Setting and Context at Westlake Middle School
Culture and Community
Westlake Middle Schools sits within a middle-class neighborhood, surrounded by a large open field with a track, a couple of tennis courts, and a playground. Big herds of students walk or bike to and from home each day. It's very common for students to have come from Mountain View Elementary and to go to Legacy High School. In this way, there is a noticeable Broomfield community within the school.
The teachers at Westlake hold students to high expectations, and the administration hold the teachers to the same. There is a positivity through out the hallways, with teachers greeting and being helpful to students. The teachers and staff respect the administration, and the administration truly cares about working with them. These healthy relationships definitely reflect the culture of the school. With that, the students come first. I attended several meetings before the year started, and a large amount of time was spent on discussing how to better reach students and make each and every one of them feel like they belong and are important.
Demographics
Classroom Culture and Students
I spent my placement at Westlake Middle School in Marleen Seckendorf's classroom. She is the only art instructor at Westlake, and has made her image as so. Her position is very respected by the staff because of her relentless attitude to have each and every student succeed. Marleen aligns her classroom to the growth-mindset. She makes sure students know that everybody is an artist. Where they are at as artists is exactly where they should be. Growing takes time and it can also be fun. The expectation is that students come to art class ready to work hard and be respectful to one another. There were 6 tables, and each table was a little community in itself.
The students were all incredibly different and all had different ways of expressing themselves and solving problems. I got to know the 7th grade class the most. This class in particular had a great community feel. They each enjoyed each other's company and appreciated what each had to say.
School-wide Policies for Management, Safe Schools, Conflict Resolution and Students with Special Needs
Programs:
1. Deaf and hard of hearing. There are several deaf and hard of hearing instructors that have relationships with their students. Core and special teachers really get to know these instructors because they are so often involved.
2. Gifted and Talented
3. Intramural and Clubs
4. Positive Behavior Support. This program is centered around collecting data based off of positive behavior and brainstorming ways of encouraging the trends they see.
PRIDE... Positive choices
Respect/Responsibility
Integrity
Determination
Excellence
5. Student Support Services. The people that make up this program meet often in order to make sure each student has an equal opportunity to learn and succeed. They include:
-learning specialists
-affective needs teacher
-speech and language pathologist
-SSN teacher
-school social worker
-school counselors
-school psychologist
Westlake Middle Schools sits within a middle-class neighborhood, surrounded by a large open field with a track, a couple of tennis courts, and a playground. Big herds of students walk or bike to and from home each day. It's very common for students to have come from Mountain View Elementary and to go to Legacy High School. In this way, there is a noticeable Broomfield community within the school.
The teachers at Westlake hold students to high expectations, and the administration hold the teachers to the same. There is a positivity through out the hallways, with teachers greeting and being helpful to students. The teachers and staff respect the administration, and the administration truly cares about working with them. These healthy relationships definitely reflect the culture of the school. With that, the students come first. I attended several meetings before the year started, and a large amount of time was spent on discussing how to better reach students and make each and every one of them feel like they belong and are important.
Demographics
- 1,101 students in grades 6-8
- The student-teacher ratio is 19:1
- Minority enrollment is 30% of the student body (majority Hispanic)
- The student population of 1101 students has grown by 11% over five years.
- The teacher population of 58 teachers has grown by 13% over five years.
Classroom Culture and Students
I spent my placement at Westlake Middle School in Marleen Seckendorf's classroom. She is the only art instructor at Westlake, and has made her image as so. Her position is very respected by the staff because of her relentless attitude to have each and every student succeed. Marleen aligns her classroom to the growth-mindset. She makes sure students know that everybody is an artist. Where they are at as artists is exactly where they should be. Growing takes time and it can also be fun. The expectation is that students come to art class ready to work hard and be respectful to one another. There were 6 tables, and each table was a little community in itself.
The students were all incredibly different and all had different ways of expressing themselves and solving problems. I got to know the 7th grade class the most. This class in particular had a great community feel. They each enjoyed each other's company and appreciated what each had to say.
School-wide Policies for Management, Safe Schools, Conflict Resolution and Students with Special Needs
Programs:
1. Deaf and hard of hearing. There are several deaf and hard of hearing instructors that have relationships with their students. Core and special teachers really get to know these instructors because they are so often involved.
2. Gifted and Talented
3. Intramural and Clubs
4. Positive Behavior Support. This program is centered around collecting data based off of positive behavior and brainstorming ways of encouraging the trends they see.
PRIDE... Positive choices
Respect/Responsibility
Integrity
Determination
Excellence
5. Student Support Services. The people that make up this program meet often in order to make sure each student has an equal opportunity to learn and succeed. They include:
-learning specialists
-affective needs teacher
-speech and language pathologist
-SSN teacher
-school social worker
-school counselors
-school psychologist