McKay High School

    McKay High School is a two story school with portables as well. They have a large library, a few computer labs, two gyms, and their halls are a nice size. This past summer, McKay had a remodel where all the old carpeting was replaced with tiled floors. This made it hard for teachers to prep before the year began, but they were able to come to classes with brand new floors. The students seemed to appreciate the newness of the school. According to the National Center for Education, in the 2009-10 school year, there were 1807 students enrolled at McKay. The cultural numbers are as follows: 23 American Indian/Alaskan, 154 for Asian/Pacific Islander, 38 Black, 1,027 Hispanic, and 565 White with 1807 students. They do the announcements in English as well as Spanish. Now, there are about 1793 students enrolled at McKay. Since the enrollment is higher than 1,521 students, McKay is a classified 6A high school, according to the Oregon School of Activities Association. The break down of student within each grad are as follows: 476 in 9th grade, 455 in 10th grade, 412 in 11th, and 364 in 12th grade. Because there is a high percentage of students on Free or reduced lunches, they have free lunch for all students. They also have a breakfast and afternoon meal. The Lancaster area in Salem, which surrounds McKay, has one of the higher poverty rates in Salem.
    The staff at McKay has all been helpful to me. The security is very friendly and available for help on a moments notice. 79.1% of the staff at McKay have master’s degrees or higher and 100% of teachers met the federal standards of highly qualified teacher status; this is a big difference compared to Oregon’s average of teachers who have master’s degrees—54.3%. The average salary is very close to the states average of 48,193. They have done a lot of rearrangement of staff in the last couple of year because of the economy, but more so because McKay has been having troubles making the AYP marks. There are also more frequent teacher observations and PLC meetings, department meetings, and professional growth opportunities. The English department meets twice a week before school. The average experience among teachers is 9.8 years and the state average is 13 years. Meeting so often with the entire English department and the 9th grade team, has been great for my practicum experience. It has given me the chance to learn from multiple teachers and to receive feedback on my instructional ideas. It helps to debrief with all the other teachers who are teaching the same lessons as I, and discussing how we each implemented it differently. I have also been able to attend professional development meetings the teachers are required to attend. I have learned how important it is to collaborate with other teachers.
    Although McKay has failed to meet AYP for some years, they have had large improvements in their state standardized testing. This includes an 87% increase in English language proficiency students who hit the reading benchmark, 40% increase in number of students who hit the reading benchmark, a 27% increase in students who hit the math benchmark. Here are the comparisons from 2009 to 2011: math scores from 2010-11 63.3% to 2009-10 47.7% in 2009-10, reading scores in 2010-11 from 72.3% to 49.9% in 2009-10. They have also had a 1% increase in attendance. McKay has been offering free tutoring before school, after school, and on Saturdays, which has been used by many students. Another factor in these increases is the types of classes they offer. They have began a reading workshop and writing workshop for those students who may need a little more clarity or who haven’t passed their reading test yet. They have also cut some elective English class times to fit in more test prep. I’m not sure I am a big fan of taking away the more interesting English classes, but if it’s working, it’s working. My concern with taking away English elective is that it may take away the fun and enjoyment students develop with language arts. If they are being taught to the test instead of choosing which themed English class to be in, students may resent language arts instead of  finding enjoyment with it. This aspect could impact my classroom directly.

My Classroom

    My class is fifth period freshman English. The unit I am teaching is non-fiction and expository writing. I began with thirty-two students but one ESOL student and one TAG student were placed more appropriately. The majority of my class is Hispanic, but over one third is a mix of white, Asian/Pacific Islander, Indian, and African American. This unit supports my class’s diversity with memoirs of perseverance through racism, poverty, and immigration. We’ve had good discussions and they were able to connect to the pieces. I have a range of students who are outgoing and shy. One student was on school suspension for my first few days and has skipped multiple classes. Another student has also skipped every other class. For them, I always make sure they have the materials they need and let them know we can arrange a time to meet up for extra help—neither of them have taken me up on this. I also have a few students who are apathetic to the class. They have done zero to maybe two assignments all year. It’s difficult to have a high number of students who are not physically or mentally present in class. I want to take the time to get each one involved in class, but I have to first think of the entire class and make sure the apathetic students are not taking away the learning from the class as a whole.