Nina Johnson SPED 470 Dr.

Greg Taylor October 20, 2012 School Climate Assessment I chose to observe the environment of my participating school once during the seventh grade lunch hour and once before school hours. My lunchroom observation occurred in the cafeteria, located on the northwest side of the building. During this observation I talked with a student, a teacher, and an administrator. When making my observation before school, I decided to observe the location of the main entrance to see how students enter the building. During this observation, I had a chance to talk to one teacher and one administrator. My first observation was of the seventh grade lunch hour. When I entered the lunchroom I first noticed the noise level. With an estimated guess of two hundred students present, one would expect the noise level to be high. Despite the high noise level, I felt a sense of control in the room. My next observation was of the administrator leading the lunchroom routine. The administrator was equipped with a microphone to clearly communicate with the students and other staff members. Such communication consisted of dismissal of tables, availability of seconds, and time related prompts. There were also four other staff monitors and the kitchen staff present in the cafeteria with the administrator. The staff monitors were assisting with cleanup, engaging in student conversation, and answering student questions. If a student was in need of assistance, the student could raise their hand to have a staff member approach the table or get up from the table to approach a staff member. I saw students use both these techniques to gain staff attention while in the lunchroom. I observed staff to be very aware of movement in the room and quickly noticed where attention was needed. The staff members were constantly circling the room, so there was always a staff near a particular area. As I started to look more at the students, I began to notice how the students were seated at the tables. From my observation I could see that most of the tables were separated by gender. Besides one table of boys wearing basketball t-shirts, I could not pinpoint further grouping of the students. I walked to the front of the cafeteria and saw a table of students with severe disabilities. These students were sitting at a table in the top, left corner of the lunchroom, near the lunch line. They were sitting at this separate table with one staff member. These students were engaging in little communication with each other, unlike the other students in the room. The other students in the room were actively communicating with each other at the table and with students at other tables. At this time I went to one of the students to ask if they sit at assigned tables. The student informed me that they do not. Later I asked one of the lunch monitors how the tables are arranged. I was told that the students are able to sit at any table in the room until a continual problem arises to promote assigned sitting. When the lunch hour ended, the administrator began to dismiss tables by a teachers name. I asked the administrator if the tables were dismissed my homeroom teacher, but was told the students get dismissed by their sixth hour class.

My second observation was done before school hours. As I drove up to the school I noticed students were gathered outside, in front of the main entrance, the southeast entrance, and southwest entrance. I immediately questioned how all three entrances were monitored. I entered the school through the southwest door and walked down the eighth grade hallway to the main hallway to reach the main entrance on the east side of the building. When I reached the main doors, I saw four administrators conversing with one another, directly in front of the main entrance. They were positioned in a way to be blocking the entrance to the building. Besides the administrators, I noticed one other staff member present to monitor the entrance and a few teachers lingered in the hallway. When I entered the school, I saw several of the teachers positioned in their classrooms. I soon saw students in the cafeteria, located just inside of the main entrance with one staff monitor and the kitchen staff. I then began to see students come in the school at walk into the cafeteria. I also saw students carrying band instruments come directly into the school, walking past the administrators. At this time, I approached one of the teachers to ask why some students were inside the school while the others remained outside. The teacher explained how students could only come into the building before 7:40am to eat breakfast in the cafeteria or for band practice. During this time, I turned my attention to the students in the cafeteria. I estimated there were about seventy-five students eating breakfast that morning. While looking around, I saw that the students were grouped mostly by gender, same as during lunch. Most of the students were fully engaged in social behavior. Students were talking with students at their table, as well as with students at other tables. I also noticed the students with severe disabilities were seated at the same table they were at lunch, separate from the other students, with an adult at the table. These students were engaging in less social behavior than the other students, and the little they were was just at their table. As I focused my attention back to the main entrance, I noticed there were several students outside the doors waiting to come in. My first thought was how does this strategy work when the weather becomes bad. I wondered when the temperature drops to freezing, do the students still remain waiting outside the doors until 7:40am. I also wondered how the students would enter to building when grouped in such a large number. Will they rush in or will they enter in single file? With such large a group of students waiting to get in, I would assume students pushing to get in and over crowding of the hallways. Both of these could produce potential problems. If a problem did arise outside, a student could enter the school to seek assistance from one of the staff members inside the doorway. I wonder if the staff position themselves there, not only to monitor the hallways, but as a reminder to the students to act within the expectations. When the time reached 7:40am, the group of administrators broke up with two remaining at the main doorway. The students rushed into the school from all three entrances. The hallways filled very quickly. Most of the observed behavior consisted of the students getting their supplies from their locker and going to their first hour class. There was also a lot of socializing going on. The students from the cafeteria were instructed to leave the cafeteria at this time by the cafeteria monitor. The students with severe disabilities were escorted to their classroom by the staff member they were sitting with at breakfast. As the time neared the first bell, the hallways started to thin out. I approached one of the administrators at this time to question why students were able to enter the building through the three different entrances. I was told that they are separated

by grade. Each one of the doors leads to one of the grade level hallways. The administrator stated they like to keep the students separated by grade as much as possible. The administrators remained in the hallways until all students shuffled into their classes and the morning announcements began. After conducting both of my observations, it was made apparent how separate the grade levels are kept. This is very different from the schooling experience I had. When I attended middle school, I remember being very involved with students of other grade levels. Band, Chorus, and lunch were combined with students of sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. When speaking with the administrator, it was made clear that they go out of their way to keep the students separated through separate entrances, hallways, and lunch periods. After giving this strategy thought, I assume this has been put into place to lessen potential bullying between grade levels. Looking at this strategy from a staff position I can see the need for separation of grades, but know I would have a different opinion as a student. Both before and after conducting my observations, I see this school as a positive environment for both staff and students. During my time in the classroom, I have gotten the impression that most of the students enjoy the staff and being at school. During the lunchroom observation I saw a lot of positive student and staff interaction. I overheard several students engaging in social conversations with staff members. Also from this observation I got the impression that the staff monitors did not resent their duty by actively interacting with the students. This factor, as well as unassigned lunch tables, I believe have created a sense of trust to aid in the positive environment the school has created. During the before school observation, I began to notice the visual prompts of school expectations for the first time. There are many posters lining the walls of the school to remind students of expected hallway behavior, social behavior, and school rules. I also saw a flyer posted in every student locker of the schools expectations. I think this strategy has also aided in the positive environment of the school. As another part of my climate observation, I gave the students in my classroom a school climate questionnaire to complete. After reviewing the questionnaires, the impression I had of the students enjoying the school day was confirmed. Four out of the five students were in agreement that the classroom is a fun place to be, they like their school, and students in the class help each other learn. From my two observations, I was not under the impression that students felt unsafe in the school, but there were mixed responses given within the questionnaire about feeling safe. All five students reported that fighting was a common behavior in the school. I believe this factor may be in relation to the unsafe feelings. If I were to conduct these two observations again, there are a few aspects I would focus my attention. One would be the seating arrangement of the cafeteria. I would look to see if the students with severe disabilities sat at the same table everyday and if more communication was visual. I would also look to see if all the students tried to sit at the same table, even though the tables were not assigned. During the lunch period, I would also observe the student-staff interactions to see if some staff interact more than others. Before school, I would like to see what behaviors are demonstrated by students when waiting outside the school during bad weather conditions, and how such behavior is handled by staff. I would also like to observe the monitoring of the other student entrances to see if it matches that done at the main entrance.