Community of Keizer Oregon around Whiteaker Middle School
Keizer was founded in 1843 by people who arrived on wagons. The community was named after Thomas Dove Keizur but somewhere on the land claim record the name was misspelled and that’s how it has become Keizer. In 1882 Keizer was named its own city. In 1983 the population of Keizer was 19,650 and the last recoded population in 2008 was 36,150. Whiteaker is one of two middle schools in Keizer, but it was the only middle school in Keizer till 2001. The ethnic group of Keizer is 85.5% white, 12.3% Hispanic and 2.2% other. The age distribution in Keizer is 27.4% under the age of 18, 33.7% is median age, and 12.4% is older than 65.
The neighborhood surrounding the school was mostly built in the 70’s and 80’s. It is a mostly white community. Claggett Creek middle school community is more diverse then Whiteaker middle school community. When going on a walk in the community there are people walking dogs, going on runs/walks and neighbors outside talking to each other. It has a feeling of a safe community where kids still play outside. I see kids riding bikes and skateboarding down the sidewalks. Since the community is mostly white this will reflect the student population at Whiteaker to be mostly white. That means I need to pay close attention and make sure that the people of different ethnic groups feels like they fit in and is part of the community. I would say the community around Whiteaker middle school is middle class. Since they are coming from a middle class I might assume the basic needs of the students are getting met. However, I will still keep my eyes open and not disregard anything because of what I think is.
Source
Keizer, Oregon. http://www.keizer.org/?action=page&name=Demographics
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I think important demographics are ethnicity and socio-economic info. Often however, statistics can lead to stereotypical judgments that may prevent a teacher from giving her all to the cause of education, from cultivating an open mind toward the individual student while simultaneously trying to develop a sense of community. I struggle with the concept of allowing simple demographics to "change" a teacher's perspective on her role as a teacher. I think demographics can be a useful, initial beginning point toward understanding the social situation that exists, but if one of a teacher's core principles is to believe that any student can achieve success, then demographics have little meaning....in my eyes anyway.
ReplyDeleteSorry for being negative on your blog, Danielle! :-) These are just general comments, which sort of ended up being an unedited "free write". You did a GOOD JOB! Nice post!
I can appreciate Chris' comments about demographics. Certainly we don't want to box our students in based on some labels we might put upon them. However, I also think it is important to be open to all sorts of information about our context for teaching, and use it wisely.
ReplyDeleteA few questions and thoughts about your community observations and data...You say 33.7% are at the median age, but don't mention what that age is. That would be helpful. Given your comments about the difference between Clagget Creek and Whiteaker it will be interesting to see the data for the school and compare it to the community overall. What are your reflections about the age data? How might it influence your thinking about your teaching? It would be good to get some additional data about income levels in the community to get a sense of the relative level of wealth or lack thereof. I appreciate your thoughts about making sure students of different ethnicities and races feel like they fit in. With such a white community, that is certainly a legitimate concern. Given your population of dominantly white middle class students, what might their needs be? Maybe thinking about new perspectives and openness to different cultures, etc. Maybe you have some other ideas.
I think that demographics are something to be aware of. However, I also worry about stereotyping based on statistics. I think that it is so easy to make assumptions that can really color our perceptions of our students and what we expect of them.
ReplyDeleteHow do you feel about exposing these students to different cultures. I think it would be especially important to make them aware of different ideas, beliefs, and ways of thinking. It is important that we learn to be respectful of everyone, and it might be particularly important if our students would not be exposed to this in their everyday lives.