Class Profile
Ms. Houchins classroom consisted of a diverse group of students. Most of the students were ninth graders, but there were a few sophomores and even one senior who only showed up for class once while I was there. The level of maturity, even with the different age levels, was low across the board. What can you expect from 14, 15, and 16 year old students? The classroom was represented ethnically very well with various different ethnicity and cultures. There were Black, White, Mixed, Asian, Indian, and other unknown ethnicity in the classroom. I could not judge the socioeconomic state of the children in the class by what they wore or how they acted and I did not feel comfortable asking my cooperating teacher. However, I could tell that some of the students looked and dressed nicer than others but that does not necessarily mean anything. Because the class was a semester class, when I began my internship, not a lot of the students knew each other because they had just switched classes. At first, the behavior of the students was exceptional. However, once the students got more comfortable with Ms. Houchins, surrounding students and me, they began to become more talkative. Because of this, Ms. Houchins often switched the seating chart as well as scolded the students to stay quiet during lessons. I also tried to control the class when I was instructing by using the same tactics that Ms. Houchins used. Even though the talking did become excessive at times, overall their behavior grew in maturity through the time that I was there. I watched the class grow into more respectful young teens and it made me feel accomplished that I had contributed to that.