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La Jolla High School San Diego County

Student Group Number Percentage Number of Percentage
of of Citizens
Students Enrollment
African American 38 2.4 38 2.4% 158,213 5%

Asian 104 6.7 104 6.7% 336,091 10%

Filipino 15 1.0 15 1.0%

Hispanic 466 30.0 466 30.0% 991,348 32%
Indochinese 15 1.0 15 1.0%
Native American 0 0.0 0 0.0% 26,340 Below 1%

Pacific Islander 4 0.3 4 0.3% 15,337 Below 1%

White (Not Hispanic) 845 54.3 845 54.3% 1,981,442 64%
Two or More Races 68 4.4 68 4.4% 158,425 5%
Socioeconomically 373 24.0%
disadvantaged 373 24.0

English learners 73 4.7 73 4.7%

Students with disabilities 98 6.3 98 6.3%

I originally chose to do my observation at a school in the Solana Beach School District. I

have worked in the district in various schools for many years and thought that my familiarity

with the principals and teachers would make for an easy entrance into a classroom. Also,

knowing the teachers, I would be able to ask more questions after the observation without feeling

like I am taking up this teacher’s time. Unfortunately, when looking at the SARC report, I found

that the diversity, while there, did not adequately match that of San Diego County. I then

decided that I would go outside of my comfort zone and do an observation at a high school. The
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high school I chose was La Jolla High. I chose this high school for two reasons. The high

school matches the general population of San Diego pretty closely. Also, I know a teacher who

works there as an English teacher, so I knew I would be able to do an observation there.

La Jolla High School is a fairly diverse school, which buses in children from all over San

Diego. On account of this, the diversity at La Jolla matches the diversity of San Diego,

according to the census. The chart above shows the diversity of the school in numbers and

percentage. It also shows the diversity of San Diego County in numbers and percentages. Some

of the groups that were listed on the SARC for La Jolla High were not listed in the census of San

Diego County, which accounts for the blank spots on the right side of the chart.

The classroom that I observed was a 10th grade English class. The teacher’s name is

Jessica Weber. She has been teaching high school English for over 5 years now. The class itself

was very diverse. The following table lists the gender, grade, English proficiency and special

program of the students in the class. According to the table, there are 7 students in Special

Education, 7 students who are English Language Learners, and 6 GATE or Gifted and Talented

Students in the class. Many of the children are recently proficient in English fluency or not yet

tested as proficient in English fluency.

  Student Name Number Grade Gender OPL Special Program

1. 10 F  RFEP    
  ELA Co Teach, ELA Consult, Math
2. 10 M  RFEP  Co Teach, Math Consult, SS Collab, Sci
Collab, Special Ed. 
3. 10 F  RFEP    
4. 9 F      
5. 10 M  IFEP    
6. 10 M  RFEP    
7. 10 M      
8. 10 F  RFEP    
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  Student Name Number Grade Gender OPL Special Program

9. 10 M  RFEP    
10. 10 M     Special Ed. 
11. 10 F  I   English Learner MEC 
12. 9 M  EI   English Learner SEI 
13. 10 M  RFEP   GATE Cluster 
  ELA Co Teach, Math Co Teach,
14. 10 M   
GATE Cluster, Special Ed. 
15. 9 F  EI   English Learner MEC, Special Ed. 
16. 10 F  RFEP    
17. 10 M     GATE Seminar 
18. 10 M      
19. 10 F  RFEP   GATE Cluster 
20. 10 F  RFEP    
21. 10 F      
  ELA Co Teach, SS Collab, Sci Collab,
22. 10 F  I 
English Learner MEC, Special Ed. 
23. 10 M  IFEP    
24. 10 F  IFEP    
25. 10 F      
26. 10 F     GATE Cluster 
27. 10 M  IFEP    
28. 9 M     GATE Cluster 
29. 10 M      
30. 10 M      
31. 10 M      
32. 10 M      
33. 10 M     Special Ed. 
34. 10 M  RFEP    
  ELA Co Teach, Math Co Teach,
35. 10 M  EI 
English Learner MEC, Special Ed. 
36. 10 M      

I had never been in a high school classroom as a professional before and did not know

what to expect. The students were very diverse and the class was organized, tidy, and well run.

The class that I observed was a lesson on the introduction of the novel Night by Elie Wiesel.

The teacher had written the lesson on the board prior to the students entering the classroom.

When the students settled into their seats, the teacher started the lesson. She told the students
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that they were going to read a new novel and that they would be learning new vocabulary that

was important in the novel. She told them that they would be placed in groups of four and given

vocabulary words. Each student would write 2 out of the 8 words on the board on an index card.

They would then write the definitions on the back of the cards. After that they would have five

minutes to decide with their group how to sort the words into groups. The groups who correctly

sorted the words would get points and then they would start over with new vocabulary words and

concepts. It was a competition to see who could sort the most correctly, so those who got the

most points won. Before starting the activity she told them that the purpose of the activity was to

learn words and concepts that were important to the novel and had it written on the board. She

also stated that the expected outcome of this activity was that students would show an

understanding of a word or concept by sorting it into appropriate categories. This information

was also written on the board. The teacher then asked the students if they had any questions

before sorting them into mixed groups, consisting of Gate, ELL, Special Ed and average

students.

The teacher wrote eight words on the board and read them out loud for the students to

hear what the words sounded like. She then gave them 5 minutes on a timer to sort the words.

As the students were working, the teacher walked around observing what the children were

doing. She asked them questions, like why they decided to sort a certain way. When the students

gave good responses she gave them positive feedback and praise, as shown in the Effective

Teaching Profile (Banks, 2013). During the activity, I observed that the kids were very animated

in their discussion of what the words mean and what pile they should be sorted into. The kids

seemed very engaged with the activity throughout the period. After the timer went off, the

teacher then discussed with the students how they had sorted their piles. Groups took turns
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explaining why they had grouped certain words together. The teacher then asked if other groups

agreed or disagreed with the group’s way of sorting. After all the groups shared their sorting,

she explained how the words should have been sorted and why they were in those categories.

They then repeated the activity with a new group of 8 words. They did this until the end of the

period. According to Banks, promoting student to student problem solving, as opposed to

teacher directed learning is another example of the Effective Teaching Profile (Banks, 2013). I

observed the children working together to figure out the solutions as opposed to the teacher

providing them with the answers.

During the observation, I noticed that the diversity of the groups seemed to be very

helpful in getting all of the students involved in the lesson. Each student had their own words

within the group to control, so they all had a stake in being a part of the group. Also, being a

competition amongst peers seemed to have gotten them more engaged. None of the groups

seemed to struggle with the words, but instead were having healthy discussions about where to

place the words. I believe that having the students in mixed groups allowed them to use each

other’s strengths to appropriately categorize the words. I also thought that the teacher did a good

job with providing the students multiple ways of learning the words throughout the lesson. The

students had a written copy, the discussed the words verbally with each other and with her, and

they then categorized words with similar themes or definitions together physically. According to

the IRIS module, the manipulatives, in the form of index cards, were a helpful linguistic support

(IRIS Module, 2015). This lesson provided the students with a visual, verbal, and physical way

to learn the meanings of the vocabulary words that were important to the coming novel. Also, it

had the students start to discuss some difficult topics that come up in the novel Night, like the

Holocaust, genocide and the Nazis.

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I had worked as an aide in elementary schools for the past 9 years. This was my first

time observing a high school level class. There were many similarities and there were a few

differences. Being an effective teacher requires many skills for both age groups. As the students

get older they seem to have greater capacity for independent learning and deeper understanding.

Yet, all students need a teacher who will both challenge them and inspire them to greatness. I

saw that in my observations and hope to be that in my own classroom some day.

References

Population table. Retrieved from https://suburbanstats.org/population/california/how-many-

people-live-in-san-diego-county. 2015

La Jolla High School Demographic. Retrieved from

http://sarconline.org/SarcPdfs/6/37683383733508.pdf

Cultural and Linguistic Differences. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2015, from
http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/

Banks, J. (2013). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (8th ed.). Boston: Allyn and
Bacon.
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