I teach 7
th
and 8
th
grade Language Arts in an inter–district arts magnet school. This means that many of my students come from New Haven, but some do not. They may commute to school from Milford, Orange, Hamden, Ansonia or surrounding suburban towns. Davis Street is a Tier One school in New Haven's system, meaning there is high academic achievement among students and the school gets good reviews overall from parents, students and/or teachers. We are a pre–K to 8
th
grade school with nearly 500 students.
My students are diverse, not only ethnically, but socioeconomically as well. This can result in student populations who have had very different life experiences. It will be necessary to take this into account when teaching this unit and to create differentiated approaches to the material. In the end, the assignments will have to be fairly open–ended and interpretative in order to be relevant to all students.
I also have students with a wide range of academic ability. Although the school scores well on the Connecticut State Mastery test as a rule, there is also a sizable population of Special Education students as well as students of all reading and writing abilities. For this reason, instruction has to be varied and differentiated for each student's individual needs.
