Nathan Jansen

Education 302
Professor Keeley
10/19/2015
East Grand Rapids High School Context
Students must be from the city of East Grand Rapids to attend the school, creating a
very tight knit community since the community is only approximately one square mile.
Teachers boast quickly about this tightness. However, they also boast about much more the
school has to offer its students. I could quickly see this within my own classroom as my teacher
constantly boasted about his classes.
My first hour class is Environmental Studies Project Based which is a split of Juniors and
Seniors. My second and third hour class are Physic classes that contain almost all freshmen,
with only one or two sophomores in each class. Each class has a varying number of students.
My first two classes have around 15 students, while my third class has just under 30. From
what I have seen and heard, most classes in the school average in this range. When I asked a
teacher, they said the total student body is around 1000 students. My 2 nd hour class is male
heavy, but the other two are split almost equally among number of girls and guys. Upon
observation, it appears as if my first class is all Caucasian, while my second and third hour
classes each contain one African-American, and my third hour class has one Asian-American.
This is similar to the community of EGRs demographics of 95% white and 1% Asian and 1%

African-American (Demographics, East Grand Rapids, MI). All the student in my classes speak
English as their primary language. This provides for no barriers with language while teaching.
According to the Census of 2013, 50% of residents live in a household making 100,000
dollars or more and majority of the rest between 30,000-100,000 (Demographics, East Grand
Rapids, MI). The schools website claims 98% of students attend some type of further
education. Students have an average of 3.2-3.3, and obtain a score of 24-25 on the ACT (East
Grand Rapids High School: 2015-2016 Profile). The school also boasts being on the AP Honor
Roll. The school boasts their placing on Newsweek and Washington Post list of schools. The
schools website clearly prides itself in its ability to prepare students for further education.
Several of the students in each class have IEP or Individualized Education Plans which
help them achieve their learning with extra help and intentional attention. Every student is
allowed a personal device, whether a tablet or a computer. The teacher also has a computer
connected to a projector which are then both connected to a smart board that takes up the
front wall. These technologies allow students to quickly access materials and the teacher to
provide interactive material up front.
I can use the previous mentioned facts to help shape my style of teaching. Behavior is a
minor problem, with students quickly cooperating when asked to stop distracting behavior. I
find that placing the students in clusters at the tables creates the best situation for learning.
This allows for small group discussion as well as an ability to focus on the teacher up front.
Technologies like a smart board allow me to use interactive material up front that is visible for
everyone to see simultaneously. When it comes to implementing curriculum, the Biology
project based class has no set in stone curriculum, instead the teacher covers some basics but

leaves the rest up to the students. The physic classes follow state and National standards, but
most texts are used off of physicsclassroom.com.
Both the school and the neighborhood maintain high standards for students. However,
this means my student aiding and teaching for my teacher must be held at a higher standard
too! But knowing the context can help me better navigate my instruction as I learn to use the
tools I am given as well as interact with my learners.

References
Demographics. East Grand Rapids, MI. City of East Grand Rapids, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
Retrieved from http://www.eastgr.org/index.aspx?nid=94
East Grand Rapids High School: 2015-2016 Profile. (2015). Retrieved October 19, 2015, from
http://egrhs.egrps.org/documents/Guidance/2015-2016/PROFILE 2015-16.pdf