My Classroom

About My Classroom

Currently, my classroom is a 6th grade ELA course at Ewa Makai Middle School in Ewa Beach, Oahu. It is important to note that last year my placement was 7th grade ELA, so there are artifacts in this portfolio submitted both for 6th grade ELA and 7th grade ELA, and thus some artifacts included will be aligned to 6th grade English Language Common Core Standards while others are aligned to 7th grade standards. In the 2020-2021 school year, the school functioned on a reduced learning schedule for the entirety of the year due to COVID-19. On this schedule, I taught 60 minute lessons, with a new lesson cycle beginning every four days. In the 2021-2022 school year, we have returned to in-person learning and I now teach 77 minute lessons with a new lesson cycle beginning every other day, which is more than double the instruction and pacing that is two or more times faster than that of the 2020 year. Additionally, I will be co-coaching the volleyball team this year, though this is subject to change due to the dynamic nature of COVID-19 restrictions.

The structure of Ewa Makai functions by department, grade level, and team. I am a member of the English Department and meet with either the whole department or the 6th grade ELA teachers on an alternating weekly schedule. The ELA department uses iReady as its assessment criteria and the national SpringBoard curriculum as a general pacing guide, but teachers are free to use discretion when creating curriculum and choosing texts. For this year, my co-teacher and I elected to have SpringBoard books for teachers but not students and to create the curriculum on our own. Each grade level is divided into three teams of teachers and students -- teams A, B, and C -- and each team has four core teachers and three elective teachers. In 2020, I was a member of Team Lōkahi, or 7B, and this year I am a member of Team Lokomaka'i, or 6C. I taught a total of 12 classes last year with class sizes hovering around 16 students, and teach 5 classes this year with class sizes hovering around 30 students. In both years, two of my classes were Inclusion classes that were co-taught by a special educator (though a different teacher each year) and me.

Ewa Makai Middle School is part of the Campbell-Kapolei Complex Area in the Leeward District, though the entire state of Hawai'i functions as an at-large school district, so the complex areas and districts are significantly constrained in terms of reach and funding compared to a typical school district. The last time the state was able to conduct a state-wide report of its public schools with accurate data was in the 2018-2019 school year due to issues arising from virtual learning and COVID-19. That report, conducted by StriveHI, can be found here. However, in an effort to provide the most up to date data, the numbers included below have been pulled from a number of school-level documents regarding enrollment and achievement, as well as from my own rosters. Ewa Makai has Special Education and ELL programs, as well as a Gifted and Talented program and free after school tutoring and enrichment options for all students, called the UPLINK Program.

School Level Data, 2021-2022:

Graph demonstrating the percentage of the student body that qualifies for free or reduced lunch.

Shown above is a breakdown of the percentage of the student population in the 2021-22 school year that qualifies for free or reduced lunch. Shown on the bottom left is a breakdown of the percentage of students who receive special education and ELL services, though it is important to note that the school does not release data about the overlap of these groups. The bottom right shows the student population based on student survey responses regarding their racial identities.

Graph demonstrating the percentage of the student body that qualifies for ELL or Special Education Services.

Graph demonstrating the racial breakdown of the student population.

Classroom Level Data, 2021-2022:

Shown above is a breakdown of classroom level data for my classes this year, which is up to date according to my rosters as of September 2021.

iReady placements of my 6th grade students' literacy levels as measured by their initial diagnostic taken in mid-August of 2021.

Note: one student transferred to our school after the diagnostic window and did not complete the assessment.

Classroom Environment

Pictured above is designated comfortable reading/work corner in the classroom. Students are allowed to move about the room and make themselves comfortable in this area while completing anchor activities such as reading or writing.

Pictured above is a wall decoration dedicated to inspirational female role models. This wall aims to represent women of varied experiences and professions and is geared toward all students seeing successful women as valid and impressive role models. This wall also includes Carissa Moore, our local Olympic Gold Medalist for the first ever women's surfing title!

This is the view of the classroom that students see as they sit in their desks when the seating is organized in an individual desk setting with desks facing the front board. This is the seating arrangement that students sat in for the majority of Quarter 1.

At the end of Quarter 1, I transitioned students into station-style seating. The same premises are true in terms of students sitting at desks for whole group instruction and having flexibility and mobility during anchor activities, but students now work more consistently in small groups in their station settings. This photo is taken from the front board looking out, so each desk still faces the front board.

Photos shown above give a visual representation to my classroom environment. The photo on the top left shows the reading corner where students are free to read quietly, do work, and relax in a classroom environment when we are not in direct instruction time, which is also next to the wall display on the bottom left which shows an array of inspirational women, including local Olympic Surfing Champion Carissa Moore. Finally, the photo on the left shows the perspective that students see during instruction time when they face the front of the room at their desks. As students become more comfortable in the class environment this year, I am sure there will be additional artifacts for me to add as visual aids for understanding my classroom.

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is informed by enthusiasm, enjoyment, and high expectations for myself and my students’ work in ELA standards-aligned tasks. I believe that my role is to model enthusiasm and life-applicability in our content, as well as in reading and writing in general. My hope is that my students leave my classroom with some level of increased enjoyment in reading and writing, and also learn to use their literacy skills as a tool to engage in critical thought and reflection on the things they see in their schools, communities, and worlds. This extends outside of the classroom, and requires that I am well-read and up to date when it comes to YA books and authors so that I can engage with students about their extracurricular reading and give recommendations. I also hope to use my content as a way to expose students to diverse perspectives and introduce the importance of reading the work of representative authors who write genuine and informed accounts of representative characters.

Additionally, I view literacy growth as a driving goal of the work we do in the classroom. I also believe that literacy must encompass reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. It is especially important to view literacy in this way due to the high number of ELL students who I teach and the varying WIDA levels that they bring to the classroom. Some of these students are explicit in communicating that their goals in my classroom are focused on expanding English vocabulary and speaking skills. Because of this, I also believe that differentiation, scaffolding, and implementing accommodations as needed are absolutely crucial to achieving a successful and equitable classroom. In this process, I have also established a philosophy of teaching with activities that are actively and intentionally aligned to specific standards while also upholding my goals of including a range of perspectives, authors, and types of activities that focus on multiple pillars of literacy. This has inspired me to always be researching and advanced planning my content so that I can ensure that the content my students receive is correctly aligned to the Hawai’i State Content and Performance Standards (n.d.). Additionally, a crucial part of my teaching philosophy as is connected to standards is to be in frequent communication with my other 6th ELA colleagues, so we can ensure that we are teaching to the same standards at the same times, even if we are using our own content.

Finally, I believe in the intellectual and academic capacities of each of my students. This belief creates a framework for goal setting. I intentionally set high goals for my students and communicate that I am aware that our class goals are high, but that we should always reach to achieve as much as you can, and if we fall short in the end, that is also okay so long as we put the work in as a group. These goals are apparent both in the pacing of my curriculum and the mastery expectations of my students. I have found success in this approach and that when you set high goals for student understanding and mastery while also providing consistent positive praise and affirmation that you, as the teacher, believe the students can and will succeed, that they often exceed even what I had previously believed to be an ambitious learning target.

References:

Hawaii Content and Performance Standards: Language Arts Grade 6 Common Core Standards.(n.d.). Retrieved September 3, 2021, from http://standardstoolkit.k12.hi.us/common-core/language-arts/index.html

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