DEMOGRAPHICS COLLECTION FORM

Name: Eric Oscar Olson

Please provide the requested context information pertaining to
your EDTE 255 field placement classroom for your observation
assignments.
1. What is the name of your school and district?
Chico Junior High school in Chico Unified School
District.

How many students are enrolled in your school?

The
following is a direct excerpt from Chico Junior High Schools
official website under demographics it was easy to find:
Chico Junior High School was constructed in 1953 and currently has an enrollment of
approximately 648 students in grades 7 and 8. There are 2 administrators and 29
teachers with a student to teacher ratio of 165:1. The district spends an average of
$3,490 per student. Chico Junior has an active PTSA, School Site Council, and parent
volunteer participation. We have a strong leadership that believes in doing things that
are good for kids and a general atmosphere of "we can" is prevalent.
2. How many schools are contained in your district?
Copied from the CUSD website: there are a total of 22
schools in Chico, of 10 different classifications
and/or levels.
10
1
1
3
2
1
1
1
1
1

TK-6 Elementary Schools

K-8 Hands-on Thematic Learning Community
K-6 Magnet School for the Two Way Spanish Immersion Program
Junior High Schools
Comprehensive High Schools
Charter High School
Continuation High School
Community Day School
K-8 Independent Study School
Special Services School

3. What grade level are you working with?

Seventh Grade, but just due to admission to public
school birthday law, which I am not familiar with, I
know the youngest ones are 12 and that there is a 14
year old or two as well, but my friend graduated Chico
High at 19 and he never was held back, just started
late.

4. How many students are in the class you are documenting?

There are 38 seats, the class is technically full but
the teacher said that without even calculating for ditching
class, that way too many parents take their kids out of
school for a normally short even spanning a few hours, like
a wedding or funeral, and are just gone for weeks, and their
parents have the final say but it really messes up anyones
progress unless they are also a genius.
5. How many students in the class are:
English Language Learners None
Special Education Students rather than mental special
needs, nothing is disabled or dysfunctional about their
brain, but they may have been diagnosed with minor
ailments that dont impair or inhibit overall brain
function, motor ability or general intellect, but
Dyslexia and A.D.D. and A.D.H.D. are common.
Behavioral problems, I did witness, but only one that
was even close to anything that could be called tense.
If Mr. Duncan has to ask someone more than once to
quiet down, that is a rare occurrence, as kids know not
to make him ask twice. It isnt out of fear either, he
was just very consistent in his reprimanding/punishing
and worst case scenario you just kick them out to take
a walk to see the principal which no kid usually wants
to do so that is the last warning and only witnessed
one incident where that threat did not instantly
silence a child. Back in my day, principal trip=called
parents and my dad is the best dad and man I have the
fortune to know but when I got in trouble I was always
terrified. I remember thinking at the time that that
was the only bad thing about your parents still being
married. My friends parents had unfortunately gone
through a nasty divorce and are not on good terms, but
if he got in trouble, he would just tell the more
lenient parent who, out of hatred, spite or any
negativity that comes from messy breakups of any kind,
the parent the child told wouldnt tell the stricter
one. The most successful marriages I have seen, in
EVERY SINGLE ONE, if you were to label them as a pair,
the term partner is the best one. Any environment with
partners is either lucrative, or creates a deep onlyknown-to-that-profession-bond. For example, partners
in a law or medical firm who graduated medical school
together or passed the bar together and have a long
friendship and trust riddled history. The other

example is police partners. I think that is the one

thing Hollywood gets right in police related movies.
They are often best friends, at least at work, but
almost always spend time off duty together and one
cops family is also the other cops family and either
officer would die to save the other. My parents will
celebrate their 31st year of marriage in July and I
cant rack my brain for a better term that is actually
common than partner. If your spouse or girl/boyfriend
is your partner and you, theirs, then youve much
better chances from what I have seen in every still
solid marriage I have seen, all of which are all the
peoples 1st marriages, all over or just a year or two
under 30 years. Some of this may seem irrelevant but
you know my level of creativity, so I can tie things
together others might not see as connected. The kids
who look out for one another, study together and are
similar to being partners but not in the romantic or
sexual (I seriously hope that 12-14 year olds but
rather support and academic success, but support. The
students that provided that to one another seemed
happier, and got better grades, and participated more
in class than those that either werent as active
working with others or just didnt get along. This
second group did worse. I saw the two as related
because my personal ranking of support on the virtue
list is in the top 5)
6. Describe any specialized features of your classroom
Many high school classrooms look nearly identical with
inspiration hang in there cat posters with a kitten
doing a pull-up. I dont think he had one. It didnt
bother me as every classroom prior to college seemed to
have at least one. He had decorated his classroom with
student made models of castles and other old or
historical buildings to show them off and increase
their self-esteem and to make them proud of themselves.
He also had poster that some looked special ordered
from a history or education website or found randomly
along the way. The other decorations were fold out
pages from publications that ran specials or multi-part
pieces. One more also came from fold outs in
magazines, most were diagrams of different things with
plenty of written info labelling, explaining or
defining whatever it labels or it maybe even gave
simple info. Either way, it looks like a classroom,

without looking like EVERY SINGLE one out there. Lots

of teachers do this, but he (Mr. Duncan) is pretty
savvy with power point and was able to use it to
actually make a functioning jeopardy game to review for
tests and what not. They kids come up with the
questions and it is the same select few that volunteer
answers but the teacher will also just call on people
with unraised hands. The classroom has very little
blank wall space and there is so much more, like
sections from early U.S. documents like the Declaration
of Independence and the U.S. Federal and California
State constitutions.
7. What types of services are available on campus for support
of students with special needs?
There are counselors that help with both academic
questions and issues as well as personal problems. I
have to mention Mr. Salas first, he was my counselor. I
had his wife as my first Spanish teacher as a high
school freshman. They are in the same field of
education, but different roles they are both meant for.
I had brain surgery my year there and it was
disappointing how many teachers or other staff lacked a
decent amount of human empathy. Not Mr. Salas. Hes a
giant dude with true concern in a giant heart to match
his giant frame. To my knowledge, they dont have
anything extra special that other schools dont have,
but all the stuff like counseling, library books, and
two shelves of free to keep books outside. They have
special education specialists and any person I saw that
was blind or mentally impaired had one of those (I
dont know the official title) when I was in school we
just called them their helper or if it was my blind
friend David, he called her his handler or keeper,
keeping it lighthearted. They have all the regular
resources available for students that need extra time,
help, or attention. In the cases I saw, if a student
needed a service not readily available in an immediate
fashion, they will usually get you that help. This is
based both on my observations and my own experience
with having hydrocephalus and brain surgery while
attending there. The assistant principal at the time
Mrs. (Miss and/or Ms.)? Wolfe was great. Because my
issues were medical and out of my control, I was exempt
from two mornings of standardized testing and went

golfing with my dad instead and they have different

names at different schools, but most if not all public
schools have a group that membership comes
automatically with a certain GPA that is above average.
Even though my illness hurt my grades, I was allowed to
go on their annual trip to marine world. That was her
way of attempting to show she cared and to just cheer
me up. I wont forget it unless I live long enough to
become demented and forget.
8. What are the textbooks or instructional programs primarily
used for: (please provide the name and publisher for each)
a. Language Arts
_________________________________________
b. Mathematics
_________________________________________
c. Science
_________________________________________
d. Social Studies
I am doing single subject so this is the only subject
as History is under its definition. The textbooks
actually seemed to be of quality content, but they were
damaged and old. They looked like they are about 40
years old but are under 10 in most cases.
9. How much time each day (or week) to specific instruction in
the following:
a. Language Arts
_________________________________________
b. Mathematics
_________________________________________
c. Science
_________________________________________
d. Social Science
Again, this is the sole subject of all classes Mr.
Duncan teaches.
e. Fine Arts _________________________________________
f. Physical Education __________________________________
10.
How many computers are available to support
instruction?
They may or may not have a lab, but theyre in the
library and in my classroom there are five or six alone
for students to use.
11.
What other types of technology are available to support
instruction? (LCD projector, smart boards, etc.)

Same as a basic public school or simple college classroom.

A row of computers, a projector, a D.V.D. player and the
teachers computer.
The aforementioned classroom computers, the teachers
computer and D.V.D. player hooked up to a projector.
There might be a dusty overhead projector that was
probably last used when I was a student there.