About My Classroom

I currently teach in Spring Branch Independent School District at Northbrook Middle School, which is located in Houston, Texas. Here you can find the 2015-2016 academic records for the campus. Northbrook Middle houses 6th through 8th grade. Northbrook Middle has a strong community with a stable student body. My school is unique because it shares a campus with a YES Prep charter school, YES Prep Northbrook. My campus serves 961 students. Of those students, 90 percent are Hispanic, 83 percent are economically disadvantaged, and 43 percent have limited English proficiency. The gender distribution is roughly equal, as Northbrook has approximately 50% male students and 50% female students. Northbrook Middle has Special Education and ESOL programming available to students. In addition to these resources, all students and staff members received IPads through the Verizon Innovative Learning grant. This grant provides free access to the internet outside of the school building so that students can continue hands-on learning.

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I teach 8th grade English language arts to three separate class periods for 103 minutes every day. I co-plan with an additional Language Arts teacher, Special Education teacher, and an ESOL paraprofessional. Throughout the day, I teach a total of 76 students. 43 of my students are male and 33 of my students are female. I have 28 students in my first block, 22 students in my second block, and 26 students in my third block. My students have diverse learning needs. Within each block period, my students’ academic levels range from gifted and talented, pre-AP, on-level academic, to special needs. In order to personalize learning, my students work in two separate rooms throughout the block period. The Content and Independent Reading room offer students the chance to have their learning needs met so that they are able to achieve academic success.

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The Content room is used to teach students grade-level content as required by Texas state standards. When we are in the Content room, students practice and show mastery of language arts skills and concepts. This is the room where the Special Education teacher and ESOL paraprofessional offer services to students. During half of my first and second block I co-teach with a Special Educator, and during half of my third block I co-teach with an ESOL paraprofessional. In this room, students often work in flexible and cooperative learning groups. The learning task and assessment criteria differ from group to group. Additionally, the learning tasks accommodate the unique interests and learning styles of students.

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The Independent Reading room is used for students to develop their reading abilities by practicing vocabulary, summarizing, predicting, inference, and questioning strategies. Students apply their skills to their independent reading book to increase stamina, comprehension, and vocabulary. To monitor progress, students conference one-on- one with a teacher in this room on a weekly basis.