Classroom Context Description

Rivelon Elementary School is located right outside of Orangeburg, SC. The neighborhood
surrounding Rivelon Elementary School would be considered middle class, in which most of the
inhabitants are of African American descent. This neighborhood contains a plethora of trees; like just
about all of Orangeburg this area is very rural. Unlike most other schools, at this school most of the
"hallways" are outside. Many of the classrooms at Rivelon Elementary are outside. The main office area
is newly built compared to the rest of the school. Rivelon is a community and Title I school serving 252
students from pre-k through fifth grade. The ethnic demographics consist of approximately 97 percent
African Americans, 2 percent Caucasians, and 1 percent Latino. The Mission statement of Rivelon
Elementary is to ensure academic success for all students. Mrs. Rena Bowman currently serves as the
principal of the school and has numerous goals and plans for the school. Her goals are to improve
student performance, increase teacher capacity, and strengthen school- community relationships.
Rivelon believes in developing and nurturing the whole child by incorporating a plethora of initiatives
and strategies to meet those individual needs. Even though the schools performance has been below

average for many years on an absolute rating by the State, many at Rivelon believe in the students and
are sticking to the mission of the school.
My mentor teacher for this semester of field experience is 5th grade teacher, Mr. Kedrick Lusk.
Originally from Jackson, Mississippi he is in his 11th year of teaching and is currently in his 3rd year at
Rivelon Elementary. Upon first glance of my field experience classroom I immediately took notice in how
neat and orderly the classroom appeared. The desks were arranged in groups of threes, students'
materials were put away neatly and accordingly. Mr. Lusks classroom is full of student work and
displays. He is very organized with the way he does things in his classroom and expects students to do
the same. This year he has 14 students in his 5th grade class; 9 boys and 5 girls, with one Hispanic and
the others African American. Mr. Lusk is an experienced enough teacher to effectively manage his
students in instruction. Ive noticed that with this group of students, he has taken a more student
centered learning environment where students are actively involved in every lesson.

Above are photographs of the outside of the classroom and the overview on the classroom. There are
no decorations outside of Mr. Lusks door, however there was a bulletin board under construction as I
was leaving the school. The classroom is number 15 and it is extremely spacious. Students are able to
move comfortably in the classroom for activities and labs. Students are grouped by three desk, each
group having 1 female or two males and vice versa. The teachers desk sits in the top right hand corner
of the classroom although Mr. Lusk spends most of his time at a mini desk in the very front of the
classroom to control the Smartboard. Storage in located behind the teachers desk, underneath the
students computers and in the very back of the classroom.

The next set pf pictures show the word walls for both science and social studies and a data wall to keep
track of students grades. From observation, I found the word walls to be very helpful to the students.
The students used the wall as a clutch when they could not remember a word. These words were
covered during assessments. The data wall consisted of the standard, and the students overall grade on
that standard. This wall did not display students names because of privacy. Each student is assigned a
number and they can come up and view the grade when allowed.

On the left is the sink area. This area is used for students to wash their hands or any materials used
during a lab. This is the messiest part of the classroom. In the middle is a display of a students work. On
the right is an area for reading. This is my favorite part of the classroom. It is neat, books are organized
by subject and there is a zebra rug, stool and pillows for comfort.
All of these elements come together to make a nice learning environment for the students.