Jonathan Johnson

Setting and Context

17 January 2016`
Thompson Valley High School
The students/administrators/teachers/ and community of Thompson Valley High School
spent a considerable time and effort into creating a safe, inclusive, and educational learning
environment for all those who attend. Now, the attendance of Thompson Valley is split in
multiple demographics; including 22% non-white, 17% Hispanic, and a fairly prominent
LGBQT community. Added to this is 28% of the school population, being eligible for either free
or reduced price lunch This melting pot of students, brings all diverse backgrounds and stories
which in my opinion help create the togetherness and community. As I walked down the
hallways, I saw that countless posters and flyers were in the hallways, either promoting or
updating information on the countless clubs that make up Thompson Valley High school. With
all the posters and flyers, it seemed very hard for someone to not get involved in some way in
Thompson, helping furthering the sense of community of togetherness; a community of
togetherness that is easily seen just by walking thought the halls. Whenever you walk through the
halls, you can see upper classmen and lower classmen mingling and chatting before the day
started. Students move through groups quite easily, helping create the sense of unity that is
stressed by many of the teachers, administrators, and students.
Unity wasnt the only thing that is focused on at Thompson Valley, for the creation and
staying power of a positive learning environment for all learners is considered quite important at
Thompson. In fact, the more, I spent time in Thompson the more programs that fostered a

positive learning environment became unearthed. Programs such as Advising or Academy, where
the students were put into place, grade level by grade level; only furthered the process of creating
and implementing a positive learning environment for all students that entered Thompson Valley
High Schools hallways. In these Advising classes, which meets twice a week every other week;
students are given guidance in a variety of topics, ranging from goals for the semester, classes to
take, and so much more. Being a fairly new program, Advisory is hitting the ground running and
has been fairly well received by the lower classroom, for they were the first classes to fully
incorporate Advisory. Another such program is Peer Buddy. A program that pairs students with
intensive needs with upperclassman or other students who assist the intensive needs students in
the classroom, or other social settings.
As in every classroom, the students vary all across the spectrum, whether it be
developmental levels, interests, abilities, and personal and academic needs. Throughout my
classes, are a wide variety of learners, ranging from gifted and talented to students with IEPs or
504s. Some of them, are student athletes, some of them are highly involved with clubs and
activities, band, theater, drawing, or other extracurricular activities. Some want to play football at
the college level, go to art school, or dont want to go to college at all. However, just like the rest
of Thompson for the most part my classes manage to coexist peacefully for the most part. A
prominent examples reside in my sole Economics class. My Economic class, is solely made up
of seniors; and is a female majority, in a class of 30, 24 are female; while the other 6 are male. A
stark contrast from Loveland, which is comprised of 51.7% women; however the racial makeup
of my Economics class was fairly consistent of the makeup of Loveland. 26 inhabitants 87% of
the class are Caucasian, 3 inhabitants 10% of the class are Hispanic, and 1 or .03 are Asian
American. Percentages being fairly common with Loveland demographics and Thompson Valley

High school demographics. For Loveland is comprised of 91.5% Caucasian, Asian 1.0%, and
Hispanic or Latino, 11.7%. In contrast, Thompson Valley High Schools student population is
made up of 44.8% female Caucasians, 43.9 male Caucasians, 4.6% female Hispanic students,
and 1% Asian students.