Class Overview based on observations and data

Use readings from the past to describe your class of students:

Taylor & Whittaker; Bridging Multiple Worlds; Delpit; Nieto; Understanding Culture Brief; Hoeksema; Petersen & Hittie; Pearson
202 book; Woolfolk Chap 2, 3, 5; Levine
The culture in this classroom is definitely similar to that of a middle class culture. The students who
go to this school have to pay tuition because it is a Christian school, so the students are typically
dressed pretty nice, and have a lot of supplies at home and at school to use for specific projects. They
Culture
rarely seem to lack in supplies, so that is really nice for all of the students. It is also definitely a very
positive environment. The teacher makes sure all of the students are being kind to each other and she
will talk to them about it if that isnt happening.

Race & Ethnicity

Social SystemsPeers & Family

Moral, Spiritual, and

Faith Development

Attention & Memory

Language

Motor &
Spatial/Sequential
Ordering

Higher Order Thinking

The classroom that I am in has students who are mostly white. There are 20 students total; 18 of them
are White, one is African American, and one is Burmese. Although this isnt a very diverse class, all
of the students seem to get along with each other and are friends with each other. There are some
issues between certain students, of course, but it has nothing to do with race or ethnicity.

The social systems, peers, and families at this school are all supportive in many different ways. I
talked to my teacher and she was saying that to get parents, peers, or other families to volunteer takes
a lot of nudging at their school. Typically there are the same few people volunteering when they are
needed, but that doesnt mean that the rest of the peers and families arent supportive. I have read
many emails from parents to my teachers about how they are concerned with their child for some
specific reason so they wanted to communicate that with the teacher so she could watch for anything
at school. They definitely seem to be involved with schoolwork when the students are at home.
All of the students in my class are Christians. They are in fourth grade, so their faith might not be
their own quite yet, but they sure do know a lot about the Bible and the history that goes along with it.
The students are always raising their hands during the Bible lessons to give their opinion, ask a
question, or inform the class about something they have learned recently relating to the topic. They
are quick to offer to read scripture in class, and some of them even volunteer to pray before class
begins. It is very impressive to me because sometimes I think they know more than I do about the
Bible and the stories that are in it.
The students in this class are all very smart, however, quite a few of them are diagnosed with ADHD
so this can be challenging when it comes to attention. I would definitely say that they do a pretty good
job paying attention despite their struggles though. Some of the kids have a hard time with raising
their hands before they speak, and others just have to constantly be moving so they have a hard time
with just sitting still. The students in this class, however, do have awesome memories. They
remember lessons upon lessons, stories upon stories, and facts upon facts. The students know so many
things that it impresses me every day with the things that they remember.
All of the students in this class are fluent in the English language. There is one student who is from
Burma and lived there for most of her childhood until she moved here about four years ago. She does
an incredible job with English and you honestly wouldnt know by her speech that she is from a
different country. A lot of the students struggle with spelling when it comes to language, but they
always try hard and are usually very close. The students also have a Spanish class every Tuesday for
about 20 minutes. I dont exactly know how much they know or have learned already because we
dont use it in our classroom, but they do get exposure to another language, which is a great thing I
think!
The students in this class have great motor abilities. I havent really noticed any students who struggle
with small motor skills, and from what I know they have great gross motor skills as well. I definitely
think the students have better sequential ordering than spatial ordering because they are always very
aware of the schedule and where they are going next and at what time. They like to know the order of
what is happening in the class that day, and they always line up by number order any time they have to
go anywhere. I havent seen near as much evidence for spatial abilities, but I definitely think they
excel in sequential ordering abilities.
These students are incredibly smart. My teacher really helps them too because she just pulls
knowledge out of the students and makes them think hard about the subject by asking difficult
questions. The students usually have great answers to the hard questions too. They are able to think
deeply about what happened during Bible times, but also about specific concepts in science. They
arent afraid of working hard, or thinking hard about a subject either.

Ability & Disability

As I alluded to earlier, there are quite a few students in this class that have a diagnosed disability.
Many students are diagnosed with ADHD, some students have dyslexia, and there are a few students
who are on the Autism Spectrum. The class is very diverse in their abilities and disabilities, which can
make teaching them very difficult. My teacher knows how to address these specific issues really well,
which helps the classroom run smoothly and efficiently. My teacher has high expectations for all
students no matter what their abilities or disabilities are, and I think that really pushes the students to
do the best that they can.