Eight different schools
Locations: Various across the United States
No. of Students in Schools: Between 125 and almost
Grades: 6th to 8th
Subject: Language Arts
No. of Students in Classrooms: Between 15 and 32
The schools in this video library are in geographically diverse
locations across the United States. Some, like Joe Bernhart's
Houston classroom or Dorothy Franklin's Chicago school, are
in urban settings. Some are rural, such as Tanya Schnabl's
school in upstate New York and Barry Hoonan's school on Bainbridge
Island in Washington state. Others are in suburban locations.
A wide variety of classrooms and teachers were chosen to help
teachers everywhere see how envisionment-building might apply
in their own locations.
of Students in Schools: The schools featured in the video
library run from the small and intimate (125 students at the
Odyssey School on Bainbridge Island) to schools accommodating
more than 1,500 students (DeWitt Clinton Elementary School
in Chicago with 1,600 and Howard A. Doolin Middle School with
The teachers reflect the diversity of their profession. Both
male and female, they come from a range of racial and cultural
backgrounds. Some are just beginning their careers. Others
have 15 to 20 years experience (one has nearly 30) with students.
All of them believe that every student is capable of learning
and that it is their job to help learning happen.
and Subject: All the teachers in this library teach language
arts in grades 6-8.
While some of the students portrayed in these classrooms come
from middle class economic backgrounds, a number qualify for
free or reduced-price lunch; some children of migrant families
at Picacho Middle School in Las Cruces, New Mexico live in
shelters or other temporary housing. Students in these classes
come with a wide range of reading levels (several teachers
have students who read between first grade and college levels
in the same classroom). As is perhaps typical of the nation
as a whole, most of the schools work with students from diverse
ethnic, cultural, and even language backgrounds. The K-6 population
of DeWitt Clinton Elementary School in Chicago is primarily
first-generation immigrants (Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Russian,
or Bosnian) who speak more than 17 different languages. Fifty
percent of the students test below grade level in their core
subjects. At Stephen Decatur Middle School in Maryland, 30%
of the students are minorities drawn from a nearby retirement
community, a tourist destination, and a rural town.