CF School

The school population at Tigard High School has a very similar demographic breakdown as the surrounding community:

The main difference is a lower percentage of White students and a slightly higher percentage of Latino students. The next highest student ethnic group is Asian/Pacific Islander. Even so, this group is still less than half the size of the Latino population and one-tenth the size of the White population. In the classes I have observed, although everyone seems to get along, there are definite groups based on ethnicity when students are allowed to choose their own seating arrangement. As a teacher it will be important to teach a multi-cultural curriculum that will incorporate the varied interests and values of all the students. It will also be very important to take note of any unconscious bias I have and remember to not look at students through the lens of a stereotype.

For a community that has a median household income level of over $64,000, the school still has almost twenty percent of its students being eligible for free lunch. This is an important socio-economic dynamic of the school. The income for the families of these students has a large range from high to low, and this could create issues in the school. There could be negative relationships between students that are based merely on where the students live within the district. Put this together with ethnic cliques and there could be some difficult social issues. Another important presence in the school that is not shown in the statistics above is that there are GLBT students that attend Tigard. I witnessed on lesbian couple holding hands the first day I observed at the high school. All these factors make it very important for a teacher to teach respect and tolerance in the classroom. As a teacher I need to be aware of the stresses these students feel, be a positive role model, and demand respect and tolerance in my classroom and the school halls.

The campus and school itself are massive. The school sits on 43.65 acres. The main school building is 272,095 square feet. In addition to the main building there is a small portable unit (19,890 square feet), an auditorium and cafeteria (17,654 square feet), and a swim center (17,338 square feet). In total, the school is 326,977 square feet. The school has three levels, two eating areas, five main halls, two gyms, two sports facility rooms, a full size auditorium, an additional stage in the cafeteria, an aquatics building, a daycare facility, and ninety-three classrooms. The various different halls in the building make it easy for students to stick to their own group of friends. It also makes it difficult for teachers to get to know students who are not in their classes or do not have lockers in their specific hallway. The overall feel of the school is kind of like a small city. There are many people moving through the halls and there are some people standing in small groups talking to each other; it is very easy to pass hundreds of people from Point A to Point B without making eye contact or saying hello to one single person. It seems like the school would be a very intimidating place to be a new student. One way a teacher can combat this is walking the school during lunch times (if there is time). My supervising teacher had third block prep period last year, which coincided with first lunch. She and another business teacher would walk the school at first lunch and just talk to the students; students they knew and students they had never met before. The teachers found out that the students really liked that they took the time to talk and get to know them even though the students did not have either teacher in a class. The fact that students appreciate it when a teacher makes an effort to get to know them is a good thing to remember, especially as a new teacher in a large school.

94% of the licensed staff in the Tigard-Tualatin School District are highly certified. Tigard High School has eighty-three teachers, nine other licensed staff members, sixteen instructional assistants, and four administrators. There is a student to teacher ratio of 24/1. I have observed classes as small as twenty students and as large as thirty-three students, so there is a wide range of class sizes at the school. 10% of the student population is considered special education students, while there are eighty-four ELL students and 124 TAG students. I have observed a Algebra class where out of thirty students, ten were ELL students. Tigard has five licensed staff members dedicated to the ESOL program with many additional teachers being SIOP trained. This shows that the school is dedicated to helping its students with special needs regardless of the need. Special Education students are put into mainstream classrooms as much as possible. My supervisory teacher talked with a student in the hall that had physical and mental disabilities about how he was graduating this year. She told me that he had been in her Business Technologies class two years previously. A teacher needs to be aware of any needs a student has and make sure she is familiar with the services that the school has to help that student.