This
summer, I am teaching third grade at Westcott Elementary School. I am working
in the summer bridge program, the students in this program have just finished
third grade and need to complete summer school so that they can attend fourth
grade. For some student, they are here because they had too many absences while
others are struggling in school and their test scores were too low for them to
advance to the next grade. Because Westcott is a neighborhood school, during
the school year many students attend other schools (charter, magnet, etc.); but
for summer school, all students attend the school closest to them because every
CPS school works with the same curriculum for the summer.
When I
walk to this school, before even entering the building, there are already
obvious differences between Westcott and most of the elementary schools in my
hometown, Vernon Hills. One of the first things I’ve noticed is the proximity
of schools in my hometown compared to how many and how far apart the schools
are from one another. Westcott is a Pre-K – 8th grade school, while
the schools I attended were K – 5 and 6 – 8 grade schools. The schools in my
hometown even appeared to be larger than Westcott although they cover a smaller
range of grade levels. A few other notable differences were parking lot and
playground size, which was not too surprising for me only because city space is
harder to come by than suburb space.
When
thinking about the differences between the two schools, I wonder how this
affects the students attending these schools. Looking at demographics of the
two schools, there are obvious differences and these are just based on the
different locations of the two schools. The test scores of the two schools are
very different as well, and I would attribute that to a number of reasons. The
environments surrounding the schools are very different, as are the funding
that these two schools receive. Suburban schools and CPS schools follow
different types of curriculums, and this does affect the way students learn and
how they score on standardized testing.
Environment
plays a major role in student ability and education; students’ ability to
succeed in school is affected by the life they have outside of school. If
students are constantly exposed to negative environmental factors and are
unable to see themselves moving forward with their education, they become
products of what is called the “self-fulfilling prophesy.” If a student hears a
stereotype or comment about themselves enough times, they will be more likely
to fulfill this stereotype and become what people expect them to. Depending on
the people students associate inside and outside the classroom shape the way
they view the world and the area they live in. The more positive influences a
student has, the more likely they will be to succeed. Working at Westcott has
taught me that students respond to authority in different ways, and entering a
new school and a new classroom takes some getting used to. Student will not
automatically accept you as the authority figure simply because you’re there,
you need to earn your respect. After working at Westcott for a week and a half,
my students are finally starting to see me as a constant authority figure in
the room, and they are seeing me as a teacher rather than just a classroom
helper. It’s been difficult adjusting to the new environment, but I feel this
is one of the most valuable teaching experiences I will have because I am
experiencing what it feels like to teach in an unfamiliar setting. These
experiences will help me continue to shape my teaching styles and apply what
works to my future students. I have
really enjoyed my time, good and bad, so far, and I am eager to continue
working and watching how my students develop over the next few weeks.
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