Lauren Gonzaba

9/16/2014
UTL 640 Haug

Tech Activity 1
Campus: Round Rock High School
The District
Round Rock ISD
1311 Round Rock Avenue
Round Rock, Texas 78681
Phone: 512-464-5000
Round Rock ISD is a place of compassion, creativity, happiness, respect, research, and selfactualization. They encourage students, staff, and parents to become partners in the quest for
knowledge as the district provides exemplary education and guidance to empower its students.
Finally, Round Rock ISD encourages all students to reach their individual potential and become
contributing members of their community.
The School
Location: 300 N Lake Creek Dr, Round Rock, TX 78681
Driving Directions: I will get on I-35 N from Dean Keeton and follow this for 15 miles. After
travelling for 15 miles, I will take exit 252B, turn left on Round Rock Ave and turn left again on N
Lake Creek Drive. Round Rock High School will be on my right.
Expected Schedule:
o Tuesday/Thursday I will leave my dorm at 1:30, walk 5 minutes to my garage, and drive
to Round Rock High School. My class begins at 2:38, so I will arrive at the school by 2:20.
I will stay for 8th period on these B days every other week.
o Fridays I will leave my dorm at 8:10, walk 5 minutes to my garage, and drive to Round
Rock High School. School starts at 9:05, so I will arrive at the school by 8:50. On A days
I will stay for 1st and 2nd period. On B days I will stay for 5th and 6th period. Late Start
days begin at 9:25, so I will leave my dorm at 8:30 in order to get to the school by 9:10.
Student Clientele: Round Rock High School has an ethnic population of 58% White, 28%
Hispanic, 5% African-American, 6% Asian, and 3% other. About 28% of their students are
economically disadvantaged, while about 37% are At Risk. According to the TEA 2012-2013
Report Card, 77% of Round Rock High School students met or exceeded progress on the STAAR
Reading test, while only 43% met or exceeded progress on the STAAR Writing test.
English Department
Round Rock High School has 21 English teachers in the English Department. Of these 21
teachers, 4 teach English IV.
o Roy Smith (Department Chair)
AP/Dual Credit English IV (2 courses)
AP/Dual Credit English III (3 courses)
English 1 PLC (1 course)

Lauren Gonzaba
9/16/2014
UTL 640 Haug
o

Sharon Kubicek
AP English IV (3 courses)
Yearbook/Newspaper (2 courses)
Journalism (1 course)
o Ruth Massey
English IV (6 courses)
Round Rock High School offers English I (Academic and Pre-AP), English II (Academic and PreAP), English III (Academic, AP, and Dual Credit), and English IV (Academic, AP, and Dual Credit).
o English electives offered:
Creative Writing, Journalism, Yearbook, Newspaper
PAYS and TAG are also offered on this campus

Cooperating Teacher: Meredith Lawrence

Mrs. Lawrence teaches Academic and AP English IV. Since Round Rock High School is on a block
schedule, I have attached the semester schedule to this assignment.
o Class Schedule:
1st period Academic English IV
2nd period Academic English IV
3rd period AP English IV
4th period Conference
5th period AP English IV
6th period AP English IV
7th periodConference and Lunch Duty
8th period- Academic English IV
Mrs. Lawrences webpage includes her email, phone number, and conference times, showing
that communication between teacher and student is very important to her. Mrs. Lawrence also
provides an updated syllabus for each of her classes on her websites so students are able to
keep up with assignments and see what they may have missed. I am very impressed with this
particular aspect because most teacher I knew did not make class assignments accessible online.
I also like how Mrs. Lawrence offers morning tutorials for students by appointment. This entire
webpage illustrations how committed Mrs. Lawrence is to ensuring her students succeed.
Overall
I am very interested in understanding how Yearbook and Newspaper fit into these students
lives. My CT is not in charge of these electives, but I hope some of my students are involved in
either of these activities. I would like to see how the students like these electives as I am
interested in possibly teaching them when I become a teacher.
I am a little concerned with only 43% of students meeting progress on the Writing STAAR test in
2013. I am hoping the students did better on this and the Reading STAAR in 2014 and the low
scores in 2013 were only because it was a new test.