School Context
Within Mrs. W’s 5th grade class at West Side, 28 scholars can be found. Two students are Hispanic, while the other 26 are African American. English is the primary language for every student. At home, Mrs. W informed me that the majority of the students live with a single parent. Nevertheless, family support is abundant since many students have grandparents and extended family that are active in their lives. Also, many of the scholars have cousins who attend West Side as well. In addition to family support, the learners have unique qualities. Mrs. W addressed that three of her students are in the “students watch special education program,” where specialists meet with those students once a week to work on specific academic skills. Similarly, four other students go to “BSP,” which offers the learners behavioral support. Sadly, two of her students come from abusive families. Mrs. W’s class has a unique story to tell.
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Through observing the students in the classroom, data was gathered on the students weaknesses and strengths. One weakness that was evident is the student’s sleep/arousal balance (All Kinds of Minds, n.d.). Everyday, at least one student will have their head on their desk with their eyes drooping shut. In further investigation, many of the students blame their tiredness on the late night playing video games, or the loudness of parents and or siblings. Also, the scholars have a weakness in writing, specifically spelling. While students can sound out the words, English grammar stumps them. For example, a student wrote “Ukon” when they were meaning “Yukon.” The scholars have weaknesses, but they also have strengths.
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The fifth grade students in Mrs. W’s class have evident strengths. One strength is the student’s fine motor skills (Woolfolk, 2017). While observing art one day, I witnesses the scholars incredible ability to draw. The art project was to create four different self-portraits by using a different color and face expressions to embody different emotions. Each student’s work was a story that conveyed their emotions clearly in their paintings. In addition to fine motor skills, Mrs. W’s fifth grade scholars have a strength in short term memory (Woolfolk, 2017). Mrs. W will often give instruction to the class, and have them repeat her words back to her. Another example of short term memory skills is when students read aloud as a whole group. After one student reads, Mrs. W will ask a question about the excerpt, and the students will raise their hands eagerly to answer. More than half of the time, the students accurately understand what they are reading, and express their knowledge in clear English to Mrs. W. The fifth graders have evident strengths.
West Side is a K-8 charter school within City, State. It is title-one school with title one school-wide programming. In total, the school contains 498 scholars. The student to teacher ratio is 13 to 1 (NCES, 2018). About 80% of the students are African American and more than half of the scholars are boys. For free and reduced lunches, 88% of the students qualify (NCES, 2018). In addition to the socioeconomic status of reduced and free lunches, Mrs. W addressed which textbooks and curriculum that West Side uses. For example, Math Stories is used for math, and I Ready is used for ELA. The school is supported by the National Heritage Academy, thus it provides curriculum that the charter school must abide by. Since West Side is supported by the National Heritage Academy, the school has a moral focus. Each month, the school focuses on one moral, like wisdom, respect, and encouragement, and daily recognizes people who exhibit those virtues through “recognitions.” The school does its best to support their scholars that will prepare them for academic excellence.
The students at West Side are primarily from the neighborhood community. Resources such as Martin Luther King Park are located within the community. Also, several churches surround the area, including: Living World Ministries Foursquare Church and Iglesia Pentecostal MI (NRDA, n.d.). Other resources that are frequently used at West Side are nearby colleges. Colleges around the area have been interns within the schools. Not only does the teacher receive extra help, but the intern learns how to be an effective teacher, and they students have another person to rely on. Also, teachers at West Side offer after school programs, such as math tutoring, to assist the student’s journey in academic excellence. The resources in the community and West Side benefit from one another.
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Bibliography
All Kinds of Minds (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.allkindsofminds.org/attention-module
ARDA. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://maps.nazarene.org/ARDADemographics/
Woolfolk, A. (2017). Educational Psychology (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. (Calvin custom binding)