Emily Pipkin

Teacher Work Sample

Boltz Middle School
Section I- Setting and Context
Part 1: The School Community

The mission of Boltz Middle School involves the right and responsibility of students to
learn and teachers to teach which involve high standards in academics and behavior as well as
policies, expectations and systems in place to help all students and staff achieve these high
standards. This mission leads to an inclusive and caring culture in which students learn daily.
Students are aware of the expectations through the 6 Ps: Prompt, Prepared, Polite, Participate,
Positive Attitude, and Produce. Boltz is also an AVID (advancement via individual
determination) school which targets those in-between students and helps them develop
strategies and goals to eventually make it to graduation and higher education. These expectations
contribute to the overall learning climate as students learn to model each of these expectations in
their day to day work. The school in general also has a warm and inviting feel, which leads to a
healthy learning climate as well.
Parents are encouraged to be involved through School Planning Team or School
Improvement Team or by volunteering to help with special events. Students have a plethora of
extracurricular activities to choose from ranging from music to art club to an array of sports.
They also all partake in an advisory period during the last thirty minutes of the day in which
every day is devoted to a different academic skill. For example, on Mondays every planner and
binder is checked for organizational skills which lead to success in every class and on
Wednesdays, every student receives a math work sheet to work on to improve their math
abilities.
In terms of diversity, Boltz has about 17% of its population identified as Hispanic, the
majority as White, and about 6% as Asian, American Indian or other. About 25% of the student
body is eligible for free or reduced lunch and the student to teacher ratio is about 17 students to
one teacher.

Part 2: Students and Classroom

1. Discussion of the students in your classroom __________

I see two different classes, each one once every two weeks. While this means I do not get
to know one class as well because I do not see them as often, it does give me a greater
range of students to observe. There is quite a mix of students in each class, from students
who just want to have fun to those who would like to absorb all the Spanish they can
from this one Explore Spanish class. The mix also includes students who speak Spanish
fluently to those who have hardly heard a word of it. Apart from Spanish abilities, the
students in these two classes also represent a range of maturity levels from students who
might fit in better with elementary-school aged kids to those who are much more
composed and mature, especially for 6th graders. There is such a range of interests and
abilities displayed between the two classes that between the two groups, there are
probably students representing a good majority of the extracurricular activities offered at
Boltz such as band, choir, orchestra, drama and sports.
2. Discussion of students developmental levels, interests, abilities, and unique needs of
your students _________
In both classes, there is a wide spread of ability levels and work ethic levels. As it is an
Explore Spanish class, students are not expected to know much if any of the language,
yet there is at least one native speaker in each class along with many who only know
what they have been taught so far. Some are certainly more invested in learning all that
they can from this class than others and will try to answer every question by taking risks
and answering in Spanish if they are able. While it is more difficult to see the full range
of abilities in two larger classes, I have noticed some students who always need a little
extra help and others who are able to persevere on their own. A great example of this is
the unit on learning numbers 1-30 in Spanish where, in order to better learn the numbers,
some fairly basic arithmetic is given (i.e. 5*3) so that students would be able to determine
the answer in Spanish. Most students are able to figure these out without a problem while
others have to struggle with these problems a bit and also figure out the Spanish.

However, most of what is done in the class is based on students best efforts, so for the
most part, all are able to pass the class with some ease.

3. Discussion of classroom culture ________

This classrooms culture is primarily about having fun while learning a little bit about a
new language and culture. There is not a whole lot of pressure to get everything right on a
test or to have to know how to say everything perfectly. It is simply an environment and
culture where learning does happen but it does not feel rushed or forced upon the
students. This atmosphere is aided by Mrs. Srirpachanas passion towards teaching
Spanish, but teaching it through fun activities and games such as BINGO, Around the
World and other activities. She also stresses that as long as a good effort is shown, even if
everything is not spelled or pronounced correctly, a student can do quite well in the class.

4. Discussion and description of the classroom environment and how it helps or hinders
student success _________
In this classroom, the desks are placed in pairs with two or three rows of desks in a
cluster. There are six clusters total and all are arced towards the SmartBoard at the front
of the room. There is a white board to the side of the SmartBoard which is used far more
frequently than the SmartBoard. Unfortunately for students on the opposite side of the
board, the white board is rather difficult to see and it is generally covered with the
learning targets and work from two other classes which makes it difficult to distinguish
what is relevant to their particular class. The desks being in pairs with aisles in between
each pair allows for easy access to each student who needs individual attention, but each
class is so large that the sheer number of desks needed in the room does make it seem
slightly crowded, which cannot be helped. On the walls of the classroom, some of the
students work is hung which makes the room seem more inviting and shows off some of
the great work of the students.

Part 3: Topics and Rationale

Mrs. Siripachana used several different forms of instruction and assessment throughout
this semester. Many times, to introduce a topic such as numbers or colors, she might incorporate

a fun Spanish video that would be a repetitive and catchy tune. She would often play a video like
this several times and eventually have the students sing along so that they had a tune to sing
along to when learning the content. Other times she used manipulatives like colored sheets of
paper with which she spoke only in Spanish and told students to place on top of each other or on
a certain place on their desk. Many times, students would also complete worksheets or make
flash cards with which to quiz themselves. In terms of assessments, the summative assessments
were most often short quizzes which were fairly low pressure, but still showed how much the
students had absorbed during the unit. However, there were also many formative assessments
throughout, many of them quick verbal assessments either with the whole class, or students being
pulled off to the side for a quick verbal confirmation that they were learning what needed to be
learned. Other informal assessments included the games and activities such as BINGO or Around
the World, where students needed to know some of the content area, but were not being graded
on how much they knew. These informal assessments let the students and Mrs. Siripachana know
how much review and learning still needed to happen before an official quiz could happen
successfully.

Section II: Case Study Interviews

The first student I interviewed was Camryn (female) in 6th grade. She speaks English and
is learning Spanish in her explore Spanish class and has several family members who speak
Italian. She really like middle school and her favorite classes are math and foreign languages
with her particular favorite being drama. If she could change something about middle school, it
would be that students have to pay for lunch, because not everyone has free or reduced lunch and
some people cannot really afford lunch every day. She spends her time after school doing
homework, reading, practicing her violin and playing outside. Her career goal at this point is to
become a nurse. In summer she spends time swimming and having sleepovers. From her
perspective as a 6th grader at Boltz, she described the school as much bigger than elementary
school.
The next student I interviewed was Jacob (male) in 6th grade. He speaks English and is
also learning Spanish. He would describe himself as curious, energetic and humorous. In terms
of school, he has no strong feelings either way as he doesn't love it, but he doesn't hate it either.
However, he does like that he gets to meet more people in middle school and he gets to have

different classes. If he could change something about middle school, he would change the start
time to 8 am instead of 7:30. His favorite teacher was his 5th grade teacher who told stories, had
a great sense of humor and was very understanding of when students needed a little extra help.
After school and in the summer, he plays baseball, hangs out with friends and family and swims.
School is the most important thing in his life because he understands its importance for his
future, especially with his career goal of going into computer sciences and engineering. From his
perspective, Boltz is bigger than elementary school, has nice teachers and lots of students.
I chose these students because I felt it would be interesting to have the perspective of a
boy and a girl. It was interesting to hear their responses as 6th graders who are still pretty new to
this whole middle school thing. Looking back, I wish I had asked them more about their
experiences with past and current teachers to really learn more from them, but asking them the
questions that I did gave me a bit of an insight into the life and mindset of a 6th grader. I was
surprised that both of them had a pretty solid idea of what they want to do in their future. I also
liked both of their ideas about what they would change about middle school, which were both
insightful and creative.
Individual interviews allow the interviewee to feel more willing to divulge certain answers
without the fear of being 'wrong' or 'dumb' in the eyes of their classmates. It also allows you as
the interviewer to customize questions to really get the discussion going and learn from the
interview, even if these questions come spontaneously in the middle of the interview or stem off
a previous question. Individual interviews can easily lead to something you never thought of
before and can also put you into the shoes of your students, which can be hard to do the bigger
the age gap between you and your students. There is a lot that can be learned from one-on-one
interviews.

Section III: Lesson Plan/ Teaching Experience

(Separate Document- Explore Spanish lesson plan)

Section IV: Reflection

In my formal lesson, many things went quite well, while others could have gone better. A
few things that were successful included the students having fun and learning at the same time.
Most of the students also did a great job with participating in coming up with their own motions

to go along with each animal name. They were overall respectful and ready to participate, learn
and play some BINGO. However, during the construction of the BINGO cards, I could have
been better about enforcing more Spanish to be heard when they were talking, or walking around
and asking them what they came up with for motions or noises for some of the animals. If I were
to teach this lesson again, I would make sure there was 100% student participation at all times
and encourage more Spanish conversation, at least about animals, to be occurring during their
work time. I would also incorporate more ways that this lesson could be seen as not only a game,
but how it could also be made into a good study guide if they were to have any kind of quiz on
animals.
Through planning this lesson and finally delivering it, I discovered how much easier it is
to plan a lesson for a class that does not even necessarily have standards and how easy and fun it
is to plan a lesson that is essentially just fun for the students. When delivering the lesson, I was
glad to get the student involvement that I did when they helped me come up with motions for
each animal. This not only helped me, but it helped them remember the animals better because it
was their own creativity that helped them remember and not just a teacher telling them what to
do. Through teaching this lesson, I discovered that sometimes it is hard to remember to do
everything you had planned for the class, such as a quick verbal assessment out the door which I
ended up forgetting due to my concern of getting the classroom cleaned up. I also learned just
how important knowing names is to teaching a lesson so that you can quickly call out a name or
two while giving directions to grab those students attention without having to address the whole
class.
While I know it is early in my education career and I have lots of room to grow, there are
a couple areas where I am stronger and many where I can improve. For one thing, I am getting
much more comfortable at simply being in front of a class and being able to give directions
clearly and concisely. This is not something huge, but it is certainly a strength when compared to
how difficult it can still be in a class to give a presentation to peers your own age. Another
strength I think I have is being able to circulate the classroom and pick up on bits of conversation
that are way off topic and try to subtly ask those students a question to get them back on track
and let them know that I know they were not talking about the class or related material. As for
weaknesses, I could definitely be better about learning names, though this was difficult to do this
semester due to seeing two different classes and not hearing all the names said and repeated in

order to learn them. Along with this, I could be better about classroom management, which, I
think if I knew names, would be a bit easier. In terms of general classroom management though,
I need to be more patient in waiting for 100% and just having better wait time to get more
students involved in answering questions.
In my next field experience I have many hopes and plans to improve even more in my
teaching abilities. One definite goal will be to be placed in an English classroom. While it has
been fun and a great experience for my Spanish minor, I would definitely like to see an English
classroom from a teachers perspective rather than just what I remember of my favorite English
teachers as a student myself. I would also like to get a lot more practice in making lesson plans
that involve unpacking standards and tying into a whole unit of study. When possible, I would
also like to try out more of the strategies seen in Teach Like a Champion as I did not have much
of a chance to do so in this setting. And of course, I would like to work on my classroom
management skills including learning names and enforcing the specific rules of the classroom
and the school while creating a successful learning environment for all.

Section V: Field Notes