Bailey Payne

December 11, 2016

SPED 510-03

Diversity Project

Introduction

General School Information

I spent my hours this semester in Mrs. Cheney’s first grade classroom during math and reading at

George Nettles Elementary School in Pittsburg Kansas. When I walked into the school, the only open

door was straight into the office. I had to sign in every time I was there and the secretary would have to

push a button to allow me access to any other part of the school. There is also a button on the outside of

the door to the office to access the office from the inside of the school. I felt safe and welcome when I

walked into the school. Along the walls were displays of students’ drawings and short stories and all of

the teachers doors were decorated with colored paper.

When I walked into Mrs. Cheney’s classroom I noticed how her room was arranged. She has

sight words along one wall, a number line around the room, and posters covering her entire whiteboard on

either side of the smartboard. She has a place for the objectives for reading and math on the board at the

front of the room so that everyone is on the same page. She has their desks grouped in the middle with a

carpet at the front of the room for reading aloud and working with the smartboard.

Mrs. Cheney has twenty students but she has twenty-four student desks in the room. Her

classroom has two safe seats and two standing desks for when the students get restless. The students are

free to use the safe seats whenever they feel the need to work alone, not be with their table for a while, or

are getting frustrated and need to take some time to calm down. At the safe seats the students are expected

to continue to pay attention to what is going on in class but they do not have to participate in answering

questions aloud unless it is the entire class saying or reading the same thing. They all clearly understand

the rules for the safe seats and the standing desks. The students are allowed to go to the standing desks

whenever they feel the need to. If the students fight over who gets to stand at the desks, none of the
students fighting over the desks get to stand at them. They go to the standing desks when they feel the

need to move their legs or it would help them pay attention better. They cannot take tests at the standing

desks. Mrs. Cheney also has alternative chairs at some of the students’ desks. The chairs are called

wobble chairs; they have a slightly curved bottom when they are sat upon and the students can rock back

and forth in them and not fall over. Mrs. Cheney rotates the chairs so that all of the students get to sit in

them throughout the year. The parents of the students in her class the previous year raised some money

and bought the chairs for her classroom when their children were in her class.

Building Report Card

In Pittsburg there is a population of 20,398 people, 3,104 people attend school in the Pittsburg

school district, there are 359 students attending George Nettles Elementary School. The ratio of males to

females in USD 250 is close to even, 47% of the students in the Pittsburg school district are female and

23% are male. At George Nettles, 48% of students are female and 52% are male. The percentage of

students who are economically disadvantaged attending George Nettles is quite a bit lower than that of the

district, at George Nettles 45% of students are economically disadvantaged compared to the district at

60% being economically disadvantaged. Another area in which George Nettles in lower than the district is

the percentage of students who have a disability, with George Nettles being at 11% and the district being

at 17% of students having a disability. According the ksde.org data, George Nettles has no students who

are English Language Learners, 3% of students in the district are English Language Learners. Neither the

school building nor the district reported any percentage of students being of Native American or Asian

descent. The ethnic data for the district and George Nettles were similar; the only significant difference

was the difference in the percentage of students who are Hispanic. In the district as a whole 5% of

students are African American, 15% of students are Hispanic, 70% of students are White/ Caucasian, and

10% of students are represented as other, whereas in George Nettles, 3% of students are African

American, 7% are Hispanic, 77% are White/Caucasian, and 13% are represented as other.
 The assessment scores are significantly different. For the Math Assessment in 2015 the district

was much lower than George Nettles. District wide, 25.17% of students were on level one, 74.72% of

students were between levels two and four and 7.94% of students were on level four. At George Nettles,

only 10.17% of students were on level one, 89.8% of students were between levels two and four and

20.95% of students were on level four. For the English and Language Arts Assessment they are also

significantly different. In the district, 25.1% of students were on level one, 74.81% of students were

between levels two and four and 7.94% of students were on level four. At George Nettles, only 7.18% of

students were on level one, 92.8% of students were between levels two and four and 21.55% of students

were on level four. In 2016, they are closer to the same but are still significantly different. For the Math

Assessment in the district, 26.74% of students were in level one, 73.23% of students were between levels

two and four and 9.87% of students were on level four. At George Nettles, 13.04% of students were on

level one, 86.95% of students were between levels two and four and 22.36% of students were on level

four. For the English and Language Arts Assessment in the district, 24.49% of students were on level one,

83.56% of students were between levels two and four and 11.41% of students were on level four. At

George Nettles, 15.52% of students were on level one, 84.45% of students were between levels two and

four and 21.75% were on level four. As I was looking at the data for testing, I wondered why the school

and the district are so different. It could not be because of the demographics because they were so similar,

so I decided to look at the state data as well. When I looked at the state data I noticed that the district had

slightly lower scores than the state as a whole but the district has more students who are economically

disadvantaged than the state, the gender difference is not significant, it is about a 1% difference, and the

racial demographics are similar. The biggest difference was in the student population; there are almost

500,000 more students in the state of Kansas than there are in USD 250.

I compared George Nettles to the elementary school in my hometown, Chanute Elementary

School. The district wide student population for Chanute, USD 413, is 1845; the elementary school has a

student population of 849. The gender demographics are exactly the same, about half male and half
female. At Chanute there are many more students who are economically disadvantaged than at George

Nettles. At Chanute 70% of the students are economically disadvantaged while at George Nettles 45% of

students are economically disadvantaged. There are more students in Chanute who have disabilities than

there are in George Nettles, but not many more, about 4% more. The test scores are similar, they fluctuate

by one or two percent on each of the categories, some being in the favor of George Nettles and some

being in the favor of Chanute. The population of Chanute is less racially diverse than the population at

George Nettles; only 17% of the students at Chanute Elementary are not White/Caucasian.

Finally I compared the two districts; Pittsburg and Chanute have similar demographics with no

significant difference. The largest difference in any of the demographics is a 3% difference in the

percentage of students who have a disability. The testing scores are also similar; however the test scores

in Chanute schools were higher than those in Pittsburg schools in one year for math, the next year they

were back to being the same. I am curious as to what caused the spike in math scores in 2015 and why

they went back down but it was not a large spike, it may have just been more students reading carefully or

having more background knowledge, or even just a smaller group of students. It is interesting to see the

similarities and differences in two different schools and districts that are in the same general area, it is

expected for them to be similar in all aspects whereas when looking at a school and district from the

Midwest the expectation is that it is going to be drastically different from a school and district on the east

or west coast areas, but it is unexpected to see the district be so different from the state or from a district

as close and Pittsburg and Chanute are.

Target Student Profile

My target student is a seven year old boy in the first grade. He is an African American student

who has, within the past year moved to America from Africa. His family speaks an African language in

the home but the student is fluent in English. He is a strong learner and cares about others but he struggles

with paying attention. I was placed with him not because he is intellectually different than other students

in his class but because his social skills and culture are different than that of other students in his class and
different than what I am used to being around. He is friendly and other kids will play with him at recess

but because he sometimes struggles with reading and working collaboratively other students do not want

to be his partner during a lesson.

Time Log

Friday 10/07/2016 8:15-9:20

Friday 10/14/2016 8:20-9:30

Tuesday 10/18/2016 12:10-1:30

Thursday 10/27/2016 12:10-1:40

Thursday 11/03/2016 12:15-1:25

Tuesday 11/08/2016 12:10-1:30

Tuesday 11/15/2016 12:10-1:40

Thursday 11/24/2016 12:20-1:25

Tuesday 11/29/2016 12:15-1:20

Friday 12/09/2016 8:25-9:40

Daily Entries

Friday 10/07/2016 8:15-9:20

I have observed the student I will be working with this semester for the diversity project but we

were not formally introduced. Mrs. Cheney did not know until the end of the day who she would want me

to be with for the project because she was unsure of the assignment terms. This year is the first year that

Mrs. Cheney does not have students with diagnosed disabilities, so she was unsure because in previous

years she knew exactly who to have her PSU students work with. I know a few things about the student I

will be working with, I know that the student moved to Pittsburg from Africa, but the student seems

fluent in English so I am not sure where from in Africa. I know that it must be different for the student

here than it was in Africa and it makes me wonder if the student has had any difficulty making friends and

if the student’s knowledge base in Africa at the age level is similar to an American born student of the
same age. I also wonder if the student has had any difficulty understanding certain subjects that may be

approached differently in Africa.

I was unsure of who I was going to be working with so I was taking mental notes throughout the

class on a handful of students and my target student was one of them I was watching today. He is a bright

student and seems to know what he is doing but does not answer many questions. I was curious as to why

he does not answer aloud often even when the answer on his paper is correct and he knows it or even if it

is something that has no wrong answers. I began to think that maybe it is a cultural difference, maybe he

is just not used to this kind of classroom setting still and the classroom dynamic is different than it is in

Africa.

I have never had an experience where I was working with someone who comes from such a

different background than I do. I am looking forward to continuing to work with this student. I know he

does not struggle with the learning so I am curious to see how he adapts to the social differences he is

encountering.

Friday 10/14/2016 8:20-9:30

Today the students read a story and analyzed it to answer questions on a worksheet. I noticed that

sometimes my target student likes to get in a race with other students and try to be the one who reads it

the fastest. Then when they were doing the questions I was noticing that my target student was

consistently the last student finished when the rest of the class was ready to move on he was still at least

one question behind. He was getting distracted easily and blankly staring at Mrs. Cheney or me. I asked

him if he had heard Mrs. Cheney when she had given directions and he said “Um….no.” in a defeated

tone. So I repeated the directions for him in shorter steps and we worked through the paper together.

I asked Mrs. Cheney about the student following directions and paying attention and she told me

that (B) some days he does well with multistep directions and other days he needs more attention

and fewer steps at a time. I am curious to see how often one is more than the other.

Tuesday 10/18/2016 12:10-1:30

 Today I got to the school during recess and it was math when we went inside. At recess I sat with

the teachers and watched my target student. He got in trouble a few times for playing games that were too

graphic or about inappropriate situations, and for touching other students. Other Students still play with

him and they have fun together I think he just has some cultural barriers to cross.

When we got back inside for the lesson he was doing well and paying attention for the most part.

He got distracted towards the middle of the math page they were doing. (C) It is obvious to me that he

excels at math because he had the entire page filled out correctly before anyone else and so he

stopped paying attention, therefore when they were ready to move on he wasn’t ready because he did not

know what was going on anymore. When Mrs. Cheney saw that he was not at the same place as her she

turned his desk to face the front where she was writing on the smartboard so he could see without having

to turn and that kept him on task for a while.

The target student gets so far ahead of others and just sits there waiting. I am not sure if this is

when the teacher should give him more to do to help him grow or not give him more since they are

working from the book and haven’t learned the next thing in the book yet. That part confuses me about

differentiated instruction, if there is a time and a place for it when it is the case of the student needing

more or if it is just an always happening thing. I am unsure, but we are discussing it in the next couple of

days in our classes so I am sure we will cover that, if not I will ask.

Thursday 10/27/2016 12:10-1:40

Today in math, my target student was getting frustrated with himself and the people around him.

(D)The students at his table were talking and he was trying to get them to stop so he could

concentrate on the problem because they were learning something new today. They had not been

solving for the missing number in the problem instead of the answer before today. He was getting

loud in his frustration and so I got the rest of the table quieter simply by saying they needed to be

paying attention to Mrs. Cheney and he thought I was speaking to him directly and was getting

defensive. I lowered my voice a little and assured him that I was not saying that he was doing anything

wrong and he gradually lowered his voice as I did and we were almost to a point of whispering. That was
interesting to experience. He calmed down and everything was fine. He was back on task and so were the

others at the table.

It is amazing what works with students. I will definitely be using this technique when I have my

own classroom and my students are frustrated and loud. I know that it will not always work but it is

always worth a shot.

Thursday 11/03/2016 12:15-1:25

Today was math and I have noticed that my target student is always done early with his

assignments. He asked me what the instructions mean on the last question and I could also hear Mrs.

Cheney closing out the question before the one he was asking about so I told him that Mrs. Cheney was

about to explain that question so he sat there and listened to her explain it. When she was finished I gave

him a moment to process what she had said. I have noticed that he needs a little more time to understand

what you mean when you talk to him, I think it is because we speak English and we speak fast and he is

used to hearing another language and so he has to process what things mean and then give them context in

his own original language before understanding what we mean and being able to respond in English.

After giving him some time to process, I asked him if what Mrs. Cheney said made sense to him and he

said that it did and proceeded to answer the question correctly.

I have learned that some students just need a little more time than others when it comes to

instruction. Sometimes it takes them a little longer to understand things in order to answer questions

correctly and in a fullness that if they did not take that extra time they would not be able to answer the

questions well. In our lives we often listen to respond instead of listening to understand, I think that in my

life I need to think more like a person who speaks a different language so that I have to understand before

I can respond.

Tuesday 11/08/2016 12:10-1:30

Today was recess and math again, (F) at recess my target student came up to the bench the

teachers sit on, to watch the students, because Mrs. Cheney saw him doing something he knows he

is not supposed to do. He stopped about fifteen feet in front of Mrs. Cheney and tried to talk to her
from there. She told him she could not hear him so he needed to come closer, he did but he looked

unsure about it at first. That made me think that maybe in Africa there is an inappropriateness about

standing too close to an adult or authority figure in the culture he comes from. He was looking at Mrs.

Cheney the whole time she was talking but when she asked him why what he did was wrong all he could

say was “um” a few times and looked all around like he was looking for the answer. She helped him

through the answer to her question and sent him off to play again.

I think that he struggles with talking to adults. I do not know if it is a cultural difference though.

He does well speaking conversationally with other students, he takes turns talking he can respond in full

sentences without pause but when it comes to adults he is more reserved but it is not in a concerning way,

it seems more intentional, like he wants to find the exact words.

Tuesday 11/15/2016 12:10-1:40

Today I stayed next to my target student for the majority of the beginning of my being there. We

were working from the math book again and he was doing well and then asked me how to do something

that he did last week without a problem. I gave a suggestion on how to look at it and he suddenly

remembered how to do it. He said “or I could do it this other way right?” so I told him that he could do it

whichever way makes the most sense in his brain and he smiled from ear to ear and just said ok. Another

student had a question at a different table so I went to help and I noticed that my target student then

started to fly through the page and he was getting all of them right. He works better when he does not

know I am watching him. I do not know if that is something that makes him nervous or if it is about

getting my attention and making sure he is holding my attention.

I thought it was interesting that he worked slower when I was by him than when I was not. I think

next time I will try to stay a little farther back and observe what happens. Either he is getting some help

and understanding there are many ways to look at a problem and then solving the rest or if he just knows

how to do it and wants to interact with me.

Thursday 11/24/2016 12:20-1:25

 I stayed back further from my target student today but not in a way that was going to make it

uncomfortable for him. He worked well today with only a couple of attention struggles. He was through

with the pages in math before other students were. He asked if we could turn his desk to face the front

again so we did and he paid attention well and followed along. He works better when I am not giving him

the unnecessary attention. I still went to make sure he was doing well and did not need any help because

the attention may not be unnecessary. He might need a little extra attention and so I was trying to give

that to him in a positive and helpful way. I spent most of my time at his table but he was still working

well.

I think that he was giving me an excuse to stay by him because he knows he is good at math and

does not need the extra help but he wanted someone who was working mostly with him. I think he does

need some extra attention and I think it is because of his life at home. He has a pretty decent home life,

but his dad is in Africa for work and the student has two or three siblings. It is hard for a mom of multiple

children to go to school, work, clean the house, and give her children all the attention they need when she

is the only parent present.

There was a pretty loud scream in the hallway during the lesson and I made a face because it

scared me but I do not think the students saw me, once I realized I had made a face I quickly changed my

face to a normal expression. Mrs. Cheney’s face didn’t even change. The students were scared and were

becoming anxious and talkative so Mrs. Cheney said let’s focus on math. A couple of students asked her

what that noise was and she said it was not important it was time to focus on math. I thought that was

smart because my immediate reaction would have been to say that I do not know because that is honest,

and I started thinking about what I would have done if this were my classroom. I would not in this

moment have handled it well. Had I said that I did not know, the students would have been more scared

and not focused on math. With Mrs. Cheney telling them that it was not important they were acting as if it

had never even happened. I hope to be at that point as a teacher with my own classroom.

Tuesday 11/29/2016 12:15-1:20

 (C) In class today I discovered that my target student likes to play video games. He said that

it is all he does. He was talking to another student while they were waiting for everyone else to get back

from the drink break and he was not mentioning specific games but they were obviously where he was

getting the ideas for the inappropriate games at recess he would get into trouble for. Mrs. Cheney told him

that conversation was not appropriate for school, so the students stopped talking about it and decided to

talk about a different game.

During the lesson the target student was working well and paying attention as usual. He was

falling out of his chair and it must have been happening for a while because Mrs. Cheney helped him up,

readjusted his chair and had him sit back down without stopping instruction. She was talking to the class

the entire time. I thought that was interesting because I do not think that I could do that currently.

After the students went to specials I was talking with Mrs. Cheney and she told me that the target

student does not go outside and play at home, all he does is play video games and she thinks that is why

he has such a hard time paying attention sometimes and with coordination. I think she is probably right,

mostly though with the attention I think in other times when he understand but has not done all of the

work on his paper that is the issue but I think that when he has all of his work done and it just waiting on

everyone else it is because he is bored.

Friday 12/09/2016 8:25-9:40

Today Mrs. Cheney read “The Polar Express” to the students and they gave examples of how it

was different than and the same as the movie which they had watched the day before. My target student

raised his hand and waited for Mrs. Cheney to call on him, she didn’t but he was still waiting patiently

and being quiet enough to listen to other students’ ideas.

When they went back to their desks they were instructed to make a rough draft for a letter to

Santa. There were many students who were asking how to spell words and Mrs. Cheney kept saying that

it was a rough draft so they could sound it out and if it was wrong they could fix it after. She wrote some

bigger words on the board like reindeer and cookies. My target student did not ask how to spell things he

just wrote and made sure all of his letters were facing the right way. He followed all directions Mrs.
Cheney gave in many steps at a time. He did not ask for nor did he need any help until he was ready for

the next step. He was talking with the people at his table about Christmas and what he wanted for

Christmas, he wrote about seeing the elves at the polar express in his letter to Santa. He was proud of his

letter, the only thing I had to remind him to do was write a closing to the letter such as “from, love, or

sincerely” and then sign his name. He did fall out of his chair a couple of times today but he was not

disruptive about it.

I am going to miss working with my target student. I have seen growth in him and in myself over

the past semester. I am kind of sad that it was my last day in the classroom but I also know they have to

move on to bigger and better things as do I. He has helped me grow a little bit more into the teacher I am

going to be.

Final Reflection

This project has been one of the most beneficial assignments I have had in the teacher education

program so far. It has helped me learn a lot about myself and it has helped me grow more into the

effective teacher I want to be. I have learned about strategies to use with students when they are difficult

for me to work with. I have learned to look at a situation from a point of view that I am not used to

having. If I had not done this project I would not think to try to understand why students act a certain way

I would just live my life not understanding or thinking that I was ineffective or inadequate at my job and

in this passion that I have for the lives of students.

I have grown professionally through this project; I have the confidence that I can work with any

student that walks through my classroom doors. I can reach every student in some way and if I persist I

will find that way. Having done this project I feel more at ease about having my own classroom because I

now know that there are strategies used every day by effective teachers all over the world that I will be

using in my classroom. I know that I have the knowledge and the confidence and the persistence to teach

all students and to help them grow. I have learned how a student can help the teacher grow just as much if

not more than the teacher can help the student grow. I am more confident now than I have ever been

about becoming a teacher.

 In our classes we discussed differentiated instruction and I thought I knew what that meant. I

have learned through this project that I did not know what it meant. I understand more now than I ever

could have had we just discussed it in every one of my classes that I had this semester. I had to see it in

order to understand it. I think that is such a valuable piece of the life of teaching to be able to see in

action. I think that if I had not been in the classroom for this project I would not have been able to see that

and then I would be entering the profession with less preparedness than what I will be when I graduate.

I think that the biggest concern I have about becoming a teacher is either working with parents or

figuring out what all I need from the IEPs and other paperwork we have discussed. I know that both of

these areas will be fine. I know that with the information I have learned this semester I will have few

problems with navigating the IEPs and my concern about parents is something I am just going to have to

get over, but they are my concerns and I know I need to work through them. I have learned that parents

need to hear the positives about their children as well as or more often than negatives about their children.

This project has been an incredible experience and I think that it has made me better prepared for my

classroom than anything else I have learned so far.