school context

Robert L. Bailey Elementary school is is located off of a busy main road in Providence. The school is tucked away and is beautiful compared to the city around it. It is a big, colorful, brick building with freshly painted walls and is filled with friendly, smiling faces. i was pleasantly surprised to see the beautiful building when i drove up to it because it is far nicer than the school that i went to for first grade. 78% of the children at Bailey are eligible for subsidized lunch. You never would have known it through looking at the building but the area where the school is located reflects the class of the majority of children in the school.
The class room that i worked in was Mrs. M's room. Because the majority of children are unable to pay in full for lunch, the teacher helps these children by providing a snack for them. This is a good idea, however, not all of the children get free snack, only those who have reduced lunch. The girl i worked with today didn't bring a snack and, so, didn't get one. Something else that i noticed that reflects the poverty level of the school is the fact that many of the students don't have erasers. it is probable that they have lost them since it is the end of the year but they don't have extras, instead the children share.
The children at bailey are 22% African American, 7% Asian, 1% native American and 5% white. These many different ethnic backgrounds are not seen or celebrated in any way that i have noticed in the school. There are books that Ive seen with pictures of black children in them but that is all i have noticed. I heard other people in the class mentioning how their schools have flags and pictures up of multiple ethnic backgrounds. it would be a good idea for my school to do something like that.
26% of children in my school are bilingual. i haven't seen any languages other than English being celebrated or used. All of the children in my first grade class speak English but I'm not sure if they speak anything else because they only speak English in the class room. The walls around the school are very bare and have nothing on the walls that celebrate different backgrounds or languages.
there are 2 students in my class that i know get gen ed w/ support. These children leave the room some days and go work on the things they need help with. The children who leave do not seam to be proud of the fact that they get help but they don't seem embarrassed either. The process of them leaving the classroom actually seams very hush hush, probably so that the rest of the class isn't distracted from what they are doing when the children getting help leave. What happens is; a woman walks in and when the teacher notices her, she sends the children that need help out of the room and then continues on with what she was doing.
Looking at the class room, youd never know that the majority of the children come from lower class families. The room is clean and full of stuff, very busy but not at all cluttered. There are fuzzy chairs and a carpet. There's a fish tank, tad polls, and a lot of books. Each child also has their own, individual locker with their name on it. The class room is welcoming and fit for the children. It is a homey, friendly environment and the children know where everything is. For example, the multiple helpful posters on the wall are scattered around the room. They include, math tables, colors and spelling tips.
The curriculum includes Mainly math, reading and writing. The teacher is very go-go-go and needs to be because a first grade class is very energetic and it is hard to keep their attention for too long. For most of the day the children sit on the carpet and raise their hands to answer the teachers questions. This group activity is stimulating for the children because they are competing against each other to get the right answer but also helping each other when someone gets an answer wrong. Focus and attention are very valued in this class room. The teacher keeps things moving to make sure that the children are focused and if someone is talking while the teacher or another student "has the floor" then they are scolded for having done that. This is a wonderful class, they are all very well behaved and respectful. The teacher is strict but not mean or snappy at all. The class seams to respect her for the fact that she doesn't let them get away with anything like forgetting to say excuse me or thank you or speaking out of turn.
the teachers style, being strict but still friendly and sweet reminds me of one of the packets we read. i cant remember which one but the author stated that teachers need to work around there students needs and an example that he/ she gave was that a little back boy respected the teacher that was strict and thought that the more layed back teacher was a push over. The students in Mrs. M's class seam to respect her very much and this fact backs up the statement of the author of the packet we read. The teacher is not short tempered or angry but stays on top of things and doesn't let anything slide. She has the rules set, the students know them, and she doesn't bend the rules for anyone or anything. This structured, consistent way of teaching is wonderful for these children and i have noticed, through the children's behavior, that is works very well in creating a happy, organized learning environment.
the children walk in lines and where each student stands is predetermined. The floors are made up of squares and each student knows that they must stand in their own square, being sure that they arent too close or too far from any of the other students. also, when the students stand in line, they put their finger up to their mouth to show that they arent making noise and are being good. some teachers will walk by and see the class being good and say "good quiet standing class" the class wont say thank you or start talking after the comment but simply smile. The children dont squirm or wiggle around when they are standing and when one does the teacher gets on top of it and says something like, "is something wrong? no? then stand still."
Though the students are very formal during class and in the halls, outside and during gym they go crazy. This shows that the teacher is strict for the benefit of the childrens learning but is also lenient when it is time to have fun. one thing that bothers me, however, is that when a child is in 'red' which means they have been acting up and misbehaving that day, they arent allowed to participate in gym. i would think that having them run around in gym class would help them to calm down and release all of their extra energy. Instead, the student sits still with all of their extra energy and watches the other children have fun. i feel as though it would have the opposite effect that the teacher intended.
Learning and good behavior are valued very much in this class room. The children seam to want the teacher to be happy with them. instead of the reward system that many teachers have, this teacher has an opposite approach. students arent rewarded for being good but, instead, expected to be good and are put in yellow orange or even red if they are bad. This seams to work very well because being good is expected by both teacher and student.
As i stated before, the children are usually pretty formal for children. They are usually very polite and smiley. One informal interaction that i had with a student was interesting to me and really made our differences stand out. A black girl came up to me at the end of the day one day and asked me what i was. she named off many minority ethnicities and then gave up on guessing and wanted me to tell her. I thought this was funny because i dont think that i look Spanish or black which are too things that she asked but it occurred to me that most of the people that she knows are minorities and, so, she probably didnt think to ask if i was white. i told her that i was french and English and Irish and Scottish and she said 'wow thats a lot and then started trying to relate to my background by saying that she met someone once who spoke french and asked me if i could. i told her one of the few phrases that i know which is "fom le bushe" (i totally spelt that wrong but it means shut your mouth.) i told her it meant be quiet and she giggled because the French sounded funny.
the children i work with are wonderful and i never would have expected them to be so well behaved knowing that they live in the city. i was expecting to be chasing after children running down the hall but instead i am sitting and Reading with kids, helping them with math and writing and am actually bored some of the time, not feeling that needed because the teacher has everything so under control.