Monday, March 2, 2009

Class Demographics and Their Affects on Learning

Mrs. Morgan’s 2nd Grade Classroom

AGE
All students are between 7 and 8 years old.
RACE

16 students are white; 4 students are African American.
GENDER

13 females and 8 males
LEARNING NEEDS
Speech Intervention- 3 students
Math Intervention-1 student
*all intervention students go once a week for 30 minutes to a resource room.



Demographics and Their Affects on Learning

Mrs. Beth Morgan’s second grade class at Guyton Elementary has become one of the highlights of my week. I look forward to going and seeing this group of kids every Monday morning. I will write about many aspects of the classroom during this spring, but to understand a class it is important to understand its demographics.
As you can see Mrs. Morgan’s class is a unique one compared to what we study in our education program. The class is not very diverse at all. I believe the small age range of students (all are 7 to 8) probably helps the teacher be much more effective. (Class discussion) Most students are at the same maturity level so teaching does not need to be as diverse as other classrooms may be. One student is technically a year behind, but because of his late birthday, it was probably best for him to be retained. He is now in a classroom that is appropriate maturity wise.
The small difference in race in the classroom I would normally say is not a good thing. It is important to expose students to lots of different cultures, as this country is composed of many races. (Lemlech, 2006) However, because the rest of the school is fairly diverse, I do not think students are missing out too much. The racial demographic per classroom will probably change next year and the students can transition smoothly.
The biggest shock to me was the small amount of learning disabilities in this class. We learn in our classes to prepare for inclusion and that we will be teaching a very wide variety of students. (Lemlech, 2006) The students in Mrs. Morgan’s class, for the most part, are quite similar in learning needs. If the teacher would not have told me which students go to intervention I would have never known they needed extra help in speech. The one student that goes for math intervention also seems to develop normally, but is easily distracted in math so he takes longer to get it. I think this shows Guyton is above average in identifying early on which students need more help and getting them that extra attention quickly.

References
Lemlech, J.K. (2006). Curriculum and instructional methods for the elementary and middle school. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

5 comments:

  1. I also think it's wierd that you did not get to experience much diversity in your class. I wonder if the schools play a role in that as well. I remember in my old elementary school, students were put in classes depending on their abilities and score reports. In my second grade class now, 1/3 of the class is medically diagnosed for A.D.H.D....that's wierd!

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  2. I see that you are enjoying your observation expierence this semester Leigh and hope that it only gets better. Also about the race difference in the classroom, I do not think that it was a problem with my class because she is so much like them now. They do not treat her any different, and she seems to be very comfortable. I agree with you on the fact that students need to be introduced to different types of people, but sometimes the living area does not call for much differentiation. I hope my future expierences with observation will be more diverse, but if not I will make the best of what I got.

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  3. Hey Leigh. Your class demographics are interesting. I am in a fifth grade class in Stilson and there are only six girls and thirteen boys. Also there is only one African-American. I was shocked by the different ratios of gender and minorities. There are not really many learning disabilities either.

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  4. I agree with you. Children should be exposed to many different cultures. It is how our society is set up today. It is best for them to learn at a young age. Students need to learn to appreciate the different cultures we have around us.

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  5. I think my demographics are off too. I think we all expect our classrooms to be a set of even distribution. I think we should all expect the unexpected!

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