Week 3: September 20 - September 24

Reflecting on School Community:
Numbers from city-data.com-
The population of Bridgeport is 7,935 based off projections in 2009.
The median resident age is 42 which is just above the West Virginia median age of 39.
The estimated household income average is 61, 869 compared to that of the West Virginia household income average at only 37,989.
The diversity being 95% white and the school has even less diversity being 98% white.
Unemployment for those 25 and older is only 2.4%

The image (top) is a graph representing Bridgeport's crime index (purple) to the average in the United States (green). As you can see Bridgeports crime index is well below the US average.
The most common profession for women is in the education field at 10%.
The most common occupation for men is top executives at 6%.

My observations-
Since I relocated to the area in May I have had the pleasure to get to know the Bridgeport community on a more personal level. My aunt and uncle both live here and are involved in church organizations, clubs, and many other community activities. My aunt writes in the local newspaper and my uncle owns a veterinary clinic right up the road in Nutter Fort. My dad also worked in the neighboring city of Clarksburg and has many coworkers that still live here. I lived in Oral Lake this summer, a private club which my aunt and uncle are members, and I got to know many of the members and their children. Some of these kids I have in my class this year at Bridgeport Middle. Bridgeport is a small, but wealthy town. The average household income is almost double that of the state and it shows. There are very few, if any, "bad" parts of town. At night you can find people sitting on their front porches with friends or walking around Main St. If you drive through Philadelphia Ave. on a Sunday you will see many people on their way to church and don't be surprised if you see someone stopped in the middle of the road talking to a friend on the sidewalk. Many students walk to school in the mornings. The parent involvement in school activities is amazing. Teachers use LiveGrades to post student progress online and if you post a grade for a student that isn't an A or B you will surely receive an e-mail from the parents addressing the issue. Many students are involved with after school activities or sports. There are very few discipline problems within the school. If you were moving to Northern WV and were looking for a nice place to live Bridgeport would be your place. It does have it's vices though. First of the town diversity is not realistic. As a parent, I want my child to be exposed to people of different cultures. I truly believe that it would be difficult for a low income racially diverse family to move here because this town revolves around the success of the white middle class. With that said, I also would warn people that Bridgeport, like any small town, is plagued with gossip. Everyone knows everyone's business and it would be easy to get wrapped up in small town banter.
I have enjoyed living in Bridgeport. I have gotten a lot of support from members of the community as well as the teachers at Bridgeport Middle. I look forward to spending the rest of the year here and maybe more as my boyfriend goes out for the Clarksburg PD job.

Week 2: September 13- September 17

For the second week of my internship I also focused on classroom management. This week, my host teacher and I encountered a problem with a few of our students. Mrs. Sprout had received an e-mail from a concerned parent who checked the LiveGrades (web based grading system) and saw that their child had earned a 0 in two assignments bringing the grade to a D. I searched through the papers in panic because I had been doing the bulk of the grading for the past week and I was afraid I didn't post the grades correctly or missed the paper. Unfortunately I still couldn't find the papers. Over the recent weeks we had received many papers that were turned in without names on them and no one would claim them. Mrs. Sprout gave the student the opportunity to make up the work for full credit even though he said that the 'no name' work wasn't his. Throughout the week we continued to get many papers without names in which no one would claim. We also received many complaints from students that they turned things in and did not receive grades. By Thursday I thought I was losing my mind because I knew I hadn't lost all of their papers so I decided to create a system where the students could check their 'no name' papers and we could keep track of them. On my desk there is an area with 5 stacked paper trays. I created a 'no name' folder for each class period and stuck them in the trays. If the students were not handed back a paper they thought they turned in then it would go in the 'no name' folder. The catch is they only had one week to do it. No name papers would only stay in folders for one week and then they would be thrown away. I have explained this system to each class and haven't received a paper without a name on it since. We also have found that the student whose parent had e-mailed us hasn't turned in at least 3 homework assignments bringing the lost work theory to rest. Mrs. Sprout is very pleased with the system I developed because it has kept the students from forgetting their names on papers and it helps us organize the 'no name' papers which are easy to get mixed amongst other classes.

Week 1: September 7-September 10

For the first week of my internship in 7th grade English/Language Arts, I decided to focus on my mentor teacher's classroom management style. I felt that by paying close attention to how she manages her class I would be more prepared to start shadow teaching. I also felt that it would benefit me because I started my internship two weeks late, missing the students first weeks of school. The first thing I noticed about the class was that the desks were arranged in rows. Although the students got to choose where they sat on the first day of class, they have to remain in that seat unless the teacher moves them for behavioral purposes.
The second thing I noticed was that my teacher keeps an agenda of the days activities on the board for the students to write down when they enter the classroom. I think that this is a very good organizational tool not only for the students, but for the teacher. I believe that by writing the agenda on the board teachers can manage their time and students can be prepared for what they will learn.
Another thing I noticed about my mentor teacher's class is that she had bulletin boards with student work up already. I felt this was unusual for a middle school classroom, but was very pleased to see it because I feel it creates a positive atmosphere and promotes quality work. During this week my teacher showed me how the county uses Livegrades to manage student grades and keep parents informed of their child's classroom performance. This program was very easy to use and I like how it keeps parents in touch with what is going on in the classroom.
Finally, during this first week I chaperoned the school dance sponsored by the volleyball boosters. At the beginning of the dance it seemed that the students stayed in their individual cliques. By the end of the dance I found that the students mingled with one another more freely. Also there wasn't much "dancing" going on. The students seemed to have replaced dancing with jumping. The DJ only played one slow song and very few partnered up and he also played the ChaCha Slide which was probably the biggest hit of the night. I enjoyed chaperoning the dance and the students seemed to really enjoy themselves.
I am excited to continue my internship at Bridgeport Middle School. I can already tell that students are generally well-behaved and the parents are very involved with their child's education. I believe, for that reason, I will enjoy teaching here and will have a positive outcome with my action research.