Diversity in Today's Schools

There is quite a bit of diversity in my service-learning classroom. There are some students who have a hard time sitting through the instructions, who are disorganized, and who cannot stay on task. There are students with different family backgrounds and with different skin color. Mrs. Wheatley addresses this diversity by differentiating her instruction in many ways:

1. She has small group reading time. While the class works on a specific language assignment, she pulls students back in small groups to work on the level of reading that is best for them. The students know their reading group by color, not by "good, better, best".
2. She has a classroom with a Print-Rich Environment. Her walls are covered prompts to help students remember what they have already learned. She also keeps current instructions prominently placed to keep students on task.
3. There is a place on the door for the student of the day, so that all students have the opportunity to be recognized for following the classroom guidelines.
4. Think, Pair, Share is a often used strategy in her classroom. Students were taught early in the school year the meaning of this phrase. Now, when Mrs. Wheatley, uses uses it, they know what is expected of them and they are able to collaborate together.
5. Finally, Mrs. Wheatley focuses on each student as an individual. She knows the strengths of students and knows how to bring those out without focusing on their struggles. I think this is best shown when she is teaching a new math concept. After instructing the students, she gives them a practice question. Once they think they know the answer, they raise their hand and she checks their work. If they are right, they get to become a helper and they go around offering to help classmates who are still working.

I enjoy seeing how the students really light up when they see Mrs. Wheatley for the first time that day. They know she cares about them and they care about coming to learn because of it.

Important Laws that affect Education

At Cascade Elementary, I've seen evidence of some of the most historical laws in the nation. The first of these laws in Brown v. Board of Education. In this law from 1954, schools were required to integrate with white and colored students. At Cascade, there is very little variety in the skin color as most of the students have parents with European decent. However, there are a few students with darker skin and even some who could be described as African-American. It has been 62 years since Brown v. Board of Education and at Cascade, the students have no idea that many years ago they wouldn't have been friends, let alone classmates.

Another law that I see evidence of at Cascade is the Individuals withe Disabilities Education Act. This law, more commonly known as I.D.E.A., provides accommodations and acceptance for students with disabilities. It states that children should be taught in the least restrictive environment and should receive appropriate accommodations. While working in the Resource Room, I see students with IEPs (Individual Education Plans) receiving special instruction to help them either catch up or stay up with their peers. While working in the classroom, I see where the teacher makes accommodations for students with special needs. One student struggles to stay on task and to stay in his seat. His teacher has placed his desk on an outside edge of the room, so that he will not disturb his classmates when he gets out of his seat. She also works with him one-on-one to get his homework and other assignments completed.

As implied above, there are not many students who are non-native English speakers at Cascade. But, according to Lau v. Nichols, all students who are non-native English speakers will be helped to learn English. This is accomplished through ELL activities within the classroom and students can also be sent to Resource Room for special instruction. Students should be helped to learn English at school so that they will be able to participate fully in a regular education classroom.

Engaged Learning Concept Map

Engaged Learning

Mrs. Wheatley's students are engaged in learning in her classroom. While still covering the basics of what needs to be taught in fourth grade, Mrs. Wheatley uses a variety of ideas to engage her students and help them on the path to learning to enjoy learning and learning to think for themselves. Here are some examples from her classroom:

While working on a new math concept, Mrs. Wheatley first explains the idea on the projector. As she is doing that, the students are copying what she writes into their math notebooks. She has a jar with students names on sticks that she uses to randomly ask what the next step is in solving the more complicated problem. She then gives the class a new problem to try on their own. As soon as a student thinks the have it figured out, they raise their hand; Mrs. Wheatley comes and checks their work. If they do have it right, then they walk around the classroom helping their fellow classmates. Soon more students were available to help than were still working on the problem. This engaged learning activity helped keep students on their toes - they never knew when they would be called on, and it helped them stay on task by giving them a special privilege once they were done.

Another effective way that Mrs. Wheatley keeps her students engaged is by presenting relevant and interesting topics. In order for students to recognize general themes, supporting information, and what myths are, she gave them a handout titled, "Myth Busters of the Animal Kingdom." As soon as the students saw the title, they were interested because of the popularity of the TV show with the same title. Mrs. Wheatley then had the class tell her what a myth was, which in turn made them want to know what myth they were going to bust. Sometimes children are interested in things that adults find off-putting, so today's myth was about toads and whether or not they cause warts. This kept the students interested and engaged all the way until the lesson was over.

Sometimes being engaged does not have to be with the whole class, as Mrs. Wheatley showed when the students worked on their fluency passages. Students were paired into teams with someone who was on the same fluency level as them. They then got to take turns timing each other to make certain that they both met the goal. The students learned to be honest with each other and if they did not meet the goal this time, they reflected it on their page. They also practiced empathy by not gloating or putting down those who were at lower fluency speeds. They supported each other, which helped the community engaged learners and the classroom as a whole.

Going over the previous days math homework was not a particularly engaging activity for most of the students. Mrs. Wheatley had students trade homework with others at their table (of those who actually did their homework) and then she told the answers and had them shown on the projector. A couple of things  from this lesson could have made this a more effective time in class. One would have been to have an assignment that was required for those who did not bring back their homework, so they were not just sitting there. Another would have been to ask various students what the answers were, then show them as they were answered, rather than just going down the page and telling all the answers. In order to make it more engaging, it would have taken longer, so perhaps that is why Mrs. Wheatley chose to do it as she did.