Zora Neale Hurston Elementary is an “A” school located directly behind W.R. Thomas Middle School (a feeder school to Braddock and most local gangs). It is located in a suburban area off a busy street (Coral Way). Most students in the school come from low-income immigrant families, 70-75% of all students are on free or reduced lunch. The residential area feeding the school is a large, predominantly blue collar, Hispanic trailer park. As a result most parents of students at Zora Neale do not speak English and are not educated beyond middle or high school. This fact has posed a problem recently as FCAT scores have come back and are not all positive, the handicap is that many well-meaning parents cannot help the situation as they cannot read with their children in English.
At Zora Neale I observe with Mrs. Mabel Granda, a ten-year teaching veteran. She has spent four years at and inner city school and the last six years here at Zora Neale. I met Mrs. Granda when she was my ESOL 4902 instructor at Nova and later learned from a mutual friend and MDPS employee and Mrs. Granda was an excellent teacher and that I would greatly benefit form observation time with her, which I have.
One great tool she uses is color. She has assigned a specific color to each subject and its accompanying materials. The color is followed through on their supplies relevant to each subject (folder, notebook) the storage for those materials (hanging folders located in the center of their U shaped “table”) and even the color ink she uses to write the homework assignments and announcements for each subject on the board. This color coordination and the use of color-coded hanging files at their work stations keeps everything organized and prevents a lot of potentially disruptive behavior.
How do you establish and clarify rules for the students?
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