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District Environment
The Dearborn Public School District is a large
school district that is composed of about 25 elementary schools (including
Salina), 5 middle schools, and 3 high schools. The district spans out over
quite a large area which allows it to be very culturally diverse. There is a
large Arab-American population that is present in the district and is
composed of immigrants from several countries such as; Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq,
Palestine, Egypt, and Syria.
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Student Environment
Salina Intermediate and Elementary School are located in the south end of
the city of Dearborn. The Elementary building houses students for grades Pre
K to 3rd grade. The Intermediate School houses students for grades 4th and
5th, but starting in the 2004-2005 school year, the school will be a 4th
thru 8th grade facility.
The area that houses the schools is composed of almost 100% Middle
Eastern immigrants. The majority of the student population is of Yemeni and
Iraqi background. The majority of the population have only been in this country
for a short period of time and two out of three parents are illiterate in
Arabic and/or English. Based on the amount of students that receive free
breakfast and lunch it has been determined that the community is classified
to be about 90% in poverty. There is no public transportation to and from
the south end of Dearborn since it is a geographically isolated area, which
impedes the ability to seek and sustain employment.
Many children in the school have either "never been schooled" or have had
inadequate schooling. The majority of students qualify for bilingual
services based on low LAS scores and/or falling below the 40th percentile on
the Tera Nova standardized test. Almost 80% of students are functioning
below grade level. Six of the twenty-six students in my cooperating class
require and receive special education services, social work services, speech
and/or language services.
Most of the students do not have any access to home computers. Those
students who do use the computers have very limited skills. They are not
independent users and still require a great deal of assistance. Most, if not
all, of the technology instruction comes from the school setting making it
taxing from time to time.
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Technology Environment
Despite the environment and hardships in education, Salina is a very
technologically advanced school. The theme at Salina is that they are a "Science and
Technology Theme School". The goal of the school is to integrate science and
technology throughout the curriculum. It has been found that by using
technology and a variety of educational software with the bilingual students
present at the school, it has profoundly affected students' motivation,
progress, comprehension and success! According to the
CEO Forum's Interactive School Chart (STaR Chart),
a tool that is used to assess curricular technology integration, Salina
School is found to be a High Tech level school. There are several areas that
are used to assess the environment: 1. Hardware: High Tech
2. Connectivity: Mid Tech
3. Content: High Tech
4. Professional Development: High Tech
5. Integration and Use: Mid Tech There are currently two
computer labs in the school. Each lab has 20 - 25 computer stations complete
with a variety of software including: Kidspiration, Inspiration, Microsoft
Office, Hyperstudio, MediaBlender, ImageBlender, i-Movie, i-Photo, and
Appleworks. Almost all of the computers in the school have broadband
internet access. There is a LCD computer projector in each of the computer
labs, and each lab is equipped with a teacher station that has Network
Assistant software which allows teachers to manage and supervise students
working on the computers from one station. There are three additional LCD
computer projectors, three digital video cameras with editing software, a
laser color printer, and scanner all available for school use. Each
classroom is also equipped with a 36" TV monitor which can also be used to
display computer images. Each television will be networked to accommodate
the Media Delivery System. This system includes four VCR's, three DVD's, a
life camera, a PowerPoint slideshow of school news, and offers a lot of
video and audio capabilities for the teachers. Due to a technology bond
that was passed in the city of Dearborn in 2003. It is anticipated to
receive another lab that will be used for Computer Aided Design (CAD) work
and each classroom is expected to receive four computers for in-class work.
Currently in my cooperating classroom we seem to have a "mini-lab" available
to students. There are three Macintosh desktop computers, two PC desktop
computers, one laser and one inkjet printer, a scanner, a digital camera,
and camcorder available for in-class work. Software that students are able
to access in the classroom include: Appleworks, Microsoft Office,
Kidspiration, Kidpix, Hyperstudio, MediaBlender, and ImageBlender.
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Questions or Comments?
Contact me at:
CptNemo16@hotmail.com
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Introduction 
