Evans 1 Jennifer Evans Dr.

Rebecca Stevens Education 215-02 03 November 2011 Smithlands School and Community Diversity There are numerous aspects that go into how a school should be run and what tactics would best benefit its students. In order to determine what strategies and content will have the best effect on an overall student body, there are certain statistics and data that need to be known. While beginning my quest for information on this project, I learned a lot about the various locations throughout the internet that compile data on schools throughout the United States. While the Department of Education was my starting source for information, I ended up having to use the Google search engine to find other useable statistics. Living in the age of technology, it was not too difficult to start finding some key information websites, such as Great Schools and City Data. The main two problems I came across had to do with data itself, however, as opposed to finding it. The first issue was finding data that had been published recently, preferably in the 2010-2011 school year. Since Smithland Elementary School was built in 2008, it was harder to find detailed improvement charts and information. The next problem was that there were differing numbers located on various websites for the same information, with percentages usually having a deviation anywhere from one to ten percentage points. This is when I decided it would be best to e-mail the list of people provided to us by Dr. Stevens to ensure that I was getting the correct information: going straight to the source is always the best policy. Having been going to Smithland for my field experience for almost a month now, I had a pretty good idea of the information I wanted to search for, as I know it plays a big part in the

Evans 2 schools atmosphere and curriculum. With a large portion of the 435 population of the school being made up of Latin American students, Smithland is considered a minority school (Homepage). The breakdown of the ethnic diversity is as follows: 41.7% Hispanic, 32.7% White, 14% African American, 1.9% Asian, 0.9% American Indian, and 8.8% who are two or more races (Great Schools). These percentages did not shock me, as I already knew there are a large number of Hispanic students based on my time in the classroom, which is roughly 60% Hispanic. In terms of grade level, Kindergarten takes the award for most currently enrolled with 90 students, followed by first grade with 86, fourth grade with 77, third grade with 76, second grade with 70, and Pre-K with 35 (Great Schools). There are currently five teachers respectively at the Kindergarten and first grade levels. If this trend continues, there may be a higher demand for the upper level grades to accommodate the rising student population. Currently, there is a 13:1 teacher-student ratio at Smithland, proving that there is a good amount of individual instruction time available for the teachers to make use of. The next piece of data I collected by e-mailing Andrea Early, the Director of School Nutrition for Harrisonburg, VA schools. She relayed to me that this year at Smithland, 76.15% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, with the division average totaling 66.39%. This data directly correlates to the information I found on the community of Harrisonburg City. The average household income for the 2009 year was $34,967, with the Virginia average almost doubling at $59,372 (City Data). In fact, 25% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2009, compared to the 10.6% state average (Census). Furthermore, the home ownership rate was 38%, compared to Virginias 69.2% (Census). Such data reflects the financial struggle many people are facing right now; however, with the Harrisonburg census one has to take into account the high population of college students living throughout the city due to

Evans 3 James Madison University. The entire population of the city stood at 48,914 in 2010, increasing by about 8,000 in the last ten years (Census). The ethnic diversity I found didnt really match up to Smithlands: 78.4% are White, 15.7% are Hispanic, 6.4% are African American, 3.5% are Asian, 3.1% reported having two or more races, and 0.3% are American Indian and Alaska Native (Population). So, while the city has a majority population, a few of the elementary schools based on class discussion are predominantly Hispanic. Next, I broke down the place of birth and citizenship data. 37,767 people are considered native born, meaning they were either born in the state of residence, VA, or the United States (USA). 6,216 people are classified as foreign born, with 4,620 born without U.S. citizenship, and 3,468 born in Latin America (USA). From here, I wanted to find the breakdown of languages spoken in the home. 77.44% of people said they speak English at home, with 14.42% stating Spanish as their primary language (USA). This data explains the great ESOL program, primarily directed at the Kindergarten level, which is currently in its second year at Smithland. With the student population in my classroom consistently of primarily Hispanic students, teachers caught on quite quickly to the fact that language was going to play a big part in the learning process. Rather than trying to marginalize the students to the domination cultures English speaking ways, the created an interactive ESOL program that comes into the classroom and is incorporated into instruction. In my Kindergarten class for instance, the students switch classrooms about halfway through the day, with Mrs. Lays class going to their Spanish lesson. While I have yet to have the opportunity to observe this class, I look forward to when I can in the coming weeks. With the two primary languages of both the school and city being represented, the students have an opportunity to shine in certain areas and progress in others. Learning a new language is much easier for young children as their brains are like sponges ready to soak up all of

Evans 4 the knowledge they can. They come to the classroom excited about the day and content, rather than nervous about the fact that they may not understand what is going on due to any level of a language barrier. Though all of the Hispanic students spoke great English from what I observed in my classroom, the teacher had no problem speaking a sort of Spanglish, or a mix of Spanish and English, to the students so they understand what was happening in both languages. The students always brighten up whenever Mrs. Marsh says something in Spanish, because they are able to tell she cares enough about their education to do so. The diversity of a student population has a huge impact on the instructional strategies a teacher must implement in his or her classroom to ensure everyone is having a positive learning experience. If I were to be a teacher at Smithland, I would be more than willing to work with the ESOL program to ensure the students who needed that extra help with language were getting it. I had a chance to observe a third grade classroom during my last visit to Smithland, and while I was in there, not a word of Spanish was spoken. Granted, the number of Hispanic children was not as large as in the Kindergarten classroom and more time was being placed on the higher level content, as is expected. Also, since the school was built in 2008, I have a feeling not as many White students in the upper grade levels are as accustomed to Spanish as they are becoming in Kindergarten today. Since I would like to teach around the third grade level, I would start off by allowing each of the students to represent their country of origin on a map. While many would probably pin the United States as theirs, some would probably spread out, particularly in South American countries. Such an emphasis on culture would open up the door to a number of discussions. Also, it would help students realize that while we may come from different areas of the world with different ethnicities, that is what makes life beautiful and unique. Each of my students would feel represented through various lessons, with one allowing students to give a

Evans 5 project on either where they came from or where their ancestors migrated from. It is important for people to be connected to their ancestry, as if addressed, it gives them something to be proud of as well as interested in. When I first began this project, I wasnt one hundred percent sure why it was so important. As I started collecting data, however, I realized that knowing where a student comes from, both ethnic wise as well as financially, has a huge impact on their schooling experience. For instance, knowing the average household income will help me adjust any projects I am going to have my students do throughout the school year. Coming from a family that didnt have very much money growing up, I know how stressful it can be for a child if they dont feel comfortable asking for all of the materials they may need for the classroom or an assignment. While my parents were very supportive, not all will be able to be. Thus, students may become bitter and regard their education as an unnecessary hassle, causing another child to be lost from the system. Learning doesnt have to involve spending a lot of money to create an elaborate display; rather, it comes from the hands-on and interactive experiences that I can incorporate into the lesson. Also, as I stated above, it is great to know the ethnic backgrounds of your students to help implement content from their homeland into the curriculum. Though we often have to teach to the SOLs, bonus lessons can be thrown in to teach students about various aspects of their ethnicities. Allowing them to create a Powerpoint on their ancestors homeland or their own homeland will also aid their classmates in better understanding the diverse world around them.

Evans 6 Works Cited 1) Harrisonburg City Public Schools. Virginia Department of Education. 21 October 2011. <https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/reportcard/report.do?division=113&schoolName=All> 2) Harrisonburg, VA. City Data. 22 October 2011. <http://www.city-data.com/city/HarrisonburgVirginia.html> 3) Harrisonburg, VA. Diversity Data: Harvard University. 22 October 2011. <http://diversitydata.sph.harvard.edu/Data/Profiles/Show.aspx?loc=612> 4) Harrisonburg, VA Population and Races. USA. 23 October 2011. <http://www.usa.com/harrisonburg-va-population-and-races.htm> 5) Smithland Elementary School. GreatSchools, Inc. 21 October 2011. <http://www.greatschools.org/cgi-bin/va/other/5022#students> 6) Smithland Elementary School Homepage. Harrisonburg City Public Schools. 21 October 2011. <http://web.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/smes/> 7) Smithland Elementary. Virginia Department of Education, Harrisonburg City Public Schools. 03 November 2010. 21 October 2011. <https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/reportcard/report.do?division=113&schoolName=6200> 8) U.S. Census Bureau: Harrisonburg City, VA. 23 October 2011. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51/51660.html Links to Pictures Used on Poster:
http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/~tgehman/index.php?pages_id=13&photo_id=8&p=0 http://web.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/science/ http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/~nbunn/index.php?pages_id=9&photo_id=20&p=0 http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/~anolley/index.php?pages_id=14&photo_id=9&p=0 http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/VAHARR0URN http://www.trulia.com/schools/VA-Harrisonburg/Smithland_Elementary_School/