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In Mrs. Cromwell's 3rd period World History class there are 26 students, 14 female and 12 male, ranging from ages 14 to 18. Achievement levels vary, with about 1/4 remedial, 1/4 advanced, and half average. Socioeconomic status in the district ranges widely from wealthy to poverty. Students typically seem uninterested or refuse to do work, but most enjoy sports and extracurriculars. They learn best visually and kinesthetically. As 9th graders, they lack background knowledge in geography and note-taking skills, but excel with technology. The Oxford school district includes 8 schools and had an enrollment of 3,356 in 2006-2007 with diverse demographics. The community

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146 views4 pages

Contextual Information

In Mrs. Cromwell's 3rd period World History class there are 26 students, 14 female and 12 male, ranging from ages 14 to 18. Achievement levels vary, with about 1/4 remedial, 1/4 advanced, and half average. Socioeconomic status in the district ranges widely from wealthy to poverty. Students typically seem uninterested or refuse to do work, but most enjoy sports and extracurriculars. They learn best visually and kinesthetically. As 9th graders, they lack background knowledge in geography and note-taking skills, but excel with technology. The Oxford school district includes 8 schools and had an enrollment of 3,356 in 2006-2007 with diverse demographics. The community

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Contextual Information

1. Knowledge of characteristics of students


Use the spaces provided below to address indicated characteristics of your
students.
Age-Range, Gender, Total number of students

In Mrs. Cromwells 3rd period World History class, there are twenty-six active
students. Of these twenty-six, fourteen are female and twelve are male. These
students range from ages fourteen to eighteen, so there is a great amount of
diversity within the classroom setting. Most are ninth graders, and though a
majority fall within the ages of fourteen to fifteen, the older students are in the
class because they have failed the class in their previous years of high school.

Achievement Levels (Remedial, Average, Advanced/ Accelerated, or specify


range in percentiles or grade- equivalent)

On average, I would say that of my class is remedial, is


advanced/accelerated, and the other half is average. For example, in one of my
world history classes, 5 people have As, 7 people have Fs, and the remaining
students all fall within the B-D category. I believe that these results are because
of two reasons: not caring, and not having the prior knowledge to succeed in
class. From my time spent at Oxford thus far, I have seen students who are failing
move up to a passing grade. The biggest contributor to their lack of success is
that they refuse to turn in any work. For the average and advanced students, I
believe that they will go on to pass the state test and thrive in their US History
classes.

Socio-Economic Description

There is a wide variety of socioeconomic status in the Oxford School District.


Ultimately, there is a distinct line between the higher-class students and the lowerclass students, with basically no in-between. Some of the students are extremely
wealthy, with parents holding notable positions like doctors, lawyers, professors,
and coaches at Ole Miss. On the other hand, many of the students have free or
reduced lunch, work numerous jobs, and live in poverty. The only noticeable
difference to the common observer would be the clothing that the students wear to
school, as all students have protected laptops and matching book bags.

Typical Demeanor of Students

For the most part, the students seem uninterested in school. In


my third period class, the students tend to have attitude
problems and struggle to stay on task. In my eighth period class,

a majority of the students refuse to do any work at all. The ones


who put forth an effort in both classes have a strong interest in
school and want to succeed. Throughout the day, many of the
students lose their focus and turn to their electronic devices at
some point during the lecture for a brief amount of time. It is
evident that the students want to learn and be successful in
school; however, they have no motivation or willpower to put the
effort into their work.
Typical Interest and Involvement of Students

A majority of the students enjoy spending their free time playing sports. If they
are not on a school team, they like to do athletic activities on their own or with
their friends. Some of the more popular sports in the class are basketball,
football, baseball, soccer, softball, and powerlifting. In addition to this, many of
the students are involved in other extracurricular activities on campus. The
students participate in the Debate Team, ROTC, Dance, FCCLA (Family, Career,
and Community Leaders of America), Band, and Orchestra. The students also
like to spend their free time sleeping, eating, and shopping around Oxford. A
majority of the students feel bored in school; however, they feel as though it is a
necessity. Most of the students favorite subject is math, because they find it easy.
On the other hand, their least favorite is typically social studies or English
because both require an extensive amount of writing and studying. The students
seem the most interested when we are doing a class activity where they can work
in groups, and seem the least interested when we conduct a lecture.

2. Knowledge of students varied approaches to learning (Include


information from learning styles inventory)

A majority of my students are visual and kinesthetic learners, but they benefit
from auditory lessons as well. Because of this reason, I tend to write things on the
board or pull them up on the Apple TV, as well as verbally communicate to my
students. The students enjoy cooperative learning tasks, and I try to allow them to
work in groups or socialize with each other whenever appropriate. The students
have begun to participate more in class, and thoroughly enjoy analyzing situations
and answering problems collectively as a class.

3. Knowledge of students skills and prior learning

Because a majority of the students are in 9th grade, they are still trying to adjust to
the fast-paced curriculum of high school. The students have not yet taken a
geography course in high school, so a majority have a hard time understanding
World History. For example, when we covered the Partitioning of Africa, the
students had an extremely difficult time labeling the countries in Africa. Because
of this lack of basic understanding, the students seem to struggle in this class. On
the contrary, in the US History classes, the students seem to have a better

understanding due to their previous courses and background knowledge. The


students seem to have the hardest time taking notes. I believe that this is due to
lack of experience. When we lecture, the students do not yet have the skills to
know what is important to write down. On the other hand, the students seem to
excel when we do work on the computers. I believe that this is because they were
raised in a technological generation. They have the skills needed to conduct
adequate work on their computers.
4. Knowledge of community and school district (Include a
description of the community and school district)

Within the Oxford school district, there are eight different


schools. These include: Bramlett Elementary, Oxford
Elementary, Della Davidson Elementary, Oxford Intermediate,
Oxford Middle, Oxford High, Oxford Learning Center, and C.M.
Scott Center. In the 2006-2007 school year, a total number of
3,356 students were enrolled in the Oxford school district. Based
on a 2009 demographics report of both teachers and students,
47.6% of the school districts population were male, while 52.4%
were female. From these statistics, 70.9% were White, 25% were
Black/African American, 1% were American Indian/Alaska Native,
2.7% were Asian, 0.1% were Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific
Islander, and 1.3% were other. 41.9% of the students in the
Oxford school district receive a free or reduced lunch every day.
In addition to this, students who qualify are also able to receive a
breakfast everyday. The Oxford school district received the
prestigious Excellent A School District in 2014, making the
district A-rated. With regards to the community, Oxford and the
University of Mississippi very much coincide. Because of this, a
large amount of the citys residents are students of Ole Miss and
come from all over the world, making the city of Oxford an
extremely diverse town. In addition to this, Oxford experiences
both wealth and poverty, leading to the discovery of both
mansions and government housing. Some of the main focal
points of the city are the downtown Square area, the Ole Miss
campus, Rowan Oak, and the vast amount of Magnolia and Oak
trees.

Sources:
http://proximityone.com/acs/dpms/dp1_2803450.htm
http://www.oxfordsd.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=1
http://www.oxfordsd.org/domain/7
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/local/highschoolchallenge/schools/2014/oxfo
rd-oxford-ms/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_School_District

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