is located in Keizer, Oregon. Keizer, Oregon is in Marion County and has a population of 36,220. Keizer has 7 elementary, 2 middle, and 1 high school that is a part of Salem-Keizer School District. It has a wide range of ethnic groups, but is dominated by a high white population 85.5%. As of the 2000 census, Keizer also has .75% Black, 1.38% American Indian, .2% Pacific Islander, 1.49% Asian, 12.7% Hispanic and 7.22% other. The average age of a person living in Keizer is 34. 80.4% of the people have received their High School diploma and 24.4% have received a bachelor’s degree. Out  of the 36,220 people, 9.3% are below the poverty line. Over half of the population live in houses. The average price for a home in Keizer is $165, 028. Keizer has some anuual events within the community. Every year they have an annual tree lighting right after Thanksgiving. At Keizer Station, which is a shopping center, they hold the Iris festival. Keizer also participates in National Neighborhood Night Out, which is held on the second Tuesday in August every year. Keizer is the home of the Volcanoes baseball team. They also have a Heritage museum inside the Keizer Community Center. The building was an old school house that was built in 1916.

Claggett Creek Middle School is a part of the Salem-Keizer School District. The school district has 40,481 students that were enrolled in the 2009-2010 school year. There are 67 schools in the district, which include 45 elementary, 10 middle, 8 high, and 4 charter. More than half of the student population is considered to be living in poverty. The school district contains a diverse population of students which include, 1% African American, 1% American Indian, 2% Asian/Pacific Islander, 36% Hispanic, 4% multi-Ethnic, and 54% White. Salem-Keizer School District has programs for students with special needs. They have a TAG program, which includes 9% of the student population. 14% of students are a part of the Special Education program. There is also an ELL program, which has 18% of the student population. The top 3 languages that are spoken in the schools are Spanish, Russian, and Marshallese. Salem-Keizer has 28 schools that are receiving title 1 funding.