Unit Plan: Context

Andrew VanZytveld

This November, Im planning to teach a unit on polygons to sixth graders at St. Stephen

Catholic School. Theres only one section per grade in this school, which means these students

are around one another for most of the school day. A total of 14 students participate in this

math class, including one fifth grader whos taking accelerated math. Eight of the students are

female and six are male. Thirteen students appear to be white and one student appears to be

Black. In the sixth grade, two of the students native languages are not English. The students in

sixth grade come from families which are socioeconomically diverse. With regards to

neurodevelopmental constructs, my mentor teacher informs me that this grade requires a fair

amount of repetition to retain algorithms, so adding skills to the long-term memory may not be

a collective strength. However, Ive been impressed with students ability to ask clarifying

questions and learn from the teachers answer, so verbal communication skills / receptive

language abilities seem like a possible area of strength. Out of a total of sixteen sixth-graders,

six receive educational support of some kind. The students sit in assigned places at tables with

room for four; the seating chart changes each month.

The schedule at St. Stephen certainly seems to value students faith development highly.

Students attend Mass on Wednesdays and Adoration (a prayer service) on Fridays, even though

a substantial portion of them arent Catholic. (Students who arent Catholic are still encouraged

to participate in many aspects of the services.) In addition, every school day starts with a brief

devotional and prayer led by an eighth-grade student through the intercom system.
 St. Stephen Catholic School serves students from preschool through eighth grade.

Theres one section per grade, and at least some tracking occurs. For instance, a small group of

eighth-graders take Algebra at Catholic Central instead of 8th grade math at St. Stephen.

In terms of curriculum, my mentor teachers instruction follows the progression of

topics found in Big Ideas Math. This curriculum is pretty much in the center of the traditional

vs inquiry-based spectrum, as it opens each new lesson with an investigative activity, but

follows this with a more traditional presentation of the idea and practice problems. However,

my mentor teacher hasnt assigned homework from these books, but rather used problem-

generating software to design and print custom worksheets.

St. Stephen Catholic School resides in a quiet residential neighborhood of East Grand

Rapids. Its across the street from Ottawa Hills, a Grand Rapids neighborhood, and most

students come from outside East Grand Rapids. My mentor teacher explains that only four out

of the 54 middle-school students at St. Stephen live in East Grand Rapids proper! Why would

families choose St. Stephen, however, if most dont even live in the city where the school is

located?

According to my mentor teacher, one big draw is the diversity of the student body, in

terms of learning types, socio-economic status, faith, and ethnicity. Whereas almost 39% of St

Stephen students are ethnic minorities (National Center for Education Statistics: Institute of

Education Sciences, 2015), only 4.6% of East Grand Rapids population is non-white (U.S. Census

Bureau, 2010). The St. Stephen website explains that While St. Stephen remains a

neighborhood-based school located in East Grand Rapids, we attract a diverse population of

ethnic and religious backgrounds from within a 30-mile radius (St. Stephen Catholic School).

About 35% of St. Stephen students receive free/reduced lunch, though this proportion

fluctuates from year to year.

Another attraction (at least initially) is the schools strong student-to-teacher ratio. But

while this hopefully supports strong academic growth, the schools small size can become a

liability for older students. For grades five and above, the small pool of potential friends can be

constricting.

The few students who live in East Grand Rapids enjoy many amenities supporting

learning (e.g., periodic teen zone events at the library [Kent District Library]). Residents of

Grand Rapids residents have good public services to support school-age students, like

Mindstorm Saturdays to explore computer coding with Legos [Grand Rapids Public Library].

However, the greater size of Grand Rapids means that many of the citys amenities require

lengthy trips.

References
Grand Rapids Public Library. (2017). Events Calendar. Retrieved from GRPL:
https://www.grpl.org/event/mindstorm-saturdays/2017-10-21/

Kent District Library. (2017). Events. Retrieved from KDL:

https://www.kdl.org/events?field_location_tid=60&page=1

National Center for Education Statistics: Institute of Education Sciences. (2015). St Stephen School.
Retrieved from NCES:
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/privateschoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&SchoolID=00
639308&ID=00639308

St. Stephen Catholic School. (n.d.). St. Stephen Brochure. Retrieved from St. Stephen Catholic School:
http://www.ststephenschoolgr.com/assets/files/x/ssbrochure.pdf

U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). American FactFinder. Retrieved from City of East Grand Rapids:
http://www.eastgr.org/DocumentCenter/View/19