Description of students

There are fourteen students in the Math 3 class.  The class is an advanced class for seventh graders.  Most of the seventh graders at Waldo Middle School are in Math 2 class.  The racial demographics of the classroom do not mirror that of the entire school.  The class population is 50% white, 29% Hispanic, and 14% Asian.  The classroom diversity does not align with that of the entire school.  I often wonder why the class makeup does not align with the school and why there are not more Hispanic students in the class.  Since the class is an advanced class it makes sense that six of the students in the class are considered TAG.  Since the class is an advanced math class I will not need to make accommodations for this students and this will make my lesson planning somewhat simpler.  The small class size and advanced nature of the class gives the class an interesting dynamic.  They are all typically well behaved and engaged in the material.  Very rarely have I seen any issues with classroom management.  As a teacher the small class size should be very advantageous.  I will be able to give a large percentage of the students’ individual attention.  I can also get a better feel for how the students are progressing with material.  The small class size also gave me an opportunity to learn all of the students’ names early on.  This has allowed me to build relationships early on and I feel like I have gotten too know them well. 

The class as a whole seems to get along very well with one another.  I haven’t really noticed any many cliques within the students.  I have seen them pair up outside of the class but not in any type of way that excludes other students.  There is one student who does seem to “pester” other students.  It is mostly things like grabbing pencils, hiding notebooks, and tapping on desks.  They are mostly harmless and seem to be a way for him to get attention.  This affects me as a teacher since I have to deal with this and usually just requires some type of acknowledgment.  As a teacher I just have to make some extra effort to keep him engaged.  The only real cliques that I have noticed are ones that are setup by the sitting chart.  The students seem to focus in on their individual groups and they progress together.  For my teaching I will probably have to spend more times with certain groups since other advanced with the help of their teammates.  I have to make sure that I let all the groups answer questions and not always calling on the groups that is working most efficiently.  Overall it is a great group of kids who are ready to learn and work together.  They are very willing to engage in questions and mostly strive to do well.

Community Factors Description of Classroom

The classroom that I am teaching in for my practicum is located in the northern most hall of the building.  To enter the room you come in from the northwest corner.  On the door is the name of my cooperating teacher and a sign saying which book she is reading.  A sign like this can be found on most doors in the school.  The south wall of the room looks out into the court yard.  The court yard has trees and a little walking path and a charter school that shares the building leaves their bikes there.  I see both positives and negatives to how the courtyard affects my teaching.  On the one hand it gives the room a calm pleasant feel which gives the classroom a connection to the outdoors.  But, at the same time it can be a distraction to me and the students by taking away from our activities inside the classroom.  But when all is said and done I would much rather have the large windows then a solid wall.  The other three walls are full of boards, cabinets, and posters.  The north wall has several posters that relate to math such as a Mayan Calendar and a board that describes the student’s jobs.  The west wall has whiteboard and a bulletin board containing grades and vocabulary words.  The whiteboard is full of information such as goals, dates, and important information.  As a teacher I really like this area that the students face.  It brings all their attention up front and to relevant information.  This is the area where students look to find the teacher and classroom information.  The east wall which could be considered the back of the classroom contains several cupboards with math manipulatives and a sink.  The perimeter of the classroom contains small posters that give general math vocabulary and how it can be understood.  Overall the walls really influence the way I teach in the classroom.  They are full of valuable information and I can point to relative tools such as a number line, vocabulary, or the daily learning target.  The desks are arranged in what could be called a typical math classroom.  The desks are place in groups of four scattered throughout the classroom.  The arrangement is good for walking around and be able to access all the students.  There are 32 desks in the room but the class I am teaching only has 16 students.  This affects my teaching because it makes the class seem more intimate.  It gives it an interesting feel and facilitates discussion.  There are empty desks yet all the students “choose” to sit together.  The teacher’s desk is in the southwest corner of the room.  This really doesn’t affect my teaching since very rarely do I sit there since my cooperating teacher is in the room.  If I was to sit in the desk it would give a great view of the class and make me feel very important.  I imagine sitting in the desk would give me just a little bit of confidence in being in the class.  Overall the feel of the classroom is a math class but with a lot of color.  The color gives the room a vibrant feeling.  This vibrant feeling makes me feel good to be teaching in the room.  I hesitate in saying but compared to other math classes I have seen it makes them look boring and drab.

Description of Community

It is difficult to get an accurate portrayal of the demographics of the community that surrounds Waldo Middle School.  The most general way to describe the demographics of this area is to summarize the demographics of Salem and most specifically the zip code that the middle school resides in.  The median age and sex of the community is 32.8 years for males who make up 52.9% of the population and 34.8 years for females who make up 47.1% of the population. (Zip 2010)  The community surrounding the school is made up of 16.2% Hispanic/Latino, 65.6% White, 1.8% Black, 1% Native American, 2.5% Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.1% Other, and 2.3% Multiracial. (Zip 2010)  I am skeptical that these numbers accurately portray the surrounding community since the school population is 67.1% Hispanic. (ODE 2009).  

Waldo Middle School is located in northeast Salem, Oregon.  The neighborhood surrounding the school would probably be considered middle class.  The neighborhood is bordered on the north my Silverton Rd. and to the south by Market St.  The west side of the neighborhood is bordered by the State Fairgrounds and on the east side the middle school is bordered by Interstate 5.  When walking around the neighborhood you will see a go mix of houses that seem to be well taken care of and those that are somewhat “run-down.”  The neighborhood has a nice feel to it and I get the impression that it is a relatively safe neighborhood.  It also seems like a lot of the homes have children since there are quite a few houses with play sets, hoops, and a tree house.  The streets that surround the neighborhood are very busy and you have a lot of traffic.  Not really sure what effect this traffic has on the neighborhood.  I get the feeling that people cut through during commuting times.  There is a police officer that spends a great deal of time patrolling the area around the school which probably adds the feeling of safety in the neighborhood.  North of the school feels somewhat industrial and doesn’t have the most welcoming environment.  However, to the east of the school before you hit the freeway there is a very large and well maintained bike.  This definitely adds something positive to the neighborhood's overall atmosphere.

I don’t think the information about the surrounding community will highly influences my teaching.  I would be curious to know how close my students live to the school and what their daily commute is like.  I would imagine if there start to the day could be very different depending on how they get to school.  Perhaps they walk to school or possibly they have a long bus ride in traffic.  This might give me a different idea about how I approach the start of the day.  As far as the neighborhood goes I will probably try and incorporate information about the community into math problems that I give to students.  For example I might use area equations that deal with the nearby park.  Another possible application would revolve around a distance equation for navigating and using familiar street names.  This might help things be more relative and see how math could be used practically.

Community Factors Description of School

Waldo Middle School is located in northwest Salem, OR.  According to ODE Waldo middle school has 756 students, which include sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. (ODE free lunch)  The school’s student population is made of many different multicultural groups with minorities accounting for 72.1% of the students...  The student population is made up of 67.1% Hispanic, 23.9% white, and 4.4% Asian/Pacific Islander, 1.9% Native American, 1.6% black, and 1.2% multi-ethnic. (ODE ethnicity)  The ODE website also loosely provides general information about the socio-economic status of the student’s families.  Of 756 students 57.8% are eligible for free or reduced lunch.

The school has an extensive staff made of math, science, language arts, social studies, physical education, and elective departments.  There is also an extensive support staff in addition to the primary teachers.  The library has two members of the staff who are the library media specialist and the library assistant.  The office staff has approximately seven members.  There are three school counselors who each focus on a specific grade.  In addition the counselors and office staff there is also a family center that provides connections with volunteers.  At Waldo there is a large population of bilingual students which results in a number of staff supporting these students.  The ELL department is staffed by seven teachers.  Another integral part of the school is the instructional assistants.  There are approximately 14 instructional assistants and the majority of this staff is made of bilingual speakers.  

          The school is square in shape and as a person enters they would immediately see the media center.  To the right and around the corner of the main entrance is the main office, teachers’ lounge, counseling office, and the family center.  The flow of people will go past the cafeteria on the right and then past the gym which are located on the east side.  There are three halls that run east to west and the “main hall” goes around the middle.  In the very center of the school is two court yards that contain trees, walking path, and a pond.  The fields and track are located on the north end of the school.  

The school has recently been remodeled so it doesn’t have a lot of character.  This recent remodel left the school with very few signs and not a lot of color on the walls, which gives the school a very sterile feeling and looking at previous pictures of the school this hasn’t always been the case.  As the school gets further into the year more things will probably go up on the walls.  This sterile environment is very prominent when you first enter the building.  The entire feel is not helped when you have to access the front door by pushing a button and waiting to enter.  I understand the safety concerns because the main office doesn’t have a visual of the front door but the setup doesn’t provide the most open inviting environment as you enter the building.  One warming aspect is the interior area of the school that is full of trees, a pond, and a walking path, which is really nice to look at as you walk the halls.  The required student dress code also gives an interesting feeling to school.  I am unfamiliar with dress codes like this in schools and it is somewhat shocking to see.

Overall I feel that the support staff and the overall makeup of the school are reassuring to me as a teacher.  I am not sure how I feel about the dress code in the school.  It makes me feel like I am at a private school teaching students.  It makes me somewhat uneasy since the one reason for the dress code is to prevent students from wearing “gang” colors and clothing.  It worries me to think about thirteen year old kids who are involved in gangs to the point it becomes a serious issue at school.  On the opposite side of this is partly makes me think that things are getting blown out of proportion and it actually isn’t a huge issue.  I can basically see the positives and negatives of it and I am not sure if I am for or against it.  As a teacher it is hard for me not to think about the dress code and the reasons for implementing it.  I cannot help but think that this aspect of the school’s culture will have some type of impact on my instructional decision making.  Whether that is positive or negative I am not sure at the moment.

Reactions to different kinds of kids

Kids you find it easy to like: positive sense of humor, follow directions, ready to talk, questions
Kids you find it hard to like: negative disruptive sense of humor, kids who are mean to other students, student who talk back
Kids you are sorry for: minority students, students who get made fun of, students who act out for attention
Kid you feel threatened by: unpredictable students, students with explosive personalities
Kid you identify with: Native students, student who just want to fit in, B average students
Kids you gravitate toward:  student who get work done, students who make an effort, students who don't make an effort
Kids you feel inadequate around:  students who don't speak much English, students who don't make much of an effort
Kids you probably don't even notice: students who don't ask question and don't talk in class

Educator in the 70s

I interviewed a Native American woman who taught history in the 1970s.  She began teaching in Coos Bay in the mid to late 70s, but she had been working in education from very early on in the decade.  The school she taught at was predominantly white and no one would describe the school as progressive.  The first thing that she talked about was the way in which students were categorized.  Earlier on school official would say, "he looks  white, he looks Indian, they are Asian and so on."  This way of doing things was obviously not an ideal way to classify multicultural students in the school.  In the mid-70s students were given the opportunity to self-identify themselves and this gave a more accurate representation of the student body as a whole.  During this time this educator with the help of others began the Indian education program,  which has done a lot of great things for the students.  She described it as "pulling teeth" to get the administration on board with the program but that was whole other story.
As a history teacher she saw quite a few inaccuracies with the material being presented and she began to question what was being taught to the students.  The administration at these time was very uneasy about straying from the traditional textbooks and materials that had been taught for decades.  The difficulties the teacher had was finding accurate resources for her classes.  The information wasn't found in the class text and this is the type of material that the administration wanted.  Her response was to look to other forms of material such as letters, memoirs, and interviews.  The class text that she had to work with were full of information that was bias towards the main excepted view.  The diligent research she brought in was questioned and not seen as "truth" compared to the textbooks they had been using for years.
Throughout the interview she continuously described her time teaching in the 70s as a battle between her and the administration.  "They didn't want to accept new information, they just wanted to keep using the same old material."  In her opinion most of this material was inaccurate.  She described some of the things she was forced to teach as "total crap and they knew it."  She taught in schools for some time but eventually left this role but continued to work with children.  My personal impression was that she was bitter about her time teaching and was surprised about the reaction she got from the administration.  

Achievement

1.  Achievement means to accomplish a goal set by yourself, another person, or society as a whole...as a teacher achievement is getting a job, a student thanking you for helping them, or raising test scores and reaching standards

2.  Some people achieve by passing a test.  Whether the test is the SAT, obstacle course, or figuring out how to shoot a basketball...as a teacher I want to complete my work samples and become an engaging educator who doesn't bore students but helps them learn.

3.  Achievement is different for every person.  One person's achievement is another person's expectation.  It is all relative...as a teacher my achievement will be much different from Colin and Chad's ideas of achievement.

Autobiography and a little more

            I was born in the winter of 1982 in Roseburg, Oregon with all of my extended family in the hospital.  The majority of my aunts, grandparents, and uncles were all there.  This first day of my life really set the stage for how important family would be in my life.  I am named after my father James and my mom’s father Henry.  I feel like I have a lot to accomplish to begin to live up to these two names.  My parents were together until I was about three years old possibly younger.  After my parents got divorced I moved to my grandmother’s house with my mom.  This arrangement really gave me a different perspective and what a home can include.  I basically had two mothers.  My grandma is more of a mother then a grandmother and she expects to be treated as such.  Grandma is also the rock of our family and I am really not sure what will happen after she passes on.  I have a sneaking suspicion that she will live forever.  While I was living with my mom and grandma, my dad was always around.  Even though he didn’t live extremely close he managed to always be there for me.  The arrangment my parents made about raising me has given me a positive outlook on divorced families.  Both my parents made big efforts to take care of me and make sure my needs were always met.  Their divorce was not an issue for me and I thank them for that.  My father also helped out financially while my mother worked full time and I never went without.  It is also important to say that I am an only child who was/is spoiled but I was never allowed to be a jerk.  I am not sure if it is a conflict to say this, but being an only child as instilled in me a strong since of independence but at the same time I desire a lot of attention from my loved ones.  I definitely try to reciprocate this love my family gives me.

I grew up in Roseburg which is a partly rural city made up of aroud 23,000 people.  The city originally began booming as a logging community and this is the main reason that a majority of my family moved to the area.  There is still a strong presence of the logging industry but it has changed quite a bit since Johnny Cash wrote a song about the town.  It is no real surprise that running mills 24/7 for years on end could be sustained without reprocussions on the environment and the local economy.  This roll back in logging has really changed the makeup of the original city.  The one thing Roseburg really lacks is much diversity.  There has been somewhat of a shift in the past years but the city is predominantly white.  This lack of diversity has had a big impact on the person I have become.  I grew up as someone who looked a little different from the majority of my classmates.  This is because I am a complete melting pot of ethnicities, which include five different Native tribes and at least five different Western European decents.  However, if I was asked how I recognize myself I would say I am Kalapuya and my relatives come from the Splacta Alla village in Yonkalla as well as Oklahoma.   I hesitate in saying that I felt outright prejudice while growing up, but I did feel different and always carried a big awareness of my differences compared to other students.  It was probably most apparent when I was young and kids could be less then understanding.  However, as I grew and matured through middle school and high school most kids where inclusive, sensitive, and interested in my background.  This maturity on my part and my classmates instilled in me an idea of what multiculutral sensitivty can be in a mostly conservitive rural community.  At the same time, deep down I probably made big efforts to blend in and not be my own person.  Later in high school I began to shift from blending in I attempted to stand out, which I feel has made me a better person.  My real growth as the person I am today really began towards the end of high school and into college.

At Oregon State University I began to recognize myself as liberal and was very interested in politicals, ethnic studies, and the environment.  Through my classwork and discussion with friends I started to see some real problems inherent in our society.  I leaned towards helping the environment as far as my education went.  At school I studied Zoology and this got me started working in wildlife biology after school.  Working with wildlife has given me an opportunity to travel and work with people from many different places who have some very different backgrounds.  I have also been able to connect with the environment on a personal level and work with threatened and endangered species.  This work has been very rewarding on a number of levels but the main reason for shifting focus in careers is a desire to be a part of my local community and regain the physical connection with my home.  In my opinion there is not many better ways to achieve this goal then to become an Oregon teacher... So that is why I am where I am; I live in Salem with my girlfriend Nicholle and our dog Sage.  I am going to be a biology/math teacher and I am part of my community....  


I thought I would respond with some more biography post to answer the great questions Steve asked about my first post.  I am really aware that I have an interesting family structure.  The term traditional family structure doesn't really match us.  Growing up in a house with two women I had an interesting perspective on gender roles.  One of the main perspectives I have is the strength that I have seen in women.  This is specifically true with my grandma who is the "rock" of our family.  The strength she has shown is something that is stereotypically male.   I also have some personal attributes that aren't typically associated with males and that is my sensitivity and emotional responses.  I guess the best way to say it is that I'm not afraid to cry.

A good question was why I decided to settle on Kalapuya as my main identity.  When originally writing the statement I understood it was somewhat bold.  I think I have come to this decision for a number of reasons.  First and foremost has to be my family's influence, especially on my dad's side.  I guess it is partly because it is somewhat phenotypically accurate but mostly it is something I can easily connect with culturally and locally.  I can drum, dance, powwow, and easily express my culture in tangible ways.  It is also a very special feeling to walk in a a place where you know your ancestors have been living for hundreds of years and maybe thousands.  Spiritually I also closely align myself with Native American philosophies.  So that is basically why I call myself Kalapuya.  Not to mention I have a card that gives my enrollment number and blood degree so how can I deny something that official. haha

I think my personal feelings of being different as a student will help me as a teacher and I might have a good understanding of the isolation students are feeling.  My personal feelings will hopefully help me to be sensitive to students of different cultures but at the same time I need to be aware of my own biases.  But I have somewhat been in their shoes and I can easily look back at my own experiences and relate them to my student's situations.  I have had feelings of exclusion and inclusion both.  I have been pointed out in class for my differences but I have also easily blended in at times.  Sometime a child wants to standout and other times they might want to fade into the crowd.  I might have an upper hand in identifying these situations.

The idea of community is very important to me.  Community is much more visible in smaller towns but community can also be created in large cities.  It is just a matter of seeking a community of people that can support and help their neighbors.  The community will have a big influence on me as a teacher and will definitely have an impact on my lessons and the context I will be teaching.  I will attempt to look to my surroundings to shape my curriculum.  Science and math are all around us what better to learn from then your own backyard.  Also if a strong community is present they will make me more accountable for what I am teaching their children and hopefully I can get some good input from them. 

Reflections of a fantastic teacher

The vision I have of myself as a fantastic teacher is very idealistic but is mostly achievable.  Every school day I would efficiently address the content in a way that is understandable, relatable and multiculturally sensitive.  I would also be a teacher who understands the individual needs of my students and has a good idea of what I can personally do to make them successful.

I want to be a teacher to make a difference in the lives of young people.  Making a difference is really important to me.  I understand that I can't possibly make a difference in the lives of all my students but I can make some connections that will makes students think about their human potential.  I want to help make a world that is better then the one I am living in today.  The students we are teaching today are going to be the leaders and inventors of tomorrow and I want them to be successful at making positive change.  This is a very selfish reason for becoming a teacher but it is completely honest.  I want the next generation to make our world better to live in.  I want the next generation to be concerned about the perils our world is facing and have the knowledge that offers real solutions.  Making a difference and wanting a better world will sustain me as long as I am seeing some type of progress in the world, but it won't sustain me if things really begin to regress.  It will be tough to keep going if I don't see positive direction in the way our world is heading.

I think Darling-Hammond said it much better then I did but I did pick up on some similar ideas.  The main aspect I need to focus on sustaining myself is understanding my individual role.  My reflection was more focused on the what the student is doing and not what I can do to enrich my self as a person. 

Sojourner Truth's new interpretation is one of a strong, powerful black woman.  The words she uses in her speech are typically ones that would have been used in masculine speech.  With her philosophy of power she is pulling herself out of that submissive role that society put women in but still says, "ain't I a woman?"  Very empowering.

The main purpose of schools is to prepare students for the future as positive contributors to our society.  The students we will be teaching are the future leaders of our society and as leaders they should positively contribute.  The purpose I mentioned above does not guaranty that it will serve a "diverse" society but in my mind it has to.  In order to serve a diverse society the whole process has to have that idea at the forefront of process.  If the idea of appreciating diversity is inter-mixed from the beginning the positive contributions that are made will be directed towards a diverse society.  At the same time the purpose I described could just as easily serve a socially stratified society if we are not thinking about the process with diversity and multiculturalism in mind  The work of a teacher is so crucial to all of this.  While in school the teacher has an opportunity to promote diversity throughout the educational process.  The teachers work can be to fight against social stratification at all times.

I really haven't made to many changes to my general outlook but I do want to add the strong role society will play in my educational beliefs.  I believe I am a very open and excepting person but I am afraid our society as a whole may not have my similar ideals.  I think it is important to recognize and help my students understand where our society is and how we can all promote diversity even if it goes against some of the social norms.