Assignment+2

Community Analysis and Report

__**Community Data **__

My elementary school is located in the Newton area, which is one of the six communities that comprise the city of Surrey, B.C.  

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Newton is situated right in the heart of Surrey, surrounded by South Surrey, Cloverdale, Fleetwood, and Whalley. Newton, being in the middle of the city, really cannot be accurately described as one location. There are several areas of Newton, all with different characteristics. The area of Newton where my school is located is the area with the most issues. Because of these characteristics, my school is deemed to be an inner city school. Unfortunately, most statistics about Surrey group all of Newton together as one area.

According to 2005 census data, 17.2% of households in Newton are low income, which is higher than the Surrey average of 15.6% ([]). Newton also had the second lowest average family income, compared to the other communities in Surrey ([]). 25.2% of people in Newton age 15 and over have not completed high school or the equivalent, which is higher than the average for Surrey and also higher than the average of all other Lower Mainland cities.

Newton also has a very diverse population in terms of culture and languages spoken at home. The 2006 census listed 94 languages by name; of these languages, 73 were spoken in Surrey. Newton’s top non-official languages spoken at home, in order, include ([]): - Panjabi - Hindi - Urdu - Tagalog - Vietnamese - Mandarin - Cantonese - Taiwanese, Shanghaiese, Chaochow, and Fukien <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Spanish <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">- Persian <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Additionally, 1.7% of Newton’s population identifies themselves as Aboriginal ([]). Interestingly, this compares to 10% of my school’s population that identifies themselves as Aboriginal, which shows how varied different areas within one community can be.

__**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">School Data **__

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">My school has a total student enrollment of 394. This number has been fairly stable over the past several years. Unlike many schools in Surrey, our enrollment is not growing. We are one of the few schools in Surrey that does not have portables to increase the number of students we can accommodate. We are, however, full at most grade levels and defer new enrollments to neighbouring schools due to this capacity limit.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The neighbourhood surrounding the school is typical of an inner city school. A very high percentage of the residences in our catchment are rentals. We are very close to government subsidized housing, and as such our average family income is very low. Many of our families are from generational poverty – the parents and the grandparents of our students lived in poverty and/or collected income assistance. Prostitution is a reality in our neighbourhood. Often, it takes a great deal of effort to keep the prostitutes and drug deals away from the sidewalks immediately in front of the school.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The families of our school are not very involved. There is a core group of about 5-7 families that volunteer for everything, but additional help is very hard to find. Alternatively, the school is a hub for community programs. We host district the Inner City Early Literacy Project, the School Meal Program, and the Kindergarten Phonemic Awareness Project. As well, we have after school Aboriginal clubs, community leisure programs, open gym time for teens, parenting classes, art classes, sports clubs, homework clubs, and coffee houses. The staff of the school is dedicated to making the school a safe, fun place to be both in and out of school hours to keep our students and families safe and engaged in healthy activities.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">There are currently 17 divisions at the school, 9 of which are primary and 8 which are intermediate. The school also has an Aboriginal Support Worker, a Counsellor, a Child Care Worker, two Integration Support Workers, plus other non-enrolling teachers. We also have a wonderful team of Special Education Assistants, without which our school would not function.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The library is the hub of the school, both literally and metaphorically. It is situated right in the middle of the 4 separate wings of the building, making it the central meeting place for before and after school functions, meetings, and events. While a Teacher-Librarian is only in 3 ½ days a week, the library is a flutter of activity all five days.

__**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Potential Partners and Community Resources **__

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I am a firm believer in making any curriculum area have practical applications and real life experiences for students. My experience has shown that when students see a practical, real world use for a skill or knowledge, they are more likely to remember it and become engaged with the learning of said knowledge. Chapter three of Bishop (2007, p. 22) mentions that other libraries will be one of the best resources for Teacher-Librarians and their students. I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. I also feel that other city operated resources, such as public museum and archive, are just as valuable.

//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Surrey Public Library // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]

//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Surrey Leisure Program // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">

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//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Read Now BC – Early Numeracy Project // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]

//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Surrey City Hall // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">

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//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Surrey Museum // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]

//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Historical Stewart Farm // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]

//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Surrey Archives // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]

__**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Grade Level and Curriculum Information **__

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">For this assignment, I am focusing on grade 7 Social Studies. In my school, we have two grade 7 classes with a combined enrollment of 50 students. One of the teachers has been at the school for 15 years. The other class has a job share arrangement with two teachers, both of whom are in their first five years of teaching. While the teacher that has more experience seems to be more comfortable with the curriculum, the newer teachers are the ones who reach out and ask the library for resources.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Generally, the teachers just want to check the material out of the library and use it in their classrooms. While I make myself totally available to pull books and other resources for teachers, I try to use those brief conversations to encourage further collaboration. I have offered to arrange field trips to curriculum related venues, offered to come into classrooms to team teach, and have hosted classes in the library for research lessons and sessions. I try to encourage the teachers to use technology with their students. In Surrey, we are very fortunate for our district to pay for a large number of databases, which we need to utilize if we wish to keep the subscriptions in future years.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Chapter four of Bishop (2007) reflects on the benefits and fallbacks of both fixed and flexible scheduling in the library. My library operates on a combined fixed/flexible schedule, which I view to be the best of both worlds. I provide prep coverage for each grade K-4 class for one 40 minute period a week. That accounts for approximately half of my allotment. The rest of my schedule is flexible. I have schedule open book exchanges, student work periods, collaborative time, etc. in this flexible time to help encourage use of the library during these periods. In the course of a week, I see every division in the school at least once. Some divisions, I see up to three times, depending on what I have collaboratively planned with the classroom teacher. I am very fortunate to have so much access to my students.

__**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Reference **__ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Bishop, K. (2007). //The collection program in schools: Concepts, practices, and information sources// (4th ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.