Contextual Factors: School

Description of School
My practicum site is at West Salem High School. The student population is 1,704, with each of the four grades having between 392 and 441. Of the 1,704 students roughly 400 are of a minority race, non-white. This school demographics are not very diverse for the other schools in the Salem-Keiser School district. At West Salem there are only about 300 Hispanic students enrolled. Although West Salem is one of the most wealthy schools in the district, they do however have about a quarter of their students who qualify for either free or reduced lunches. There are 81 teachers at west with a student to teacher ratio of 21.
West Salem High School is a very new school. When talking a walk around the campus, I notice many things. Among the many things I notice, the first thing I see is the turf football field. This field is amazing, it is used for many different sports and many different organizations. Along the observations about the sporting facilities is that there is very little room for sports. The baseball and softball fields are used for football and soccer during their seasons.
The feel of the community in the school is very friendly. I thought that most teachers are out in the halls greeting and saying hi to their students as they walk in. The faculty seems pretty close so they have a good time. Something that I noticed about the feel around the school is that they are very supportive and focused with their athletics and extra-curricular activities. Teachers are very involved with how their students are doing in their activities. Not only is it sports but I see more students wearing their Marching band shirts around school than their football Jerseys. I believe that the feel is different than most schools I have been in lately. I think that it is obvious that it is a much more wealthy area than the school I am working in for my student teaching.
The way all this information influences my teaching will be very important. I feel that with how actively involved students, teachers, and parents are in the school activities means I can have more support from parents. Because parents support their children, I can ask more of the students in and outside of class. If students are not being as successful as they can I feel like I have the opportunity to get the parents involved.
Another thing that comes to mind is the resources students have. Much more of these students have the resources at their homes to be successful. Many of my students have computers and Internet at home. This gives me much more options when thinking about homework and assignments.
The biggest Issue that I notice is that communication comes much easier with students. The couple weeks that I was at West Salem, I did not hear Spanish being spoke once. This was a much different atmosphere than I am previously accustomed to. As a teacher I will feel much more comfortable with dealing with issues of students if I know that I will be able to communicate with the students and parents like I would like.