Among Schoolchildren takes place in a town called Holyoke, Massachusetts. Holyoke is known as an industrial town. This town divides by social status within the town, on the hill is the Highlands neighborhoods, known for the wealthy families. Also in Holyoke this is a lower-income school called the Kelly School. However, Kelly Elementary School was built in an old industrial and residential part of town called the Flats. The community has called this area the Flats for many years. It’s the older, much run-down part of Holyoke. In 1980, the city population went from nearly 70,000 to 40,000, at this time, the buildings of the Flats were deteriorated. For years, fires were burning down the Flats dramatically. These fires changed the landscape utterly.
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Zajac is known as a teacher who will do whatever it takes to help her students. She thought about her students night and day as if they were her very own children. Mrs. Zajac had a very diversity classroom filled with twenty students. In the classroom, she had a majority of students from impoverished homes, along with students from the poorest area of the Flats, students that spoke multiple languages, and students who rather show under achievement then show achievement. A common situation for Kelly School was having students that spoke another language and not as much English. In Kelly Elementary School, there are a lot of English Language Learners. These students struggled throughout the book because they had to learn lessons in English as well as learn English at the same time. Each week, the English Language Learners were taken out of Mrs. Zajac’s classroom to go to a different classroom to learn English. When they were in a different classroom learning English, their peers were learning more, which is making the gap bigger between both groups of students. Reading about Mrs. Zajac classroom and students, you quickly saw how easily frustrated the students were getting by not understanding what was going on. For some of the students, Kelly School was the only place they learned English because at home they spoke their native language with their parents. If it wasn’t the language affecting how they learn, it was who they were. Some students were affected by how …show more content…
Zajac felt it was very important for her to get to know her students’ lives outside of the classroom, just as inside the classroom. She felt with the understanding of her students outside the classroom she could help relate to them in any situation. Inside the fifth grade classroom there were, rules, expectations, and routines to follow and obtain. She created an environment that welcomed the students and made them feel safe. Mrs. Zajac wanted to be an example for her students, what she expected from them, she also did. Mrs. Zajac often bought her job home. She would spend hours on correcting papers, as well as thinking about how she can help each student make progress in the most needed way. She usually had a daily routine that allowed them to write. This was time, she could work with a student if needed, as well as, gave her a chance to read about what the students had on their mind. The minority students often lived in the Flats, who were also her harder students she worked with. They often had no motivation doing the work they were told to do. If work was not done, she would write their name on the board which meant after school they had to stay and do their homework then. This was the time she would talk to them one on one asking what she could do to help, or ask them why it wasn’t done earlier. In some situations, she tried to work with parents. She often would ask that they come in to have a meeting with her if that didn’t work she would send notes home.
Zajac is known as a teacher who will do whatever it takes to help her students. She thought about her students night and day as if they were her very own children. Mrs. Zajac had a very diversity classroom filled with twenty students. In the classroom, she had a majority of students from impoverished homes, along with students from the poorest area of the Flats, students that spoke multiple languages, and students who rather show under achievement then show achievement. A common situation for Kelly School was having students that spoke another language and not as much English. In Kelly Elementary School, there are a lot of English Language Learners. These students struggled throughout the book because they had to learn lessons in English as well as learn English at the same time. Each week, the English Language Learners were taken out of Mrs. Zajac’s classroom to go to a different classroom to learn English. When they were in a different classroom learning English, their peers were learning more, which is making the gap bigger between both groups of students. Reading about Mrs. Zajac classroom and students, you quickly saw how easily frustrated the students were getting by not understanding what was going on. For some of the students, Kelly School was the only place they learned English because at home they spoke their native language with their parents. If it wasn’t the language affecting how they learn, it was who they were. Some students were affected by how …show more content…
Zajac felt it was very important for her to get to know her students’ lives outside of the classroom, just as inside the classroom. She felt with the understanding of her students outside the classroom she could help relate to them in any situation. Inside the fifth grade classroom there were, rules, expectations, and routines to follow and obtain. She created an environment that welcomed the students and made them feel safe. Mrs. Zajac wanted to be an example for her students, what she expected from them, she also did. Mrs. Zajac often bought her job home. She would spend hours on correcting papers, as well as thinking about how she can help each student make progress in the most needed way. She usually had a daily routine that allowed them to write. This was time, she could work with a student if needed, as well as, gave her a chance to read about what the students had on their mind. The minority students often lived in the Flats, who were also her harder students she worked with. They often had no motivation doing the work they were told to do. If work was not done, she would write their name on the board which meant after school they had to stay and do their homework then. This was the time she would talk to them one on one asking what she could do to help, or ask them why it wasn’t done earlier. In some situations, she tried to work with parents. She often would ask that they come in to have a meeting with her if that didn’t work she would send notes home.