2019-2020 School Year
School Information
Placement Site: Camino Nuevo Charter Academy- Jane B. Eisner Middle School
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School District: Los Angeles Unified School District
Location: Los Angeles, California
Website: https://eisner.caminonuevo.org/
School Report: http://www.sarconline.org/Sarc/About/19647336117667
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Jane B. Eisner Middle School has a student demographic that is 90% Latinx and 10% white. Jane B Eisner is a Title 1 school and all students receive free lunch. Eisner’s programing includes special education, CASA Code, and ESOL. Teachers are receive a scope and sequence and expected to create their own daily lesson plans. Science teachers utilize STEMScoopes which includes a scope and sequence, activities aligned to Next Generation Science Standards, and laboratory experiments. We have grade team meetings once per quarter, content meetings once per month, and staff wide professional development trainings weekly.
The front of Jane B. Eisner Middle School taken in 2019.
Classroom Information
I am teaching middle school science and coding. I teach three classes of sixth grade science, one class of CASA Code and Google CS First, and one class of seventh grade science. Our periods fluctuate slightly depending on the day, but each class is on average 60 minutes. Class size varies from 29-33 students, in total I teach 150 students. My students travel in cohorts from class to class. Students were placed in cohorts based on their performance on their fifth grade state standardized test scores. Gender distribution if fairly equal in all of my periods. All of my students identify as Latinx and a large majority of them speak both Spanish and English. As a result of my students being in cohorts I have a period with a large cluster of students with IEPs and English Language Leaners in one class, during that period a special education teacher pushes into my classroom to help me support the students.
2018-2019 School Year
School Information
Placement Site: Imhotep Charter Institute High School
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School District: Philadelphia School District
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Website: https://www.imhotephighschool.com/
School Report: https://www.philasd.org/charterschools/directory/imhotep-institute-charter-high-school/
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Imhotep’s student demographic was nearly 100% black or African American. Imhotep is a Title 1 school and most of the students are on free and reduced lunch. Imhotep is an afro-centric STEM school. Teachers are expected to infuse culture into every lesson. Additionally, the school had several large cultural events throughout the school year such as Umoja Karamu (Black Unity Feast). As a STEM School Imhotep offered STEM elective courses for students and is a 1:1 technology school, each student had their own laptop. Imhotep has a large student athlete population and some of the best athletic programs in the city of Philadelphia. In 2018 Imhotep was city champions in football, boys basketball, and girls basketball, Our special education department consisted of the special education director and four grade level case managers. Science teachers were not given any curriculum or pacing guide. Teachers were given a class set of textbooks and freedom to create their own lessons as long as they prepared students for state standardized test. Imhotep had weekly grade team meetings, weekly school wide professional development trainings, and monthly department meetings.
The front of Imhotep Charter High School taken in spring 2017.
Classroom Information
I taught biology to 10th grade students. The course was originally designed as biology two, all of my students had taken biology during their freshman year. Students had a yearlong block style class that was 96 minutes every day. My administration decided 96 minutes was necessary to give students an opportunity for more laboratory experiments and time to prepare for the biology keystone, a standardized state test. I taught three 96 minute classes which averaged about 28 students in size. Of the 90 students I taught there was approximately an even number of boys and girls. One of my three class had a majority of male students creating a different classroom culture than my other periods. All of my students were black or African American. Special education students had access to a resource room if they needed additional supports or one on one instruction from the case manger.
