Teacher Work Sample

Section 1: SETTING AND CONTEXT

Section 1) The School Community
Fort Collins High School has an excellent learning environment where students are
encourage and valued. FCHS vision statement is Where Excellence is Expected. To
accomplish this goal, FCHS states, Fort Collins High Schools mission is to provide an
excellent education for all students in a nurturing, creative, challenging, and disciplined
environment so that all students have the knowledge, values and skills to be productive,
responsible participants in our society and to successfully pursue careers when they graduate
from Fort Collins High School. In order to create this culture, students are introduced to the
Pillars of Excellence. The Pillars of Excellence include, acceptance, pride, integrity, respect and
responsibility. Students who demonstrate these qualities are given Clyde Kudos which enters
them into a raffle every week. Along with there policies, the school itself creates an environment
where excellence is expected.
To begin, the school is a welcoming place. The design is well organized creating easy
access to all classrooms from a multitude of routes. The design helps student move quickly from
one class to another. One thing that is a new experience for me is the school bell system. My
high school did not have any bells while Fort Collins has three, a five minute warning, three
minute warning and then a bell to start class. This is a minor difference but is certainly noticeable
and seems to benefit the students with arriving on time. Aside from the school and classroom
there are many aspects that make Fort Collins High School special.
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One major aspect of Fort Collins High School is the amount of activities, resources, and
programs which are available for its students. For example, Fort Collins High offers 21 different
varsity sport options to its students. The school is also known as the Home of the Champions
for their record of over 66 state championships throughout their history. Along with sports, there
are several club options in the school. Some of these options include, Student Council, foreign
language clubs, cycling club, and countless others. Parents and community members can get
involved in these programs as volunteers, coaches, organizers and are quite integral to the
process. I am a firm believer in providing outside of class activities for students to learn and
grow from and Fort Collins High School does an excellent job of giving their students many
options.
Along with activities there are many programs that help to support and encourage
appropriate student behavior. There are two major programs which come to mind. The first
program I found quite interesting was the teen parent program. The Fort Collins High School is
currently the only school in the district which offers this option. Students from other PSD
schools have to travel to Fort Collins High School in order to participate in the program. The
program is geared to helping teen parents graduate from high school. The teacher, Melissa
Schaeffer, does an excellent job of giving teen parents a comfortable environment where they
can receive their education. Another resource all students can take advantage of is the AVID
program. AVID is a college preparatory program which helps students learn techniques to
manage their current classes and in turn prepare them for college. In AVID students work
together to help one another with assignments and test they might be struggling with. Overall the
program helps to establish strong work ethic for students. By having so many different resources

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and activities Fort Collins High School does not only helping their students but plays a large part
in the community as a whole.
Because schools play such a major role in a communities it is important to know the
cities demographics. The total population of Fort Collins High School is 118,652 of which 92%
are White and 8.8% are Hispanic while the other ethnicities are below 4%. Comparatively, Fort
Collins High School has student population of 1509. The two largest ethnicities, Hispanic and
Caucasian, are 24.6% and 66.2% respectively. In regards to free and reduced lunches, Fort
Collins High School lands near the middle of all Poudre School District Schools at 31%. Overall,
FCHS has a larger diversity scale then the city of Fort Collins.
Section 2) Setting and Context (Classroom)
Currently I am lead teacher for three US History classes in Fort Collins High School. All
together I have over 100 students that I am responsible for. My largest class has 35 students and
my smallest has 28. Overall from a demographic stand point my classes fit the school norm. I
have a high percentage of white students and more females than males. However, my 6th period
class seems to differ from the norm. In my 6th period, I have a high majority of boys and about a
third of the class is Latino. For all my classes there is a strong mix of high achieves and those
you are ELL, on IEPs or 504s. My students seemed to be involved in a great deal of activities
which is really excited to see. A good amount of my students are involved in drama and the arts
and I also have a group of students who are in track or other sports. I really like to see these
students in their area of interest and attempt to bring those factors into the classroom.
Throughout my student teaching I have noticed the different dynamics between my 3rd, 6th and 7th
periods and that has helped to shape me as a teacher.

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To begin, third period interesting class in its own right. The student work very well on
their own and seem to take any assignment in stride. It seemed any assignment I gave them they
would absorb the directions and dive right into the content. There are only a few student who I
would generally have to give reminder to stay on task but once they were redirected they rarely
had to be reminded twice. I feel like 3rd period has a strong sense of connection. I never had more
than 3 student absent and if a student was missing at, another would inform me where they were.
In regards to academics, period 3 scored strongly on projects and assignments. For the most part
they were better than average test takers but there were several students who struggled with test
anxiety. In period 3 I had three students with IEP, generally needing preferential seating and note
guides and I also have two ELL students, requiring limited in class readings. As a whole the class
is a pleasure to teach, thanks in part to their enthusiasm for the subject, their strong work ethic
and their sense of community.
The next period I am lead teacher for is period 6. When first met my cooperating teacher
she mentioned to me that period 6 was difficult and in her words had too many boys.
Personally, I was excited for this opportunity. Being a high school lacrosse coach for four years I
believed I was prepared to handle a class with a majority of boys. Although they are sometimes a
handful I really enjoy teaching period 6. Overall it seemed like the students were excited to see a
change in the classroom setting when I came in. That being said, there were struggles in the
class. There are many times with period 6 that have required several redirects and additional
teach able moments with some of students. There was one student in particular who I had
troubles with at the start of the semester. Thankfully as time went on the community of
acceptance and respect went a long way in having strong classroom management and just an
overall successful classroom.
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As stated early period 6 does not generally fit the mold of Fort Collins High School.
About a third of the class is Latino and it has a high majority of male students. Of the 28 students
in the class eight are either on an IEP/504 or are ELL students. This can be a struggle but also
blessing. This class has made me work hard on my ability to differentiation in the classroom.
There are so many different learners in period 6 it is fun to find a lesson that includes all types
and seems to engage all the students. In the end, although difficult, period 6 class creates such an
interesting dynamic it is a joy to teach them.
The final class I teach is period 7. Period 7 has been the hardest nut to crack, they really
do not like change. When I came in for Mrs. Matthie, they were very reluctant to learn and show
respect. Many questioned why I was there and doubted my ability to be the teacher. It was a
struggle to connect with them at first but it seems as the semester has gone on the students and I
have really come together. I think this has shown in my ability to be honest them which in turn
made them more honest with me. Demographically speaking I have a large amount of high level
learners in the class. Many students in period 7 are would have taking AP US History but it
conflicted with other classes they wanted to take. On the other hand, I have five students on IEPS
or are ELL. This has been an additional challenge but has taught me the importance of keeping
high level students interested while keeping the lower level learners up with the class. Period 7
has been a unique class to teach and although sometimes difficult it has taught me a great deal.
In the end, my three period and over 100 students taught me so much about the large
differences of students and classrooms. Going through the CSU program one learns the different
learning styles of the individual but it was not until student teaching that I learned whole
classrooms have different learning styles in themselves. Period 3 really enjoys having concrete
goals and objectives in a class. Period 6 needs to have several different transitions in a lesson to
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feel most comfortable. Finally, Period 7 likes to have as much of their own creativity as possible
in a class and have the teacher step back. Overall it has been very exciting to learn about the
different dynamics of a classroom.

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