Arvada West High School (AWest) is in Jefferson County (Jeffco) in the northwest area of Denver. It is a suburban community of 106,000 people, the students come from a range of high income to low income families. The Jefferson County School District has 85 elementary schools, 17 middle schools, 17 high schools, and 34 other schools, serving 86,000 students. According to the Jeffco public schools district website, their "mission is to provide a quality education that prepares all children for a successful future", and that is supported by holding the award for Washington Post's 2017 list of America's Most Challenging High Schools.
The student population is 68% White, 23% Hispanic, 4% multiple races, 3% Asian, 1% Black, and 1% American Indian/Alaska Native/Pacific Islander. Thirty-one percent of Jeffco Public Schools Students qualified for free and reduced lunch. Jeffco Public Schools employs 4,700 highly qualified teachers holding advanced degrees and national recognition. The district honors its entrepreneurial spirit to innovate the changing classroom.
I was first introduced to the community at AWest during my pre-service practicum training. I began my observation hours with Mrs. Dalton in the Ceramics and Jewelry room in fall of 2017. I enjoyed the way she moved around the classroom confidently with a laid-back demeanor. Learners know their objectives, where to find materials, their classroom duties, and when to ask for help. Mrs. Dalton and I connected right away during my observations, she encouraged me to walk around and talk to the kids, work around the room, actively engage them, socially, and academically. I developed a relationship with the department staff over the next few years. Mrs. Dalton reached out to my advisors at UNC and requested (asked) if my high school placement could be with her at AWest. I agreed and was accepted! One of the important aspects of teaching I learned in my second placement was to adapt to any situation, take it as it comes, breathe, and go with the flow! The week before my placement at AWest, Mrs. Dalton called and informed me of a family matter she was dealing with that took her out of the state, and that she would be gone for my first week and possibly the second. I was going to have a substitute support and I would be teaching the curriculum myself. She prepared me with all the documents I would need for attendance, materials, tech access, curriculum, and numbers of people I could contact for help. Mrs. Dalton put me in contact with all the members in the art and tech department before my first day. The staff was all very supportive, checked in on me in the room throughout the week and showed me around the department. The first week wasn't bad! The kids were understanding, helpful, and so was the staff support. Mrs. Dalton made herself available for questions by phone, text, or email during the day, and then we talked on the phone every night after school. She mentored me on the challenges and prepared me for the next day while she was away and communicated with all the substitutes about the situation. The classroom climate was relaxed and laid back, the kids were very informative, answered any questions I asked about their routines, and helped me out without prompting.
Mrs. Dalton returned on the Tuesday of my second week of teaching high school, right as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to affect the Colorado community. We had an all staff meeting on Tuesday morning about assessment and by that afternoon, Mrs. Dalton was preparing me to start creating online lessons for any scenario. That Thursday we had another all staff meeting preparing us for new protocols in-case we were to go to online learning. Following the meeting, Mrs. Dalton and I decided to prepare all supplies to go home with students the following day. We began designing all our classroom lessons as online lessons and worked together to break down the supplies and the format before the next day. That same night we were informed by the district that Friday (the next day) was our last day of school before online learning and self-quarantining took place. I cover the experience in my Personal Story box unit and lesson plan on the following pages.
The time that was lost working with kids and the hands-on classroom experience was felt and was an adjustment. That feeling was quickly replaced with a new skill of preparing and building a google classroom for emergency online learning. I chose to use this time to build my technical experience, learn and work with my cooperating teacher, and grow in others way for the benefit of our students. How can we break down information and develop an online routine for students during a pandemic? First, take down your expectations and know that everyone is dealing with this "new normal" together, and empathize with the students. Learn from our online failures to become better and more efficient for the following week. Google Meet and Zoom became our way of life, communication, and human interaction. New tactics and features were discussed to create efficient instruction with each other and other teachers in and out of the district to improve our best practices. Each week in emergency online learning Mrs. Dalton and I improved our classroom organization, assignments, and engagements with the kids. We recorded beginning of the week videos, shared the screen and went over the week’s expectations, and where to find everything in the online classroom. This provided another way to communicate with all learners by giving them familiarity with verbal instruction to guide them through online learning. We held online Zoom critiques for advanced kids and daily google meet office hours for students to pop in if they had questions, create artwork with us, or to catch up and see a different face during quarantine.
The way I went through my student teaching with the community at AWest was globally and educationally unprecedented. This pandemic has prepared me in new ways to be a teacher that I never could have predicted; making me a stronger problem-solver, thinker, and facilitator. I have learned more about myself as an educator and as a human during my field experience. I am excited to take my new, deeper, empathetic growth-mindset to connect and build with the next generation of thinkers, makers, and doers!