Wednesday, April 18th (4-6)

All staff and students have pseudonyms. 

4pm

    Ms. Mills is here, already in the room. Three students come in. Dr. Meyer comes in. Mrs. Brighten comes in also. There are 4 students already in the classroom when I walk in, working on computers. Ms. Mills looks through the IEPs for a student; they discuss what she sees on it. 

    The teachers get the Chromebooks ready for students by plugging them in and setting them on the table on one of the tables. A student comes up to Dr. Meyer and asks her if she can give her access to a quiz she failed. Dr. Meyer asks her if she would like to take it with her this time. She says yes. 

     Ms. Mills tells a student, Kevin, that he can ask for my help if he needs it. He sits at the desktop computer beside the teacher's computer where Ms. Mills sits. She tells me that he can be a "perfectionist," so he rarely needs help. 

     Ms. Mills tells me that she may print a student's essay, along with the rubric, for me to take a look at. She says she wants my opinion. So that I can get a feel for the typical essay on this topic, she says she will print another student's paper also. 

     Dr. Meyer and Ms. Mills talk about some charter schools getting shut down, but they say that Foothills isn't one that will be. 

     Ms. Mills looks up a student's grade in a course to check if she completed the class; she has. Ms. Mills signs the completion-of-course sign-off sheet for her. A student, Anna, the new student from the last time I visited CCHS, tells Dr. Meyer that she has a headache. Mrs. Brighten has been helping a student; she finishes. There are 6 students in the classroom. One student talks to another; other than this, the room is silent save the typing and clicking of the computers. 

4:30pm

 

     Dr. Meyer helps Frank with a question he's having a problem with. Ms. Mills types on her computer; Mrs. Brighten is on her Chromebook and fills out some paperwork. Frank comes to the table with Dr. Meyer. They discuss a concept he's having trouble grasping- possessive apostrophes. It seems as though Dr. Meyer was wrong on a question. She gives him the points back for that question. Ms. Mills walks around the room and asks students to put up their phones. She walks out of the room for a moment. When she comes back, an administrator comes in with her. She reminds all of the students about the no-cellphone policy. Anna asks for Dr. Meyer's help; she tells her to wait until she's done working with Frank. She is done with Frank after a few moments and turns to help Anna. 

    There are 7 students in the room. The same administrator comes back to the door when she sees through the glass around the door that some students are still on their phones. A student comes in while the administrator is still in the room; he hugs another student and gives a few other male students handshakes. The administrator tells him that it is not "visiting hour." They both leave the room together. 

     A student comes in and asks if he can submit his essay on Gradpoint. Ms. Mills tells him that they want to look over it before he can do that in case there is something they would like to suggest. She asks him to pull it up and share it on a Google document with her.

     A student asks me if I can put in a password for her quiz; I tell her that I don't have the password today so Mrs. Brighten puts it in for her. Someone comes in the classroom and asks to take a student's picture for her Foothills profile picture. 

     Ms. Mills tells me that she's almost done formatting the rubric so that she can print it along with the essay, but that she needs to read the student's essay so that he can submit it. She asks the student, Ricky, to sit beside her so she can read his essay and give suggestions if she needs to. After she reads it, she reminds him that he needs to refer to the two articles that he has to use more in his paper. After she gives him some more suggestions, he goes back to his computer and starts editing.

     The same administrator comes back in and reminds the same students that they need to put their phones away.

5pm

    There are 9 students in the classroom. The administrator looks inside the room again; they seem very persistent in the no cell-phone policy today, more so than I've ever seen. Ms. Mills goes to get the essay and rubric she printed for me. She comes back with it in her hands. The example essay was from a student with a disability. Ms. Mill reads to me what is on her IEP. They are instructed to read everything aloud to her, give her 70s as a passing grade on assignments. The essay is great; the student clearly worked very hard on it. It is that of a mastery level. She then tells me about the current essay and the assignment to me. She tells me the situation; the student wrote the essay this past January and after Ms. Mills suspected that she did not really read the book, the student was asked to revise and turn it in again. This was the final essay. After reading it, it was clear to me that the student did not really analyze the text. She merely summarized. I like that Ms. Mills trusted me even to ask for my opinion. 

5:30pm

  

   There are 11 students in the classroom. The teachers talk in the back of the classroom, right behind where I sit. They discuss the phone problem and wonder if they should ask some students to leave. It is within the contract that each student that attends Foothills not be on their phone or they will be asked to leave. Dr. Meyer goes out in the hall and talks to another teacher. The student that's been talking the most leaves the room. 

   Dr. Meyer comes back in and reminds the class again not to have phones out. Ms. Mills helps Ricky with his essay again. Ms. Mills gives me a handout she created on how to make a stronger paper. 

   The break starts; I leave for the day. 

Reflection:

   

   One part of this kind of school that is very beneficial is the one-on-one attention each student can have access to if they need it. In a traditional high school, these students with IEPs would not have this much time with a teacher by themselves working on their specific problem. I think that this attention can help the students that need this kind of support grow and become better as students. If a student needs specific help in writing, they can take advantage of a tutor that will work with them alone. The same goes for students having issues understanding a concept; a teacher can take them to the side and teach them the concept individually. In the traditional classroom setting, a teacher could not possibly do this every time each student had a problem without disrupting the classroom. I think Foothills is an excellent program for students such as this.