Deavana williams

PBH 586

Professor Dipzinski

Journal entry 1

After the first two weeks of being at Greece Athena middle school. The audience that I

am work with are students that receive free and reduced lunch that is 64% of the population at

the school. There Is a total of 771 students in the school and the teacher to student ratio is 12:1.

When it comes to the percentage of male to female in enrollment it is 48% of females and 52%

of males. This school has 6,7and 8th grade in the school. Per grade in the school there are

• 259 6th graders

• 260 7th graders

• 248 8th graders.

There are many students that are a part of minority that attend Greece Athena middle

school. The total minority is 43.8% of enrollment. Out of the 43.8% of minority 17.5 % are black

or African American.15.6 % are Hispanic/Latino. 6.6% are 2 or more races. 3.6% are Asian or

Asian pacific islander. The last .4 % of the minority is American Indian or Alaska native. When it

comes to students with learning disabilities/IEP it is a total of 101 students that is a percentage of

13%. When it comes to English language learners the number of students that are ELL it is 32

that is a percentage of 4% of the population at Greece Athena middle school. Greece Athena is

ranked 295 out 1,389 in the most diverse middle school in New York.

The students are learning about safety it’s all about violence prevention and how to stay

safe online and what to post and what not to post online. The student are also learning about

predators and what they do to get you to trust them. The unit also teaches the students about who
they should tell when the feel they are in danger. Some things I find to be as successes when

being at my field observation is that I am able to connect with the students and they also feel

they can ask me for help when their teacher is helping another student with work. Also, when I

can answer something that the kids have a question about content for in front of the class it

shows to them that I am a resource they can use if they need help. Another success I would say is

that the school is a very welcoming environment and if I were to need help with anything the

staff would help me.

The challenges I have when it comes being in my placement are understanding that when

I am teaching them certain words they may not understand. I also have the challenge of speaking

a little faster than I should went I am given a direction or even teaching. Another challenge is

knowing names when I don`t get to see the same class every day. I have so many questions when

it comes to getting student engage in learning the content. What is the best strategy to get them

into the lesson? Would it be good to incorporate things that are interactive, and lecture based for

the students that learn different than others? Also, can I use any resources that I find to help me

plan my lessons when I do them?

 References

2022: Athena Middle School - enrollment data: NYSED Data Site. data.nysed.gov. (n.d.).

https://data.nysed.gov/enrollment.php?year=2022&instid=800000051531

Athena Middle School in New York - U.S. news education. U.S. News & world Report . (n.d.).

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/new-york/athena-middle-school-260245

Sophomore, H. S. (2016, June 25). Athena Middle School in Greece, NY. Niche.

https://www.niche.com/k12/athena-middle-school-rochester-ny/#report-card
 Deavana williams

PBH586

Professor Dipzinski

1 Mar 2024

Journal #2

My SBTE uses formative and summative assessments thought out a unit depending on

the content and how much content must be taught for the students meet the objectives for that

unit. My SBTE has done many assessments right now the students are working on a packet

this is a formative assessment because it is working throughout the whole unit each page is

associated with a certain part of that unit it may start off with bullying it may start off with

Internet safety as well as how to handle certain situations if you were in that situation. The

students have been answering questions based on videos that they have watched about Internet

safety. Students have also been answering questions on stories that the teacher has been

reading to them these are all based on true things that have happened. I have also witnessed

this my SBTE use BrainPOP as one of the assessments during a unit ore specifically for

summative assessment when it came to being home alone. I really like brain pop because it

lets the students know right away what they got wrong as well as what is the right answer and

why. Also, I like how she uses the packet for the students to keep up with what is going on so

if she wants to ask a question about a prior class lesson the students are able to go back. The

teaching strategies that I have seen in the classroom so far is cooperative teaching and
differentiated teaching. These two strategies are aligned with skill-based health education and

the guidance document because throughout each unit students are requiring developing a skill

that will help them in the upcoming unit. The students may need to understand

communication hence why cooperative teaching strategy is good because students work with

in groups going through scenarios or questions based on their opinion. The strategies align

with the guidance document by having what skill and knowledge that the students should

know by the end of the lesson. The students are still on the safety unit they are now watching

a movie about cyberbully and it teaches them about internet safety as well as what happens if

you do lie on the internet and how someone can hack your account. It also teaches the kids

how what you say about someone can mess with their mental health. It also teaches the

students that it is never bad to ask for help if you really need it and even if someone else does.

This story also teaches students to stand up for those who can`t stand up for themselves. The

successes I have seen while being at my placement the students feel comfortable with talking

to me and they don`t shy away from telling me what they are going through. The challenges

that I face at my placement are the behaviors just not understanding certain ways to go about

some of the issues that are happening outside of me being there only on certain days. One

question I have is What is the best way to assist students in a situation that may be outside of

something in the classroom?

Deavana Williams

25 March 2024

Professor Dipzinski

Journal #3

My SBTE serves as a resource for the community and parents by advocating for the

students when they have something going on my SBTE usually sits in on meeting for students

that have IEP plans as well as 504 plans. My SBTE also is the one of the head coaches for a

unified basketball team that gives students that have disabilities a chance to play basketball. The

team consist of 20 players that are a part of the team and each player that has a disability is

assigned a partner that helps them as they play throughout the games. The players that are

assigned to a buddy with disabilities have had to play basketball during the school year and have

some background of it. My SBTE is also a part of her church community she set up events like

bible camp this is so that children are able to come and have fun at the church she attends for a

whole week and be a part of many different activities they set for the different age range. The

children are usually put in groups that are in the same age range as them. My SBTE is also a part

of the scheduling committee at the school that help to create the schedules for the teachers in the

next upcoming school year. During my time at my placement, I have not been able to advocate

for health but in the future, I would like to make things easier for students to be able to have

access to counselor as much as they need throughout the school day, but I would make sure it is a

system for students to be able to see the counselor as well. I believe that students should start off

on the right foot when it comes to school each day. If students have a chance to say what is going

on or even write it down students would have less things on their mind. Over that last week or so

the students got the opportunity to look up the predators in their neighborhood to see where these
individuals resided what they did what risk level they are and how long was there sentence for

their crime. The students thought it was really cool to be able to know who they should watch

out for. A lot of the students found out that the some of the predators in their zip code actually

lived a few houses away or even in some routes that they took if they walked home. The students

that are choosing not to look up predators in their zip, have an alternative assignment that

involves internet safety and home alone safety. My lesson went really well when I taught it to the

students and a lot of the kids are starting to know who I am even more and the staff that work at

the school. Some challenges I have when it comes to my placement are having the students that

give me a hard to make sure that they stay on task I’m not sure the best way to go about making

sure of that. I could possibly do the method of breaking the directions down into parts so that the

students that are having a hard time will know what is first then what comes after. Overall, I

believe that once I get an understanding of how to handle the students struggle with will help me

a lot in my placement.
Deavana williams

PBH 586

Professor Dipzinski

25 April 2024

Journal 4

Thus far in my placement I have found many things easy to get but hard at the same time.

When it comes to planning some days could be taken away for testing days as well as days

that teachers have to go and grade state test. With this happening through these last couple of

weeks it has been very difficult to know which classes has seen which lesson. Then when it

comes to behaviors things have gotten better since seeing some of the kids more outside of

the classroom with track and field. I feel what I may need to add is something called a rainy-

day lesson if it came down to it. There were days like we have had with students taking test

then they can have time to have that gap and all students be on the same lesson at the same

time. The things I would modify is the amount of interactive lesson that are taught. The

resources I will need to make this happen is finding out more platforms that keep students

more engaged rather than students not wanting to be engaged with the lesson that is going on.

Another resources that can be used is just also talking other health teachers because they

could have outside resources for me to use when it comes to my lessons in the future. The

professional development that could assist me in seeking my resources are conferences

that require health educators to see other programs and lessons. Also going to online

cohorts that can be done outside of health education lesson there could be new things that

are learned. Lately, in my placement the students have been learning about drugs and

alcohol how it affects youth when they partake in using any substances. The students have
really been getting into it because they have older siblings and friends that they really

want to tell them about the information they found out in class. The successes that are

happening is the students are actually recognizing me more and they love to see me. I’ve

also had many students tell me they are glad that I come to the school and help them as

well as teach them with lessons. The challenges that I have found is after becoming a

coach I hold my athletes to a higher standard. So, if I see them doing something they are

not supposed to I remind them who they represent besides themselves, they respresent the

team. Is this a bad thing to do by holding them to a different standard than the other

students? But then they might think I am picking on them which is not good? I just feel

very conflicted when it comes to this situation what should I do in this case. Overall, my

experience at my placement has been great I hope to in the future get a wonderful set of

students that I have right now this has been a great experience and great lessons have been

learned throughout. I have learned how to be a better teacher no matter what the subject

may be.