There are 29 students in my practicum class, plus one student aid who often takes tests and does work with the class, as he is in the same class, same teacher, but 7th period instead of 4th. Because of this fact, and because he is accepted by the other students as a member of the class, I will count him as the 30th student. There are 10 boys and 20 girls in the class. Of these, I have two students who are from the same family; they are German Apostolic, although neither of them wear the traditional head piece or clothing often associated with the religion. I have two boys who are of Hispanic origin, although I don’t think that either of them were raised to be completely bilingual, and as such are not fluent speakers. All of the other students appear to be White, with no obvious minority racial or religious differences (although some could be present and not self-identified). Although I am not completely certain of all of the demographics in the room, I will make sure to be aware of the ones I do know of. For example, it will be important not to assume that the two Hispanic boys know the answers to everything, or to assume that they get the material and don’t need help or checking-in. It will also behoove me to be conscious of potentially controversial religious material. In general, however, I am committed to being conscientious about how I present controversial ideas or material, and to being open, accepting, and inviting of difference, and I think that will serve me well with any “hidden” diversity in the classroom.
The class as a whole seems to be very cohesive and tight-knit. They get along well and, although they are competitive, they don’t seem to gang up on each other or leave any one out. There are a few groups of students who tend to do all of their work together and occasionally will distract each other and get off-task due to side conversations. Because there is no seating chart in the classroom, the students were able to sit where ever they wanted at the beginning of the year, and so this lets me see who is friends with whom automatically. There is a group of four girls who sit in the back right corner (when facing the students) who, in particular, seem to get off-task and not pay attention because they are having their own conversations. They seem very cliquey to an outside observer, and I will have to be conscious of their engagement. If the talking gets out of hand, I may consider moving the class around and making sure they get broken up. There are a few other groups who get off-task while doing independent practice activities, but are not usually an issue during instruction. As long as they are getting their work done, I do not object to side conversations. However, Spanish teacher that I am, I will be consistently encouraging them to use Spanish in their conversations.
There are a few quiet students in the class as well, but they seem to fall into two categories: shy by nature, or unmotivated and disengaged. The shy by nature students all seem to be hard workers and are doing fine in the class. There are two students, however, who are not very involved in the class and as such are not doing very well. For those students who are just quiet, I will do my best to make sure they continue to do well, and that I am checking in with them - often they will not ask for help because they are shy, and I have to make sure I am accessible to them and they are not intimidated or scared to talk to me. Those students who are disengaged are going to be a tougher task, but I think the same strategy holds true for them; if I continue to check in and make it clear that I am available for help (on classwork or otherwise), then hopefully I can engage them a little more and help them to bring their grades up.
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