Study of Learners in Their Worlds.
Sophomore English Workshop Profile.
EDU 527, profiled by Elena Smith.
October 16, 2009
The focus of this paper is a comprehensive profile of a Portland
Deering High School Sophomore English Workshop class. This study
presents detailed information about Sophomores on two levels of
depth. A broad range of data on all students in the class is
gathered to create a general profile of the class as a group, and
more specific details are provided to portray the study of learners
in their worlds through an example of three chosen students. The
choice of more in-depth profiled students was made on the basis of
three pre-requisites: one of the students has an Identified
Disability, the other is a high achieving student and the third
student is an English Language Learner. All these students were
chosen due to the presence of certain difficulty in their lives and
their personal resilience abilities to withstand those hardships.
The student with a disability is in a constant battle with her
impairment, the high achieving student has troubled home life,
which has practically made him homeless, the ELL student is
fighting his English language deficiency to keep up with the
English language based school instruction, at the same time trying
to preserve his national and linguistic identity while at home. The
questions which frame the Focused Profile of the Three Students
are: How do extra difficulties affect students’ school performance?
Do obstacles on the way decrease or increase students’ chances for
success? Do students fail because of challenging circumstances or
achieve in spite of them? Is school achievement a significant
component of students’ overall satisfaction with their life, and
does it help them to cope with problems they are encountering
outside of the school walls?
Analysis and synthesis of the gathered information lays a sound
foundation for a structure named “Good Teaching”, where a teacher
knows her students well , is perfectly aware of the class group
dynamics, knows and uses to their best advantage students’ learning
styles, is familiar with students’ backgrounds and supports their
plans for future( by completing this study I certainly hope to
become this particular kind of a teacher).This profile restores a
picture of where the students are coming from, estimates where they
are going and allows for better strategies to improve the place
where they are right now.
Methods
While collecting and analyzing data on the whole class the
following methods and tools were used:
· Observations in class while students are working and
interacting
· A questionnaire about students’ background information,
learning preferences, hobbies, fears and hopes (a copy of this
“information sheet” survey is attached at the end of the study)
· A sociogram of the class and its interpretation ( a copy of
the questionnaire used to collect the necessary data is attached at
the end of the study)
· Four corners Inventory (a copy of the hand out is attached at
the end of the study)
· Observations of students in the hallways
· Informal interviews with students
· Conversations with other teachers, educational technicians,
special education service providers
· Students’ class journal revisions
· Conversations with the mentor
· Powerschool
· NWEA site
· Attending parent/student conferences
While collecting and analyzing data for the Focused profile of
three students the following methods and tools were used:
· Observations in class while students are working and
interacting
· A questionnaire about students’ background information,
learning preferences, hobbies, fears and hopes (a copy of this
“information sheet” survey is attached at the end of the study)
· A sociogram of the class and its interpretation( a copy of the
questionnaire used to collect the necessary data is attached at the
end of the study)
· Four corners Inventory (a copy of the hand out is attached at
the end of the study)
· Observations of students in the hallways
· Shadowing the student with an identified disability for the
day
· Observing a student with friends in the Maine mall
· Observing a student after school “hanging out” with friends in
the school yard
· Meeting with an ELL student’s father
· Familiarizing myself with students’ parents through their
feedback on their children’s progress report cards
· Reading a student’s with an identified disability IEP( the
student’s IEP meeting is not until spring, though, so I couldn’t
attend it yet)
· Informal interviews with students
· Conversations with other teachers, educational technicians,
special education service providers
· Students’ class journal revisions
· Conversations with the mentor
· Powerschool
· NWEA sites
· Revising student’s work, grading it and providing feedback
The information was collected and processed during my internship
at Deering HS, which started on September 2, 2009 and is still
ongoing. Parent/teacher conferences took place the week of October
13, 2009.
In an effort to maintain confidentiality first names were chosen
as students’ pseudonyms. As opposed to the initials, the use of
which can pose a significant visual difficulty for a reader, first
names are easier to follow and they are generic enough to where no
association with real students can be of any certainty, especially,
since there are 57 Jacobs, 13 Ahmeds and 8 Morgans at Deering High
School. Any similarities are purely circumstantial.
Code words are used to flag students with identified
disabilities and those who receive other support services. SED
stands for Special Education, LD for learning disability, OHI for
Other Health Impairments, BD for Behavioral Disorders and ELL for
English Language Learners.
Other abbreviations are used to improve arrangement of
information in the table, where limited space is an incentive to
comprise material and its wording: M (male), F
(female),C(Caucasian), B(Black),Co(Computer at home), UT(unexcused
tardy), UA(unexcused absent), R (reading), L (language), M
(mathematics).
Analysis and synthesis is provided along the way and accompanies
every data presentation. Teaching implications, examples of
instructional strategies, ideas on choices of curriculum,
relationship building moves are described in detail throughout the
whole study. It seemed logical to analyze gathered material as I
went on with my research, providing immediate feedback and
recording the ideas of how my knowledge and observations can be
implemented into my teaching – striking the iron while it’s hot, so
to say. A final outline of conclusions and implementation ideas is
gathered in the last section of the study and is essentially a
comprised version of the above.
I humbly hope that my reader will enjoy the story of my
pilgrimage to “Understanding My Students” Mecca , as much as I
enjoyed the actual trip itself. I regard the goal of ever attaining
it as an everlasting road, and not a particular destination.
Indulge!
Introduction
The eve of the first school day can be an emotional experience
for a pre-service intern. One way to relieve its pressure is to
write a quick note to your mentor. This is what mine said: “Dear
Kirsten! I'm looking forward to being a wild beast tamer assistant
in your real life jungle of a classroom on Friday! Beasts -
here I come! (equipped with my theoretical teaching strategies and
bookish classroom management skills, in other words – almost
BAREHANDED!)”.
In this class profile I’d like to show the evolution of my
relationship with the “Wild Beast” of a Sophomore English Workshop
class. I started with a Wild Dog from the Wet Wild Woods, and ended
with a Big Shaggy Friend from the Jungles of Adolescence, the
remote land we all had come out of at some point in our lives. This
paper describes the transformation, the one and only reason of
which, was getting to know my class, learning all there was to find
out about every member of it, thus building a platform for our
teacher/student relationship. Theoretical knowledge and practical
classroom experience came together in this assignment, allowing for
a better teaching.
Presenting English Sophomore Workshop class as a Wild Dog,
turning into a Big Shaggy Friend allows me to convey the idea that
the class is first and foremost a living organism, one body. Every
part and organ of it is different and serves its purpose. Teaching
a class as a group requires the knowledge of its body as a whole
and its parts as individual elements. In order to have a
relationship of mutual respect with such a creature it is important
to learn the peculiarities of its body language.
General Information about the class
Here is what English Workshop looks like:
Morgan and Garrett are “The Ears”. Seemingly very quiet, these
two are simply concentrating on listening. Their strength is
auditory perception. They are great listeners and one can count on
them if something that was said needs to be retrieved – they are
there for you –able to repeat what the others missed!
Lana and Haley are “The Eyes”. They don’t say much, but you can
always feel that they are connected – they watch every move of
yours. They are visual learners. They are watching everything
around them, retaining all they see. If there is an image to be
reproduced ask those two what it looked like!
Ali is “The Nose”. He is sensitive, like no other. He can
differentiate between mood nuances of his classmates, as easily as
he can sniff out a chance to talk the teacher out of homework over
the weekend for his class’s sake!
Travis and Ahmed are “The Tongue” and “The Teeth”. Tongue being
the strongest muscle of the body is the best to represent Travis,
whose stamina is remarkable. He takes care of his mother who has a
number of mental problems and behavioral problems. Equally well he
takes care of maintaining a balance in the classroom, when his
peers veer off the right path. Ahmed helps him in this task, by
being “The Teeth”. Ahmed is quite capable of a real “scowl”, which
can be just as educational at times, as a smile.
Jacob is “The Backbone’’ of the class. His difficult family life
thickened his skin and taught him endurance. He is strong and
reliable. No question or task is beyond or above him. He’ll do what
it takes. He’ll lead by example.
Deion, Nick, Tim and Mahamud are “The Legs”. These four are all
action! They will carry you through any block in no time! Just hold
fast!
And, of course, there is Renaldo! Renaldo is “The Tail”. He is
the indicator of the mood of the whole class. He is wiggling when
in need of something, straight up in the air when ready to defend
himself and others and swinging side to side, when happy and in the
mood for some “Fetch”!
English Workshop is a friendly” beast”. It is receptive when
talked to the way it can understand. It needs to hear things, see
them and be allowed to do them! As long as all senses are involved
and everybody is engaged it is no trouble whatsoever… The trick is
to maintain this delicate equilibrium!
Sophomore Workshop English class is comprised of students who
are united in their need and desire to improve their Reading,
Writing and Speaking skills with focus on grammar and vocabulary.
Teacher recommendations and completion of freshman English are the
two prerequisites for this course. Students in this class are
expected to keep up with the content standards and conform to the
expected learning results.
In reading the students are continuing to improve their skills
and strategies in order to comprehend, interpret, and evaluate what
they are reading. The students are in pursuit of exploring,
experiencing, selecting, and understanding literature and its
elements from a variety of perspectives and points of view. The
students are trained to develop and use their skills and strategies
of personal, creative, expository, research, persuasive, and
informational writing, with focus on pre-writing, drafting,
editing, and revising their own writing as a habit of mind.
Students are expected to continue developing and demonstrating
skills and competence in public speaking, cooperative learning,
recitation, and listening. By the end of this course students are
expected to improve their understanding and use of the English
language in both their writing and their speaking by means of
reviewing and learning rules of grammar, parts of speech,
punctuation, vocabulary, and writing conventions.
“Of Mice and Men”, “Freak the Mighty”, “Macbeth”, “The House on
Mango Street”, “Parrot in the Oven”, ”You Don’t Know Me”, “Cut”,
”The Notebook”, ”Wolfrider”, “Joey Pigza Loses Control”, ”Maniac
Magee”, “Scorpions” are the novels students are expected to read
together as a class and on their own.
Classroom participation is a vital component of success in this
class. A quarter of their final grade depends on how well students
participate in cooperative learning, pair and share work with
another student, class games, class readings, peer editing and
commentary. Being respectful, focused and motivated is expected of
every student.
Attendance being vitally important in achieving the expected
results and learning outcomes the presence of all 13 students is
regarded as a key to success. In order to get students interested
in attending this class a teacher must know about students’
interests: what drives them to school and what prevents them from
attending it. Obtaining information about students is vital when
designing instruction for Sophomores, who due to the nature of
their age, where parental control and influence is starting to ease
off, may choose not to come to a class they are not interested in
(despite the repercussions, of which again due to the nature of
adolescence ,they are not fully aware, yet).
Detailed Display of data
One way of obtaining information is asking direct questions in a
beginning of the class survey. Another way is reading students’
reflective journals. Observing students in the classroom can expose
a lot as well. For the sake of Multiple Intelligence Theory I am
presenting the information about my class in a number of ways. In
addition to pictures and a metaphoric description, I invite my
analytical reader to explore the table I have put together:
Name(sex,age,race)
Family info(parents, siblings, languages spoken at home,
computer at home
Attendance info, latest NWEA reading, language, math
Support Services
Learning Inventories
Progress report (GPA)
Interests
Things that would make school more exciting
Fears and concerns
Dreams and goals
Ali(M,17,B)
Two parent family, English and Somali, 3 brothers, 3
sisters,Co
15UA
12UT,
R 205
L 192
M192
ELL
Auditory learner, structure
51.84
289 out of 304
Basketball
More people of different races, less homework
Getting killed, getting forever stuck in Maine
Becoming a truck driver, driving from state to state, having a
wife and two kids
Garrett
(M,16,C)
Mother, no siblings,
English,Co
52UA
8UT,
R214,
L223
M 216
SED,BD
Auditory learner,
Meaning
58.54
215 out of 268
Skateboard
music
Listening to music, watching educational movies, less
homework,
more rules, less punishment
Breaking up with my girlfriend
Becoming a musician
Travis
(M,17,C)
Mother, older brother, who doesn’t live with them,
English,Co
28UA,2 UT
R230,
L228
M221
Auditory learner, caring
65.95
208 out of 244
Music, writing songs, politics, member of MPA
More socialization, more class discussions among peers, not
student-teacher
Having to do things I lack mental or physical capabilities to
do
Working to get possessions of my own, not something handed to
me. Have a wife and kids, touch the lives of millions with my
music.
Haley
(F,15,C)
Two parents, a grown up brother and sister,
English
0UA,
0UT
R220,
L215
M223
SED,LD
Auditory and visionary learner,
Caring
83.33
165 out of 244
Friends and dancing
Shorter classes(30 minutes), longer lunch break(to hang out with
friends), no homework, exciting event on Fridays(a movie, a
party)
Being on my own, having to pay bills
Getting a job, getting a car, getting independence
Lana
(F,17,C)
Two parents, an older brother, English,Co
0UA,
0UT
R200
L192
M187
SED, OHI
Visionary learner, structure
86.04,
165 out 0f 290
Soccer, basketball, softball, friends, family
Watching movies, going to the library more, snacks, moving
sidewalks
Not hitting the right notes when playing the piano
Hugging my brother when he comes back home from peace corp. in
Honduras
Tim
(M,16,B)
Two parents, a younger brother, 2 sisters, English and
Dinka,
21UA,
2UT
R211
L201
M206
ELL
Auditory learner, Meaning
88.77
122 out of 244
Parkour,free running
Playing games, using a laptop, going outside
Not having enough money to help all the extended family member
when they are sick or hungry
Finish high school, go to college, start a family, go back to
Sudan and make the best of myself
Morgan(F,15,C)
Two parents, no siblings
English
3UA,2UT
R199,
L202
M187
Auditory, visionary, caring
78.00
189 out of 244
Art, drawing, friends, computers
Vending machines with Coke, less kids, more field trips
Messing up people when I spray tan them – they can come out too
dark…
Becoming a spray tanner like mom
Renaldo(M,16,B)
Two parents, grown up sister, English,Co
0UA,
0UT
R208,
L212
M210
SED,BD
Auditory, action
80.85
181 out of 244
Skiing, boating, track, football
Less rules, a dance on Fridays, Subway, pizza Hut, Mc Donald’s,
raffle money for honor roll kids, start every class with a small
game
My grades keeping me back, separating me from my goals and
friends
Be a reporter, or a firefighter, have a family of my own
Mahamud
(M,17,B)
Two parents,3 brothers, 1 sister, English and Somali,
Co
5UA,
4UT
R194,
L203
M177
ELL
Visual learner, action
72.96
240 out of 290
basketball
More teachers like Ms Mc Williams, who care about teaching us to
read and write
Low grades
Having businesses all over the world, having other people work
for me, not having to go to High school, going straight to
college
Nick (M,15,C)
Two parents, a stepbrother, English,Co
5UA,4UT,
R213,
L214
M223
SED,OHI
Visual learner,
action
85.66
149 out of 244
hockey
Paintball match of teachers vs. kids, dodge ball and hockey
games, moving sidewalks, super cleaners to pick up all the
trash
Not having a car
Going to computer game design college and working for Blizzard
Entertainment
Deion(M, 15,C)
Two parents, 2 brothers, English,
Co
3UA,0UT,
R194,
L187
M213
SED, OHI
Auditory learner, meaning
77.5
193 out of 244
Baseball, helping sick puppies, cooking
Hands on work, funny teachers, a waterfall in the hall way
What will our country be like? Will there be enough food and
water?
Having my own restaurant, where I will feel free cooking and
sharing my food with others.
Ahmed
(M,17,B)
Two parents,3 brothers, 3 sisters, English and Somali,Co
28UA, 8 UT
R164
M204
ELL
Auditory learner, action
68.35
250 out of 290
Watching sports, spending time with family, gambling(playing
dice)
Breakfast in the morning, so we wouldn’t have headaches and bad
mood
Not graduating this year
Becoming an auto Tec, fixing cars or going to college
Jacob(M ,16,C)
A mother, a brother ,English
OUA,1UT
R222,
L217
M225
Auditory learner, structure
65.65
240 out of 290
Football, baseball, basketball, spending time with friends and
girlfriend
Have classes relate to students’ interests, have more group
activities
Losing my girlfriend or my health
Being a good father, husband, and mostly a good man
The data on each student presented in the table above was
gathered with an educational purpose of analyzing its significance.
I included the age of the students in order to show their
age-related levels of maturity. The students in the profiled class
range from 15 to 18 years of age, which puts them into adolescence
group with all its peculiarities. We are observing a group of
students who are in transition from childhood into adulthood, from
a place of their parents’ into a place of their own. This explains
why their comments on what would make school a more interesting
place are ranging from purely childish (waterfalls in the hallway,
paintball matches, moving sidewalks) to more mature , serious ones
(subject/life relativity, socialization issues).
Male/Female breakdown and information on special services,
students are entitled to, allowed me to observe how the facts we
have been discovering in Special Education class play out in a real
life classroom situation. According to our Exceptional Lives
textbook, there are more males than females among students
receiving Special Education services. Profiled by me class is a
fine testimony of this statement with its two girls and 4 boys
identified for special education services.
Information about students’ families allowed me to see whether
one parent households facilitate extra difficulties for students or
not. This information came in handy when profiling three students
in detail.
Presence of siblings and their number explained why some
students are more enthusiastic about group work than others.
Students from bigger families like Mahumud, Deion and Ahmed are
more engaged when working on tasks which require group effort,
while Garrett and Morgan prefer individual work , and require more
attention than their peers, who are used to attention being split
between their siblings and them.
I chose to limit my inquiry of students’ social class to “a
computer at home” category, because adolescents( only one of whom,
Garrett, has a job) are still very dependent on their parents, and
not being capable of improving anything in their financial
situations yet makes them hyper-sensitive to the issues of social
hierarchy. Not finding a way to figure out whether students’
parents have high school, college or graduate school diplomas, or
whether the families can afford to pay for their children’s lunch
without direct questions about it deterred me from obtaining this
information. I believe, economic situations in families students
come from shouldn’t be an excuse for deficit thinking on teachers’
behalf – there are hard working disciplined students along with the
ones whose performance isn’t that great, both sharing the same
backgrounds in any class. I did hear during our first block though,
that kids desire to have breakfast served in school ,which explains
their possibly hunger related headache complaints in the “how can
school be a better place” column.
Information on attendance is helpful in understanding students’
overall progress. Some of the students are really behind (Garret,
for example) solely because of to the amount of the work that isn’t
being turned in due to a large amount of unexcused absences.
Knowing who in the class English language learners are helps the
teacher to modify instruction for kids in this category if they
encounter language difficulties. A little extra time or a
dictionary at hand helps all the students, but ELL learners, of
whom we have 4, are particularly in need of these types of support.
Knowing that English is not the only language spoken in student’
families helps the teacher to recognize students’ diversity levels
and provide learning opportunities, which would best support their
achievement. An informed on linguistic and cultural diversity
issues teacher knows to seek the help of a Somali or Dinka
translator when communicating with 4 of the ELL students, such a
teacher possesses the knowledge of both Christian and Muslim
celebrations (accounting for some of the students massive absences
connected with religious holidays – Eid, for once in the beginning
of September), realizes that in other cultures females might be
acting shier and quieter than males due to the peculiarities of
their upbringing.
Information obtained with the help of learning inventories
allows me, as a teacher, to use a variety of instructional
strategies in order to reach students with different learning
strengths. Knowing that 9 of my students learn better by listening,
and 4 need additional visual supports will be essential when
designing assignments, working with which will appeal to all
students’ strengths. Knowing who in class considers meaning to be
important in learning, who prefers action, who can’t do without
structure and who enjoys taking care of others will help me to
remember to include representatives of each “corner” in every small
group when designing group work assignments.
Students’ test scores and GPA figures can be used to fathom
their background knowledge levels. Knowing that most of the
Sophomores’ reading and language scores are below their grade level
might discourage me from choosing texts with elevated degree of
difficulty. Holding high expectations for my students, but bearing
in mind what their achievement scores and historic grades are, I
will remember to challenge them accordingly.
I won’t analyze in detail Math NWEA students’ scores results
because due to the nature of high school, students in profiled by
me class don’t take math as a group, but rather study it on
different levels with different schoolmates. Reading and Language
scores, however, I’d like to go over with a “magnifying glass”.
According to NWEA results the median reading score achieved by
the English Workshop is 208, which equals the reading level of
fifth graders. The language usage median is 203, a figure expected
to be achieved in fourth grade, math level is between fourth and
fifth grade achievement levels with a median score of 205. This
knowledge is useful when evaluating the background knowledge of the
students in order to plan appropriate instruction. Knowing that
reading and language scores frame a spread, where the two extremes
are high scoring Travis and low scoring Ahmed is helpful in
designing differentiated instruction. While the bulk of the class
is within the same scoring range where students should be able to
manage average difficulty tasks, modifications can be assigned for
Ahmed and Travis in order to challenge them in accordance with
their acquired skill level.
The breakdown of Language usage into Mechanics, Structure of
language, Writing habits and Expressive/Informational sub groups
allows the teacher to identify specific subject areas to
concentrate on. Workshop students in the profiled class display
below average for sophomores levels of skills in all these
categories, with neither of the analyzed areas standing out as an
area, requiring more concern than others.
While planning instruction a teacher should aim at improving
students’ skills in all these areas. Knowing that only 2 students
excel in most of these areas (Travis and Jacob), and that 2 lag
behind (Deion and Ali) prompts the teacher to use differentiated
instruction, which would correspond to the levels of students’
skills in the given areas and provide enough support and challenge
to help students succeed.
When analyzing the Reading scores using the NWEA site the
teacher can use the information from the sub category scores –
Literary Texts, Informational Texts, Word identification and
comprehension strategies in order to get an idea of who in the
profiled class has similar skill levels in these areas. This
information helps a teacher to define which might be the logical
next step for students to work on.
For sophomore English workshop such a breakdown signals the
teacher to pay more attention to Comprehension strategies, literary
texts and informational texts, since students’ achievement in this
area leaves much to be desired. The level of Word Identification
can be regarded as strength for most of the students. Word
Identification can be used as an advantageous area, easier to be
achieved success in, which can be an encouraging factor when there
is a need to cheer up the students frustrated with struggling in
other areas. It’s a ‘’pick me up” teacher’s ace in the hole.
Turning scores into meaningful statements, converting figures
into an action plan is what collecting data is about. Deep
comparative analysis of data provides an educator with a more
insightful picture of what students needs are. Analyzing students’
academic achievement scores in terms of their relevance to the
Special Services the students are receiving provides teachers with
a unique opportunity to see the effectiveness of the latter.
Knowing how racial factor is reflected in the special services
representation is an insight into school non-discrimination policy.
Projecting students’ GPA figures against the degrees of their
sports/club involvement draws a picture of whether overloaded with
activities schedules impede students’ success or stimulate it.
Comparing the achievement results of students, whose parents are
able to afford a personal computer to those of their peers whose
parents either don’t have the means to do so, or choose not to
provide their children with access to a personal computer at home
for some other reasons, is therapeutic in terms of deficit thinking
prevention.
Below are the graphic examples of the statements declared above.
Analysis and synthesis of each graph accompanies every example.
The purpose of collecting the demographics and projecting it
against the Special services (Special Education and ELL) data and
comparing it is to observe the dynamics of racial representation in
special services. According to the U.S Department of Education 2007
data ( which is presented on p.73 of the 6th edition of the
Exceptional Lives textbook), African American students are more
likely to receive special education for a disability, which leads
to a problem of disproportionate representation.
Only Caucasian students in the profiled class being exempt of
both ELL and Special Education services and all the students of
African American descent being identified either for Special
Education or ELL services( which singles them out as a “targeted”
group), speaks in favor of disproportionate representation.
However, the profiled class simultaneously shows an example of the
opposite: 5 out of 6 students, who are receiving special education
services, are Caucasian. Proportionally, this instance presents no
threat of race-based overrepresentation of students of African-
American descent identified for special education services due to
their intellectual disabilities or emotional-behavioral
disorders.
All the 4 students enrolled in ESL services being of African-
American origin does not speak in favor of the disproportionate
representation either. These students were identified for ESL
solely due to English not being their mother tongue. The fact that
neither one of the ELL students, all of them being of the African
American descent, is identified for Special Ed services also
doesn’t support the idea that overrepresentation of culturally and
linguistically diverse students in special education placements
remains a problem today. It might indicate though, that
identification of students for special education requires certain
degree of English proficiency, the lack of which might be a
stipulation in this process.
According to the first chart the group of students, whose GPA is
between 80 and 90 is the largest. When this figure is looked at
through the lens of access to Special Education Services and ELL
support, an interesting fact arises: all of the students in this
category receive extra support and attention. The students, who are
academically the most advanced in the profiled class, are the ones
receiving Special Education services and ELL help; therefore these
services appear to be beneficial and can be accounted for when
analyzing reasons for student’s success.
On the other end of the spectrum are the 2 students, who scored
between 50 and 60, and represent 15% of the profiled class. One of
them receiving ELL help, and the other one Special Education
services, they also represent the layer of students who receive
special attention.
The students who are “on their own” and receive neither Special
Education services, nor ELL support, representing almost a quarter
(23%) of the profiled class fall in the middle. They are scoring
between 60 and 80 in their GPA. This “middle of the road” might be
an alert sign: the lack of special attention might lead to
mediocrity.
The chart above measures the amount of students who do and do
not have access to a computer at home and how its availability
affects students’ scholastic achievement as measured by GPA.
According to the projection above, students’ progress is not
affected by access to computer at home. Students with or without
computers are achieving evenly across all areas.
The chart above measures students’ involvement in
extracurricular activities, such as sports, clubs and community
help. It is projected against their academic achievement as
measured by GPA. According to the findings, the students who are
involved in extracurricular activities are achieving higher
academic results. This fact speaks in favor of students’
involvement. Despite the fact that sports and clubs are consuming
students’ time, which could be spent on academics, the
extracurricular activities are reshaping students’ schedules making
them use their time in a more productive fashion. Sports, clubs and
community work might also motivate students to strive for higher
achievements. Overall, extracurricular activities appear to be a
beneficial factor in students’ scholastic achievements.
Knowing students’ interests and hobbies allows the teacher to
relate to students needs. In order to keep students motivated and
engaged in class activities and discussions a good teacher needs to
know along which lines to conduct those activities and discussions.
Most of the Workshop kids are engaged in sports, love music and
enjoy spending time with their peers. Thus, when choosing books to
read, a contemporary writer’s book about basketball “Parrot in the
Oven” will spark interest in most students and improve their
language and reading skills along with it. Allowing students to
listen to their i-pods through ear buds while working on their
individual journal assignment, which by its very nature plunges a
student into his or her world, is a great trick to encourage
students’ desire to participate in this learning activity.
Being aware of students’ fears can be a key to facilitating
their successes. Workshop kids’ fears range from being afraid of
not graduating to being scared of getting shot in their
neighborhood. Some kids are concerned with environmental issues,
while others have self-esteem problems and uncertainty about their
future. Travis, for example, mentioned the fear of having to do
things, which are beyond the level of his mental or physical
capacity. This comment echoed the contents of Ross Greene’s article
“Children do well if they can”, which we had gone over in
class.
Last but not least column in the data chart is “Hopes and
Dreams”. It’s a great source of inspiration for the teacher.
Knowing what students’ aspirations are allows the teacher to help
students stay on the track, they have chosen, or, in some cases,
expose students to the prospects they might have not been aware of.
Talking about college opportunities and vocational options could
fill in the gap of information deficiency.
About half of the students in the profiled class intend to go to
college, a couple of them dream of pursuing defined trade careers,
a few see themselves getting married. Whatever their choices might
be they all require students’ desire to work hard to achieve their
goals. Reminding students that American Dream, whatever it might
mean for them, can only be achieved through hard work, the habits
of which are springing out of their school working ethics, is a
great way to help kids stay on course.
An example of teacher’s own life story can be a great tool in
steering kids in the right direction. Being a role model, a teacher
often assumes the position of a group leader in the quest for
students’ better future. Knowing group dynamics can either call for
teacher’s leadership or deter a teacher from assuming the position
of the group leader. Sociogram is a great tool in this inquiry.
Next slide presents a sociogram of Sophomore Workshop English
Class.
Sociogram of the English Sophomore Workshop
While planning the procedural aspects of creating a sociogram a
few concerns arose: time limitations, willingness of students to
participate and subject relevance issue.
In order to facilitate students’ involvement in this activity
and keep their attention focused on the subject of our inquiry I
chose to use a short provocative hypothetical questionnaire that
would be relevant to students’ interests and time-wise correlate to
their attention span. As opposed to the more traditional “Who would
you like to go to movies with?” and “Who would you like to work
with on your group assignments”, I chose to subject the class to a
trip across the scorching sands of the Sahara desert and appoint
their own “Moses” by asking “Who would you trust to lead the way if
you were lost in a desert?”. Students were given an imaginary
chance to pull off another “Miracle on the Hudson” by choosing who
could help them carry it out being their “co-pilot”. They were
given a reason to speculate about the extent of their generosity,
while sharing a million dollars they just won in the lottery with a
classmate. Saving a classmate’s life by donating one of their
kidneys was also on the agenda. A time limit of 20 seconds per
question allowed us to keep the activity dynamic and not waste the
limited time of a school learning block. Short and sweet was the
goal.
The extra work I had done designing “not your average” questions
and the risk I took by doing it paid off – the class was more than
engaged! All of a sudden a normally quiet first block turned into a
“morning on a farm”. Pushing the imagination button transferred the
students into a fantasy land of possibilities, where anything is
feasible. Their attitude changed from “I’ll do it because I have to
“to “I’m doing it, and it is fun!”; from “filling out another
questionnaire” to “playing a game”. According to a survey we had
taken in the beginning of the semester all the students liked to
play. The example of this short experiment proved the point they
had made in their earlier self-observations.
The only drawback of this experiment was transitioning into a
serious working mode. The students were emotionally stirred and
really wound up by the time I was collecting the questionnaires.
Getting them to calm down and regroup took a few extra minutes. Ms
McWilliams and I did so by acknowledging students’ interest in the
activity and promising them to have more of such “games”, provided
the students would demonstrate to us that they had mastered
switching from playing to working.
Synthesis of the information collected during this experiment
produced the sociogram presented above. According to the choices
the students made and the frequency of the names being selected,
the “stars” of the show are Nick, Renaldo, Jacob and Deion, with
Jacob being slightly more popular than the rest of them. There is
no “leader”, a person picked by everybody, in the group – all the
“stars” were picked by about the same amount of people, with
neither one of them being in any significant lead. Not having a
definite “leader” makes the group easier to work with in terms of
teacher occupying the vacant position when the situation calls for
it. The knowledge of the leader’s vacancy also prompts the teacher
not to abuse the position of leadership and resort to it only in
extreme circumstances, since the dynamics of the group presuppose
natural equal participation of all its members. Knowing who the
“stars” are also allows the teacher to make extra accommodations
“to shine” for those students who are quieter and less popular,
thus allowing them to practice expressing their opinions in a safe
facilitated by the teacher situation. This approach can bring such
students into the spotlight, and gives others an opportunity to
hear their classmates speak. Chances like that might expose the
quieter students to the rest of the class and present them as more
interesting interlocutors, thus bringing them closer to the
“center”.
Scanning the outskirts of the target area, it’s easy to notice
that Ali and Garret are as close to social isolates as it comes in
this group. There is a silver lining in this cloud – these two are
not completely isolated, since they were picked at least once by
another student. Getting Ali and Garret more involved is a
challenge a teacher should be aware of. Finding ways which would
help others to accept them as valuable members of the group might
take some real soul searching and building on one’s strengths.
Involving Ali and Garret into group tasks could be one of the
solutions. Assigning them to be partners in learning activities
with people whom they picked, but who didn’t pick them, might help
everybody to learn more about each other, thus breaching the
barriers of biased fears and low opinions based on pure
speculations.
Seeing that Ahmed, Mahamud and Travis are on the border of peer
acceptance/rejection helps the teacher to promote their
participation, in order to help them gain ground. There is an
initial platform to work with, as we see it already, a little
attention, however, could be a great intervention step towards a
higher degree of their socialization.
The experiment showed that a lot of students made mutual choices
by picking each other: Lana and Haley, Deion and Morgan, Renaldo
and Jacob, for example. Their mutual affection could be used in
educational purposes, when a teacher is assigning a difficult task
to be performed in groups of two or three. The difficulty of the
task could be counterbalanced by a higher degree of psychological
comfort in a group. This trick can be used in reverse as well. When
a task is academically less complicated and its goal is
socialization of the group members, students who didn’t make mutual
choices could be grouped together to facilitate their mingling.
According to the sociogram, Lana, Morgan and Haley are closer to
each other than to the rest of the group. Knowing this, a teacher
should promote interconnectedness, by engaging girls into
discussions, where boys act like experts taking the lead, and vice
versa. The sociogram, being an indicator of male/female segregation
in the group, could help resolve this issue. Choosing appropriate
literature to address this topic is one of the ways to connect boys
and girls in the class. For example, the book the class is reading
right now “The House on Mango Street”, a story of a young girl
growing up in the Latino section of Chicago, facilitates many
healthy discussions about the interaction between men and women in
professional and domestic settings, thus helping to resolve the
issue of segregation.
Overall, the information obtained with the help of the sociogram
was very helpful to me as a future teacher. Knowing the group
dynamics helps to facilitate better learning strategies and come up
with constructive ideas. The knowledge of student’s
interconnectedness patterns will help me designate partners in
group work and engage less popular students into class
discussions.
Information on the focus group of three students
As mentioned in the beginning of this paper the three focus
students were chosen due to the presence of certain difficulties in
their lives and their personal resilience abilities to withstand
those hardships. Haley is in a constant battle with her learning
disability, Jacob, being one of the brightest kids in class, fights
his tragic family situation, Mahamud is recovering from changing
countries, struggling with English, trying to balance it with
Somali spoken at home. The questions which the Focused Profile of
the Three Students is designed to answer are: How do extra
difficulties affect students’ school performance? Do obstacles on
the way decrease or increase students’ chances for success? Do
students fail because of challenging circumstances or achieve in
spite of them? Is school achievement a significant component of
students’ overall satisfaction with their life, and does it help
them to cope with problems they are encountering outside of the
school walls?
Haley
We’ll start with Haley. Quiet and co-operative in class, this
seemingly doing well young lady is identified with a specific
learning disability in reading and math. Haley’s case manager,
Cheryl Hudson, told me that Haley has to do ten times the work any
other student does in order to keep up with the school work load.
Haley wants to be successful in school, but can easily feel
overwhelmed by homework if she doesn’t fully understand what she is
supposed to do, and how to do it. According to Haley’s IEP her
strengths are her diligence and devotion to learning. She likes
hands-on projects and working with kids. Haley is able to access
general curriculum with supports in place. She requires additional
processing time for auditory and verbal tasks, and also additional
prompts and assistance with task requiring access to long term
memory. Haley benefits from supportive adults, who help her gain
self confidence in her abilities. .According to her History
teacher, Mr. Mc Ginty Haley tends to be more comfortable with
concrete ideas and may need support to process abstract
concepts.
Classroom accommodations required in Haley’s IEP include
providing reference sheets for sequential procedures (providing of
which I observed during her Math class), previewing vocabulary and
big ideas prior to new learning (which I observed in her history
class, when the teacher handed her a topic vocabulary), making sure
directions are understood ( which I did do myself by establishing
an eye contact followed by an affirmative nod when assigning
homework during our English class), encouraging Haley to ask for
help when needed ( done by an educational technician in the
resource room). Haley is entitled to 50% extra time during tests,
which was the case at the NWEA test last week.
While shadowing Haley for a day I learned a lot about this girl
firsthand. After our usual English class we moved to the resource
room down the hall for Haley’s study hall class. Haley was moving
stealthily down the hallway, politely excusing herself to people
bumping into her, saying “hello” to her acquaintances, of which
there were just a few. Michael Kenned , an educational technician,
was available to provide Haley with support, and so were a few
other people in the room, but she seemed to do all right on her
own. While working on her homework for the next English class she
asked me for help with grammar and parts of speech. I noticed that
making my statements as clear and understandable as possible and
repeating them several times did the trick. Haley understood how
adverbs were different from adjectives, and proceeded with the rest
of the tasks on her own. Soon she got tired and took a few minutes
just to relax and regroup.
Our next class was Math. Haley displayed the same behavioral
characteristics as those observed by me during our many English
classes. She was diligent and quiet, doing her work slowly but
surely, spoke when spoken to, didn’t distract anyone and didn’t
seem distracted herself. Her Math teacher, Ms Salisbury described
Haley as a quiet, shy, extremely focused, co-operative, concrete
learner. Haley’s achievement in Math spoke for itself. A girl with
a math disability seems to be resorting to every single one of her
inner resources in order not to give in and overcome what others
might consider an excuse allowing them to give up.
During lunch Haley sat with her friends in the cafeteria. The
four girls were at ease with each other, laughing and sharing their
food. Haley seemed in her element surrounded by these giggly hazy
darlings.
History class held no surprises either. Haley did her work,
stayed focused, trotting right along with the rest of her
classmates. At the end of the class she carefully collected her
belongings and we parted.
Next time I saw Haley was that week-end. We accidentally ran
into each other at the Maine Mall. Haley was surrounded by her
friends, the same chatterboxes I had seen her sharing lunch with at
school. Haley politely greeted me and we had a small conversation
through which I discovered that Haley “loves hanging out with
friends, going to the mall, having sleep-overs and dancing
together”. According to Haley school would be a much better place
if there was a dance club at Deering.
Through conversation with Haley while at school and by reading
her reflective journal I found out that her mom and her sister are
her role models. They both work really hard for their family.
Haley’s sister has a good job and is about to get married. Another
influential figure in Haley’s life is her brother, who used to go
to Deering. He was always in trouble getting into fights and acting
up, but since he graduated he turned his life around and is
managing to stay out of trouble.
Family is important for Haley because they are always there when
she needs them. Past summer Haley had to stay in the hospital with
and appendicitis operation, during which both of her parents, along
with her brother and sister took turns attending to her. Haley’s
parents seem to have created a nice world for their daughter to
grow up in. Haley speaks of her father with affection. When she was
little they used to make chocolate chip cookies together every time
it snowed. Haley loved the feeling of squeezing dough with her
fingers; she also will never forget the smell. Now this is all in
the past- she is older and loves doing other stuff.
Being the youngest, Haley gets spoiled with attention, at the
same time experiencing the disadvantages of her “advantageous”
position, when being “compared” to her older siblings.
In one of her journal entries Haley told a story, which explains
how this seemingly shy girl manages to achieve what she is after –
success in her studies and peer respect.
“When I was in kindergarten people would always make fun of me
because I had glasses. They would call me four eyes. When I was in
the first grade this girl named Rashanna would always pick on me.
It made me really angry, because it was only me she would pick on.
One time when I had my bracelets on my desk, doing my work, she
came over and threw them on the floor, telling me to pick them up.
The teacher saw it and did nothing. I had enough of Rashanna’s
bullying. I finally stood up to her and she never bothered me
again.” Haley had the courage to read this story out loud to her
Sophomore English workshop class. Not being a great reader, she
pushed herself as far as she could to share this story about
herself. I find it just as courageous as the story itself.
Haley is dreaming of getting a job, which will allow her
financial independence. On the other hand, she is scared of the
idea of independence and freedom, being concerned with big and
small practical aspects of living on her own. She doesn’t know “how
to pay bills or anything”. Haley feels that she is growing up too
fast:”It feels like I just came from elementary school running
around on the playground, playing tag, and now I am graduating in
three years…” Little does she know that it only goes faster from
there!
Mahamud
I’d like to start a story of who Mahamud is as a person and a
learner with the six things he’d like to do before he dies. This is
Mahamud’s bucket list.
· I hope to graduate from High school before I die. One never
knows what would happen in life. My little brother Ahmed never
though he would die before graduating from high school. As a matter
of fact, he never even got to go to any school at all. He was four
when he drowned.
· I hope to see my grandsons before I die, even if they end up
being granddaughters.
· I hope to get married before I die, so I could spend some time
with my wife.
· I hope to go to Mecca before I die, because it is every Muslim
man’s dream.
· I hope to go to the NBA before I die. I wish to play for the
“Lakers” with Kobe.
· I hope to become a brain surgeon before I die. I hope Ms
McWilliams will allow me to do a brain surgery on her.
Ladies and gentlemen, this was Mahamud, a son in a Kenyan
refugee family of 6 boys and 3 girls, the 3 boys of which died.
Mahamud seems to be especially attached to his late brother Ahmed,
whose death Mahamud witnessed as a child. Family is important for
this boy. I saw him in a school setting with his father. We needed
no interpreter, his dad spoke good English. He came to enquire
about his son’s lower than normal achievement grade in English.
Having found out that the problem was Homework not being done he
glared at Mahamud with indignation, which was enough to turn that
boy from a fairly self-assured in class young man into a sheepish
youngster. Muhamud’s dad assured Ms McWilliams and me that he would
see to his son catching up with his homework. Mahamud had no
objections. The fear of losing the privilege of playing basketball
did the trick.
Even though English is not Mahamud’s native tongue he manages to
overcome its difficulties with flying colors. His achievement
scores are on par with those of his English- as- a- native-language
speaking classmates. He is active in class, and appears
confrontational only when not receiving enough praise. Mahamud
loves attention, but can easily blend in with the rest of the class
when doing group work.
Mahamud understands the importance of school. Doing well at
school makes him content because it pleases his parents. He also
knows he needs a high school diploma to go to college, like his
older brother Abde, who “is smart and funny and goes to England
University”. Older brother’s example seems to be Mahamud’s
inspiration. His other source of inspiration is basketball. That’s
what makes him “most free and happy”. Playing for Deering against
Portland High with his whole school screaming his name is the
extent of his present ambition.
Mahamud is a “young 17”. He goes from being an obedient child at
home to a rebellious at times teenager in class, one day he
imagines himself a brain surgeon, saving peoples’ lives and the
next he is dreaming of becoming a “business owner, who doesn’t have
to work, because other people work for him.”
Mahamud is a resilient person, who has overcome a lot – moving
from Kenya, linguistic challenges, siblings’ deaths. He is still a
child, though, very susceptible to any kind of influence. It is up
to the teachers to keep developing Mahamud’s best traits, building
up on his many strengths while at school. And it is up to Mahamud
to make right choices.
Jacob
This always knowing an answer to the trickiest question in
grammar or parts of speech section of our English class student
doesn’t consider himself to be smart. He says: “I feel much wiser
than a lot of adults surrounding me in my life. Unlike them I have
common sense. If I lost that or my health, I wouldn’t make it too
far, because I am not very book smart. And I am O.K. with that,
because I have never really been the smart guy in the room.”
Well, in my book of “smart” Jacob is right at the top of that
page. He is the only one in our Sophomore class who really actively
looks for answers. He finds them before anybody gets a chance to
even think of looking. He is fast and sharp. He processes
information instantaneously and draws conclusions on his own, while
most of his peers wait for clues and require a little extra time.
His achievement in academic areas is significant, but his potential
seems even higher.
Jacob is a student with almost perfect attendance. He is polite
and doesn’t show off in class. He doesn’t draw any attention to
himself, which in the world of teenagers is not nearly as cool as
being a class clown or a rebel. Nevertheless the results of the
class sociogram showed that this young man is well respected by his
peers. He was “chosen” by most of his classmates for the most
number of activities, they’d like to share with him, the most
number of times. Jacob is a tacit “star”.
Jacob’s home life is as challenging as they come. Being raised
by his mother, who according to Jacob’s reflective journal “is
lazy, stupid and won’t get a job to pay rent”, he can’t wait for
the day when he turns 18 and doesn’t have to live with her any
more. In one of the brutal fights with her boyfriend, teenage Jacob
defending himself, injured the man to the point where the adult had
to be hospitalized with 6 broken ribs, a broken nose, and a
shattered jaw. It was Jacob’s little brother, Kobie, who pulled his
sbling off their “so-called dad”, thus preventing a possible
murder. Jacob’s mother got mad and threw her son out into the
streets. This day changed Jacob’s life, because it was the last day
Kobie and Jacob ever lived together. Kobie’s real dad took custody
of him after he had found out about this incident. As for Jacob, he
has been sleeping at his friends’ and wherever he can find a spot
ever since that illuminated with police blue and red lights cold
December night. He rarely comes “home”. All Jacob has got left of
his family now are the reminiscences of that horrible night and
memories of a beautiful day, when Jacob’s mother told him as he was
getting off the school bus, that she was pregnant and he was going
to have a little brother. Those two days Jacob considers being the
most important events in his life.
With all the turbulence in his life Jacob seems to keep his
attendance and grades straight, maintain a relationship with a
girl, and always do his homework. I saw Jacob and his girl, Romeo
and Juliet, holding hands, sitting on the bench in the school yard.
“She is the single most important human being in the world to me.
She is the only one keeping me in school, the only one who cares”
says Jacob in his journal. He knows that most teenage relationships
don’t last, but he believes their story will be different.
Jacob wants to have kids, but he is not sure how many. He wants
to get married, but not too soon. He wants to travel to the other
parts of the world, but mostly out of Maine. He thinks skydiving
might be fun. After school he would like to go to college. He would
like to live a healthy life.
Home life, bringing Jacob down, helped him realize that school
is all he can hold on to. He believes getting a diploma will open a
lot of doors for him, which will allow him to make it on his own
and prove that he is worthy to be called a human being. He wants to
prove it to himself and others – the ones, who keep pushing him
away.
Conclusions
This class profile ended up being more than just a school
assignment. It opened up my eyes on many new aspects of teaching
and learning. It gave me a lot of tips on how to teach kids and
what to teach them. It also proved to me that there is a lot to be
learnt from them. The picture below served me as inspiration in my
class profile. It came as a surprise – I was describing to
sophomores the scene from “Dead Poets’ Society” as an example of
different angles and points of view, both literally and
metaphorically, and before I knew it, they were all lined up in
front of the teacher’s desk, ready to take a chance to observe
their class from a different angle! I used the strategy of looking
at my findings from different angles throughout my study.
The ideas of practical implications of my findings permeate my
whole study. With each discovery or observation I mentioned a
strategic tip or a teaching hook I would consider using in my
pedagogic practice. Some of the additional conclusions, though, I’d
like to outline in my “final word”.
These are the things I learned: I learned that difficulties can
facilitate students’ success, making them want to achieve even
more, just because it is against all odds.
I learned that students with disabilities can do well when
supports are in place.
I learned that it’s rare that English Language Learners qualify
for Special Education Services due to language problems impacting
their abilities to be tested.
I learned that combination of visual and auditory supports is
necessary to ensure all students’ success in learning in my class,
because students with both strengths are present in the group.
I learned who in my class is Action, who is Structure, who is
Caring, and who is Meaning. By including students from each
category into group activities I will ensure proper balance among
them.
I learned that a computer at home doesn’t account for students’
higher achievement levels. Deficit thinking is not for teachers,
who believe that all children can learn.
I learned that in order to maintain a positive classroom
environment, a teacher doesn’t always have to assume the position
of the leader. Facilitating peer interaction and group work appeals
to a lot of students and models a democratic society, kids will
have to enter on their own soon.
I learned that a little extra attention can go a long way.
Students, receiving special education services help and ELL
personnel support do better than their peers who are “on their
own”. A good teacher provides kids with RTI when seeing them
struggle. It can nip the existing problems in the bud and prevent
future difficulties.
I learned that teenagers aren’t as scary as psychology books
portray them. Teachers just need to relate to what it was like to
be a teenager themselves and stay calm. “Staying calm” is a joke,
of course. Teachers need to get involved and notify social workers
and school psychologists when they notice that their teenage
students could use some professional help and advice.( Like Ms
McWilliams and I did in Jacob’s case)
I learned that most of my students love movies. Including a
fragment from a film based on a book we are covering in class could
be a great way to ignite students’ interest.
I learned that NWEA site provides Reading and Language scores
breakdowns, which allows teachers to see what subcategories in
students’ learning need more attention than others.
I learned that Powerschool is a great tool to use for background
information searches.
I learned that allowing students to use their ear buds to listen
quietly to the music while working on their personal journals
stimulates them to write better because they feel comfortable,
being in their element.
I learned that good teachers never stop being good learners!
Attachments
4 Corners Hand-Out
Choose your corner! Tell me who you are!
1) Sensing people pay close attention to data provided by their
senses -- immediate experience, literal facts, and close
realities.
Action Is What Drives Them
2) Intuitive people need to find associations and connections
among things and are interested in theories and imagined
possibilities.
Meaning Is What Drives Them
3) Thinking people prefer logic and orderly, analytic, and
objective thinking.
Structure Is What Drives Them
4) Feeling people prefer subjective thinking connected with
human values and harmony.
Caring Is What Drives Them
score 170-190Expressive/informationalGrammar
usageMechanicsstructure of languageWriting habits21212score
191-220Expressive/informationalGrammar usageMechanicsstructure of
languageWriting habits91110129score
221-250Expressive/informationalGrammar usageMechanicsstructure of
languageWriting habits21102score 170-190comprehension
strategiesInformational textsliterary textsword
identification2000score 191-220comprehension
strategiesInformational textsliterary textsword
identification911102.8score 221-250comprehension
strategiesInformational textsliterary textsword
identification2234demographicscaucasianafrican/american85Special
ServicesSp EdELLNeither643caucasianspecial edELLELL+ Sp
Edneither5003blackspecial edELLELL+ Sp Edneither1400Series 3special
edELLELL+ Sp Edneither00Cumulative Unwieghted GPAunder
5050-6060-7070-8080-9090-100023350
GPA vs Special Services
sp
ed50-6060-7070-8080-901014ELL50-6060-7070-8080-901111neither50-6060-7070-8080-900210no
access to computer at
homeGPA80.84999999999999465.6683.3386.04access to computer at
homeGPA88.777851.83999999999999672.95999999999999485.6677.568.34999999999999458.5465.95
Not involved in extracurricular
activitiesGPA51.83999999999999658.5465.6665.95Involved in
extracurricular
activitiesGPA83.3386.0488.777880.84999999999999472.95999999999999485.6677.568.349999999999994