Contextual Factors

Community:

The small city of Dwelling, Omega is situated in Powell county, and is located about 15 miles west  from Sandal, Omega, and about 9 miles northwest from of Momesh, Omega. In 2000, the US census bureau estimated that 12, 549 residents live in Dwelling, which has a small, sleepy town feel to it as it is at least a 20 minute drive to any major cities. Of this population, 91.3% are White (non-Hispanic), 4% are Latino, 2.2% are of people of mixed race, and the remaining 2.5% are people of other races. In 2008, the projected median household income for Dwelling residents was $45,438. Of the 4,672 households in Dwelling, there are 3,326 families with children residing in the city, with 35.8% of these families living with children under the age of 18. About 7.8% of families and 9.8% of the population are living in poverty. These statistics lead me to believe that families make up a significant portion of the population, and a majority of residents are making an adequate amount of money to support their families. As a teacher, I also need to be aware of the students who come from poverty-stricken homes and take care to formulate my lessons to accommodate their situations. I believe that I can expect about 1 in every 10 students to be in poverty.

When observing the homes around Dwelling, most appear to live in middle-class to lower-middle class households. A majority of the homes are modest, one-story houses with small yards. Some statistics about the educational level of individuals Dwelling include:

For population 25 years and over in Dwelling

• High school or higher: 82.7%
• Bachelor's degree or higher: 15.8%
• Graduate or professional degree: 4.8%
• Unemployed: 7.2%

The underwhelming amount of people who decide to pursue higher education leads me to believe that community members of the Dwelling may not be as concerned with their children going to college. This could have an affect on the motivation of some students in school if they are focused on graduating high school, just so they can get started on a job when they are finished. I will make it a priority to influence the kids I work with to think about options other than simply getting a job, so that they can see the possibilities they are capable of pursuing after graduating high school, beyond a minimum wage job.

Dwelling is the location of the Powell county courthouse and jail, where many individuals who live in or near Dwelling are employed. Outside the city, and on the outskirts of Dwelling, lie numerous acres of farmland, and I assume that agriculture is important to some families. Because of the close-knit community in Dwelling, without many businesses, I expect that some family members are commuters to larger cities, or work for the small businesses in Dwelling. In regards to higher education, Dwelling does have a community college location on the Dwelling High School grounds. These statistics remind me that some students might be more motivated to settle into a lifestyle similar to their parents. For instance, if a student lives with a family who values agriculture and run an organic farm, they might be pressured by their family members to help run the farm once she/he is finished with school. As an educator, I can help students realize their potential, and understand that they should be pursuing what interests them, not what their family has expected them to do. If students are worried about the cost of college, I can remind them of the cost-effective track of the nearby community college, as a segway to a university.

Nearby Lemon Middle School is the popular Dwelling Aquatic Center and the Dwelling Skate park, where many middle school students are known to spend their time. The environment surrounding Lemon is quiet when students are not walking to and from school, as much of the surrounding area is occupied by middle-class residential housing. The feeling elicited from time spent in Dwelling is a strong sense of community, as many local businesses are still running despite the emergence of a Wal-Mart nearly a decade ago. This statistic, combined with the significant amount of families living with children under 18, leads me to believe that a large amount of family involvement will be present at Lemon.

From the data that I have gathered about the Dwelling community, I know that the majority of Lemon middle school students will be white children, as white, non-Hispanic, residents of Dwelling are the predominant population. Although Hispanic people makes up about 4% of the Dwelling population, I realize that the number of students who are English Language Learner (ELL) in my classroom will probably be minimal. This will inform my situation as a teacher, as I know at this time that many ELLs are in mainstream classes and attend only one 30-minute English Language Development class a day. It will be a priority of mine to be sure that the ELLs in my classroom are in a safe learning environment where they feel comfortable and eager to learn. I notice during the student interactions, that the students who are ELL are not as connected to the majority of the students in the class. Specifically, the students who are ELL spend time in small groups together, and do not often interact with the larger white population. This will be important to consider as I am teaching, because I will need to make sure that I am giving these students a chance to work with classmates who they are not used to working with. Allowing students a chance to work with others from diverse backgrounds gives them the opportunity to  form different perspectives and reevaluate their own ideas, thoughts, and opinions.

It is interesting to note that 28 churches exist in Dwelling, which equals to about one church per 450 people. Upon spending time at Lemon, and after thinking about the number of churches in Dwelling per capita, I am led to that religion is of high importance to community members in Dwelling. In fact, there are bible studies offered 3 times (1 day allotted per grade level) a week for a class period at a time while school is in session (this is at all the elementary schools, the middle school, and the high school). This helps me understand the student population and will require me to be particularly sensitive when dealing with religious topics. I will need to be sure that I am understanding to students who need to miss class because of religious reasons, and that I affirm their religious values, or lack there-of. Due to the lack of time in my practicum study, there will not be many chances to cover religious topics in class. However, being aware that religion is important to many of the students I work with is essential to my understanding of the school culture, and the relationships I will form with my students.

School:

Lemon Middle School was originally built to hold about 600 children at maximum capacity, but currently has a population of 755 students. This leaves the 40 classrooms at Lemon particularly cramped, especially in the 7th and 8th grade classes as the number of students in those grades constitute two thirds of the school population (265 in 7th grade, and 259 in 8th grade). There are only about 40 teachers at Lemon Middle School, which also contributes to the cramped classrooms. During assemblies, at least 200 students have to sit on the floor due to the lack of available bleacher space. As a result, the hallways are quite crowded and chaotic between classes and the noise is almost deafening. This may also contribute to a high amount of stress among students if the hallways are consistently crowded and noisy, especially for students who do not appreciate a lot of noise. I understand that there is a school-wide rule that the 6th grade students are supposed to stay out of the 7th and 8th grade hallways; this is directly related to the smaller students, who are new to the school feeling intimidated by the loud noises and larger students. Students at Lemon may feel that the growing population of the school makes it easy for them to blend in, so I will be making a point of recognizing each student as an important member of the class by valuing each student's opinions and views in class.

       Of the students at Lemon, a majority (660) are of White ethnicity. There are 72 students who are Hispanic or Native American. 14 who are Asian, and 2 who are Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. This obvious majority split, between White students and students of other ethnicities, definitely has an impact on the school environment. I notice that most of the books for students to read in the classrooms (and the advertisements of books to read on the walls of the school) are geared towards the Anglo population. Specifically, the books are mostly written by Anglo authors and only in English. This factor alone may cause minority students to feel apathetic towards classes (in particular Reading and Language Arts), as they may feel that their culture is not being represented in the curriculum. I must make it a priority to represent the minority students, as well as the dominant ethnicity, while I am teaching at Lemon.

       As there is only one Hispanic interpreter at Lemon, school newsletters, sports schedules, and announcements going home to parents are rarely (if ever) translated for other languages. I feel that this could play a significant role in the level of comfort that minority students feel at Lemon. In addition, there is just one English Language Development class at Lemon, so any students who are English Language Learners (i.e., ELL) are immersed into mainstream classes. The interpreter at Lemon attempts to assist students who are ELL during class, but she is only available for one class period at a time. This may leave students who are ELL feeling very overwhelmed during class if they do not completely understand the material and there is no assistance for them. I will need to make sure that I have multiple levels of succinct instruction (e.g., oral and written directions with visuals where appropriate) to accommodate the students who made be struggling due to a language barrier. With regards to special education classes at Lemon, only a small population of students are integrated into the mainstream classrooms, and are on IEPs. There is one special education classroom, with two primary special education instructors and several assistants, but most special education classes are content/special education class mergers.

      Lemon Middle School has been involved with a Professional Learning Community (PLC) for several years now, so the feel of the school is a very close-knit environment between grade-specific teachers. Groups of teachers, dependent on subject area, meet several once week to discuss what they will be teaching, and to discuss progress. While the PLC is a school-wide focus, the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade subject teachers do not meet together. The school itself is split up into three different “houses,” separated by grade, where students usually spend their time. From what I have observed, and have been told by other teachers, the 6th grade house never mixes with the other grades, and the 6th grade teachers barely interact with the 7th or 8th grade teachers. This leaves a very segregated feeling between the grades, as the 6th grade house appears to be in a comfort bubble completely separate from the rest of the school. This leads me to believe that the 6th grade students might feel intimidated or nervous to move up in grades or mix with any of the upper-level students, as they are so used to staying primarily in their house and commons area.

      The overarching theme within the school focuses on the presence of the Positive Behavior Support Intervention (PBSI), which is practiced throughout the entire school and enforced (whether this be through the teachers or over the announcements on the intercom) on a daily basis. This program recognizes students who have good behavior (e.g., helping other students/being prepared for class) by giving them “Paw prints,” which they can redeem at the student store and purchase candy, toys, etc. There are display boxes all over the school hosting the toys and candy that students can buy with their paw prints, and there is even a “no tardy party” at the end of every six weeks. Students who have no more than three tardies are allowed to play games, watch movies, dance, do arts and crafts, and many other activities throughout the entire school. The students who have more than three tardies, however, must stay in classrooms and complete their schoolwork while the rest of the students enjoy the party. On the other end of the PBSI system, if a student is disobeying the widespread school rule (posted in every classroom and all over the school) of “be ready, be responsible, and be respectful,” then that student is given a verbal warning. If the same student offends again, the student is taken out of the classroom and sent to a “buddy room” (i.e., another teacher's classroom) where they are required to fill out a questionnaire explaining what they did and why it was wrong. As this is practiced by the entire school, I get the impression that the teachers are very serious about enforcing this system of behavior modification. This seems to have both negative and positive effects on students, as some seem to respond very well to the consistent reminders (e.g., if a student is out of her chair when she isn't supposed to be, the teacher will say “level 1” as a warning), while other students appear to be unfazed. The PBSI system is something that will impact my teaching, as it it something that I am expected to implement while I am a guest teacher at Lemon Middle School. This systems does not connect with my theoretical beliefs about teaching and education, but as many of the teachers appear to be very pleased with the system, it will be important that I respect their enthusiasm about the PBSI.

During three days a week (i.e., Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday), students are allowed to go to a bible study (called “Bible”) just off the school grounds, so that it does not interfere with the separation of church and state laws. However, in my opinion, this is just on the borderline of being illegal and does not exactly fall under a separation of church and state. Students who wish to participate in Bible are allowed to skip one period of class on the day that their group is assigned to go. This has a notable impact on the students who attend Bible, because they are still expected to finish work when they get back to class. Often times, students fall behind due to missing a class period because of Bible, so I will need to be prepared to catch students up with what they have missed in class that day. Bible is not only at Lemon Middle School, but also at the elementary schools and the high school. This, along with the overwhelming amount of churches per capita in Dwelling, is another reminder of how much the community values religion, and the importance of my sensitivity to this while I am teaching.

Classroom:

The classroom at Lemon, where I will be teaching, has a collapsible wall which separates it from another classroom next door. This wall is at the back of the class room and is thick, but students can push on it to make it move. As a result, students sometimes will lean against or play with the wall, and I will have to be aware of this as the other classroom may be distracted by its movement. Also, sound carries much easier from the other classroom through this wall, so it will be important to keep my students engaged with the lesson through quick transitions, so that they do not get distracted by other noises.

   There are 30 desks total in the classroom, with the teacher's desk being at the front of the classroom. Also at the front of the classroom is an unused blackboard and a document camera, which is used nearly everyday by my supervising teacher. These desks are in 3 paired rows (with 10 students being in each row when the class is full), which makes it easy for me to move from student to student. This also allows for plenty of “think-pair-share” activities without students needing to move around, and without moving the desks. Also at the front of the classroom are two student computers with Internet access, although one is broken at the moment. The students do not use these computers unless they are taking a reading test, so I will not need to worry about student using them during my lessons—my supervising teacher has specifically told me that she does not want them to do research via the Internet, so there will be no need to use them. Because of the way the classroom is structured, I need to lecture at the front of the class. As I am planning on doing a lot of collaborative work, the desks are set up in a way where I can easily move in between each pair of students and make my way around the classroom.

   As my supervising teacher has told me that she doesn't like “clutter” on the walls, often times there is little to no student work being displayed. The walls are painted a darker blue color, offsetting the white collapsible walls and pink cupboards (where books, materials, and a sink lie). The classroom has an overly tidy feeling to it, and the lack of signs/posters/etc. on the wall almost makes it feel like a sterile environment. The most amount of decor that can be seen is on the teacher's desk, where there is an ornate purple lamp. I have noticed that many of the kids play with (and take notice of) several small, green and red wooden robots all over the classroom. These robots were placed in my supervising teacher's classroom as a joke, and they stand today as the only quirky aspect of the room. This indicates a possible negative impact on students' attitude, as the wall space could be utilized as reminders of what they are working on. The lack of stimulation in the room might be actually disengaging some students. As a result, I plan to use as many visual representations as possible during my lessons, so that all types of learners can be influenced to get involved with the lesson.

   The overall feel of the classroom environment is very structured, with my supervising teacher transitioning from topic to topic without much wait time. Also, her “withitness” is very strong, as any time a student turns around or begins to talk, she addresses it immediately, in front of the rest of the class. Students stay in their seats until she tells them to move. Overall, the students appear to be afraid of getting in trouble, so they mainly listen to my supervising teacher when she is giving directions or taking disciplinary action. This lets me know that the students are already used to a very structured environment, so if I become too easy on them, I may have a difficult time with classroom management. I will need to make sure that I address any students who are getting off-task immediately, but I hope to do it in more of a non-verbal way, so that the students are not embarrassed in front of all of their peers (e.g., if a student is talking too much, I would walk over to their desk and make eye contact while continuing to lecture). Also, I will need to clearly give directions, and make quick transitions between activities if we are not doing something that requires them to discuss what we are doing with another student. This will help to keep the students on track if I'm not allowing time for them to turn to their neighbor and talk in an off-task manner.