Sharon Nikolai

Student Teaching Context Paper

Placement 1: Dike Elementary School

The school I am placed at for my first student teaching placement is Dike Elementary
School in the Dike-New Hartford Community School District. The district has two locations, one
in Dike and one in New Hartford because of the large amount of students that attend the school
district from the surrounding areas. The elementary school I am currently student teaching in is
connected to the high school, but there are a few grades that are shuttled to New Hartford 12
miles away for school there. As of the 2016-2017 school year there were 826 total students
enrolled in the district. The race of these students is predominantly Caucasian, showing 94.31%
of white students. The diversity there is in the school consists of 1.04% Asian students, 1.24%
African American students, 1.86% Hispanic students, and 1.55% multiracial students. I feel like
the smaller amount of diversity makes sense in a small rural town such as Dike that is
surrounded by many other small rural towns as well. As soon as one steps into a larger city, I feel
like the student population would be more diverse in school districts. Anyway, there are 12.84%
of students with an IEP in the district, 24.74% of students who have free and reduced lunch, and
.10% of students who are English Language Learners.

At Dike, I am student teaching in Mrs. Eckhoff’s kindergarten classroom. She has 20

total students in her classroom, 12 of which are boys and 8 of which are girls. There are four kids
that are pulled out of the classroom during the day to practice speech, letter sounds and words,
and anything else they need extra help with. She also has three students who have IEPs, mostly
for behavioral issues and lower cognitive abilities. Two of the students with IEPs have autism
and it has been eye-opening to have them in the classroom, interacting with other students and
having extra help from an associate when doing any kind of work. I have certainly learned a lot
from watching all of these students care for each other and help each other out when they need it.
I think kids are kinder than we give them credit for sometimes.

I have had many conversations with Mrs. Eckhoff about different assessments they use at
the kindergarten level and the discipline policy in the school. She told me that the most common
assessment kindergarten uses is FAST testing for literacy and counting. This happens three times
a year, in the fall, winter, and spring, so it keeps track of how the children are doing throughout
the school year. She was unsure of the other assessments that the district used, but told me what
she knew about kindergarten. As for the discipline policy that is used throughout the school, Mrs.
Eckhoff told me it was pretty basic. Students get a blue slip sent home to be signed by the
parents if they have done something “outstanding” that day and then that slip gets brought to the
principal’s office to be put in a bucket. Throughout the year, the principal will randomly draw a
few students’ names out of the bucket to participate in a “Walk of Fame” where those chosen
students walk through the halls while everyone is else in the school is cheering them on.

On the other end of the spectrum, if a student has had many warnings and makes a poor
decision or action, they get a pink slip sent home and the parents and principal get involved.
Along with individual classroom rules, there are not many more rules for discipline. Each
classroom has a character pillar taped to their door in different colors. This was more of a big
deal in past years when they had assemblies about character pillars, but this year they have not
had as many assemblies as they would have hoped.

There are a few characteristics that I believe makes this placement especially unique. I
love that there are two students who are low and high-functioning in the classroom because I
think it makes the other students more open to new and different things. I believe it makes them
aware of others around them and how to be helpful in ways they might not be used to. Having
these two kids in class also helps those kids socially in ways they would not be able to get
without being in the classroom every day. Another characteristic I love about my placement is
the fact that there is so much help from associates and kids are able to receive more one-on-one
help, especially those with behavioral issues and need that help. It takes the stress off Mrs.
Eckhoff and provides all the kids an even better and more positive learning environment. The
last characteristic I want to mention is how flexible and kind the entire school district has been to
the teachers, faculty, and to me. I feel very comfortable there and am never afraid to ask
questions. I feel very fortunate to be student teaching in Dike!