Context

I student intern at Grand Rapids Christian Middle School in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The school is located at 2036 Chesaning Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506, which is in the

Shawnee Park neighborhood. The school secretary said that the students are primarily from

the neighborhood and downtown Grand Rapids. The students also come from the city, the

suburb, and all over Grand Rapids. The students come from far as 30 miles from the school.

Around 50% of the students ride the school bus, 25% of the students are dropped off by their

parents, and 25% of the students either walk or bike to school. Because the students come

from all over the place, the school population is very diverse and multicultural. However, the

neighborhood which the school is located is not racially diverse. In 2013, 18.7% of the

population was people of color in Shawnee Park neighborhood. In the same year, the average

of the population of people of color in Grand Rapids neighborhoods was little over 25%

(2013). This indicates Shawnee Park as not a very racially diverse neighborhood. The school

acts as a pocket of a diverse community in a less diverse neighborhood.

The school is a Christian private school from 5th grade to 8th grade. The students

come from various socioeconomic statuses. However, most of the students are from middle

class to upper-middle class. Bible is a mandatory class for all four grades. Each grade has its

own chapel time and once a month or so the entire school will come to the Common

Square to worship. Starting from 7th grade, the students can take Pre-Algebra. The teachers

do not force students to be academically tracked. However, I have been in a staff meeting

where 6th-grade teachers discussed which students would go on to higher math class next

year. Starting from 5th grade, there is a Spanish Emergent class, where a group of students

would choose to take Social Studies and Bible in Spanish, not in English. The school is

accredited by the Christian Schools International and North Central Association of Secondary

Schools, also known as AdvancEd. They follow the Common Core State Standard as their
curriculum (AdvancED Accreditation).

I was placed in Ms. Jackie Noordewiers 6th-grade classroom. There are 24 students:

10 male students and 14 female students. The ages vary from 11 to 13 years old. There are 1

biracial, 3 African Americans, 1 Ugandan and 1 ethnically Guatemalan. The Ugandan female

student was born in Uganda but her parents are from Rwanda. The Guatemalan male student

was born in Guatemala but was adopted by a white American family, and he is now an

American citizen. Both students are bilingual. There is another female African American

student who is adopted by a white American family as well.

The Ugandan student speaks Luganda and the Guatemalan student speaks Spanish.

The Ugandan student needs an extra help in English, so usually, there is an ESL teacher next

to her. There is one female student of disability. She has down syndrome and there are couple

special education teachers next to her to aid. The two African American male students have a

short attention span that requires a teacher assistant to help them focus. In Social Studies and

English Language Arts class, the African American boys and the Ugandan student have a

teacher aiding them by tutoring from one student to the next. I do not know if the African

American boys have ADHD or ADD. However, one of the boys is known to by other teachers

to be naughty, loud, and disruptive. As I got to know this student, I began to form a very close

student-teacher relationship with him. He respects me, listens to me time to time, asks me

how I am doing every day. All the aides, ESL or special need teachers are treated as

someone of an authority in the classroom. Mrs. Noordewier asks them of advice and

anecdotes.

The students in the classroom are very diverse learners. They are racially and

ethnically diverse and they are very creative in their own unique way. They are incredibly

supportive to one another and they are very kindhearted. Some students need an extra minute
to finish, while others are very focused. Some students are very mature for their age while

others need time to learn and process. Spiritually, some students have a prior knowledge

about the Bible while other students do not know anything about the Bible. The students are

so diverse yet so united that I must be aware that each student will learn differently. I must

also remember that they will grow to appreciate one another by learning from each other.

Therefore, when I am planning for my unit, I should remember the different learning

styles and use various activities that require the students to move around, sit down, discuss in

large and small groups, read out loud and silently, write on a worksheet, and type on their

laptops. I should develop my unit plan to incorporate group activities and pair sharing. I

should divide each group in different gender and race so that students can learn and help each

other. The ways in which I group the students and do different activities will benefit not only

the students who are marginalized but also those who are the majority.
 Reference List

(2013). In Community Profiles. Retrieved March 26, 2017, from

http://weave.cridata.org/communityprofiles/.

AdvancED Accreditation (n.d.). In Grand Rapids Christian Schools. Retrieved March 26,

2017, from http://www.grcs.org/netcommunity/page.aspx?pid=838