The Community

According to a report published by Portland State University (2008), the population of Salem is 154,510 people.  According to the US Census Dept. (2000), its demographic makeup consists of roughly 83% White, 1.3% African American, 1.5% Native American, 2.4% Asian, 0.5% Pacific Islander, 8% from other races, and 3.4% multiracial.  Hispanic persons of any race make-up 14.59% of the population.

Salem is an interesting place in light of economic diversity.  The median income for a household in Salem as of the 2000 census was just over 46,000 dollars.  However, the per capita income was just under 20,000.  There could be many interpretations for this disparity, but being myself a resident of Salem and seeing what I have, I’m inclined to think that this disparity is due to there being a large number of people who are out of work while many others are still making a substantial amount of money.

If you were to take a jaunt around South Salem HS in the morning, you’d be inclined to think that it rests in a middle income or upper-middle income neighborhood.  The cars that drop off the students are late model 4 door sedans or station wagons with the occasional SUV added in the mix.  However, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (2008), 800 of its 1800 students are eligible for free lunch and another 200 or so are eligible for reduced price lunch.   This fact will influence my teaching.  For example, if I were teaching Japanese and I wanted to explain some language element regarding the ocean, I couldn’t use the Oregon beach as an example and assume every student had been there; even though it’s less than an hour away by car.  

In my opinion, South Salem is a very agreeable place.  It’s clean.  The houses surrounding the school are newer and in good repair.  The streets are free of litter.  The walls of businesses in the area are relatively free of graffiti.  I’ve never felt threatened at any time in the neighborhood around the school.  It seems to me like the kind of place which fosters stories that end with “happily ever after.”  That being said, I know that just about half my students do not enjoy that privilege.  That will also influence my teaching.  I will keep in mind that those students may be feeling marginalized by their peers and society.  They may resent the fact that they are being made invisible to the curriculum while at the same time being forced to have excess paraded in front of them daily.  When teaching I will try to include books or other materials that focus on the struggles of the socioeconomically marginalized both to expose children of privilege to the plight of the downtrodden and to help those who were fated to be born into poorer families to have something in the curriculum they can relate to and take hold of.  

The School

According to the National Center for Education Statistics website (2008), SSHS has a student population consisting of 1877 students.  Of those students, about 64% are White, 1% are Black, 22% are Hispanic, 3.3% are Asian/Pacific Islander, and 1.1% are Native American/Alaskan.  The school takes students from 9th to 12th grade, but has 2 TAG students who come in to take high school level classes, but who are currently in middle school.  SSHS has 494 9th grade students, 467 10th grade students, 476 11th grade students, and 438 12th grade students.  SSHS has 88 classroom teachers and a student/teacher ratio of 21.2/1.  As is reflected in the statistics above, there is a relatively large amount of Hispanic students at South.  Indeed, there are quite a few students of Hispanic descent in the Japanese classes that I've observed.  When teaching, I'll need to keep those factors in mind and plan lessons to attempt to occasionally show connections between Hispanic cultures and Japan.  Luckily, Japan has had a long history with Portugal, Brazil, and other South American cultures.

Simply put, SSHS is huge.  The building is 2 stories, but covers a large area.  The building that houses SSHS also houses a charter middle school, which only exacerbates the feeling of this school being truly massive.  I feel that I could teach at SSHS for a whole year and I still wouldn’t get to know half the people or students that go there.  The fact that the school is so big and spread out contributes, I believe, to the departments being very compartmentalized and discrete.  I’ve been to SSHS a number of times and I’ve yet to meet anyone outside of the foreign language department save the school principal, business manager, custodian, and 9th grade counselor and those I only met because I went out of my way to introduce myself to them.  However, I’ve found the teachers at SSHS, especially the foreign language/ESL teachers, to be exceedingly friendly.  The large size of South and its discrete departments would make it difficult to collaborate or plan for assignments that span subjects.  Simply walking from one end of the school to another would take a considerable amount of time and make any such collaborations even more difficult.  Besides students possibly having trouble making it to class on time, I imagine that other issues the size of the school may cause is a feeling of alienation in the students, especially those who are "invisible" to the curriculum.  I will attempt to compensate for this by trying to make each of my students feel that they are valueable additions to my classroom and try to connect with each one daily.

The building which houses SSHS is a relatively newer building.  It shows some signs of age, but not overly so.  However, the football field behind the school looks very new and very expensive.  Moreover, it’s big.  It’s not just an AstroTurf football field, but it also has an extensive complex of risers surrounding it.  It also has a 7 foot fence running around the entire perimeter.  The football field, but especially the fence, look to me to be the newest part of the school.  However, while a football field is nice and is certainly a necessity for a school’s athletics program, I wonder if that was at the cost of air conditioning units, for the classroom I’ll be teaching my practicum in (and many more from what I gather) are free of such luxuries, while heating is still done with boilers from having observed radiators in the classroom.  That being said, except for the odd hot day in early or late summer, I highly doubt such considerations will influence my teaching in any measureable manner.

The support personnel at SSHS are all in their forties or older.  This is a good thing as it causes one to think that one is entering a school with a set, well-developed school culture and a distinguished history.  It also makes one feel at ease in that one can rest assured that the school is in experienced hands.  In particular the principal appears to be so as he walks around the school at a brisk pace with a mic in his palm and an ear bud in his ear.  He has a gait that transmits the belief of his having many long years experience in his profession.  The school’s business manager is a woman in her mid to late forties.  She has a brisk way about her which makes you feel she’s had enough experience at her job such that to her everything is “old hat.”  The custodian is also a man in his mid forties.  He is a musician in his off-time, having a major in music from WOU.  We talked one day about his plans to enroll in a MAT program in the near future.  The 9th grade counselor was possibly the youngest of the lot.  He’s in his late thirties or early forties, but while he may be the youngest of the four, he also exudes a sense of confidence which makes you think he has no doubts of his ability to do his job.  These people have all shown me the kind of teacher that I want to grow to be.  I too want to be a capable teacher who has command of his classroom and gives off a feeling of accessible confidence to all students.  Additionally, in the foreign language department, there are no less than 2 ESL teachers, who also teach other subjects, and an ASL teacher who is also available for interpretation for students with hearing disabilities.

All in all, I feel a little overwhelmed while at SSHS, not for any other reason than that the school is so indescribably enormous and everyone there seems to go about like it’s no problem whatsoever.  But were I to teach there for a certain amount of time, I’m sure that I would learn excellent teaching methods from some fantastic educators and I too might come to adopt an assured demeanor.

While SSHS still has a large White majority, it is comparatively speaking a school of considerably diverse makeup.  The socioeconomic and ethnic diversity of SSHS are of the utmost importance in my teaching.  As mentioned above, I’ll need to keep the economic status of my students in mind when teaching, but I’ll also come to need to use my training in providing a Multicultural Education in order to help minority students to connect to the curriculum.  Working at SSHS will be a superb opportunity in that regard.  Not only will I will be able to expand the horizons of the White students in helping them come to see the troubles of their peers and in doing so aiding them in improving their communication skills, but I can also take the opportunity to educate for social justice the comparatively large amount of ethnic students who will be in my classroom.

The Classroom

The classroom in which I will be doing my practicum teaching is a quintessential Japanese language classroom in America.  It is one of which I am most interested in recreating should I ever be employed as a Japanese language teacher.  It is both welcoming and perfect for showcasing the rich and diverse culture found in Japan.  It is an environment focused, and in my opinion most successful, at lowering the affective filter which through self-doubt and embarrassment causes students to not get all they can out of each language lesson.

As one enters the classroom, on the door jam overhead, one sees a noren, a Japanese curtain used historically to show that a business is open.  It has a very Japanese feel to it and is most authentic as the vast majority of businesses in Japan still use them today.  On the right side of the classroom as one enters, the teacher has pictures, posters, and other items of interest posted on the wall.  The items posted change depending on the season.  I was lucky enough to have seen the change from the Summer items to the Autumn items.  Having 6 years of experience in Japan I can say that the items the teacher has chosen to post in both cases are more than seasonally appropriate and rather inspired.  I hope that I will be able to pull off the same effect with half as much success as she.  

On the far wall, one will see the overhead screen and behind, a chalkboard.  Posted on the left side of the chalkboard are large lists of hiragana and katakana, two of the 3 alphabets used in the Japanese language.  These lists are both staples in any Japanese language classroom.  The left side of the room has a whole row of windows that face the southwest.  The room gets some direct sunlight during the evening and having no air conditioner the room can get a little hot.  Remembering this, I will have to do more movement based activities as the day goes on, for students will be more prone to sleeping having just had lunch if they were to also be subject to direct sunlight.  Behind you as you enter the classroom is a long bookshelf containing a considerable amount of textbooks, Japanese-English dictionaries, workbooks and other items.  Beyond that is the teacher’s desk.  On the teacher’s desk is a computer that has speakers which the teacher uses to play soft Japanese music throughout the lesson.  I feel that she does this to help the students focus, maintain a Japanese atmosphere, and manage the affective filter.  In the center of the classroom are a series of tables.  The teacher has removed her desks and replaced them with tables simply because she prefers tables.  The tables are arranged in a “U” shape with each end currently facing the chalkboard and overhead/projector screen.  During the summer months, the “U’s” ends were facing the wall with the seasonal postings.  If this were my classroom, I would have desks in rows and columns as per Harry Wong’s rules and procedures, but since I will only be there for two weeks, I will just work with the tables so that I don’t disrupt the students’ year overly.  One downside of this arrangement is that students sitting on the inside of the “U” will have their back facing me during lectures and may communicate via gestures with students seated across from them unbeknownst to me.  I intend to respond to this situation by having students seated at those chairs turn their chairs around so they are facing me any time I’m going to be talking for more than a moment and during direct instruction.

The feel of this classroom is really relaxed and at home.  I feel my mentor teacher at the school is most expert at crafting such a comfortable environment and I’m working to learn all from her in this regard as I can.  Indeed, I feel that the students are lucky not only to be able to take Japanese language lessons at all (given the general rarity of such opportunities), but also because they get to start their study of such a difficult language to master with such a kind and experienced teacher and in such a comfortable environment.  I will remember to try to maintain that feel while I teach so that I may better understand how to craft a similar environment in my own classroom.

The Students

There are 28 students in the class of my practicum teaching.  15 are boys and 13 are girls.  16 of the students are of Caucasian descent, 8 are of Hispanic descent, 2 are of Asian descent, 1 is of Ukrainian descent, and 1 has heritage traced back to the Asian subcontinent.  

Only one of the students in the class, a young man of Hispanic persuasion, is an ELL student.  In order to accommodate this ELL student, the teacher is giving the student preferential seating toward the front of the room.  Additionally, the teacher does her utmost to ensure that language used on tests and in the class does not exceed the student’s ability.  The teacher is not at this time doing any assignment modifications for this ELL student.  

One student is on a 504.  The teacher was not able to describe the nature of the problem, as she did not have the student’s paperwork at the time, but the student suffers from some condition where they fall asleep suddenly, though the teacher did not go so far as to say “narcolepsy”.  According to the teacher, the only accommodations being made for this student are preferential seating toward the front of the class, where she can easily check to make sure that he hasn’t fallen asleep, and the occasional walk-by where she places her hand on the student’s shoulder.  She says that this action has been allowed in the student’s 504 and goes to ensure that the student is awake and encourages the student to stay alert.  

There is one student on an IEP.  The student suffers from social and transitional skill disabilities.  However, according to the teacher, the situation that called for putting the student on an IEP has all but disappeared, as the student is now fully capable of taking part in class and assignments.  The teacher is currently making no accommodations for the student in question.  

Two interesting students of note are the student whose family came from the Asian subcontinent and one of the Caucasian students.  The former is a unique case due to the fact that the student has been entirely home schooled.  According to the classroom teacher, the student only comes to the high school for a couple classes a day (Japanese being one) and then returns home to finish schooling.  Evidently, the student has had a hard time adjusting to the social maelstrom into which they have been cast, though of late, the student has seemed to have succeed in adjusting.  The classroom teacher says that occasionally the student says something that is socially inept.  When I am the classroom teacher, I will do my utmost to ensure that the student learns everything they can from their new social surroundings and is shielded from any potential blow-back her remarks may cause.  

The latter student is of special interest to me as a teacher because they are openly homosexual.  I think it’s wonderful that the student is so in touch with their own feelings and comfortable with themselves to the point that, at such a young age, they are able to openly live as a homosexual person.  It will be my job as a teacher to ensure that the student is treated fairly by the other students and no one uses the term “gay” as a negative descriptor as has been popular with younger folks of late.  

Lastly, there is one last student I wish to mention.  The student is one of the Hispanic number.  In my observations of the class, I noticed that this student was extremely skilled at constructing sentences in Japanese.  I spoke to the teacher about the student and she agreed that he is the most talented student in that class.  I believe that were I to use, with the student's permission of course, this student to model in class, the positive example would influence the other students to success.  While it would be unfair to target this student for special attention regarding assignments, I intend to make available for all students options on assignments that call for deeper thinking and offer a greater potential for reward in the hopes that this student will decide to take on the additional challenge. However, should he choose not to take said options, I will in no way treat him differently for having done so.

Overall the students tend to get along well.  From what I gather from listening to the teacher, the student of Ukrainian descent can at times be impatient, thus the teacher avoids partnering her with the ELL student or any other student that typically takes time constructing responses during spoken exercises.  One student of Asian descent and one young man of Caucasian descent tend to be very talkative and have difficulty focusing on their tasks.  As teacher, I intend to make sure that these two persons don’t sit together and are partnered with persons who are able to positively model on task behavior to them during exercises that require partners.

Key Issues

            The students in the class I will be teaching tend to be very quiet.  This is good in that there are few behavior issues that will need to be dealt with, but it will also be difficult to get the students to speak in the target language.  Therefore, it will be necessary for me to plan activities that will help the students to overcome their natural shyness and speak loudly, using improvisation, and as fluently as possible in the target language.  Having done some limited research on that topic, I’ve found that current research is proposing that drama techniques (which include Total Physical Response, a process of tying physical actions to new language learning) can be used to aid students in taking on the role of a foreign language speaker in the classroom. 

            In her article entitled, “Moving Into Imaginary Worlds: Drama Pedagogy for Foreign Language Teaching and Learning”, Susanne Even (2006) wrote that one can use activities developed to help drama students understand a character in a play’s situation can also be used to help students develop their own ability to improvise in a foreign language and aid them in feeling more comfortable in taking on the “role” of a foreign language speaker in the classroom.

            An example of one such activity is the “Hot Seat.”  This is an activity where a student sits in front of the class as a literary figure.  The class then asks the person in the hot seat questions that they answer in character.  This activity aids in the development of their critical thinking, speaking, and understanding skills as well as helps them to overcome any natural disinclination to speak in the target language. 

            Using techniques like the one described above, I hope to help my students diminish any natural self-doubt and embarrassment in speaking in Japanese and help put them in a position where they can make the most out of each lesson.

References

1.                     Population Research Center, Portland State University. (2008).  Certified Population Estimates for Oregon's Cities and Towns.  Retrieved from http://www.pdx.edu/media/2/0/2008CertPopEstCitiesTwns_web.pdf

2.                     US Census Bureau. (2000). Salem, Oregon – Fact Sheet - American Factfinder.  Retrieved from http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=salem&_cityTown=salem&_state=04000US41&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010

3.                     National Center for Education Statistics. (2008). South Salem High School.  Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&InstName=south+salem+high+school&SchoolType=1&SchoolType=2&SchoolType=3&SchoolType=4&SpecificSchlTypes=all&IncGrade=-1&LoGrade=-1&HiGrade=-1&ID=411082000820

4.                     Even, Susanne. 2006. Moving Into Imaginary Worlds: Drama Pedagogy for Foreign Language Teaching and Learning. Available from ERIC article database: