Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
In planning my unit for my internship, I will be faced with a very unique circumstance.
What is unique about City High is that they are all supposed to be at the same level academically.
City High brings all of the gifted students from the GRPS school system, and places them in
the same building. As such, I am supposed to treat the students as if they are all advanced
learners. There are supposedly no students in class with special needs or any difficulties with
thinking, writing, or language skills City High also likes to pride itself on diversity, so my class
has a mix of various ethnic backgrounds. There are four students who identify as African
students, two Asian American students, and one who identifies as mixed race. All students Ive
observed in class are proficient in their English language skills, but some students openly speak
Spanish during group discussion, or when they have some down time.
As far as morals and spirituality goes, the learners in World History arent uniform at all.
Some students say they are Catholic, some are still trying to figure out who they are, some are
various forms of Protestant, and some have no religion at all. In the students social sphere, there
is a general attitude of excellence. From what Ive seen, good grades are the thing prized above
all else. Students will stay up very late to perfect a paper or project, and many times neglect
minor assignments to make sure they do well on the major stuff. Morally, they all seem to be
really good kids. Theyre polite, they respect authority, most genuinely want to learn, and they
even clap for me after I teach a lesson. What is mostly the same, however, is all of their political
affiliations. Out of the entire class, only two identify as Republican or leaning right. The rest all
students is on the teacher. Most of the time, the students will have a formative assessment at the
beginning of class (Do Now), which comes in the form of a reading quiz or a thought provoking
question on the previous days material. Students will then discuss this Do Now in groups
(Think, Pair, Share) for about five minutes. After these things are completed, the actual meat
of the class starts. The bulk of the class could consist of going over a difficult reading step by
step, receiving a lecture on the days topic, or even watching a documentary about certain
historical events. As this is the formula for virtually every class period, I will adopt the same
generally kept separate from high schoolers. For instance, they not only have classes in different
areas of the school, but also have different lunch times. They are also not allowed to participate
in the same clubs. Statistics on socioeconomic status are hard to come by for City because every
student receives a free lunch and breakfast. Students think their households earn a below
average income, eleven students think theyre about average, and the rest think they have above
average income. I dont know whether this data is accurate or not, but it is really interesting to
see how students view themselves and their economic conditions. According to the National
Center for Education Statistics (2016), City High/Middle has 727 total students (2015 data).
Specifically, they have one American Indian student, 57 Asian/Pacific Islanders, 147 Hispanic
kids, 97 black (non-Hispanic), 389 white (non-Hispanic), and 36 kids who are two or more races.
These overall statistics of the school correspond fairly well with the statics of my class.
Although, there does seem to be smaller overall proportion of white students in my class. There
is no tracking going on at City, because all students have already been tracked. All classes are
supposed to be advanced, and all students are expected to be able to handle them.
Their curriculum standards for this unit have to factor in both Michigan standards and
International Baccalaureate standards, but most teachers pay closer attention to the requirements
under IB. All content under IB is required to have an international focus, which shouldnt be too
hard in a World History class (ibo.org 2016). This standard may, however, mean that Im going
to have to look outside of Europe when discussing World War I. Their textbook is the Advanced
Placement edition of a World Civilizations textbook, but I dont see any uniformity with regard
at the school are required to interact with their surrounding community through required
community service, some type of interaction with the arts, and required physical activity. All
students have to complete at least 20 hours (older grades 25 hours) in each category by the end of
the school year (grps.org 2016). The schools support base comes from the wider GRPS system.
Students are allowed to join sports teams from other GRPS schools, and the teachers at City
Bibliography
Grand Rapids Public Schools, . (2017). Community, Action, Service, @ City High Middle.
In grps.org.
NCES, . (2016). City Middle/High School. In National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved