Carbone 1

Katie Carbone
Education 302/303
10/17/14
Lesson Plan Context
St. Stephen Catholic School is a private school, located at 740 Gladstone SE, East
Grand Rapids, MI, about 3 minutes from East Grand Rapids High School and 10 minutes
from downtown Grand Rapids. Its student body is rather diverse. 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. We believe this multicultural
environment is essential to teaching children to live peacefully in our world, allowing them to
experience life through each students unique perspective (www.ststephenschoolgr.com).
Outside of St. Stephens, East Grand Rapids is comprised of a population of 95.4% White,
1.1% African American, 0.1% American Indian and Alaskan Native, and 1.5% Asian
(www.eastgr.org). In the surrounding area, residents earn anywhere from $47,000.00 to
$153,000.00 (www.city-data.com). This median household income represents merely a 3 mile
radius. For example, in the immediate surrounding area, 7.5% of local residents earn earn
$47,00.00-58,000.00, 12.7% earn $58,000.00 to $68,000.00, 7.5% earn $75,000.00 to
$89,000.00, 7.5% earn $89,000.00 to $100,000.00, and 3.6% earn $139,000.00 to $153,000.00
(www.city-data.com). Outside of this 3 miles but within a 30 mile radius, the median
household income ranges from below the poverty line to the affluent.
This school is supported by the surrounding community, and takes active steps to
serve the people within its reach. When I talked to my teacher, she said that their school does
not have busing, because most of the kids walk to school or their parents are able to carpool.

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This gives an idea of how St. Stephens is community based. In addition, St. Stephen Catholic
serves as a community center to the church patrons and others living locally. The students
have several opportunities to volunteer and serve their peers and elders who live in the area
near their school. For example, these students can volunteer to participate in weekly Mass on
Thursdays, or students can serve their school community by becoming a mentor for a younger
student through St. Stephens Angel Program. There are many opportunities for students to
serve others and develop compassion and respect for others.
St. Stephen Catholic School is a small school, but its staff and teachers are dedicated
to giving their students the best education. St. Stephens serves children from age 3 to age 14,
and they offer a daycare program, preschool, and kindergarten through 8th grade. There is one
teacher per grade, with the exception of co-teachers for a few of the lower grades. The middle
school has three main teachers; each of these teachers is a homeroom teacher for one of the
grades 6-8, and each one also teaches two subjects to all the middle school students as the
students rotate through their classes. St. Stephens also offers a program for students with
special needs called the Arrowsmith Program, which is a cognitive program for students with
learning disabilities. Based on neuroscience research, the program addresses learning
disabilities by identifying and strengthening weak cognitive capacities
(www.ststephenschoolgr.com). These teachers are very dedicated to helping all the students
learn, especially with the help of the Arrowsmith program. The class sizes are generally
between 11-25 students. In my 8th grade class, there are 11 students, 2 of which go to the
local Catholic high school for their math class. For 8th grade math, there are 9 students, of
these 9 students, 5 are female and 4 are male. Of the female students, 1 is African-American
and 4 are White, and of the male students, 3 are African-American and 1 is White. They are

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all Native English-speakers, and most of them live locally. The middle school teachers at St.
Stephen Catholic School have told me that this 8th grade class is not very self-motivated.
These students heavily rely on their teachers, who are trying to prepare them for high school
where they will have a lot more responsibility to take on in more than just academics. As I
teach my unit, I will make sure to encourage their independence as they learn. This could
mean asking the students more questions and asking for more detailed answers, and possibly
less group work. I also hope to use hands-on activities so the students will need to physically
do something in order to learn the content.
In the middle school math and science classroom, students are equipped to learn at
their best. The room is bright from the sunshine as there is a wall with a strip of windows that
looks out to the playground and houses across the street. On the other classroom walls, there
are many posters and helpful learning tools displayed. Inside the classroom, there are 2 person
lab tables, with 3 rows of 3 tables each. When I teach my unit on Angles and Triangles, the
students will be able to work in groups at the tables, they will be able to spread out the
necessary materials, and they can clearly see the board and learning tools throughout the
room. At the front of the classroom, there is a smart board and an elmo projector, which I will
use to write math problems and explanations for the students to see. In terms of classroom
management, the 8th Grade homeroom teacher will address the class as a whole and ask them
to focus, or sometimes she will call out someones name who is not paying attention. If the
entire class is being disruptive or uncooperative, one of two things can be done. The teacher
will say to the class that whatever they do not finish in class will become homework, which
usually grabs their attention. The teacher can also start counting down from 5, and the
students have until 0 to fix their behavior, pay attention, or get moving on what they need to

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do. If they fail to do so, they will have to stay in for recess. In terms of curriculum, St.
Stephens Catholic School lists all of their standards on their website (listed under the works
cited section), and they use the Prentice Hall Mathematics Course Pre-Algebra textbook for
math.
Taking all of these factors into consideration, I hope to implement my unit so that all
learners can best benefit. I hope to introduce students to math problems that incorporate the
different cultures represented. I also want to make sure that any extra materials needed can be
provided for all the students, especially for those who might not be able to afford them or are
just not able to get the school supplies they need. In terms of this specific 8th grade math
class, I will need to figure out how to keep them engaged while encouraging them to learn
more so on their own, rather than just seeking out the teacher. They also need encouragement
to focus and affirmation that they can do what is being asked of them. This Unit on Angles
and Triangles will not only teach these 8th graders about the basic concepts of angles and
triangles, but also show them how to apply this to their lives. They will learn to listen to and
respect each other in their individual and group work, and, they will continue to learn how to
work more independently in preparation for high school.

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Works Cited
"49506 Zip Code Detailed Profile." 49506 Zip Code (Grand Rapids, Michigan) Profile. Web.
18
Oct. 2014. <http://www.city-data.com/zips/49506.html>.
Curriculum Overview. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.ststephenschoolgr.com/school/about/curriculum>.
"Our School." St. Stephen Catholic School. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.ststephenschoolgr.com/school>.
Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data
2010. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.eastgr.org/DocumentCenter/View/19>.