Setting and Context:
Lesher middle school has a long and interesting history as a part of the Fort Collins community, one that is an inspiring and collective reflection of the city it serves. Lesher is the oldest continually operating middle school in the Poudre School District system. In 2005 Lesher was faced with the daunting prospect of being closed in within 3 years if the administration was not able to solve the multitude of issues that the school was struggling with These issues included gang related issues and large numbers of students choosing to go elsewhere in the district. That same year Tom Dodd, a former Physical Education and History teacher with an impressive knowledge of high school mascots across the United States, became the acting principle of the school. If you ask any of the staff at Lesher you will hear unabashed pride in what Dr. Dodd has been able to accomplish since taking the Vikings helm. In 2005 Lesher had a struggling student body of 500 students with more choosing to leave each year. Currently Lesher currently has 765 students with impressive demographic diversity across categories. Lesher now has 35% minority students, 45% of students are part of the free and reduced lunch program, 25% of students are a part of Lesher’s impressive English Language Learners (ELL) program representing 17 different languages that are spoken at the school, additionally 28% of students are a part of Leshers gifted and talented (GT) program. Dr. Dodd informed us that he has tried to build the school on the ideals of high expectations and support creating a community of equity. This can be an especially difficult task due to the fact that Lesher attracts some of the most affluent students in the city in the same building as 17 students effected by homelessness. The school has been transformed as having a reputation Dr. Dodd described as the school with problems to what he now describes as, “the funky IB school downtown”, one that consistently out performs other schools in the PSD system. Perhaps the most prominent and unique aspect of the school is the International Baccalaureate academic program. This program strives to create students who are lifelong learners with an extreme emphasis on the well-rounded nature of their education. As stated on the Lesher website the IB program aims,
“…encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.”
An example of this commitment to the well-rounded student can be seen in the 2006-2007 renovation of the school which added a new art room, as well as new media and fitness centers. It is this commitment to ensuring the quality of the diversity of student’s educations that makes Lesher a unique and attractive educational option. Another layer of the success of Lesher is the community presence and parental involvement that is a part of the DNA of the school. There are numerous resources on the website specifically for parents as well as a letter to them from Dr. Dodd describing the ideals of the school and communicating vital information about the beginning of the year. Additionally there are resources for the PTO organization refered to as “Viking Volunteers” and various opportunities for parents to volunteer in and be engaged with the school community. The Lesher community is built upon the motto of, “A school for the mind; a home for the heart” after spending time there I see the evidence and realization of this motto in an amazing community that engages and challenges students while supporting and celebrating its staff.
Students and Classroom:
For my Education 350/386 practicum placement I had the wonderful opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone are particular content area and participate in the technology class of Rebecca Knips for the entirety of the semester. During my time with Ms. Knips I sat in on a variety of classes include a web design course and technology course as well as seeing two different Extended Learning Opportunity ELO courses consisting of Year Book and an exciting class using Minecraft in an educational setting. The students I encountered seemed to be a perfect sample of the vast amount of diversity that is present at Lesher in both demographic and academic contexts. I worked with students who were clearly extremely self-motivated GT types to students who continually needed extra academic and social support from resources such as Ms. Knips and the guidance office. I also got the opportunity to work with bilingual students and student from minority backgrounds. This breadth of individual needs was a very humbling thing to encounter and simultaneously excited and intimidated me as I consider my future as a teacher. The layout of Ms. Kinps room as provided challenges unique to the context of the technology classroom. The room is arranged in five rows of desks with a individual desktop computer for each student. All of these students face the smartboard while Ms. Kinps desk and computer, that is able to control all student computers, is situated in the back righthand corner of the room. This arrangement is the most efficient way to use the technology classroom and inevitably makes things like teacher circulation and group work more difficult.
Topics and Rational:
The topics covered by Ms. Knips varied vastly form class to class but all where anchored in the idea of applying technology to the real world. For example in the web design class Ms. Knips created an assignment that had students work with a different “boss” to create a graphic design project specific to the needs of each students boss. The bosses were teacher’s thoughout the school and the assignments consisted of projects such as designing athletic apparel, club logos, event t-shirts and other real life projects in relation to the school. Ms. Knips’ teaching strategy consisted mainly of project based learning, the assessments were very private in the students would turn in their work and be evaluated on an individual basis based on the common IB rubric for each project. Ms Knips is a very skilled teacher in both in her ability to manage a difficult classroom and to create lessons that both engaged and challenged students all revolving around the practical and applied uses of technology.
Lesher middle school has a long and interesting history as a part of the Fort Collins community, one that is an inspiring and collective reflection of the city it serves. Lesher is the oldest continually operating middle school in the Poudre School District system. In 2005 Lesher was faced with the daunting prospect of being closed in within 3 years if the administration was not able to solve the multitude of issues that the school was struggling with These issues included gang related issues and large numbers of students choosing to go elsewhere in the district. That same year Tom Dodd, a former Physical Education and History teacher with an impressive knowledge of high school mascots across the United States, became the acting principle of the school. If you ask any of the staff at Lesher you will hear unabashed pride in what Dr. Dodd has been able to accomplish since taking the Vikings helm. In 2005 Lesher had a struggling student body of 500 students with more choosing to leave each year. Currently Lesher currently has 765 students with impressive demographic diversity across categories. Lesher now has 35% minority students, 45% of students are part of the free and reduced lunch program, 25% of students are a part of Lesher’s impressive English Language Learners (ELL) program representing 17 different languages that are spoken at the school, additionally 28% of students are a part of Leshers gifted and talented (GT) program. Dr. Dodd informed us that he has tried to build the school on the ideals of high expectations and support creating a community of equity. This can be an especially difficult task due to the fact that Lesher attracts some of the most affluent students in the city in the same building as 17 students effected by homelessness. The school has been transformed as having a reputation Dr. Dodd described as the school with problems to what he now describes as, “the funky IB school downtown”, one that consistently out performs other schools in the PSD system. Perhaps the most prominent and unique aspect of the school is the International Baccalaureate academic program. This program strives to create students who are lifelong learners with an extreme emphasis on the well-rounded nature of their education. As stated on the Lesher website the IB program aims,
“…encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.”
An example of this commitment to the well-rounded student can be seen in the 2006-2007 renovation of the school which added a new art room, as well as new media and fitness centers. It is this commitment to ensuring the quality of the diversity of student’s educations that makes Lesher a unique and attractive educational option. Another layer of the success of Lesher is the community presence and parental involvement that is a part of the DNA of the school. There are numerous resources on the website specifically for parents as well as a letter to them from Dr. Dodd describing the ideals of the school and communicating vital information about the beginning of the year. Additionally there are resources for the PTO organization refered to as “Viking Volunteers” and various opportunities for parents to volunteer in and be engaged with the school community. The Lesher community is built upon the motto of, “A school for the mind; a home for the heart” after spending time there I see the evidence and realization of this motto in an amazing community that engages and challenges students while supporting and celebrating its staff.
Students and Classroom:
For my Education 350/386 practicum placement I had the wonderful opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone are particular content area and participate in the technology class of Rebecca Knips for the entirety of the semester. During my time with Ms. Knips I sat in on a variety of classes include a web design course and technology course as well as seeing two different Extended Learning Opportunity ELO courses consisting of Year Book and an exciting class using Minecraft in an educational setting. The students I encountered seemed to be a perfect sample of the vast amount of diversity that is present at Lesher in both demographic and academic contexts. I worked with students who were clearly extremely self-motivated GT types to students who continually needed extra academic and social support from resources such as Ms. Knips and the guidance office. I also got the opportunity to work with bilingual students and student from minority backgrounds. This breadth of individual needs was a very humbling thing to encounter and simultaneously excited and intimidated me as I consider my future as a teacher. The layout of Ms. Kinps room as provided challenges unique to the context of the technology classroom. The room is arranged in five rows of desks with a individual desktop computer for each student. All of these students face the smartboard while Ms. Kinps desk and computer, that is able to control all student computers, is situated in the back righthand corner of the room. This arrangement is the most efficient way to use the technology classroom and inevitably makes things like teacher circulation and group work more difficult.
Topics and Rational:
The topics covered by Ms. Knips varied vastly form class to class but all where anchored in the idea of applying technology to the real world. For example in the web design class Ms. Knips created an assignment that had students work with a different “boss” to create a graphic design project specific to the needs of each students boss. The bosses were teacher’s thoughout the school and the assignments consisted of projects such as designing athletic apparel, club logos, event t-shirts and other real life projects in relation to the school. Ms. Knips’ teaching strategy consisted mainly of project based learning, the assessments were very private in the students would turn in their work and be evaluated on an individual basis based on the common IB rubric for each project. Ms Knips is a very skilled teacher in both in her ability to manage a difficult classroom and to create lessons that both engaged and challenged students all revolving around the practical and applied uses of technology.
