Context
Richard Edwards Elementary is a Chicago Public School on the southwest side of Chicago. At the start of the upcoming school year in early September, I will be teaching for the first time at Edwards Elementary School. After a decade of teaching at other schools in the city, I will have a position at a higher performing school, one centered on a more rigorous curriculum. Edwards middle school classrooms incorporate the International Baccalaureate (I.B.) program. It is classified as a Magnet Cluster (International Baccalaureate Middle Years/Dual Language/Fine and Performing Arts) with one of the largest student populations in CPS with almost 1,500 students. The overwhelming majority of the students are Hispanic (96%), and between 1% and 2% each of White and Black. Nine out of ten of the students are classified as low income, slightly over half are limited English proficient and 15% are classified as Diverse Learners. I will plan to implement this unit with approximately ninety 6th grade students. My daily schedule will have three separate classrooms of approximately thirty students, ninety minutes each. In preparing, this unit, I take into account that my new school will focus on International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. I will be immersed within a strong academic environment, in which social and emotional characteristics are promoted in all our students. Many of our IB students will likely perform well academically when compared to other students.
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