Alexandra Martorano

Pike High School Reflection

The visit to Pike High School was the most different from any
other visit Ive been to, more than likely for the reason that they are
more independent than other students weve observed. I say this
because rather than being able to interact, we were strictly observing.
I feel like within the elementary schools we are able to take action
throughout the course of the time we are there, however this gives us
an opportunity to sit back and view how the teachers handle situations
as well as how they go about their lessons.
At Pike High School there are around three thousands and four
hundred students enrolled. With this many students there also must be
a large number of teachers, especially because the average class size
is twenty-four students. There are two hundred certified staff members
as well as fifty instructional assistants. Throughout these staff
members, there are about twenty-seven exceptional learning teachers
that also have assistants in their classrooms. Not only are teachers and
assistants on staff, but also security teams.
Security is something that is not lacking. As soon as you pull up
to the school a security guard stop you in order to make sure you are
allowed on the premises, which all Butler students are allowed to.
When getting past the guards, visitors must go to the front desk and
give them their IDs. The IDs are scanned in order to run them through
a child abuse system in order to keep the students safety in mind.
There are two main security guards, but several others as well. The two
main security guards help look after students who are struggling with
behavioral issues, skipping class, and have involvement in other
problem situations. Pike also has a sub station police department in
order to keep safety of their students.
Due to the problems that occur throughout any high school, such
as drugs, gangs, etc., Pike High School offers an alternate program.
This program was developed with the intention to keep troubled
students out of classrooms where they could distract other students.
The point is to filter out students who dont want to be at school, this is
aimed towards the students that go to school with full intent on being
apart of gangs, drugs, and alcohol. In order to get out of this program
the students must pass three credits, have ninety-five percent
attendance rates, as well as no disciplinary problems throughout the
course of being in this program. Once they pass this course they may
advance into the normal school day.
During my visit, I was able to observe an eleventh grade
standard English class. In this class they were working on a paper that
was due on Wednesday for the final draft about a play script. The
teacher, Ms. Thinnes, began the lesson by showing the students a
PowerPoint with background information and topics that may help

them with their papers. When this was done, she kept up the main
slide for students to reference then walked around in order to ask
students if they had any problems that needed assistance as well as
tell students who were off task to continue working. This allowed
students to have freedom to work at their own pace and if they were
done, then Ms. Thinnes would tell them to revise it to see if theyre
satisfied. The relationship between Ms. Thinnes and her students is one
to aspire to have. She jokes around with them, yet they held respect
towards her as well as her classroom due to her structure she provides.
When she tells them they need to quiet down, they did so immediately.
I believe it helps that she is continuously walking around and
interacting with them rather than sitting at her desk, which I did not
witness her do once.
The English class was given laptops in order to use at the
teachers digression. While observing, I found pros and cons. The pros
trumped the cons through the ability to type papers, print them, look
up research information, etc. The laptops served as a distraction for
some of the students, this is due to the ability to access websites such
as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites.
Special Education in this school is prevalent in the percentage in
the upper teens. Students with special needs range from moderate to
severe and profound cases, which mean students are in wheelchairs
and possibly nonverbal. Each student that has a disability has a dot
placed next to his or her name in the computer system. When the
teacher presses on the dot they are able to see the learning disability
the student has, as well as what accommodations the student may
need in the classroom. This allows the teachers to be able to cater to
the students individual needs throughout the class.
Funding for Pike High School is very similar to those that North
Central and Ben Davis receive. They are given a certain percentage
from the state that adds up to about ten thousand dollars per student,
per year. This allows the school to provide the school with special
education materials, teachers, resources, and other things the school
may find necessary in order to give students the opportunity they
need. One of the major advancements made within the past decade is
the addition of the Freshman Center, which was a forty-two thousand
dollar project.
The Freshman Center is an area where the school has designated
a certain area specifically to the freshmen classes. The first two years
Pike tried to keep the Freshman Center completely isolated and
detached from the rest of the school. This concluded to be too
expensive to continue due to the need to obtain a separate staff from
the rest of the school. The students in the honors program were unable
to go to the advanced teachers, which resulted in Pike needing to hire
more teachers and then led to the merging the buildings so that
freshman who were in honors programs could walk over to the

advanced teachers classrooms. Freshmen are required to do job

shadows as well as go through an advisory period that lasts fifty
minutes where students evaluate studying tips, testing skills, credits,
and future plans.
Pike is known for a school with a large amount of diversity, more
than any other school in Indiana. Their rates are sixty-seven percent
African-American, twenty percent Hispanic, and thirteen percent white.
They represent their pride they take being a diverse school through the
representation of flags from all around the world hanging as
chandeliers in the entrance hallway. Not only do they have a large
amount of nationalities found throughout the student population, but
also a wide range of languages spoken as well.
Overall the visit to Pike High School was one that allowed us, as
future educators, to observe the teachers as well as how to handle
situations the best and build positive relationships with our future
students. The difference within this visit and the others allowed us to
view our profession in a different light, it allowed us to see the
contrasting levels of high school and elementary/middle school.