Blah Middle School (BMS) is located in Salem, Oregon. According to the City of Salem website, as of 2009, Salem, Oregon had a population of approximately 156,690 and an unemployment rate of 12.0%. According to the US Census Bureau, Salem’s employment profile is weighted toward Health Care and Social Assistance, Accommodation and Food Services, Retail, Trade, Manufacturing, and Construction. These six categories make up about half of the employment opportunities for the residents of Salem. The employment opportunities are a mixture of blue-collar and white-collar jobs. This implies that there will be a broad spectrum of education levels among students’ parents. The impact this has for teaching and learning is that there will be some differences in how education is valued and potentially in how much support the students have at home to help them with their work.
If you drive around the city of Salem you will notice what I refer to as neighborhood segregation. There are some neighborhoods where the houses and yards are well cared for and some where they are not. Different ethnic and racial groups appear to self-segregate into neighborhoods. I find it interesting that the neighborhoods are, generally, fairly small in geographic extent, and will change over every few blocks. The implication of this for teaching and learning is that, due to the neighborhood size, the schools in Salem are relatively diverse but, depending where the school boundaries are drawn, some schools become weighted toward certain ethnic and socio-economic groups.
BMS is located in south Salem, to the south and west of the main roads in south Salem and it is among relatively new housing developments. It is near the edge of town, with almost no development to the south. Being at the edge of town, BMS primarily draws upon students from an urban environment but there are a number of students from homes that are more rural in setting but have ready access to the resources of a city nearby. I think that this type of diversity is somewhat unusual, having a school with rural and urban students, and teachers will need to be aware of how there may be different values and experiences between these two groups.
According to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates from the US Census Bureau, Salem, Oregon is 17.9% Latino or Hispanic, 1.4% Black or African-American, 3.0% Alaskan Native or American Indian, 2.6% Asian, 0.7% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 4.3% some other race, 3.3% two or more races, and 84.7% White. The implication of this for education is that teachers can expect to have a significant Latino or Hispanic population in their schools, as well as mixture of races. This will potentially result in a large number of students who speak Spanish, or another language, as their native language as well as parents that may or may not speak English.
Ryan, you mention that the neighborhoods are self segregated, how does this effect your teaching. I would think that it would play some sort of a role in the way you look and teach to your students. I was curious about if the students are segregated in the classroom and other parts of the school.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great point you made about the neighborhoods. I never noticed that. But another good point you made is about the location of the school. It is interesting that your school has both a rural population and an urban population. Can you see this being addressed in the classroom or in the administration.
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