During the months of August through November, I was able to intern at Ann Hawkins Gentry Middle School. The following is the demographic of the school as a whole, as well as my host classroom.
Gentry Middle School
927 total students
21% of students have free and reduced lunches
75% of students are white
10% of students are black
Amount of students who are Asian, Multi-race, Indian, or Hispanic is so minute that there are no percents given.
Miss Noltie’s Classroom
Miss Noltie’s classroom was an ELA (English Language Arts) classroom for students in the eighth grade.
Host Teacher: Brianne Noltie
Class One: 23 kids — 17 boys, 6 girls — 2 Black, 21 White
Class Two: 24 kids — 13 boys, 11 girls — 1 Muslim, 2 Black, 21 White
How can learner background impact classroom management and lesson planning?
The background of any learner can make all of the difference in how they act in the classroom and their mindset at school. Whether it is a good thing or not, the students in a classroom spent a lot of time at home, influenced by friends and family, as well as the environments they are growing up in. With that said, these environments tend to have certain opinions about the value of education and impress these opinions upon the students, possibly causing behavioral issues or lack of interest. In addition, if a child is experiencing a problem in this environment, it may also take attention away from school, and the student will focus greater attention on this problem, which is usually bigger than school. Because of these things, teachers must largely adjust their classroom management and lesson planning to fit the needs of these students. Depending on the severity of the problem, teachers may have to put in entirely new systems of classroom management to fit the students who need this. For example, as I have been interning in the schools, I have seen a lot of incentivized systems where students are rewarding for doing things that other students do on a regular basis (lunch with a teacher, prize jar, line leader, etc…). With behavioral problems and disinterest, also comes lower levels in different subject areas, which in turn also effects lesson planning. For instance, as Miss Noltie would plan writing assignments, she would set aside a couple of kids that she knew would need the most help and gave time to each of them individually. Most of these students also, at some point during my time, shared a story about how their life at home was rough. In multiple different ways, the background of a student can, again, make all of the difference in their education.
Community Resources Artifact:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTwHFC3wluEzoEZ6CTTyUKJ0jgIlmPzx2TLo3-AKwZQ_f4l653nE6w56GrKARsDtZtYIBCf6JCM3lIc/pub?embedded=true
Teaching Portfolio 