David Wynbeek

The Potters House High School

Surrounding Neighborhood

Potters House was intentionally placed in its Wyoming home, largely

due to the cultural makeup of the surrounding area. It is a diverse area, as
you can see from the following statistics and demographics, and this
neighborhood is reflective of the makeup of Potters House and the intended
diversity that the school wants to achieve.

Racial Makeup:
White 62.90% Household Type:
Hispanic 8.10% Family: 55.1%
African Non-Family: 44.9%
American 11.10% Median household income:
Asian 4.70% $43,500
Multiracial 13.20% Unemployment Rate:
17.4%
Residents below poverty line:
5.99%
Neighborhood:
Potters House is situated in a unique area for a high school. Being just
off of 28th Street, there are naturally many surrounding businesses, including
CVS, an appliance store, and an insurance firm. There are also multiple
churches in the vicinity, including Calvary Christian Reformed Church and
Hahn-In Christian Reformed Church.
(City-Data 2017)

Potters House High School Grades 9-12

Potters House operates with a seven class period day with both core and
elective classes, using the Michigan Merit Curriculum. The student body is
made up of 205 students that live mostly within the surrounding 10-mile
radius. 59% of students are on free and reduced lunch. Twelve students are
enrolled in KCTC, and three are enrolled in KTC. Potters House does not
actively track their students. (pottershouseschool.org)

Racial Makeup:
 David Wynbeek

Potters House is a publicly

Christian school, but students are
not required to be Christian to go
there. Although the significant
majority of students are Christians,
it is home to Muslims and non-
believers as well.

Religion:
4th Hour World History Mrs. Sisco

This class is very diverse in ethnicity and in learning ability. As described by

Mrs. Sisco, they are very dedicated learners and that truly care about their
grades and their education. What they may lack in intellect, they make up
for in hard work. Students in 4th Hour are normally very quiet, so
conversation and discussion often needs to be prompted by the teacher.
Most students would prefer to sit and listen rather than speak up, but it is
clear that all students feel comfortable in their learning environment. Mrs.
Sisco provided the statistics below.

Grade Levels: Racial Makeup: Birth Country):

Freshman: 12 African American: 6 Mexico: 2
Sophomores: 0 Hispanic: 3 Cuba: 1
Juniors: 2 Asian: 1 South Korea: 1
Seniors: 1 Mixed Race: 2 African Nations: 3
White: 3 (Tanzania, 2 Congo)
Gender Makeup: USA: 9
Males: 5 Residency:
Females: 10 Born in the United Language:
States: 8 English Speaking: All
Socioeconomic Immigrants: 4 Multilingual: 7
Makeup: (Tanzania, Congo, (1 Korean, 3 Spanish,
Lower Class: 8 Cuba, South Korea) 3 multilingual African
Middle Class: 7 2nd Gen. Immigrants: languages 3+ each)
Upper Class: 0 3 (2 Mexico, 1 Congo)

Reading Level Above grade level: 4 In Social Studies:

(anecdotal At grade level: 7 A-Students: 5
evidence): Below grade level: 4 B-Students: 7
 David Wynbeek

C-Students: 2 E-Students: 1
Motor Skills:
Two students are allowed to use computers at any time due to poor
handwriting.

Higher Order Thinking:

 Four students are able learners, but have difficulty with higher order
thinking. Three students have higher order thinking capacity, but have not
developed it well yet. Four students have no issue with higher order
thinking. One student has a learning disability. And one student is capable of
higher order thinking but has issues with a language barrier.

Social Systems:
Students are allowed to sit wherever they want, but they always sit in
the same seats and have ended up grouping themselves with like-minded
peers academically. There is somewhat of a gender divide in terms of
interaction, but all students are all comfortable sitting or working in groups
with students of the opposite gender. Throughout my time in Mrs. Siscos 4th
Hour World History class, I have not seen any behavioral issues and no
students have had to be sent out in the hall or disciplined in another way.

Family:
Nine students have nuclear families, while six live in split family
situations.

Moral, Spiritual, and Faith Development:

All students in the class are Christians or at least have not declared a
different religion. There are six students who are open about being Christian,
and three more are very passionate about their faith. Five others are just
regular believers. One student is not open about his or her religion, so it is
unclear. Seven students attend church consistently.

Standards:
The textbook used in the class is Glenco World History: Modern Times.
Potters House uses the Common Core Plus standard, which is Common Core
with a heavy emphasis on academic literacy while also integrating Christian
faith and values. Potters House will use what they call an Official
Accommodation Plan (OAP), which essentially combines an IEP and a 504
plan into one to suit a students learning needs.

Unit Plan Implementation:

The classroom setup works very well for Mrs. Siscos teaching
methods, and I plan to use the same setup and teach similarly. One of my
main goals is to make sure that all students stay engaged and focused on
the lesson while I teach. In order to do this, I will make sure to ask check-up
questions about the lesson while teaching to make sure students are
listening and retaining information. I also hope to implement multiple types
of discussion and/or group work in my unit plan. I have used small group
discussion in nearly every lesson and the final project for this unit is a group
presentation on a European revolution. I also hope to learn (and have
already learned) from Mrs. Sisco about teaching methods through
observation, asking questions, and co-teaching in order to teach effectively.