South Houston Intermediate School

South Houston Intermediate School

Introduction

No school is a utopia. Each presents unique problems and challenges, and with that comes opportunities for change and successes. Many times it takes a giant collaborative effort to bring about change, and there are times where it seems that the challenges are insurmountable. I work in a public inner city high school South Houston Intermediate, in Texas. There are issues within the school including a high drop-out rate, incidences of bullying, little parent involvement, lack of technology, and old school materials. This high school is in a high poverty area, and the surrounding community is not very active or involved with the school. Additionally, the socio-economic divide is also another issue at the school. It has students that belong to the lower and middle class of the society. All of these factors combined with many newer teachers in the school and some new members of the administration lead to a school requiring assistance in many areas. There are, however, some positives in the school as well. The students in 7th and 8th grade have shown promise in reading whereas 7th graders have been performing well in writing. However, 8th graders have been witnessed to be struggling with mathematics at school. In this essay, I will explain many of the environmental and contextual factors and describe some potential solutions to address these factors (Juvonen & Wentzel, 1996).

Issues at South Houston Intermediate

The most significant issue facing the school is that of having teachers that would motivate the students at all levels. This means the teachers should look to instill confidence in the children and provide them with the belief that they can become better students and achieve better grades. This is reflective from the problem that many of the 8th graders have been struggling to comprehend mathematics. This could be due to either the inability of the teacher to clearly define mathematics concepts to students, the course could be of a higher level than is designed for students of 8th grade or simply due to the lack motivation or interest among students. The need of the hour is to devise a course that would draw the students' attention. This can be done introducing innovative teaching methods. There have been incidents in the country where teachers have often resorted to the use of music to make geometry interesting. Such steps can also be taken at South Houston Intermediate to increase interest in mathematics among 8th grades (Duschl et al, 2007).

Science for eight graders is also another issue that students are faced with. Since a number of students come from a lower or middle class background, the school should look to assess the basic scientific knowledge of the students. Those that lack knowledge should be given classes to improve their background. The problem could be due to parents not being educated enough to provide their wards with the general scientific knowledge. The science education programs should also be able to bring students of 8th grade on the ...