Setting and Context
Lincoln IB Middle School
School Mission Statement:
“At Lincoln we challenge, empower and inspire one another to achieve our highest potential as active members of a global community. We Question, Learn, Think, Care and Act”
Culture and Community:
Lincoln Middle School may have a reputation of a more challenging school demographically and social economically. I found it to have a very strong support system with a tight knit community within the building among factuality and students. Lincoln Middle School is an International Baccalaureate ”IB” located toward the north end of Fort Collins Colorado. Lincoln’s grounds are located on a secluded 50-acre site. The current building was originally constructed in 1974 with an addition and technology upgrade completed in 1995. In 2001 the building added a gymnasium and additional classrooms though a partnership with the “Boys and Girls Club of Larimer County. The School is divided into three separate “pods” which consists of the individual grade levels. Lincoln Middle located within the Poudre School District.
Lincoln’s grading is based off of the IB grading scale. Much like the Colorado art standards, IB grading is based around four criterions. Know and Understanding, Developing Skills, Thinking Creatively, and Responding. Within these criterion students are graded on performance 0-8. This grading scale allows for growth and development through the semester.
Demographic Characteristics:
Lincoln Middle has 504 enrolled students with 35.4 full time teachers, allowing for a 14:1 students to teacher ratio. Based on exam performance, graduation rate, school environment, and more startclass.com has rated Lincoln a five out of ten.
Lincoln’s Current Ethnic Breakdown:
Hispanic – 55.8%
White – 39.7%
Asian – 1.4%
Two Races – 2.6%
American Indian - 0.6%
Black – 0%
The Demographic breakdown if Lincoln is drastically different from the average makeup of the other Fort Collins schools, which is made up of 73% White, 18% Hispanic, and 3% Asian, 1% Black. Lincoln’s student population is made up of 54% female and 46% male. 76 % of students at Lincoln are enrolled in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to receive free or reduced lunch. 69.9% of student’s families have income less than $15,171 qualifies for “Free Lunch”, leaving 6.9% of students receiving reduced lunch.
Classroom Environment:
Lincoln offers art classes to all grades. Sixth graders are required to take a general art appreciation. Once they move on to seventh grade they can choose between “Encore” art or music. This semester we had four sixth grade art sections, two Art I, one Art II, and three pottery/sculpture sections. The classroom sizes range from 13 students to 28 in our largest 6th grade classroom. The approaches to art learning at Lincoln include:
Self-Management Skills
Lincoln uses a system of re-directs for disciplinary action. If a student is misbehaving in class they are given a reminder of the classroom expectations. The student takes ownership for their behavior and acknowledges the change by saying “Yes I can fix my behavior”.
Safe Schools Program is aligned throughout the Poudre School District. There is an anonymous tip line where students, teachers, parents, or community members can report any issues that concern threats to yourself, friends, family, or community. You can access this resource by visiting https://safe2tell.org/, or calling Call 1-877-542-SAFE (7233). There are Campus Security Officers and School Resource Officers to provide students and staff with a safe leaning environment.
Conflict Resolution in the Poudre Valley School district requires that evidence of harassment/discrimination, bullying, physical harm, and behavioral management are addressed by a meeting with all parties involved, their parent(s) or guardian(s), and the principal of the school where it is taking place. The antagonizing party would receive some form of punishment and make sure the affected party was safe. In my classroom Tom relies on student working out problems. In some extreme cases students are required to speak in private to seek what is causing the behavior and possibly involve administration and parents.
All Students with special needs receive support from the school and be given proper accommodations for success. The Individual Education Program or (IEP) is an extremely important document for students with disabilities receiving special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. A team of specialized individuals including staff and parents manages each student who is in need of an IEP. Differentiation is used in the classroom to assist different learning styles as well as assistance from paraprofessionals.
School Mission Statement:
“At Lincoln we challenge, empower and inspire one another to achieve our highest potential as active members of a global community. We Question, Learn, Think, Care and Act”
Culture and Community:
Lincoln Middle School may have a reputation of a more challenging school demographically and social economically. I found it to have a very strong support system with a tight knit community within the building among factuality and students. Lincoln Middle School is an International Baccalaureate ”IB” located toward the north end of Fort Collins Colorado. Lincoln’s grounds are located on a secluded 50-acre site. The current building was originally constructed in 1974 with an addition and technology upgrade completed in 1995. In 2001 the building added a gymnasium and additional classrooms though a partnership with the “Boys and Girls Club of Larimer County. The School is divided into three separate “pods” which consists of the individual grade levels. Lincoln Middle located within the Poudre School District.
Lincoln’s grading is based off of the IB grading scale. Much like the Colorado art standards, IB grading is based around four criterions. Know and Understanding, Developing Skills, Thinking Creatively, and Responding. Within these criterion students are graded on performance 0-8. This grading scale allows for growth and development through the semester.
Demographic Characteristics:
Lincoln Middle has 504 enrolled students with 35.4 full time teachers, allowing for a 14:1 students to teacher ratio. Based on exam performance, graduation rate, school environment, and more startclass.com has rated Lincoln a five out of ten.
Lincoln’s Current Ethnic Breakdown:
Hispanic – 55.8%
White – 39.7%
Asian – 1.4%
Two Races – 2.6%
American Indian - 0.6%
Black – 0%
The Demographic breakdown if Lincoln is drastically different from the average makeup of the other Fort Collins schools, which is made up of 73% White, 18% Hispanic, and 3% Asian, 1% Black. Lincoln’s student population is made up of 54% female and 46% male. 76 % of students at Lincoln are enrolled in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to receive free or reduced lunch. 69.9% of student’s families have income less than $15,171 qualifies for “Free Lunch”, leaving 6.9% of students receiving reduced lunch.
Classroom Environment:
Lincoln offers art classes to all grades. Sixth graders are required to take a general art appreciation. Once they move on to seventh grade they can choose between “Encore” art or music. This semester we had four sixth grade art sections, two Art I, one Art II, and three pottery/sculpture sections. The classroom sizes range from 13 students to 28 in our largest 6th grade classroom. The approaches to art learning at Lincoln include:
Self-Management Skills
- Use time wisely
- Stay on task
- Treat equipment and materials with respect
- Be on time and prepared
- Persist, persevere, motivate and reflect
- Use a verity of media to share my thoughts
- Listen to others, give and receive feedback
- Show appropriate body language, head up and down lean back in stools
- Show respect for other, stay quiet while they are speaking
- Take responsibility for you actions
- Share in group tasks and problem solving
- Find and use information to support ideas
- Use technology to create original works
- Organize and evaluate relevant information
- Identify obstacles and challenges
- Apply skills and knowledge in multiple environments and from perspectives
- Make connections between classes.
Lincoln uses a system of re-directs for disciplinary action. If a student is misbehaving in class they are given a reminder of the classroom expectations. The student takes ownership for their behavior and acknowledges the change by saying “Yes I can fix my behavior”.
- 1st redirect: politely remind the student to get back on track.
- 2nd redirect: politely ask them to change their behavior and tell them what type of behavior is expected. Also, remind them that the next time they will have a discussion in the hall.
- 3rd redirect: talk with the student in the hall about their behavior. If there is another redirect the student may be removed from the room.
- 4th redirect: create a problem-solving contract, where the student and teacher talk about what they can do to adjust these behaviors.
- 5th redirect: Administrative support in office.
Safe Schools Program is aligned throughout the Poudre School District. There is an anonymous tip line where students, teachers, parents, or community members can report any issues that concern threats to yourself, friends, family, or community. You can access this resource by visiting https://safe2tell.org/, or calling Call 1-877-542-SAFE (7233). There are Campus Security Officers and School Resource Officers to provide students and staff with a safe leaning environment.
Conflict Resolution in the Poudre Valley School district requires that evidence of harassment/discrimination, bullying, physical harm, and behavioral management are addressed by a meeting with all parties involved, their parent(s) or guardian(s), and the principal of the school where it is taking place. The antagonizing party would receive some form of punishment and make sure the affected party was safe. In my classroom Tom relies on student working out problems. In some extreme cases students are required to speak in private to seek what is causing the behavior and possibly involve administration and parents.
All Students with special needs receive support from the school and be given proper accommodations for success. The Individual Education Program or (IEP) is an extremely important document for students with disabilities receiving special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. A team of specialized individuals including staff and parents manages each student who is in need of an IEP. Differentiation is used in the classroom to assist different learning styles as well as assistance from paraprofessionals.