Professional Documents
Culture Documents
High school students come into Middle School and mentor junior
high students
2. Background of Students and Community
Demographics
50% Black, 30% Hispanic, 10% White, 10% Other
80% free/reduced lunches
60% living in govt assisted housing
65% living in single-parent homes, 20% married parents, 15% living
with grandparents or other legal guardian(s)
Description of community
Realistic tensions
Recent decline in gang violence and drug abuse
Racial dispute and conflict
Good sense of community within neighborhoods
Many impoverished neighborhoods
Description of connections among home, school, and community
Want to support local businesses as a result of helping our students
Examples:
Culinary Arts Kitchens, bakeries
Teaching Placements in local classrooms
Sports Management Work with athletic director of the school
Accounting/Finance Accountant, finance chair of school board
Medical Professionals Doctors offices, hospitals
Lawyers Law firms, court system, law enforcement
And more
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4.
Students will be given monthly Budget Outline to fill out their incomes,
expenses, and savings. This will document items such as net income, total
cost, savings, etc.
5. Students will draw situation cards and will be asked to make informed
decisions on how to best adjust their budget to that particular situation and
write their decisions in their journal.
6. Students will be keeping a journal of events that they have gone through
during this budget simulation. Journals must include but are not limited to
a. Daily events that happened in class and their initial reaction to each
event
b. Documented time and effort used to find resources to fill out the
budget sheet
c. Discussion of some of the positive aspect of the income and family
situation each student encounters
d. Discussion of some of the negative aspects of the income and family
situation each student encounters
e. Detail of any decision making process and give reasoning why that
was deemed the best alternative
f.
Provide pictorial evidence of purchase (actual accounts of
advertisements, utility bills, newspaper classifieds, etc.). Divide into
monthly sections.
7. Students will present their findings to their classmates in small groups.
Differentiations:
Logic/Mathematical- Students will use logic to figure out the most effective way
for meeting their needs within their designated incomes. Students will use
mathematics to create a budget and total their costs within their designated
situations.
Spatial- Visualize the organization of their homes within buying furniture activity
on floor plan poster.
Interpersonal- Students will be in groups and will be permitted to collaborate
together. They will also be presenting their findings within small groups.
Intrapersonal- Students will be completely most of the project individually based
on their single income and situation.
Visual- Students will complete a floor plan within the buying furniture activity,
include pictures of their purchases and expenses, and watch their peers within
their small groups present their findings.
Auditory- Students will listen to the information about each classmates budget
and strategy.
Assessment:
We will assess students through their detail journal entries of each part of the
project, how accurately and completely their monthly budgets are filled out,
presentation of their findings within small groups, and a final assessment
worksheet.
4. Ohio Standards for Educators:
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them fill out and discuss their specific cultures component of the chart that
will later be shared with the rest of the class.
4. The next class period we will again split the students up into groups but
this time each group will have one person to represent each culture. The
students will go around their group and each child will talk about their
specific culture that they read about, informing the other students of a
culture that they did not read about. They will then use this information to
fill out the cultures in their chart based off of what their peer group
members taught them. In the end each student should have a fully
completed chart with elements from each culture.
5. The students will turn in the chart to their teacher and will then be given a
quick write about how understanding different cultures can be beneficial to
you when entering your career/profession.
Differentiations:
Visual- graphic organizer component
Auditory- students have the option to listen to their chosen book on tape
Intrapersonal- reading book silently to oneself
Interpersonal- students work in a group setting and help each other fill out their
charts on different cultures
Logical/mathematical- graphic organizer component
Assessment:
-Charts that they fill out in class with their group members
-Quick write at the end of the class: How can understanding different cultures be
beneficial to you when entering your career/profession?
LESSON PLAN 2
Student Performance Objective:
Students will be able to
1. Share their own culture
2. Explain the differences between race and ethnicity
3. Define how their own culture plays a role into who they are and how it
affects their career
4. Utilize graphic organizers to formulate a well-structured essay
5. Explain how understanding their culture and background impacts them
and their place in society.
Ohio Learning Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a
topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection,
organization, and analysis of relevant content.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and
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1.Concept Map
2. Course Rationale
We believe that partnerships between school and community play an
integral role in the development and growth of students. However, in many
schools these partnerships, which create memorable learning experiences,
generate active learning environments, and enable future success, have yet to
be established. At New Horizon Middle School, we have created a curriculum
that is catered to students living in an urban school setting that incorporates
community based projects and collaboration with local businesses to help create
opportunities for students to explore future career options. As a result, the
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community outside the school benefits as well from the work and help of the
middle school students. With rigorous academics, caring teachers, proper
support and resources, and exposure to real workplace environments, students
receive a completely different experience than those educated under the schools
previous curriculum. This curriculum of career-based learning and community
involvement has made significant changes at New Horizon Middle School and is
needed in many other schools in urban areas, and other settings as well.
The students at New Horizon are statistically disadvantaged as compared
to students in other areas and of different races and socioeconomic statuses.
Across the country, students of color and low-income students continue to
achieve at far lower levels than their more advantaged peers. Some schools,
however, are breaking that trend producing much stronger achievement, higher
graduation and college-going rates, and greater success in college and career
pathways (Darling-Hammond, Friedlaender, & Snyder, 2014, p. 1). As
educators, we strive to be one of these schools that breaks the trends.
Circumstances that are out of students, and often their families, control and
diverse characteristics that should be viewed as positives, but are instead looked
down upon, are holding students back from reaching their greatest potential.
These students arent given great opportunities to fully understand and fulfill
their individual role in society, which is to be an active and contributing member
of communities. To combat such trends, a curriculum like ours is needed.
Donalyn Miller (2009) reflects in The Book Whisperer, I have taught students of
all economic and academic backgrounds, from the children of non-English
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speaking immigrants who struggle with the English language to the children of
college professors. The conditions I create in my classroom work for all of them
(p. 1). These types of condition in a classroom are crucial in order to benefit all
students. Beyond that, a structure that focuses on career-based learning and
community involvement allows students to see their importance in society and
apply their critical thinking skills a few times a week out in their community. It
offers them a first-hand look at what their futures can look like and in turn,
creates more motivated learners who are aware of their individual roles. In most
situations like ours, students arent given chances to be exposed to this.
We believe that students can fulfill this role and achieve greatness
regardless of where they come from. Many of the students at our school may
feel trapped in the circumstances that they are born into. This is why the most
appropriate approach in educational curriculum is an accountability approach
that focuses on meaningful learning, enabled by professionally skilled and
committed educators, and supported by adequate and appropriate resources, so
that all students regardless of background are prepared for both college and
career when they graduate from high school (Darling-Hammond, Pittenger,
Wilhoit, 2014, p. 11). Though college- and career-readiness are typically focused
on in high school, we feel that exposure and awareness prior to this level is
advantageous. As educators, we want to give them the needed tools and
opportunities as early as possible to accomplish their goals and achieve
successful careers, despite what may be holding them back at home.
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Effective teacher leadership is crucial and needed in a school like ours. Part of
being a helpful teacher leader is creating a useful teacher platform, which we
have done. Our platform includes the purpose of schooling to be to create
contributing and active members of society. We have the image of the learner to
be self-directed with the guidance of the teacher. We believe the nature and
substance of student work to be relevant to the present but good preparation for
the future. We see the image of the teacher as a student-centered tool, resource,
and guide, rather than one who only instructs, directs, and lectures. Our
curriculum is based in several different philosophies and approaches that all
came together and lead to the final product. Our preferred school climate is a
dynamic and comfortable, yet exciting learning environment. Our teachers work
as agents of change so that our curriculum can be effective and create positive
adjustments in students lives, rather than just following the status quo of
education in the United States today. Our teachers exercise leadership at the
school-wide level, not just strictly in their own classrooms. This is through the
programs we have implemented that take place before school to involve families
and students in the effort toward career-readiness and developing an overall
sense of community within the school. Teachers are held with very high
expectations to work extensively with students to ensure that they are going to be
contributing members of the community. These high expectations include mutual
respect amongst all teachers, students, and community members.
The curriculum we have developed pushes students to engage in higher
order thinking, skills, and tasks. Furthermore, it makes students work and
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experience count for more than just grades on a report card and connects to their
lives outside the classroom in order to be most beneficial. Through this
integrated course curriculum that draws the four core subject areas together,
which includes the before-school programs, guidance counseling, openings to be
mentored by older students, the specific lesson plans we have created, and the
field experience career readiness program we have implemented, we are able to
create a school-environment that is benefits students in this urban setting and the
community surrounding it.
3.Course Description
Our New Horizons Middle School is focused on career readiness with
community involvement. The eighth graders in this school will be taking part in a
full year of what we call field placement. For two hours every Tuesday and
Thursday during the first period of the day, the students will be leaving the school
and going to a job site of their choice. For example, they might go to a business,
school, church, hospital, police department, and more. We have partnered with
these local businesses to give our students experience and insight into a
potential career that they may want to pursue. This not only will benefit our
students through an active learning environment, but it will also help these
businesses with another helping hand. On the off days that they will not attend
their field placement, the students will attend their regular specials (art, PE,
music). The full year will be split up into two semesters, this way our students
will be able to go to two different placements, one for each semester. Not only
do we provide a hands-on experience for the children, we will also have a career
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readiness focus in all aspects of our curriculum. Students will go through specific
lesson plans and classes that teach problem solving skills, critical thinking,
teamwork, and professional development. At our school we aim to create
responsible, well-rounded, career-ready young adults that will be prepared to
take on a life after they graduate from school.
Our thematic focus for our school is broken into four main categories:
professional development, collaboration with local businesses, team building
workshops, and career awareness. Within professional development, we have
in-class and out-of-class experiences. For out-of-class, we use the field
placement time to teach our students how to act professionally in this type of
setting. It will allow them to work side by side with professionals in the work field
and for them to discover the proper way to handle themselves and certain
situations that they may be placed in. We also have developed lesson plans
during school that will help them with resume building, interview skills, and public
speaking through presentations given in front of the class. Our collaboration with
local businesses creates great opportunities for the students to learn and grow in
a different environment. It can open new doors for students as well as getting
them involved with helping their local community. Showing them how to get
involved can make them more likely to want to do community service work
outside of what is required of them in school. Team building workshops will be
taking place in school, with things like group projects, and emphasizing the
importance of working alongside others whether this is for a group project or with
their peers in field placement. Lastly, we have career awareness as well as skills
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and knowledge that can better prepare students for adulthood. This element also
incorporates in-school and out-of-school experiences. During school, this will
include researching about various professions, as well as lessons on finances,
budgeting, and cultural relevancy in relation to different careers. Outside of
school, we will be having speakers come in to talk about their own profession, as
well as hosting a breakfast with family members or guardians where the students
can share their research projects with them. All four of these main categories are
the building blocks to helping create our overarching goal of career-readiness
through community engagement.
We really want our students to play a large role in the curriculum planning
and implementation. We will find out their interests and how they learn best and
use this to drive our creation of the curriculum. The students will be involved with
letting us know what they like, and what they dont as well as how they feel they
learn best. As teachers we also want to know from the students issues that may
be going on in their school. Things that they want to change or problems that
may have arose because of a certain curriculum or policy would be beneficial to
understand when creating the curriculum. Say for example there are hidden
norms in the high school you attend and have been working in that set up hostile
conditions for gay and lesbians students, (Poetter, 2016, pg. 197). This quote
from Teacher Leadership in the 21st Century sets up a scenario where you would
have to know the norms of the school to be able to make a curriculum. It then
goes on to say that you could design a way to move past these issues. This is
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just one example of how the students play a role in making and implementing a
curriculum.
As a school we really want student learning to be at the forefront. We feel
as if the most learning is being done when a student is able to problem solve and
discover things for themself. This is why we put students out in the field to learn
and grow on their own without us just telling them about what they might
experience. Donna Miller (2009) reflects in The Book Whisperer, Instead of
standing on stage each day, dispensing knowledge to my young charges, I
should guide them as they approach their own understandings (p. 15). We also
have developed many lesson plans that focus on allowing the students to make
decisions about how they want to go about their own learning. This could be
things like what books they want to read, how they want to present their project,
and working in groups to complete a task. We will give our students the
necessary tools to explore things on their own so that in the end they will be
discovering new ideas for themselves.
As teachers, we are aware of the multiple intelligences and modalities that
take place in our school. Everyone learns in unique and different ways and it is
our job to reach out to the variety of different learners. We have projects that
include budgeting and finance skills, which can apply to our logical thinkers. We
have group projects followed by presentations on a multitude of careers, which
apply, to our visual, kinesthetic, and interpersonal students. We also have lesson
plans focused on reading and writing about culturally relevancy, which will be
done individually, this, can apply to our intrapersonal learners. Its up to the
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create culturally relevant, career ready, young adults that can take on a life after
they leave our classroom. We stress relating the content to the childs everyday
life and to let them understand that everything they learn has a purpose. By
creating a curriculum that focuses on these key elements, we are allowing our
students to explore and grow through themselves and to discover themselves
through community involvement and student based learning.
4. Assessment
In our course, we will be providing a number of different ways to assess
each of our students. Depending on the lesson or assignment, there will be a
variety of ways to do so. For example, assessments will be done using posters,
visuals, paintings, presentations, discussions, quick-writes, papers, and
sometimes through a test or quiz. By using a variety of assessments, this will
allow students to represent their different skills and abilities in a number of ways.
We place a strong importance on having our students share what they know in
different ways and we do so by avoiding one assessment technique such as
testing over and over.
Our curriculum is based around the idea of creating a career-ready
program and also about going out and improving the community the students live
in and this allows us to broaden their knowledge. By using the different forms of
assessment, this gives students with multiple intelligences and different learning
styles the opportunity to be successful in the classroom. Many students have
struggled for a long time due to the format of schools and the continued use of
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paper testing if we provide opportunities for our students to show what they
know while still being assessed, it will be a successful situation for everyone
involved.
To give specific examples of assessments, one we will be discussing is for
our lesson around culture. We will be having our students research their culture
and write an essay about it. These will be creative and informative about what
culture means and how it impacts each individual student. To assess their
learning, we will be grading the essay they write but we will also be having our
students create a visual of their culture/essay and present it to the class. This will
vary between each student, as they will have an open option for their visual. It
could be a painting, drawing, web, graphic organizer, etcstudents will then be
able to share their visual with the class in order to discuss and represent what
they know and why it is important. As we saw in What Every Middle School
Teacher Should Know by Knowles and Brown, assessment is an important part
of the learning process. Assessment is a set of strategies for discovering what
students know or can do as a result of engaging in learning experiences (Brown
& Knowles, 2014, p. 211). This quote further explains that idea that assessment
is a way of going back to represent everything someone has learned. We do this
through using a variety of assessment strategies for the different lessons
available to students. Assessment is an integral part of creating a successful
school curriculum/community and we will have a strong emphasis for our
teachers to use a variety of assessment strategies in order to benefit each
student and prepare them for success.
Works Cited
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Darling-Hammond, L., Friedlaender, D., & Snyder, J. (2014). StudentCentered Schools: Policy Support for Closing the Opportunity Gap. Stanford
Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, 1-10.
Knowles, T., & Brown, D. (2014). What every middle school teacher
should know. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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