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Setting and Context

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44 views

Setting and Context

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api-258388252
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Setting and Context: EDUC 350 Experience

In Education 350/386, I was placed in the Thompson School District. The district
includes the two cities of Loveland and Berthoud, and it also encompasses the southern
part of Fort Collins. It also includes other rural areas in Larimer, Weld, and Boulder
counties. The school district is home to 16,226 students grades K-12. In Thompson
school district, the mission statement has three components. The district strives to
Empower to Learn, Challenge to Achieve, and Inspire to Excel. They do a great job of
this through offering a variety of academic programs that include STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and International Baccalaureate (IB) and pre
IB programs. Career and technical education is also being offered in grades 6-12, and an
agricultural education program will be established in the near future. Within the district,
there are 542 English Language Learners, 1,517 Gifted and Talented Students, 5,839
students on Free and Reduced Lunch, and 1,991 in the Special Education Program. The
student population is also diverse. The chart below is the diversity make up of Thompson
School District.
Diversity of Students Percentage of Students
White 75.3%
Hispanic 19.6%
Asian 1.2%
Black or African American .9%
American Indian .6%
Two or more Races 2.2%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander .2%
Thompson School District state assessment scores are consistently above average, and
they also have a good graduation rate. 77.3% of students graduate in four years of high
school, and in five years, 84.1% graduate.
Within Thompson School District, I was placed a Ferguson High School, which is
the alternative, high-risk high school for the district. FHS serves 200-300 students during
different times of the year. These numbers are based on in-school students, as well as the
SOARS and PHOENIX programs that are online resources to help students achieve their
diploma. Ferguson is located in Loveland on Hilltop drive and has been there since 2009.
Mr. Ferguson, who was a principal at Loveland High School, established the school and
he saw the need for something different for students who had issues at home, with the
law, or needed a different atmosphere to learn. FHS believes that they reach students
through their mission: Foster a Diverse Learning Community, Honor and Hone Personal
Potential, and Support and Practice Responsible Citizenship.
With the alternative style, the demographics of the school are different from the
districts demographics. There are no English Language Learners, one student in the
Gifted and Talented Program, 84 in Free and Reduced Lunch Programs, and 12 in Special
Education. What sets FHS apart from other schools is their approach to learning and
style. They believe in helping students achieve success by having six-week hexter
periods, an advisor/advocate teacher who remain with students through their years at
FHS, smaller classrooms that allow for more one-on-one learning, and the ability to have
online programs available (SOARS and PHOENIX).
Within the STEM gardening class, we have ten students that range in age from
sophomores to seniors. To be students enrolled in Ferguson, students must be entering
their sophomore year. The students I have been contact with in the gardening class are
interested in learning individually and in a practical way, and I feel that this is why this
class was created. This class is all hands-on and something they can transfer to their lives
(something that I can relate to being an agricultural education major). The garden focuses
on science and math content, but the students are also learning essential life skills. They
created budgets, did research on best plants for the area, and are going to use the
vegetables in a cooking class in the fall: those three activities are practical to their lives
today and tomorrow. The class is structured as individual learning through assignments,
but group hands-on work and activities. The morning activities consist of group tilling,
building, measuring, and planting. In the class, they have built and planted in the raised
bed garden area, and they have also tilled and added organic matter to the side hill where
the pollinator garden will go. Also, the students have traveled to a few local gardens to
see how they plants will grow and how their garden will look when their work is finished.
The afternoon is more individualized learning related to the plants they are using in the
pollinator or vegetable garden. An example of individualized learning that was used in
this class was students created plant slides with the common name, scientific name,
blooming season, growth width and height, and pollinators.
The class climate and culture is extremely laid back and respectful. The three
teachers that are helping with the garden treat all the students as equals, but yet expect
great growth from them every day. The expectations are high for every one in the class,
and although the atmosphere is not a structured, lecture classroom, the students respond
well to the activities outside and work hard toward accomplishing their goal of finishing
the gardens. They are also interested in the assignments because they can see that it
relates to something right in front of them. Although the classroom atmosphere was
something that I have never experienced until this summer, I am excited to use bits and
pieces in my own classroom.

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