Context & Setting of Student Teaching
Greeley Central High School |
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Pride, Class and Dignity are the key values upheld and encouraged at Greeley Central High School. The building and cultural sense of the school is full of pride. Weld County District 6 includes a variety of other schools; however, Greeley Central is the most respected. Students who attend GCHS know they’re receiving a quality education that focuses on career ready skills, along with the support of college prep and a total of 70 teachers who believe in their ability to succeed.
Greeley Central exemplifies a noticeable deficit in parental support. Parents and guardians are continually encouraged by the school and the district to participate in activities pertaining to student achievement, success, and involvement. Central supports parents to “volunteer in the classroom, library, offices or help at events, such as Fall registration and/or Parent/Teacher conferences.” Parents and guardians also receive personal invitations and reminders for parent teacher conferences and are suggested to participate in other activities such as the Wild Cat Foundation which pertains to athletics. In addition to parental support, Greeley Central has programs in place to facilitate growth in an environment where students are provided support from their Freshmen to Senior year of school. Classes like Career and Life Choices and AVID assist in transition from Middle School to High School and High School to College. Greeley Central also has various Data Teams to analyze and assess students’ growth and development throughout the course of a semester and year. Finally, Greeley Central aligns closely with North Range Behavioral Health to assist students with achieving mental, physical and emotional health. Due to the lack of parental participation at Greeley Central High School, a lot of the work and ownership of student achievement, health, and success falls on teachers, counselors and administrators.
The demographics of Greeley Central HS includes a total student body population of 1,474. The total minority enrollment is 69% with a 63% Hispanic enrollment. Also included in the population is: 0.4% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 1% Asian, 2% Black, 0.1% Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander, 31% White, and 2% two or more races. There is a large percent of severally economically disadvantaged students with a total of 63%. This total includes 54% students enrolled in the Free Lunch Program and 9% enrolled in the Reduced-Price Lunch Program. However, despite the socioeconomic disadvantages experienced at Greeley Central High School, there is a participation rate of 34% in Advanced Placement students. Students who participate in AP have a passing rate of 61% and an exam pass rate of 49%.
The school itself holds true to its roots. The “Castle” is the oldest part of the building, built in the 1927. It was originally built to resemble a French chateau. While the school is older, it is still clean and kept up with the most previous renovations being in the year 2000. Classroom are well lit with windows in most every room. They are a student centered space with almost every teacher having their own room. Most of the wall space available in covered with student work and motivational posters. They even took a step forward this year in removing old TVs and VCRs that were outdated in order to make wall space. Matt Ellis’ room is located on the 3rd floor of “The Castle” in room 303. He has a South facing room with several windows that allow a lot of light and heat in the room. Nearly every day we have to open the windows first thing in the morning or the room gets WAY too hot in the afternoon. The layout of the desks begins in the shape of a horseshoe. However, this makes small group collaboration difficult; therefore, we changed the layout of the desks early on to accommodate 6 groups of 5 desks per group. This allows for more collaboration and student interaction. I had the pleasure of teaching three freshmen English classes and one senior Non-Fiction class (comprised of both juniors and seniors). Technology is not a dominating part of the school. Students do not have access to computers regularly and lab/library time is invaluable. It’s important to sign up for your slot early on in order to be able to reserve time on the computers. Classroom management is also a struggle at Greeley Central. It is challenging to keep group participation on task and building classroom norms is extremely important. I use PBIS in order to handle everyday classroom management. Chronic tardiness is the biggest issue in classroom participation, attendance, and student interactions. Cell phones and talking are every day occurrences; however, utilizing phones for technological purposed has facilitated a platform that the students are used to using, as well as providing additional outlets for student and teacher interactions and building relationships.
A for conduct, the school has a conduct book that is followed.
Sources:
*Greeley Central High School Parent Handbook (2015-2016) Retrieved April 1, 2016
*North Range Behavioral Health - http://www.northrange.org/ Retrieved April 1, 2016
*Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeley_Central_High_School Retrieved April 16, 2016
*Northern Colorado Demographic Profile (2014). Retrieved March 8, 2016
Greeley Central exemplifies a noticeable deficit in parental support. Parents and guardians are continually encouraged by the school and the district to participate in activities pertaining to student achievement, success, and involvement. Central supports parents to “volunteer in the classroom, library, offices or help at events, such as Fall registration and/or Parent/Teacher conferences.” Parents and guardians also receive personal invitations and reminders for parent teacher conferences and are suggested to participate in other activities such as the Wild Cat Foundation which pertains to athletics. In addition to parental support, Greeley Central has programs in place to facilitate growth in an environment where students are provided support from their Freshmen to Senior year of school. Classes like Career and Life Choices and AVID assist in transition from Middle School to High School and High School to College. Greeley Central also has various Data Teams to analyze and assess students’ growth and development throughout the course of a semester and year. Finally, Greeley Central aligns closely with North Range Behavioral Health to assist students with achieving mental, physical and emotional health. Due to the lack of parental participation at Greeley Central High School, a lot of the work and ownership of student achievement, health, and success falls on teachers, counselors and administrators.
The demographics of Greeley Central HS includes a total student body population of 1,474. The total minority enrollment is 69% with a 63% Hispanic enrollment. Also included in the population is: 0.4% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 1% Asian, 2% Black, 0.1% Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander, 31% White, and 2% two or more races. There is a large percent of severally economically disadvantaged students with a total of 63%. This total includes 54% students enrolled in the Free Lunch Program and 9% enrolled in the Reduced-Price Lunch Program. However, despite the socioeconomic disadvantages experienced at Greeley Central High School, there is a participation rate of 34% in Advanced Placement students. Students who participate in AP have a passing rate of 61% and an exam pass rate of 49%.
The school itself holds true to its roots. The “Castle” is the oldest part of the building, built in the 1927. It was originally built to resemble a French chateau. While the school is older, it is still clean and kept up with the most previous renovations being in the year 2000. Classroom are well lit with windows in most every room. They are a student centered space with almost every teacher having their own room. Most of the wall space available in covered with student work and motivational posters. They even took a step forward this year in removing old TVs and VCRs that were outdated in order to make wall space. Matt Ellis’ room is located on the 3rd floor of “The Castle” in room 303. He has a South facing room with several windows that allow a lot of light and heat in the room. Nearly every day we have to open the windows first thing in the morning or the room gets WAY too hot in the afternoon. The layout of the desks begins in the shape of a horseshoe. However, this makes small group collaboration difficult; therefore, we changed the layout of the desks early on to accommodate 6 groups of 5 desks per group. This allows for more collaboration and student interaction. I had the pleasure of teaching three freshmen English classes and one senior Non-Fiction class (comprised of both juniors and seniors). Technology is not a dominating part of the school. Students do not have access to computers regularly and lab/library time is invaluable. It’s important to sign up for your slot early on in order to be able to reserve time on the computers. Classroom management is also a struggle at Greeley Central. It is challenging to keep group participation on task and building classroom norms is extremely important. I use PBIS in order to handle everyday classroom management. Chronic tardiness is the biggest issue in classroom participation, attendance, and student interactions. Cell phones and talking are every day occurrences; however, utilizing phones for technological purposed has facilitated a platform that the students are used to using, as well as providing additional outlets for student and teacher interactions and building relationships.
A for conduct, the school has a conduct book that is followed.
Sources:
*Greeley Central High School Parent Handbook (2015-2016) Retrieved April 1, 2016
*North Range Behavioral Health - http://www.northrange.org/ Retrieved April 1, 2016
*Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeley_Central_High_School Retrieved April 16, 2016
*Northern Colorado Demographic Profile (2014). Retrieved March 8, 2016