Context
Grandville High School is a 9-12 public high school that is associated with the Grandville School District which is part of the Kent Intermediate School District. The school is located in the Western part of Grand Rapids. It is located on Canal Avenue which is part of the busy intersection of Rivertown Parkway and Canal Avenue. However, the school is sandwiched between a neighborhood of many home development areas and a business area known as “Marketplace.” This particular area contains many businesses such as various restaurants (Outback Steakhouse, Steak ‘n Shake, Quiznos Subs), fitness centers, a PetSmart, Hobby Lobby, and a Lowe’s. The students are primarily from the neighborhood, and the neighborhood offers many learning opportunities such as the churches providing mentoring for some students. The school also has created its own support base. NHS (National Honors Students) tutor their fellow peers, and teachers are also available both before and after school if a student wishes to receive additional help.
The 9-12 high school is not involved with tracking. All classes are available for any student who so wishes to take the class. The school centers its curriculum on the Michigan Merit Curriculum. I have closely examined only one history textbook, and it is published by McDougal Littell. However, I do not know if all the school’s textbooks are published by McDougal Littell.
According to the 2011-2012 school year data provided by nces.ed.gov, there was a total of 1,892 students, ages 14 to 19, enrolled at Grandville High School (“Search for Public Schools,” 2012). Seven elementary schools feed into one middle school which feeds into Grandville High School. As a result, the socioeconomic backgrounds of the students are mixed. Some are at risk because of their socioeconomic backgrounds, while others come from extremely wealthy families. According to nces.ed.gov, there is a teaching staff of about 91 and with an average classroom size of 21 students to every one teacher. The class size appeared to be divided evenly with the incoming freshman being slightly larger than the other classes. The freshman class reported to have 492 students, the sophomore and junior class had 470 students, and the senior class had 447 students. There was also a decent divide between the numbers of males and females enrolled at the high school. During the 2011-2012 academic school year, there were 939 males and 953 females attending the school. Of the 1,892 students, 387 were eligible for the free lunch program and 171 were eligible for reduced-price lunch (“Search for Public Schools,” 2012). According the nces.ed.gov of the 1,892 students 4 were American Indian/Alaskan, 84 were Asian/Pacific Islander, 49 were Black, 166 were Hispanic, 1,545 were White, and 44 were two or more races (“Search for Public Schools,” 2012).
Grandville High School has a special ELL program and classroom for ESL students, and I aide in this particular classroom. There are about 29 students in this program, and 14 of them are considered “beginning/low intermediate” while the remaining 15 are considered “high intermediate/advanced low.” The 26 students come from different parts and of the world and represent many different cultures. It really is a beautiful thing to see all these cultures come together (but sometimes collide) in one classroom. In addition, the students’ native languages are the following: Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Nepali, Tedim, Karen, Congolese, and Vietnamese. The more advanced ESL students have their own independent study hall in 3rd hour, so I work more with the beginning ESL students during 1st and 2nd hour. The 1st and 2nd hour classes have 9 females and 5 males.
The ELL program uses World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment Standards, but I was unable to access the standards. Instead, I researched the Michigan English Language Proficiency Standards. The official document includes five domains (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and the standards within each domain. The K-12 ELL program at the Grandville Public School systems uses a series of textbooks published by Hampton Brown/National Geographic; however, the educator in the classroom that I observed uses the All-Star Program published by Cambridge University Press. It is a four-level, standards based series for adult English learners.
The 9-12 high school is not involved with tracking. All classes are available for any student who so wishes to take the class. The school centers its curriculum on the Michigan Merit Curriculum. I have closely examined only one history textbook, and it is published by McDougal Littell. However, I do not know if all the school’s textbooks are published by McDougal Littell.
According to the 2011-2012 school year data provided by nces.ed.gov, there was a total of 1,892 students, ages 14 to 19, enrolled at Grandville High School (“Search for Public Schools,” 2012). Seven elementary schools feed into one middle school which feeds into Grandville High School. As a result, the socioeconomic backgrounds of the students are mixed. Some are at risk because of their socioeconomic backgrounds, while others come from extremely wealthy families. According to nces.ed.gov, there is a teaching staff of about 91 and with an average classroom size of 21 students to every one teacher. The class size appeared to be divided evenly with the incoming freshman being slightly larger than the other classes. The freshman class reported to have 492 students, the sophomore and junior class had 470 students, and the senior class had 447 students. There was also a decent divide between the numbers of males and females enrolled at the high school. During the 2011-2012 academic school year, there were 939 males and 953 females attending the school. Of the 1,892 students, 387 were eligible for the free lunch program and 171 were eligible for reduced-price lunch (“Search for Public Schools,” 2012). According the nces.ed.gov of the 1,892 students 4 were American Indian/Alaskan, 84 were Asian/Pacific Islander, 49 were Black, 166 were Hispanic, 1,545 were White, and 44 were two or more races (“Search for Public Schools,” 2012).
Grandville High School has a special ELL program and classroom for ESL students, and I aide in this particular classroom. There are about 29 students in this program, and 14 of them are considered “beginning/low intermediate” while the remaining 15 are considered “high intermediate/advanced low.” The 26 students come from different parts and of the world and represent many different cultures. It really is a beautiful thing to see all these cultures come together (but sometimes collide) in one classroom. In addition, the students’ native languages are the following: Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Nepali, Tedim, Karen, Congolese, and Vietnamese. The more advanced ESL students have their own independent study hall in 3rd hour, so I work more with the beginning ESL students during 1st and 2nd hour. The 1st and 2nd hour classes have 9 females and 5 males.
The ELL program uses World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment Standards, but I was unable to access the standards. Instead, I researched the Michigan English Language Proficiency Standards. The official document includes five domains (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and the standards within each domain. The K-12 ELL program at the Grandville Public School systems uses a series of textbooks published by Hampton Brown/National Geographic; however, the educator in the classroom that I observed uses the All-Star Program published by Cambridge University Press. It is a four-level, standards based series for adult English learners.
Context: The Class as a Whole
The Kent Intermediate School District Map taken from Google Search
Image taken from www.kentisd.org
Image taken from www.kentisd.org