Contextual Factors
Community: District and School Factors
The school at which I am doing my student teaching, which from now on I will refer to as School A is located in Northeast Iowa. It is located in a city, which from now on I will refer to as City A. City A has a population of 36,175 according to the United States 2000 census, which has been adjusted for inflation. The median income in City A is $48, 297 as compared to $49,459, which is the national average. In City A, in addition to School A, there are six elementary schools, two junior high schools, and one high school. Unlike most all of the other schools in City A, School A is not a City A Community School. It is a part of the local state university.
Located on one of the state university campuses, School A includes 375 children from age six months to grade twelve. Being an integral part of the College of Education, School A’s students are accustomed to having university students in their classrooms in addition to School A’s faculty. Having a university-age teacher will not be out of the ordinary for School A’s students. In addition to exposure to university students, students in School A’s French program have also been taught by two student teachers during the fall semester. Thus they have learned to adapt to different teaching and learning styles.
In the high school where I will be doing my student teaching, School A runs an eight period day. According to the school’s principal, School A includes 141 students in its high school population, which is substantially smaller than any of the other high schools in the area. The 12th grade has 35 students, 11th grade has 40 students, 10th grade has 34 students and 9th grade has 32 students. 17% of students receive free or reduced lunch at School A, compared to 19% of students in the local district. School A is also unique because it is highly diverse relative to the surrounding schools. Over 28% of School A’s students are minorities compared to 10% at the other high school in town, and to 3% minorities who live in the same town. 11% of students at School A have special needs, including nine students in the middle school and high school that have documented individual education plans (IEPs). This means I will need to be aware of different learning styles in my classroom and adapt to their strengths and weaknesses in order to teach them in ways that best fit their learning styles.
According to the principal and my cooperating teacher, parental involvement is greatly encouraged at School A, and over 73% of parents attend parent-teacher conferences. Parents can also be involved in their child(ren)’s education through Power School, which I will discuss later. Parents are encouraged to contact teachers via email or their office phone, and over 73% take advantage of one form of communication or the other. The high school principal at School A, who from now on I will refer to as Mr. A, is serving his second semester at School A. He his not new to the school however, before the aforementioned year Mr. A had been the high school guidance counselor for seven years. Thus, he is well known by the students, who have easily accepted the transition into his new position. Mr. A is frequently available for faculty, staff, parents and students.
Not only are parental involvement and principal involvement at a high level, the language program and School A is also rigorous. French and Spanish are the only world languages that one can take and School A, however from those who complete the programs 50-60% of students go on to further their education in world language. French is offered as a full immersion class after the first semester of French, and Spanish is offered as partial to full immersion after the first two years of high school Spanish.
Spanish is offered first through sixth grade, and then again in high school. French is only offered in high school after a brief four-week exploratory program in eighth grade, which serves as a quick introduction and also a recruiting tool. Before this year students have an opportunity to take Spanish and French as exploratory during seventh or eighth grade. This year however, because of a schedule change, neither Spanish nor French was offered at the middle school level. Exploratory world language at the middle school level will be offered next year. Since there is a gap between elementary and high school, where no language is offered, students forget much of what they have learned because of their lack of exposure and use of the language. Thus there is a dilemma presented for the world language department. First, as students who continue Spanish forget much of what they have learned, in high school the Spanish teacher must retrace the steps and re-teach what they have already learned. Secondly, only offering Spanish in the elementary grades provides a disadvantage to the French program, because students’ first major experience with French will not happen until they are in high school. Thus if they have a good experience with Spanish they will be more likely to choose it as a second language when students begin high school. This could therefore greatly affect enrollment in French classes in the future.
However, currently enrollment at School A is down, and therefore enrollment in world language is down as well. This is most visible in the lower levels of world language. Enrollment in the beginning classes at School A are lower than in the higher levels. The freshman French II class has six people, the sophomore French II class has eight people, whereas the junior French III class has thirteen people, and the senior French IV class has eleven people. With lower enrollment in the lower grades could provide quite an advantage to the younger students because they will get more individual help and should be able to move faster through material because individually they will be able to ask more questions and practice more with the teacher. This smaller class size could also be seen as a disadvantage. With less students, the students that are in world language are forced to participate more individually than if there were more people. If students are unwilling or unable to participate, with so few people, conversation consistently rests with the same students who often get weary of carrying the class. Similarly, with smaller classes there is less chance of a range in ability. For example in one of the classes there are only eight people and four are very strong but the other four are rather weak. Thus in pairing the options are limited because putting two strong people together automatically means putting two weaker students together, which means little gets accomplished. This weak/strong dynamic allows the stronger students to act as teachers and mentors to the weaker students, which can serve as an advantage, but it also is a disadvantage if the stronger students are impatient, intolerant or unable to help their weaker counterparts. This also means it is more difficult to challenge stronger students who are highly capable of excelling in world language.
The cooperating teacher I am working with, whom I will from now on refer to as Ms. A, encourages students to take all four years of world language, because for many colleges the exit requirement for world language is four years, while the entrance requirement is two years. Taking these classes in high school eliminates the cost of taking a world language in college. Additionally, according to Ms. A in nearly all cases of School A’s French students who take clep tests, are able to earn college credit in French and advance through lower level grammar level courses to the advanced French courses offered at the university, which can help them complete majors or minors in French. Understanding another language, and being able to communicate in another language also makes one more marketable in the global economy.
(MuniNetGuide. Accessed 21, January 2007.), CITE, CITE, CITE
Classroom Factors
The classroom for this Teacher Work Sample, henceforth Classroom A is located on the second floor of the building. Classroom A is located between the sixth grade classrooms and the high school language arts classrooms. Classroom A has no air-conditioning and the furnace system sporadically emits heat. Thus the temperature of the room varies greatly, which is very distracting for the students. When students are too hot or too cold it is difficult for them to concentrate on learning. Classroom A includes 18 desks and 18 chairs, however only 14 sets of desks and chairs are used at any given time the classroom arrangement is a “V’” formation with desks paired together facing the chalkboard, overhead and the teacher’s desk at the front of the room. Windows line the wall opposite the entrance, while on that same wall there are three cabinets with classroom resources, and a bookshelf with French books for students to read and use in their studies of a world language also serving as authentic examples of written French. On back wall there are cabinets with classroom resources and there is a large bulletin board, which is decorated with student work and information that is related to current units. Student work as well as French, Canadian, and African realia line the empty wall space that is not covered windows or cabinets. This way, students are always surrounded with authentic materials of the cultures that they are studying.
In addition to the set-up and placement of the room, Classroom A, contains the following resources: four computers; two with working Internet, an overhead projector, a television on a cart, Ms. A’s personal DVD player, a CD player, a VCR, and two large chalkboards. Each student has his or her own French book and buys a corresponding workbook. The textbooks they are using levels one through three are the Bon Voyage 2002 set, which is published by Glencoe McGraw-Hill. Level four uses Trésors Du Temps 1997by Glencoe McGraw-Hill and French- Three Years by Blume and Stein. The French teacher, Ms. A, has also supplied the room with fourteen small white boards for the students to perform quick comprehension activities. Though the classroom seems to be well supplied with materials they are not all current and some must be updated. The room is in need of new maps of Europe as well as maps of French speaking Africa. Thus because of the make-up of the room one must be able to adapt such as having hand-outs for web assignments, or going to a computer lab, because students do not all have access to the Internet in the classroom. One must also bring in updated maps or explain what has changed when discussing geography.
The Internet is a very useful tool in this French classroom, not only for academic research but also for practical purposes. School A’s grading system as well as attendance system is connected an Internet server called Power School. This system makes it easy for students, parents and teachers to track student’s progress as soon as it is updated on the teacher’s computer. Using this program enhances communication on student progress. Though this system has various benefits for teachers, students and their parents it also has some pitfalls as well. If the system is down, attendance cannot be taken. Similarly, if families do not have access to the Internet in their homes they are unable to benefit from Power School. Thus, this can become a real problem for those who are unable to access it and therefore accommodations must be made, such as sending home paper grade reports and maintaining a dialogue between teacher, parent and student.
Additionally students use the Internet to complete online assessments that help prepare them for their French exams over every unit. As supplements to the Bon Voyage textbooks, there are also reviews of concepts in terms of games and practice exercise that they can access through the Internet. Ms. A is able to reserve the computer lab or go to the library since her classes never exceed thirteen people. However most work done on the Internet students complete at home to conserve the forty-four minutes of class time for teacher-guided and peer-guided instruction.
The time in class is essential to the students’ learning French at School A, because French classes are extremely fast paced, given almost exclusively in French and containing lecture instruction, group work, and individual work. Lesson planning consistently includes writing, reading, speaking and listening as prescribed by the National World language Standards (ACTFL). ACTFL is also referred to throughout the Bon Voyage series that Ms. A and her French classes use. The series is published by Glencoe McGraw-Hill; French I uses the first book (Rouge), French II uses the second book (Vert), French III uses the third book (Bleu). French IV is the most advanced level of French so they use a different textbook entitled Trésors Du Temps, in which they not only review grammar, they also read about the history of France and read excerpts of culturally relevant literature. They also have a grammar review workbook entitled French – Three Years by Blume and Stein. Ms. A uses many of the supplementary materials from the textbook such as the listening practice, the video exercises, overheads and worksheets. However she has also created many activities that use authentic materials and worksheets to thoroughly assess students’ knowledge of the material. She makes flashcards for all the vocabulary and uses real objects when she can, to make their learning more solid and meaningful to students. Ms. A also uses, dry erase board activities, skits, oral activities, chalkboard activities, and projects to accommodate the various learning styles inside her classroom. Ms. A has set up a routine for students so they know when they come into class they will have a brief conversation with their peers and Ms. A in French about current events or activities in which they are involved. They then go into a review either a written or oral activity of what they learned the day before and continue on with the next lesson performing, speaking, listening, and writing activities. The conversation aspect of this classroom is an effective way to engage students into the French language after having been in the hallways speaking with other friends who do not speak the target language. It also allows students to expend some energy, and get registered into learning mode so that they are ready to focus when the lesson commences.
As well as establishing the classroom routine, Ms. A has also created a set of classroom rules that allow her class to run smoothly. The rules are established when students begin French and are reviewed at the beginning of every school year, if there is a problem the rules are then addressed again. Parents are made aware of the classroom rules and expectations by reading the class syllabus and signing it during students’ experience in French I. Ms. A treats her students as responsible young adults and respects them, and in return they respect her as well. As problems arise she addresses them directly during classes or shortly after class. Ms. A does not humiliate her students, if need be she reproaches them with tact. Ms. A’s style of classroom management is similar to my own philosophy, and with the respect she has built up with her students; I plan to follow her example to respect them so that they will in turn respect me.
Not only does Ms. A manage her classroom effectively, she speaks impeccable French, which she uses almost exclusively. In her classes, students are expected to speak only French, when involved in activities and when they are speaking amongst themselves. If they are unsure of how to say something they are encouraged to describe it in French and Ms. A will help them. Because of the constant use of French in the classroom from the teacher and the students, students have already achieved a high level of French. When I take over the class, I plan to conduct it in French as well to continue to encourage growth and experience using the French language.
Student Characteristics
In the first weeks of school, I gave students a “personal inventory,” to get to know them better, learning about their interests, activities, their learning styles and the reasons why they chose French (see Appendix 1.1 for examples.) Most students said choose French instead of Spanish because of their ancestry and because they did not like Spanish when they took it before. Many students also had siblings who had taken French and encouraged them to do the same. Half of the students also thought they would use their French after high school as well in business and when they travel. Half of the students think they learn better in groups while the other half think they learn better by themselves. Therefore, I will implement both group and individual work into my lessons to accommodate both learning styles.
The individual classes are as follows: the first French class is French II. Beginning at eight o’clock it consists of eight sophomores, six females and two males. This class shall be my focus group, which from now on will be referred to as Class X. All students are Caucasian, though they all have different needs, learning styles and experiences. One student in the class of eight is on free and reduced lunch, and two students in the class have IEPs. Both IEPs allow for extended time on tests and extra help on assignments, upon request. One student was adopted, while two other students live primarily with one parent. All of these students are involved in one or more extracurricular activity, and most of them are in involved in two or more. For some, their activities hold more meaning than school. This group is relatively energetic, and they are constantly trying to create with the language in order to be able to communicate with each other and among themselves. Class X loves to be active, and seems to thrive on competition. They work well in partners and in groups with the exception of one student who outwardly refuses to with to work with another particular student. However, because of their maturity level and because of their differing levels of French ability groupings and pairing must be carefully planned. Thus there is a seating chart, which enables Class X to concentrate on learning and encourages them to participate. One student, who will be now referred to as Student 1 has a hard time staying on task, and often distracts other students, which makes it essential to place Student 1 with someone he cannot distract encouraging him to pay attention. Student 1 is most distracted by female students, in order to help him concentrate he will be partnered with the other male in the class. In contrast Student 1, there is another student, Student 2 who is consistently on task, and is very talent. Student 2 often understands new information well before all of the other students and is thus sometimes bored with repetition. However instead of instigating distractive behavior, Student 2 frequently helps peers and explains complicated material to those who are having trouble. Sometimes however, the antics of Student one disrupt and distract the whole class. Though without distractions, this class is vibrant and productive. Thus, the target of this class will be to foster speaking and writing skills and diminish distractions when possible.