INQUIRY PROJECT 1

Inquiry Project

Kendra Gardner

Colorado State University

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Inquiry Project

On November 23rd and 24th, I shadowed a total of five teachers at Rock Canyon High

School, which is a majority-based White student body, located in Douglas County, Colorado.

Since it was the week before Thanksgiving break, a majority of the teachers were giving tests, so

I observed other teachers while the tests were being given. One of the teachers I shadowed and

decided to interview was Audry Klingenmeier, a White, CSU graduate, who was now in her third

year of teaching. The community member I interviewed was 22-year-old, Tyler Zybura. She is a

current CSU student and a Japanese American, who was born in and spent her childhood living

in Guam, then spent her teenage years in San Diego, California. As Klingenmeier is a White

teacher and Zybura is a culturally diverse student, they who have both been exposed to vastly

different education situations, which has led them to some similar and different prospectives

about the United States Education System. Every person has their own story and their own

prospective on Schooling in the United States, those views are independently based on what

school district they are in, their culture and ethnicity, and the position in the Education System.

Primary Purpose of Schools

Both Zybura and Klingenmeiers answers were very similar on their opinion of what the

primary purpose of school was. Tyler made the argument when she stated, in school you find

your own niche, something youre good at, which usually can develop into a passion and help

fuel your career. Miss Klingenmeiers thoughts were that schooling helps students prepare for

life outside of school as well, because many are blind as to what the real world consists of. Both

had the same intentions, but approached the point that school helps students prepare for life

outside of school and what will come after when they are on their own.

Meeting the Needs of Students

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When Tyler moved to the United States in late elementary school, she found reading and

writing in English to be difficult to master since she had come from Guam and spoke mostly

Tagalog. She connected with math because its more of a universal language. Audry

Klingenmeier believes that her school does a great job of meeting many of their students needs.

Some schools do better than others because of funding and resources that may be available in

their community. Rock Canyon is a member of Douglas County School District, 77.1% of their

students are white, 12.7% Hispanic, 3.9% Asian, 2.2% Black, and 4.1% identified themselves in

the Other category. 10.6% of the districts students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, and

less than 3 out of every 100 students in Douglas County are English as a Second Language

(ESL) learner (Douglas County). In San Diego County where Tyler attended school, a little over

22% of their students were ESL students, showing how diverse their district was in comparison

(Search for Public-San Diego). Even though Miss Klingenmeier talked about the resources

offered for their students, with the amount of funding their school received, they do not have to

spend as much on programs for Students of Color, ESL etc. as San Diego County does.

When Tyler moved to California, the community was much more diverse than Guam and

the students were very welcoming due to the high level of diversity. From the 2000 San Diego

Census Bureau, which was about the time Tyler had moved to California, only 41% of their

schools were White (Search for Public-San Diego). This is much different than Douglas County,

Colorado, which during the same time period, was 91% white (Search for Public-Douglas). San

Diego had a 38% population of Hispanic/Latino children, so ESL students made up a larger

portion of their school (CCD Public School-San Diego). The languages of the children who

represented other cultures besides the White and Hispanic/Latino populations were not as

recognized and time was not spent on them.

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Expectations

Tyler stated in her interview that she remembers due to the large Spanish speaking

population, they had a specific class that was Spanish oriented, which they put her in even

though she did not know any Spanish. Though they were trying to be accommodating to the fact

that her English was not as strong as many of her fellow peers, they were not meeting her

individual needs as well as they could have been. This is probably the case in many school

districts where diversity levels are high. She was thrown in the category of diverse students,

rather than having her specific needs met. Her life differed from that of a White child, but was

looked at like the life of a Hispanic student. This example is very similar to the Diversity Wheel

on Page 15 of Privilege, Power, and Difference, which states, the wheel doesnt say much

about the unique individual you know yourself to be, your personal history(Johnson). The

school should have not identified her as child of color but rather a child born in Guam and

spoke Tagalog, not Spanish, who needed help with her English. Children from homes in which

the language and culture do not closely correspond to that of the school may be a disadvantage in

the learning process. These children often become alienated and fell disengaged from learning

(Principles for Culturally). She commented on this experience by telling me how much she hated

it, and how it made her feel even more disconnected from her peers to the point that her parents

had to hire a tutor, so she could feel comfortable about communicating. Klingenmeiers comment

of thinking that her school was doing a great job of meeting their students needs was probably

because their percentages of students who speak other languages is much less than those of

students in San Diego. During my time of observing five different classes, and about 150

different students, I saw four students who were not White. Of those four, they all spoke English

fluently.
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Miss Klingenmeier has found that until she became a teacher, she did not know how

demanding the job was, even with all of the practicums and education classes she took in college.

She stated, It is a job that requires a lot of work to be done correctly, and it is what you put into

it. Everyday you have to be prepared because you have can have more than 160 students

depending on you to educate them. Concluding with all the pressure and work, she finds the job

to be rewarding knowing that she is educating and hopefully inspiring her students to be

successful in their futures.

Observation

Miss Klingenmeier gave a test to her 37 students, so I only was able to see her review any

last minute questions with her students for about 20 minutes. When students came in, they

followed their everyday procedure of putting their cell phones in an assigned numbered pocket

that hung on the wall. Each student was assigned a number, which made it easy for her to take

attendance, as well as make sure that she had her students full attention during her class. When

class started she asked her students for questions they had on their review packet. She happily

answered all, clearly showing all of her work on the whiteboard and restating some of the

equation procedures that they should have been familiar with by that point. Just before the test

actually began, she gave her students helpful hints they might need, as well as last minute

announcements. I found her to have great classroom control, all students were engaged and any

side chatter was addressed appropriately. She did a nice job though of interacting with her

students and asking how their weekend was, etc. in between different activities to keep her

students engaged.

The second classroom was Becca Uchyns Algebra I, which was filled with 18 freshman

and sophomores. All of the desks were facing forward and the teacher was going through her fill
INQUIRY PROJECT 6

in the blank notes on her iPad. What she wrote on the iPad was projected on the screen in the

front, so the students could follow along. She provided fill in the blank notes for all of her

students, which made their notes organized and also allowed for her students follow along. For

each problem, she walked them through the first example and then had them walk her through

the next ones, to make sure all of the students understood the concepts. The classroom had a very

lively atmosphere and all of the students were engaged in the notes, as well as feeling

comfortable enough to joke around with her. When there was side chatter, she too addressed the

students in an appropriate manner. After the notes, the students got in small groups to work on

their homework, while she went around the room to answer any questions. She told me she

encouraged group work, because learning from classmates sometimes helps other students

understand better, as well as when you explain something to another person it shows that you

have mastered the subject.

The last class I observed on Monday was Allen Gregorys Geometry class. He split his

class up into four sections, to keep the students interested. I found his class to be not as focused

because he did not have them put their phones in pockets, and since he just went through the

book and they did not have to take the notes, not as many of his students were paying attention.

After the first half of the lesson, he had his students break up in groups to work on assigned

problems and after they had started to master those, he moved onto the next half of the lesson

and again at the end had them get back into their groups. While teaching he had his students walk

him through his examples and asked about their process, which showed how students thought

about the material in different ways, which was very encouraged.

The first class I observed on Tuesday was Mandi Zimmermans Trigonometry class. They

too put their phones in the pockets on the wall as the teacher took attendance and then had them
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work on a warm-up. She gave them notes on trigonometry identities, which she wrote on the

projector, and they wrote down in their notebooks. She had great classroom control and also had

her students walk her through their thought processes. After doing a few examples she gave them

a work sheet with a Thanksgiving riddle on it. Each right answer on the worksheet gave them a

word to the riddle. And she made it a competition by the group who finished first would get two

extra credit points on the next test.

The last teacher I shadowed was a substitute and was actually my formers teacher

inspiration to become a math teacher as well. He used the white board to give the lesson on

rational numbers and zeros. He did exercises to help kinesthetic learners by having them use

their arms to represent what the shape of the graph would look like. There came a problem where

he was unsure about and instead of fumbling around he was the first to admit he was unsure,

which was okay, and had one of the students come up to the board to show what they got. Their

homework was to color a turkey for Thanksgiving. The characteristics and colors of the turkey

depended on what answer they got for their problems, which was a fun way to get them excited

about their homework.

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Time # of Description of the Activity CODE

Minutes (M, R,I)
Monday 11/23
First Class
1:00-1:20 20 Met all the teachers I would shadow, interviewed first teacher
with questions
1:20-1:25 5 Took attendance, put phones away, quieted classroom M
1:25-1:40 15 Went over any questions students had before test R,I,M
Second Class
1:40-1:45 5 Going over warm ups as a class M,R,I
1:45-2:10 25 Going through fill in the blank notes as a class, did examples M, R, I
as a class
2:10-2:15 5 Worked on packet and if time, homework in small groups M,R
while teacher walked around and helped
Third Class
2:15-2:20 5 Going over first lesson with book notes M, R, I
2:20-2:35 15 Worked in groups on book examples M, R
2:35-2:45 10 Goes over next lesson on book projected on screen M, R, I
2:45-2:50 5 Continued in groups on following examples M, R
Tuesday 11/24
Fourth Class
1:00-1:20 20 Met and talked with the teacher I would be shadowing for the M, R
day and talked with them about education
1:20-1:25 5 Warm up in groups on 1 problem M, R
1:25-2:00 35 Guided lesson with notes on projector M, R, I
2:00-2:05 5 Got in groups and worked on problems for riddle M, R
Fifth Class
2:05-2:10 5 Finishing up individual quiz M
2:10-2:40 30 Go over lesson on white board M, R, I
2:40-2:50 10 Worked on homework- answers told what to draw/color on
turkey
Total Total 220 minutes =
Time Minutes

Even though I only got to see each teacher for about 30-45 minutes, being able to see five

different math classes was very educational. Group work in math is always encouraged to help

students and their surrounding peers understand. I saw a variety of different note taking methods,

and also the positive and negative effects. All note methods catered towards visual and auditory
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learners, because everything that was said was written down. Kinesthetic learning was not

addressed as well in some classes, but the arm movements representing the different graphs was

a great example. In all five classes I kept track of male and females that were acknowledged.

Something I noticed with math is that a lot of the time, the teacher will address the class as a

whole and have them all shout out the answer. After the class would answer the teacher would

ask why to provoke their thought process and to get them thinking. In all of the classes, it was

very even if students were called on, and all questions were always answered if multiple hands

were raised.

Amount of Times Students Were Called On

4.5
4
3.5
3
Males
2.5 Females
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
First Class Second Class Third Class Fourth Class Fifth Class
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Time Spent During Five Class Period

100%
90%
80%
70%
60% Management Relationship Building Instruction
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
First Class Second Class Third Class Fourth Class Fifth Class
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An interesting insight brought up is In the classroom, the teacher poses questions with

preconceived answers, a process inevitably prohibiting dialogue as means of learning. Students

look for the right answer to the teachers question instead of developing their own ideas and

sharing them with others (Fernndez-Balboa, Marshall). However, with all of the classrooms I

sat in on, a majority of the answers to the mathematical problems were discussed and worked on

first in groups and then shared with the class. With math, especially simpler math, there is

usually only one right answer. However, when different answers were presented the teacher

asked why the student(s) did what they did and looked for and praised different thought process.

Even though theres usually one right answer in math, there are a variety of different ways to get

to that answer, which is what I saw the teachers encourage more than anything.

Conclusion

I found shadowing a school that consisted of a high population of White students, most of

whom did not struggle with a language barrier or racial issues, which was very interesting after

hearing Tylers story. I felt like a lot of the students in Rock Canyon did not realize how lucky

they were to attend the school they did. Even though Tyler did not grow up in Poverty, she had

different prospective from many of the students that I observed. Klingenmeiers final thoughts

about the Education System were that she hoped that students would learn to value their

education more. She told me, Students are aware of the importance of earning their high school

diploma. However, when in the classroom, students go through the motions and do not

appreciate what they are given in a classroom. She voiced her opinion to me by telling me that
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she thought students were becoming lazier and that, A majority of her students think they dont

need to put an effort into their education, they expect everything to be handed to them.

Tylers response to her hopes for the future of education was that she hoped that more

culture would be brought into the schools. She found that attending such a diverse school

allowed her to become accustomed to different cultures, religions, and ideas that she otherwise

would have never been exposed to. It opened her eyes and her mind in the aspect that she

appreciated what she had, and was always excited to learn other peoples opinions and

viewpoints. The World Development Forum did a study in 1990 by representing the world

population by 100 people. Of those 100 people, 70 would be People of Color, 30 White and 70%

would also be advocates of faiths besides Christianity (Lantieri and Patti). This shows the vast

differentiations of ideas out there from people who come from different walks of life. Some of

those people who do immigrate to the United States bring diversity and immerse their values and

beliefs into our culture in what we call the melting pot. Tyler told me she really appreciated that

aspect of her school, and since being at college, she has realized that not many of her fellow

peers were able to experience that type of culture. Zybura also commented on the fact that she

had realized that other students who she now attends college with, missed out on opportunities

about learning about other cultures. Between the Second World War and the Cold War, teachers

tried to implement culture into homogenous schools by having their students participate in

activities and attend clubs with students who were ethnically different in order to teach students

about other cultures (Burkholder, 2007). Homogeneous schools should implement programs with

diversity or put more culture into their curriculum, so students can be aware of other opinions

and ideas that they may have not known before. In Privileges, Oppressions, and Differences,

theres a quote that says The real illusion connected to difference is the popular assumption that
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people are naturally afraid of what they dont understand (Johnson). There are so many students

who are unaware because of they are uneducated about other ethnicities, which can lead to

misunderstandings and ignorance among students. I have witnessed that middle to upper class

students are not as appreciative of their education as they should be. After talking with someone

who grew up seeing Poverty, learning about a variety of cultures, overcoming an obstacle with

language, and moving from a different country made her appreciate the education she was given.

However, each person experiences a variety of different influences and experiences during their

time in the schools, no matter if they are a student or an educator. Taking a step back from my

emersion as a student and viewing it as an outsider truly made me consider all of the different

angles there are and how each person has their own story which itself is a contribution to our

Education System.

References

Burkholder, Z. (2007, October 24). Because Race Cant be Ignored. Education Week, 29-31.

Douglas County School District. (n.d). Retrieved December 6, 2015, from

http://www.ed.gov/labor-management-collaboration/conference/douglas-county-school-

district
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Fernndez-Balboa, J., & Marshall, J. (n.d). Dialogical Pedagogy in Teacher Education: Toward

an Education for Democracy.

Johnson, A. Privilege, Oppression, and Difference. In Privilege, Power, and Difference(pp. 13-

19)

Lantierni, L., & Patti, J. (n.d.). Valuing Diversity: Creating Inclusive Schools and Communities.

In Waging Peace in Our Schools.

Principles for Culturally Responsive Teaching. Teaching Diverse Learners, 3. Retrieved from

http://www.alliance.brown.edu/tdl/tl-strategies/crt-principles.shtml

Search for Public School Districts -District Detail Douglas County School District. (n.d).

Retrieved December 5, 2015,

fromhttp://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_detail.asp?ID2=0803450

Search for Public School Districts -District Detail for Sand Diego Unified. (n.d). Retrieved

December 5, 2015, from http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_detail.asp?

ID2=0634320&details=