Context of Teaching & Learning Analysis for Meadowcreek High School

    I work at Meadowcreek High School in Gwinnett County, teaching American Literature and Composition. Meadowcreek is located in Norcross, GA. With direct access to Highway 85, this area is populated by working and commuting families whose homes line the short drive between the highway and campus. My classes are peopled by a total of one hundred and forty two 11th and 12th grade students of all genders. My course extends over both Fall and Spring semesters, with the classes and rosters remaining the same for each. The county pacing calendars schedule each unit to be about a month, including the mandated Academic Knowledge and Skills (AKS), vocabulary, and mentor texts, and ending with a multiple choice assessment created by the district. These assessments are estimated to be completed at the end of each unit, essentially every month. MHS’s bell schedule operates across A, B, and C days: A days (Monday, Tuesday, Friday) students attend all seven classes at 45 minutes per class; B days (Wednesday) students attend only 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th period at 90 minutes per class; C days (Thursday) students attend 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th at 90 minutes per class, with the repetition of 5th period being a lunch and study hall period.

MHS is home to a primarily bilingual student body and operates accordingly with accommodations and translators. All classes, including our on-level college-prep courses as well as AP courses include accommodations for ELLs, as most of our students come from homes wherein different languages are spoken. Additionally, my 1st period class is co-taught, and 12 out of the 30 students have disabilities with IEPs and specific accommodations. Using the Universal Design for Learning as a core approach in my classroom encourages me to, as a professor once said, “teach for students in the margins and you will benefit all your students.” Though I am supposed to have a co-teacher for my co-taught class, due to the teacher shortage there is currently a substitute, who is often missing. Any advice for differentiation and balancing such a large and diverse group of students is welcome!

Teachers are grouped into Collaborative Learning Teams (CLTs) based on content and grade level. My team is made up of four other ELA educators who also teach American Literature and Composition, among a variety of other classes. Each teacher has two planning periods, and every department shares a common planning period. IT is during these shared prep periods that teachers meet for CLTs as well as department meetings. My mentor teacher is the Department Chair. She facilitates the department meetings and regularly attends CLT meetings to observe and support. She regularly and openly gives teams and individuals genuine advice and feedback on their plans, and reminds us of important dates and standards for achievement. Currently, I am the Team Lead of my CLT. The duties of this role include monitoring the team’s progress through the AKS as indicated in county pacing guide, encouraging whole group contribution to planning and prioritizes the input and opinions of team members, maintaining a positive environment in which team members feel included and valued as well as facilitating compromises between team members. This will be my second year as the Team Lead for 11th grade. After graduation, I anticipate that I will bring refreshing, research-based strategies and lessons to my team’s planning. Already, after one full year in the MAT graduate progam my growth as an educator is apparent. For example, I used the Culturally Relevant Curriculum Plan I created during the summer semester in Dr. Sowerbrower’s class during the first two weeks of school. My CLT and I adapted these plans, as well as Ghouldy Muhammad’s pedagogy from Cultivating Genius to fit the Meadowcreek pacing guide and schedule. Beyond this, I have shared several strategies from Cultivating Genuis with my Assistant Principal and Department Chair, who have embraced the ideas and worked them into our lesson planning expectations document. 

Our required lesson planning document is very similar to GSU’s document, in that each lesson has several required fields: activating strategy/hook, mini-lesson, and independent practice/closing. Along with this our planning document requires educators to review past data and assess weak AKS, include small-group and differentiated instruction options, and account for trends in student work. Additionally, we use the county provided pacing calendar as a guide for achieving the mandated learning goals by the time of the scheduled county assessments, which includes vocabulary instruction. American Literature and Composition is an EOC course, meaning educators on my team must also prepare test-taking strategizing lessons and multiple choice practice before the state test, which is a graduation requirement. 

Beginning this year in Gwinnett County schools, students will take a universal screener assessment we will use to guide our Multi-Teired Systems of Support (MTSS) Program in regards to providing academic intervention and/or enrichment for our students: MAP. This assessment will provide very detailed data that will be used to  provided targeted instruction for each and every student. These assessments will also provide the MTSS committee with data on who must have different Tiered supports or accelerated instruction. Students identified by this screener as needing additional guidance will be placed in additional tutoring during school hours with teachers of the subject level they are struggling with, and receive data driven individualized support. Meadowcreek emphasizes the importance of encouraging academic as well as

behaviorial excellence during these lessons and tutoring sessions. 

All Gwinnett County secondary schools use eClass, which is simply another iteration of iCollege. Educators are required to post daily plans with hyperlinks to instructional materials, lessons, and readings in the Content section, as well as all due dates in the Calendar. As far as common texts, in 11th grade we rely on the Sadlier Vocabulary Workshop: Level F for required vocabulary instruction, as units from this text are represented on the common formative assessments included in the pacing guide. Beyond this text, there are no more required texts, and educators are encouraged to choose texts as a team using the pacing guide’s standards and learning expectations as a guide. For example, this year my team decided to teach the following texts: The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and The Crucible by Arthur Miller. We have adapted county-mandated units to each of these texts respectively to maximize student growth. 

The predominant accommodations encountered by educators at Meadowcreek are supports for English Language Learners. Throughout the years of my employment at Meadowcreek, I have been able to attend countless professional development opportunities providing suggestions for best practice when teaching ELLs, including individual PDs on scaffolding, modeling, translation, cultural competency, and literacy development. My mentor teacher is an expert at scaffolding, modeling, and small-group instruction, and has been an invaluable tool as I navigate ELL accommodations. Mrs. Grier is constantly standing at the front f her room with the same worksheet students have in front of them projected onto the whiteboard before her, encouraging students as she works through assessments with them. Additionally, educators are instructed to always have a translated copy of materials available (especially for parents and family members), use closed-captioning at all times, offer a multitude of visuals

partnered with instruction, and research the cultures and traditions of which our students come from.

Students are disciplined according to MTSS and PBIS practices. Faculty are trained in Social Emotional Learning and encouraged to form positive relationships with students and families so as to lessen unnecessary discipline and increase meaningful learning. My principal constantly repeats the old saying, “students don’t care how much you know, until the know how much you care.” Students who struggle to maintain the expected code of conduct go through the MTSS and are rewarded according to PBIS as they progress. Throughout the school these expectations are posted, specifying expected behaviors in the various settings (hallway, classroom, lunchroom), and reinforcing the school’s motto: “Collaborate, Inspire, Own.” This message is also communicated to teachers throughout interactions between administrators and staff, with an emphasis on “collaborate.” Along with this, the Gwinnett County Board recently enacted a new instructional framework that operates with the “Four Es: Empathy, Equity, Excellence, Effectiveness,” and those words have permeated almost all communication amongst faculty, from CLT meetings to common conversations.

My classroom is a well-established safe space at Meadowcreek. The walls are covered with colorful posters, academic, silly, and empowering. Additionally featured on one wall is the artistic works of my students. Taped up and signed proudly by my scholars, these works of art may be projects completed in an elective class or be a selection from the massive amounts of coloring sheets I keep printed out and available for early-finishers. My room hosts the school’s Student Council and PRISM organizations, which demonstrates to students that their voices are valued. Along the back wall of my classroom is a long bulletin board which I use to showcase student work. The fourth wall in my classroom is the backdrop for my Vocabulary Word Wall, on

which students may add words of their own to the weekly vocabulary additions. Desks are arranged in groups of 4, randomly throughout the classroom, students will be grouped based on data from assessments, classroom activities, and collaborations. Such a setup is fantastic for fostering small-group work and collaboration between students, especially throughout our literature circles unit. There are 5 bookshelves spaced throughout my classroom: 3 are grouped together in the front left corner to form a book nook, complete with several folding chairs and pillows. An additional bookshelf stands at the back of the room housing a variety of buckets and baskets filled with arts and crafts materials, crayons, puzzles, and playdough. The last bookshelf is behind my desk, holding my personal favorites, as well as texts related to teaching and county-distributed manuals. 

My mentor teacher begins every lesson with a painfully corny Joke of the Day (today’s joke was: Did you hear about the kidnapping at school? He woke up.), followed by 10-30 minutes of independent reading. Most ELA teachers follow a similar format including a silly and engaging hook followed by Sustained Silent Reading (SSR). Our department focuses so heavily on SSR so as to foster book love, the importance of which is described by Penny Kittle in her text with that same title: “rigorous  independent reading will not only build background knowledge  and vocabulary but also provide  a  fundamental necessity:  regular practice. Teachers must create a love for books that will drive students to reach for them every school year” (3). Further, most teachers take their classes to the Media Center at least once a week. In meetings, as she is the Department Chair, my MT starts with an engaging question that requires educators to work together or build relationships amongst eachother. Setting high expectations from the start of any program or class and prioritizing real-world connections and relationships is at the core of all instruction at Meadowcreek.

Students are slowly recovering from two years of digital instruction, but I can see a marked difference in their behavior as time goes on. While they are still apprehensive, students operate on amicable terms with eachother and for the most part stay in small groups of friends. In the hallways, almost every student walks with at least one friend. No school is perfect and Meadowcreek has already seen several fights this semester alone– but the MTSS program is proving to create long-term behavioral results. Most teachers smile in the hallways between classes, speaking with eachother, students, or administrators during class changes and before and after school. Almost all interactions are positive and professional, as teachers often rely on on another for support and encouragement. Administrators are close with eachother and collaborate seamlessly over walky-talkies to manage the thousands of people on campus daily. 

Gwinnett County’s new strategic priorities are focused both on a supportive community (Empathy and Equity) and academic press (Effectiveness and Excellence). The Four Es are at the core of Meadowcreek’s ideologies and belief systems,and influence instructional strategies. Every month the school’s Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) meets to assess the ways in which Meadowcreek is addressing each of the Es, and creates new opportunities for students to be supported. For example, the ELA department’s planning guide requires educators to list diverse texts for each unit, so students may see their own cultures and identities represented in instruction. 

Equity and empathy are the core pillars of my own classroom management strategy, as well as my own pedagogical approach. In order to learn meaningful lessons that will foster a life-long love of learning and empower our students to be successful after graduation, students must feel that their identities are honored, respected, and confirmed in our classrooms. As such, I strive to cultivate a culture of safety and abundant love in everything I do on campus, but

especially within the walls of my own classroom. 

Works Cited and Consulted

Handbook information for students & families / student conduct behavior code-middle and high 

school. / Student Conduct Behavior Code-Middle and High School. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.gcpsk12.org/Page/33405

Kittle, Penny. (2013). Book love: developing depth, stamina, and passion in adolescent readers. 

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Muhammad, G., & Love, B. L. (2020). Cultivating genius: An equity framework for culturally 

and historically responsive literacy. Scholastic.

Shostak, J., & Sadlier-Oxford Book Company. (2012). Vocabulary workshop: Level F. New 

York, NY: Sadlier-Oxford.

Wide-Ranging Education Data Collected from our Nation’s Public Schools. Civil Rights Data 

Collection. (n.d.). Retrieved August 18, 2022, from https://ocrdata.ed.gov/.