School Setting and Context

I had my EDUC 350/386 classes at Lesher Middle School in Fort Collins, Colorado. This
school is well known for its incredible improvement and transformation over the past several
years. In 2012, Lesher was awarded the honor of recognition as a MetLife Foundation-NASSP
Breakthrough School. It is also an entirely International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years
Program (MYP) school; this program focuses on preparing students for 21st century success
with breadth and depth of intelligence in many disciplines. Lesher also has a Dual Language
program that reaches 170 students out of the 740 total students there. The school also has a
significant population of Gifted and Talented students, while simultaneously providing Integrated
Services for students with special needs. This diverse population and combination of students
works well with the global awareness emphasized in the holistic approach of IB. Lesher lists the
following goals within its mission statement on the school website
(https://les.psdschools.org/about-us/mission-vision):

Create a physically and emotionally safe learning environment

Model behaviors and attitudes that we want our students to possess, including: openmindedness, collaboration, principled action, and communication
Create an energizing and rigorous curriculum with frequent formative assessment that
supports learners at all levels of mastery
Provide opportunities for students to engage their natural curiosities in meaningful
learning and reflection
Give our students opportunities to think deeply, grow, take risks, and correct mistakes
Hold students accountable for their best efforts
Provide opportunities to solve problems in real-world applications
Be passionate, enthusiastic, creative, and caring learning leaders
Create opportunities for students to learn about and engage in their larger world, within
and across culture

I was paired with Becky Knips (Leshers web design teacher) for the first half of the
semester and Deb Frain (Leshers art teacher) for the second half. Each day, I was present for
an entire 45-minute class period of 6th graders, followed by a 45-minute class called Extended
Learning Opportunity (ELO). In the first half of the semester, the first class was Web Design,

followed by Yearbook as the ELO. The physical classroom for both of these groups was set up
in rows of computers. In Web Design, the class was generally focused and followed instructions
well. There were a few students who understood most things right away and were able to finish
assignments quickly and stay on task. Most students worked well overall but took breaks where
they got distracted and talked to their peers. A handful of students seemed to really struggle
with focusing; the content didnt seem too difficult for them, but they werent able to concentrate
and stay on task long enough to get anything done. Classroom management seemed to be
fairly easy because each student had a designated seat in front of a single computer and had
no legitimate reason to ever be away from that during class; it also seemed that Ms. Knips had
done an excellent job of establishing classroom expectations and culture at the beginning of the
year. The Yearbook ELO was run very differently. This class was composed of a fairly equal
balance of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Three 8th grade editors who had been chosen by Ms. Knips
at the beginning of the semester, were in charge designating tasks and answering questions.
Anything that the other students wanted to ask Ms. Knips had to be brought to the editors first.
All of the other students knew exactly what their jobs were, and although the class seemed
hectic at times, everyone was productive and on task; it was a very student-led environment and
it was highly successful.
In the second half of the semester, the first class I would participate in was 6th grade art,
followed by a Cartooning ELO. The physical classroom was large and organized into three rows
of three large tables, each of which had four stools around it. The art class and the ELO actually
had almost identical classroom cultures and environments. Both were composed entirely of 6th
graders, and had similar ratios of hard-working students, semi-focused students, and students
who rarely focused or were on-task. Overall, Ms. Frain had a very difficult time managing these
classes. The students tended to be very loud and they often wandered away from their seats to
socialize with other classmates. Many students had no interest in art and/or strongly disliked
Ms. Frain. She didnt implement any consistent method of discipline or consequences. She

would get each class started and then wrap it up, but throughout the duration of every class, she
just sat at her desk without helping the students or building any relationship with them. Because
of this, the general classroom atmosphere and mindset was that she didnt care about students
or the content that they were supposedly learning. This classroom culture seemed to be deeply
rooted and was very difficult and frustrating to navigate.