Context
Contextual Factors: Description of schools and students
I was placed at Faye Wright Elementary School for my Clinical 3 field placement at Willamette University in Salem. Faye Wright Elementary is a small elementary school tucked into a quiet south Salem neighborhood. There is a real sense of community among the staff, students, and parents. Once a month, the elementary school throws a party for the teachers, students, and families to get together, become active in the school community, and provide a safe space for families to have fun. Additionally, the school traditionally hosts a Monday morning assembly at the beginning of each month. The student body gathers in the gymnasium under the supervision of the teachers and staff. The principal, Mrs. Stucky emcee's the event with gusto and enthusiasm The school participates in the Pledge of Allegiance, honors the previous month's students of the month, plays games and sings songs. Mrs. Stucky, is committed to social justice and awareness and has built a strong foundation of tolerance, celebration, and diversity at Faye Wright Elementary.
The Oregon State School Report Card appraised the academic achievement of the school, along with general statistics, for the 2011-12 school-year. Faye Wright Elementary School's report card can be found at www.ode.state.or.us. The percentage of students (Grade 3-5) meeting the State Reading Standards was 79%; while 68% of students were meeting the State Math Standards; and 87% of students (Grade 5) met the State Science Standards. The student body is comprised of 410 students of which 5.2% are ESOL students. The school has a 94.2% rate of attendance and a 99.4% rate of testing participation. There is 1 administrator, 17 teachers (who have an average of 15 years of experience, are 100% qualified to teach in the state of Oregon, and 72.7% have earned a master's degree), 9 educational assistants, and 5 additional staff. The elementary school has received an Outstanding Rating from the state. The school's demographics can be located at www.greatschools.org. The vast majority of the school is White at 83%, 9% are Hispanic, 4% are Asian/Pacific Islander, 2% are American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 1% is Black. The male to female ratio seems to be fairly balanced; I was unable to find statistics on gender. However, there is one kindergarten classroom that has 8 girls and 22 boys. I believe this is fairly a-typical. There are approximately 44% students participating in the free or reduced lunch program, according to the above-mentioned website.
The students at Faye Wright Elementary are generally well-mannered, respectful, happy, and healthy. The staff is warm and welcoming. Overall, it is a positive environment and one I feel lucky to be a part of. The school is so small that it hasn't taken long for me to feel right at home walking down the halls, greeting students, and making copies in the faculty copy room. The first day I visited Faye Wright, Mrs. Stucky took me on a tour of the school. I was impressed that a busy principal would take the time to guide a MAT candidate through the halls and classrooms. It was obvious how proud Mrs. Stucky is of her staff as she recommended additional classrooms for me to observe based on the skills of the talented teachers.
I was placed in Mrs. Meehan's second grade classroom. Immediately, I was impressed by the warmth of Mrs. Meehan's colorful and inviting room. I could tell right away that my Clinical 3 mentor teacher was supportive and passionate about teaching. I have folded nicely into the second grade PLC. We are constantly going to one another for advice, to celebrate victories, and brainstorm on how to improve lessons that went awry. Mrs. Meehan has taken me under her wing and been the epitome of a critical and nurturing mentor. She supports me at every turn and is constantly helping me improve my practice with guiding questions to spur my own self-reflection.
The students of Room 17 are bright, energetic, humorous, and incredibly kinetic. Of course each student has their own personality and are all unique unto themselves, but the class as a whole seems to take on its own personality - and this classroom is very likable. All of the students are very endearing to me, I will miss them when the school year ends. I hope to make them all thank you cards - for they have given me one of the biggest gifts of all, the gift of knowledge. They are all teaching me how to be a better teacher, everyday.
Although I was told Faye Wright is not a Title I school and that it is in an affluent neighborhood, the demographic of my placement tells a different story. Almost half of the students in Mrs. Meehan's second grade classroom do not live with their parents for various reasons including divorce, the lost of parental rights, loss, and incarceration. This greatly impacts my practice, because these students have a lot of distractions outside of school. They also rely on their teachers for moral support more so than the rest of the class. They typically have less support at home and it is more difficult for them to complete homework during the week. Because of the lack of support a handful of them are not performing at their IQ level. Some of these students are in intervention groups and need additional support than the average student. There aren't any ESOL students in Mrs. Meehan's classroom this year, but quite a few are living around the poverty line. Demographically the classroom is not very representative of the rest of the school. There aren't any Native American/Alaskan students, .04% of students are Black, .04% are Hispanic, .04% are Asian, and 87.5% are White. Generally, the class is slightly below grade level in writing, reading and math. There are 24 students in the classroom. Out of those 24, approximately 8 are at or above grade level. There are three students that are drastically below grade level in the above outlined areas, and the rest of the class is somewhere in the middle. None of the students have been placed on Independent Education Plan's (IEP's) yet, but Mrs. Meehan is working on getting three students who are below grade level in reading, writing, and math on track to receive an IEP by the beginning of next year. I believe the majority of students that are behind are capable of catching up. They need scaffolding, one-on-one work, and confidence building. It is my intention to help reach these students in whatever way I can while deploying an interdisciplinary curriculum. Also, I hope to aid Mrs. Meehan in the process of helping get some of these students on IEP's. I believe it is important to constantly be assessing the learning of my students - it is a direct reflection of my teaching. I need to know if what I'm doing is working or not, and typically what types of assessments are compatible with the students.
Through my classroom observations, one-on-one work, implementation of lessons, and a review of student records/past grades, I have learned that these students need the most help in writing and math. The school conducts a reading intervention program to support students' reading development. However, there isn't a similar program for writing or math. Also, I would like to expose the students to more science and art since they don't seem to be getting much exposure to either of these subjects now. At this point, there are only three students I would consider to be strong writers. I have begun conducting writing workshops with the second graders to help bolster their writing skills and inspiration. We are working on creating a classroom newspaper. I hope to use this as a tool to implement writing workshops, integrating science into the curriculum, and provide students more opportunities to do art and be creative. Many of the male students play hours of video games every day after school; these same students have difficulty paying attention during school hours. My mentor teacher is having a SmartBoard installed in her classroom. I'm hoping to use the Smart Board for the classroom newspaper and math block to capture these particular students attention and get them engaged in the learning process once again.
The Oregon State School Report Card appraised the academic achievement of the school, along with general statistics, for the 2011-12 school-year. Faye Wright Elementary School's report card can be found at www.ode.state.or.us. The percentage of students (Grade 3-5) meeting the State Reading Standards was 79%; while 68% of students were meeting the State Math Standards; and 87% of students (Grade 5) met the State Science Standards. The student body is comprised of 410 students of which 5.2% are ESOL students. The school has a 94.2% rate of attendance and a 99.4% rate of testing participation. There is 1 administrator, 17 teachers (who have an average of 15 years of experience, are 100% qualified to teach in the state of Oregon, and 72.7% have earned a master's degree), 9 educational assistants, and 5 additional staff. The elementary school has received an Outstanding Rating from the state. The school's demographics can be located at www.greatschools.org. The vast majority of the school is White at 83%, 9% are Hispanic, 4% are Asian/Pacific Islander, 2% are American Indian/Alaskan Native, and 1% is Black. The male to female ratio seems to be fairly balanced; I was unable to find statistics on gender. However, there is one kindergarten classroom that has 8 girls and 22 boys. I believe this is fairly a-typical. There are approximately 44% students participating in the free or reduced lunch program, according to the above-mentioned website.
The students at Faye Wright Elementary are generally well-mannered, respectful, happy, and healthy. The staff is warm and welcoming. Overall, it is a positive environment and one I feel lucky to be a part of. The school is so small that it hasn't taken long for me to feel right at home walking down the halls, greeting students, and making copies in the faculty copy room. The first day I visited Faye Wright, Mrs. Stucky took me on a tour of the school. I was impressed that a busy principal would take the time to guide a MAT candidate through the halls and classrooms. It was obvious how proud Mrs. Stucky is of her staff as she recommended additional classrooms for me to observe based on the skills of the talented teachers.
I was placed in Mrs. Meehan's second grade classroom. Immediately, I was impressed by the warmth of Mrs. Meehan's colorful and inviting room. I could tell right away that my Clinical 3 mentor teacher was supportive and passionate about teaching. I have folded nicely into the second grade PLC. We are constantly going to one another for advice, to celebrate victories, and brainstorm on how to improve lessons that went awry. Mrs. Meehan has taken me under her wing and been the epitome of a critical and nurturing mentor. She supports me at every turn and is constantly helping me improve my practice with guiding questions to spur my own self-reflection.
The students of Room 17 are bright, energetic, humorous, and incredibly kinetic. Of course each student has their own personality and are all unique unto themselves, but the class as a whole seems to take on its own personality - and this classroom is very likable. All of the students are very endearing to me, I will miss them when the school year ends. I hope to make them all thank you cards - for they have given me one of the biggest gifts of all, the gift of knowledge. They are all teaching me how to be a better teacher, everyday.
Although I was told Faye Wright is not a Title I school and that it is in an affluent neighborhood, the demographic of my placement tells a different story. Almost half of the students in Mrs. Meehan's second grade classroom do not live with their parents for various reasons including divorce, the lost of parental rights, loss, and incarceration. This greatly impacts my practice, because these students have a lot of distractions outside of school. They also rely on their teachers for moral support more so than the rest of the class. They typically have less support at home and it is more difficult for them to complete homework during the week. Because of the lack of support a handful of them are not performing at their IQ level. Some of these students are in intervention groups and need additional support than the average student. There aren't any ESOL students in Mrs. Meehan's classroom this year, but quite a few are living around the poverty line. Demographically the classroom is not very representative of the rest of the school. There aren't any Native American/Alaskan students, .04% of students are Black, .04% are Hispanic, .04% are Asian, and 87.5% are White. Generally, the class is slightly below grade level in writing, reading and math. There are 24 students in the classroom. Out of those 24, approximately 8 are at or above grade level. There are three students that are drastically below grade level in the above outlined areas, and the rest of the class is somewhere in the middle. None of the students have been placed on Independent Education Plan's (IEP's) yet, but Mrs. Meehan is working on getting three students who are below grade level in reading, writing, and math on track to receive an IEP by the beginning of next year. I believe the majority of students that are behind are capable of catching up. They need scaffolding, one-on-one work, and confidence building. It is my intention to help reach these students in whatever way I can while deploying an interdisciplinary curriculum. Also, I hope to aid Mrs. Meehan in the process of helping get some of these students on IEP's. I believe it is important to constantly be assessing the learning of my students - it is a direct reflection of my teaching. I need to know if what I'm doing is working or not, and typically what types of assessments are compatible with the students.
Through my classroom observations, one-on-one work, implementation of lessons, and a review of student records/past grades, I have learned that these students need the most help in writing and math. The school conducts a reading intervention program to support students' reading development. However, there isn't a similar program for writing or math. Also, I would like to expose the students to more science and art since they don't seem to be getting much exposure to either of these subjects now. At this point, there are only three students I would consider to be strong writers. I have begun conducting writing workshops with the second graders to help bolster their writing skills and inspiration. We are working on creating a classroom newspaper. I hope to use this as a tool to implement writing workshops, integrating science into the curriculum, and provide students more opportunities to do art and be creative. Many of the male students play hours of video games every day after school; these same students have difficulty paying attention during school hours. My mentor teacher is having a SmartBoard installed in her classroom. I'm hoping to use the Smart Board for the classroom newspaper and math block to capture these particular students attention and get them engaged in the learning process once again.