Memo #2

Saint Raphael Academy is a Diocesan college preparatory school which teaches its students the Christian values of service and faith. Saint Raphael Academy offers a collegiate-style campus which is located in the historic Quality Hill neighborhood of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The school is comprised of seven primary buildings that are within walking distance from one another.  The majority of the buildings feature copper colored bricks. The structures of the buildings are mostly original, while the inside of the buildings have been renovated. The main buildings that students hold the majority of classes in are East and West. These buildings are located four blocks from each other on Walcott Street. Colorful flowers, large trees, and small gardens are scattered around the building to give it a “welcoming” feel.

 

The inside of these buildings have been improved to include up-to-date technology and improved appearances. Each room in West offers Smart Boards and new desks, while the rooms in East offer spacious classrooms with projectors and an overall “clean” appearance. The walls feature fresh paints and large windows to offer natural lightning. Each classroom wall offers inspiration quotes related to learning, ambition, or Bible verses.

 

I teach on the first floor of the East building. Once inside, one will notice that the room is spacious. There are high ceilings and two large windows at the front of the room. There are 30 desks and each row features three desks pushed closely together which creates an open path in the center of the room.  This allows me to pace up and down the room between all the rows and it allows students to easily travel throughout the room. There is a colorful bookshelf at the back of the room with includes a variety of texts for independent reading. There is hanging décor, including multi-colored paper flowers that hang from the doorways. A rainbow “welcome” sign hangs from the whiteboard.

The room is decorated with colorful backdrops and posters that are all related to English and life-advice. There is a large blue poster that states, “Learn something new today” which hangs in the front of the room. The bright, vibrant colors throughout the room adds an energy to the room. The bulletin boards are plastered with student work. Hand-drawn footprints that feature life advice hang from the corners of the corkboard. Photos of former students are posted around the room.The teacher’s desk is located in the front of the room and there is a mounted projector which connects to the laptop on the desk. There is a Smartboard at the center of the room and a whiteboard on the right side of the room. The “Do Now” is posted on the whiteboard and the Smartboard is utilized during class activities. Overall, the room encourages learning and discovery. The spaciousness, natural lightening, and bright colors offer a positive energy. The air freshener helps the room smell like fresh lilac. The radiator provides enough heat in the winter to allow everyone to feel comfortable and ready to learn.

The environment of the school and the classroom helps motivate the students to learn at Saint Raphael Academy. The school currently consists of 470 students enrolled, with an average of 118 students per grade.I currently teach four sections of 10th grade and one section of 9th grade. For this research study, I will focus on one of my 10th grade classes that meets during F block. This class is at the “Advanced College Preparatory” level. The class consists of 22 students who are between the ages of 15 - 17. There are 12 females in this class and 10 males. The class is diverse and features students from Asian, African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian backgrounds. There are eight students who identify as Caucasian, six who identify as Black, six identify as Hispanic, and two who identify as Asian. The two students who identify as Asian are participants in the International Student Exchange Program. They come to SRA with a background in English and they stay on track to complete high school and college in America before returning to Asia. These two students are both from China. One has done well, well the other student struggles with English due to a limited background in the language.

There are no students in the class who receive special education services since SRA does not honor any learning accommodations. Additionally, I do not have any information regarding reading level scores since SRA does not administer testing. Out of the 22 students, 10 of the students have made honor roll this year. Additionally, only one student is in danger of failing for the year.

Compared to my other classes, this class is usually energetic and engaged throughout our time together. There are always students who are eager to share their work and to volunteer answers during discussion. The students are friendly with one another and many are good friends outside of school. Community has also been established by including many opportunities of shared writing, mixed grouping, rotating seats, open-ended discussions, class norms, and frequent “pair-share” discussions.

In this class, the majority of students are involved in an organization after school. Most of the students play sports or are in others clubs. Soccer is a popular topic in this class considering that nearly 50 percent of the class plays on a team. I often try to bring up soccer when relevant, such as learning new vocabulary skills. This class is unique to me because there are several “strong” personalities within the room. There are many students who are outgoing and enjoy voicing their opinions, so this can make it easy to have energy within the room. The negative that comes along with this dynamic is that I find myself trying to quiet the class down since so many students within the class prefer to contribute during discussions. When we work in groups during class, I often carefully select the groups. There are several students who will get distracted easily if they are allowed to work with their friends. I have applied this same logic when creating assigned seats. I have found that certain students cannot sit near their friends or else they will try to spend more time socializing then working. Overall, even with these small issues, this class often features a positive learning environment.

I look forward to conducting my research. However, as an educator, I realize that I have an obligation to protect my students. This includes protecting their identities during my research study. When I write about my students, I will use pseudonyms to avoid revealing a student’s real name. In preparation, I will take out my class roster and create a new name for each student. This will allow me to use the same assigned name each time I mention this student without revealing his / her identity. The pseudonyms will be random and they will not have any similarities to a student’s real name.

I have developed relationships with my students, which might make it difficult for me to be unbiased when I conduct my research study. However, I will do everything in my power to ensure I am fairly assessing each scenario For example, when I grade, I will try to avoid looking at the name of the student to ensure that I am not assessing the work based on what I know about the individual. Secondly, I will not lead or prompt a student into responding correctly during a discussion or assignment. I will try to treat students fairly, but equally when I am conducting the research.

I see many opportunities ahead during my role as an observer. A focused observation can help me monitor specific responses from students, such as engagement level, peer interactions, critical-thinking skills, etc. By focusing on these observations, my data can help me improve my teaching. The data can help influence my teaching to reach the needs of the students. As educators, it is difficult to focus on or analyze these everyday interactions since we have so many other responsibilities. This research opportunity is a great way for me to take the time to notice the small daily encounters which can lead me to great discoveries.