Stratton 1

Abbi Stratton

EDUC 302/302

Professor Leo

22 October 2017

Context of Mrs. Doods Block B Algebra II Class

Mrs. Dood is a math and physics teacher at Wellspring Preparatory High School located

off of Diamond and Leonard street in Grand Rapids, MI. Mrs. Dood teaches several sections of

Algebra II, and this semester I have been observing, helping and learning to teach in these three

sections. For the purposes of this class, however, I will be focusing on making a unit plan for one

classMrs. Doods B block. In the context section of the unit plan, I will report the relevant

demographics of the neighborhood, school, and class, which I hope to take into consideration

when creating a unit lesson plan.

Wellspring Preparatory High School is located in the Creston neighborhood, close to the

border of the Highland Park neighborhood in the northeast part of Grand Rapids. Though the

Creston neighborhood is not a square, it is more or less bordered by Leonard Street to the south,

the Grand River to the west, 4 Mile Road to the north, and I-96 to the east made up of

businesses, houses, schools, and under the Creston Neighborhood association that is dedicated

to guiding, through positive grassroots action, our neighborhood and community to its greatest

potential (Creston Neighborhood). The following relevant statistics about the Creston

Neighborhood are from the Community Research Institute. Creston has a population density of

about 4,000 people per square mile, which is about 1,700 people per square mile lower than the

Grand Rapids average. Approximately 14.5 percent of its residents are ages 5 to 17, and of the

people these ages, 23.1% of them live in poverty. Ten percent of Crestons civilians are
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unemployed, yet 90.6% of its residents over the age of 25 have at least their High School

Diploma or GED Equivalent. The racial makeup of the population is this: 80.5% White; 6.9%

Black or African American; 7.6% Hispanic or Latino, and 5% other or two or more races. There

are 64.7 crimes per 1,000 people, which is lower than the 119 average of Grand Rapids (2012).

While there are some risks involved living in the Creston Neighborhood, it seems like a pretty

typical Grand Rapids neighborhood with a mix of modest and worn-down houses, poverty and

stability, crime and peace. One student told me on my second day about being robbed at a store

on the way to school, so crime is evident, but it does not seem to happen all the time.

Of the six schools located in the Creston Neighborhood, Wellspring Preparatory High

School is the only charter school in the neighborhood. I have seen some students walking to

school, so I assume that some students come from the neighborhood nearby, but since it is a

charter school, I have heard that some students travel quite a distance to get to school each day.

This school comprised of grades 9-12 is ranked as the #1 high school in Michigan due to its

excellence in AP coursework (they offer 14 AP courses) and ability to prepare students for

college (100% of the 55 seniors last year were accepted into college) (US News, 2017; PrepNet,

2017). It is located on the corner between Diamond and Leonard, and the enrolment this year

was around 470 students (PrepNet, 2017). The most recent school data I was able to find was

from the 2014-2015 school year, and as the school was founded in just 2010, I am sure that those

numbers have changed a bit since, however they still seem fairly accurate according to what I

have seen and heard. Wellspring Preparatory High School is a Title I Charter School with a 23

student/teacher ratio (NCES, 2017). The school is split about half male and half female, and the

racial make-up of the school is the following: 54.5% White; 18.4% Black; 20.5% Hispanic; 2%

Asian/Pacific Islander; 4.6% other or two or more races (NCES, 2017). Surprisingly, the percent
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of the minority groups represented at the school (46%) is higher than that of the neighborhood it

is in. About 37% of the students qualify for free lunch, and 8% for reduced-priced lunch, making

up 44% of the student body economically disadvantaged (US News, 2017). The school tries to

support such students by not only providing them with lunch, but also with breakfast. The small,

diverse school population and high standards make Wellspring Preparatory High School a

unique, positive place to be because the teachers and staff know many of the students and know

their stories, but also have high expectations for them and hold them to high standards for

graduation.

In a room on the second floor of this old elementary school building with long windows,

Mrs. Doods Algebra II B-Block comes in from 9:25-10:20 on Monday and Friday (the days

students have all their classes) and 9:25-11:00 on Tuesday and Wednesday (block days). Mrs.

Dood greets students at the door, they walk in to pick up worksheets and calculators on a table,

and sit in their assigned seats. The room is arranged in three rows of tables with two students at

each table, all seats facing the front white board. As the one-minute and then final bell rings,

students start to do the Do-now Mrs. Dood puts on the board. Students are free to talk and

listen to music during the class as long as she is not lecturing, and Mrs. Dood will often engage a

student or the whole class in a non-related, but short, conversation that usually ends in laughter.

Mrs. Dood does a good job creating a safe, fun environment for the students to interact with each

other and choose how hard they personally want to work. Mrs. Dood also cares about her

students, as she offers granola bars to students who are hungry (specifically because it is a high-

poverty school), and she often has students walking into her classroom to talk about life-related

things. Mrs. Dood and one other teacher teach all the sections of Algebra II, and while they in

general have the Common Core standards to guide their work, they have flexibility with the
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curriculum since Wellspring Prep is a charter school, and as long as the teachers are coordinated,

they can teach things how and when they want.

Algebra II B-block is made up of sophomores and juniors and is the block that got the

highest average of all the Algebra II sections on the previous test. In general, they are a

respectful, hardworking, and friendly group of 27 students (though more like 26 students because

I have never seen one student in the time I have been there). The gender makeup of the class is

made up of 13 males, 12 females, and one transgender student, and the racial makeup appears to

be 13 White students, 3 Hispanic or Latino/a students, 6 Black or African-American students, 2

Asian/Middle Eastern students, 1 White/Asian student, and 1 Asian/Black student. Students

come from a variety of backgrounds; one students father passed away from suicide, one student

has an IEP, one students first language is not English, though seems proficient enough to

understand his math work. Some students seem excited about math and complete the assignment

with no problems, but some do not like it and are only interested in doing Chemistry-math, as

one student told me. Some other interests in the class are cooking, sports, friends, music, and

fashion.

As I am teaching I hope to keep these students characteristics and context in mind,

engaging them in ways that are not only helpful to them, but helpful and hopeful as they continue

to become members and contributors to a greater society. I hope to capture not only these

students minds, but also as much as I can to capture parts of their social, physical, and emotional

lives to create a community of grace, discovery, and excitement for learning within the

classroom.
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References

Community Research Institute. (2013). Creston: 2010 and 2013 data. Retrieved from

http://cridata.org/GeoProfile.aspx?type=31&loc=2634000031006#.

Creston Neighborhood Association, (2012). Creston Neighborhood. Retrieved from

http://www.crestongr.com/our-neighborhood/.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), (2017). Common Core of Data: Wellspring

Preperatory High School. Retrieved from

https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=2600981&

ID=260098108149.

PrepNet, (2017). Wellspring Preparatory High School Facts and Figures. Retrieved from

http://wellspringprep.com/our-school/facts-figures/.

US News and World Report, (2017). Wellspring Preparatory High School. Retrieved from

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/michigan/districts/wellspring-

preparatory-high-school/wellspring-preparatory-high-school-143085.