The diverse and inclusive environment at my school is what makes it so special. In a recent discussion with my literacy students in conjunction with our reading of the novel, "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas, I was very pleased to hear that they felt that there is very little discrimination at our school. One student noted, "We're a very diverse school, Mrs. Wuerfel, so we don't really have to deal with that."
I teach a broad range of students from advanced academics to struggling readers who are at-risk of not graduating.
The majority of my students are 11th and 12th graders; however, in my literacy class, I do have a few 10th graders. Additionally, I have a 45-minute remediation class that consists of 9th graders, most of whom have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) in place. Thirty-one percent of the population at my school is on our free and reduced lunch program. Our predominant ethnicities are white (31%), black (27%), and Hispanic (20%).
My Project
Last year I was a part of a cohort in our county on Blended Learning which incorporates a technology component into learning beyond simply having students utilize a word processor or Google. Additionally, I participated in a summer curriculum development session for our county focused on helping high school teachers utilize The Engagement Model and Blended Learning in their classrooms.
The Engagement Model is a student-based learning model that focuses on minimizing teacher-led instruction at the front of the class for the duration of the class period and puts the emphasis on collaborative learning, small group instruction, and individual instruction, all while adding in a technology component.
As a new English department chair at my school, coupled with my previously mentioned experience with the Engagement Model and Blended Learning, I started my school year with the hopes of converting more teachers in our department to a strategy known as Station Rotations in which the teacher starts with a short instructional period followed with students rotating to different stations including a technology station, a collaborative station, and a small group station with teacher supported instruction.
Sadly, after four months of working my way through three department computer carts (two as old as 2006), I've realized that this model can't be sustained as it takes the students too long to log onto a computer that will actually work for them. It's time to rotate to the next station before computers are even up and running for the students in that station since they all have different log-ins. Because our county is looking at becoming a 1:1 school in two years, our administration does not want to invest in any new computers. With your support, I can fine-tune this teaching model and work on incorporating it into more classrooms next year.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Wuerfel and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
