Acacia Chacon

EDUC 350
Setting and Context
The School Community
The first unit in EDU 350 has focused on understanding what contributes to a schools sense of
community. More specifically, which factors develop a schools climate and culture? In
interpreting Boltz Middle School, reviewing the Boltz mission statement helped in understanding
what values their culture stems from.
The Boltz mission statement stresses the importance of high behavioral and academic standards
in which both students and staff play a role in facilitating the achievement of the high standards.
This emphasis on a mutual commitment amongst students and staff in setting and achieving high
expectations is the cornerstone of Botlzs cultural values. Boltz believes in setting high
standards with the expectation that students work collaboratively with their teachers to achieve.
An example of this belief is the way in which Ms. Phalen designs her summative assessments at
the end of each unit. She has students design presentations to rely their understanding. The
students work collaboratively to design these projects with heavy input from Ms. Phalen.
Together the students learn from one anothers presentation of understanding with the guidance
of Ms. Phalen throughout the process.
Boltz Middle Schools culture is figurative in that they set high standards and works together to
achieve those standards. The climate of Boltz is the actions taken to achieve cultural values. I
have observed a cohesive behavioral management system shared by various teachers in the
school. They all seem to use the three redirect system, SLANT and the 6 Ps in their classrooms.
Additionally, the school recently had an assembly which used an analogy of big elephants and

little elephants to teach maturity and accountability as well as teamwork which numerous
teachers have cited in their classrooms. These cohesive management strategies are examples of
how the staff and students work collaboratively to both set and achieve high behavioral
standards.
The elephant metaphor I mentioned before also aids itself as an example for how Boltz Middle
School encourages positive behavior. A couple of weeks ago the school hosted a speaker who
made use of a metaphor to teach collaborative behavior management. The speaker told the story
of how little elephants werent acting correctly so the big elephants intervened and acted as a
model of how to act in their environment. This metaphor translated to the students as an
example of how when they witness immature or unsafe behavior they should intervene by acting
with the character that Boltz expects of them. In this way the students are working together to
hold one another accountable for each others behavior in a positive manner. Now when the staff
wants to remind the students of the behavioral expectations that they are working towards they
can refer to the elephant metaphor to remind the students of the expectations and their role in
collaboratively reaching those standards.
Another aspect of Boltz Middle Schools climate and culture are the people who make up the
school. Boltz has approximately 37 teachers and 641 students with a ratio of 17:1. The
demographics of the students are roughly: 77% white, 17% Hispanic and 6% other. Additionally,
27% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The diversity of the school does not end at
the statistical make-up of its students; Boltz also has a diverse listing of extracurricular activities
to cater to its diverse demographic.

Boltz is very into their sports and the majority of students engage in at least one school sport.
Over the announcements you hear words of encouragement for the girls basketball team and the
class claps together to encourage their peers in one anothers sports. There has also been a lot of
hype surrounding the spring play, Aladdin. Flyers are seen throughout the building and every
day that I have been at Boltz I have heard mention of the upcoming play.
Attending the various activities at Boltz Middle School is one way in which parents are
incorporated into the schools collaborative culture. Parents are encouraged to volunteer for the
schools activities and join in PTO meetings to offer their input on how they would like to see
their school ran. The PTO works to promote a sense of community, open communication,
educational excellence, and aid in school activities. This collaboration amongst parents and the
school is yet another factor which makes up Boltz Middle Schools culture and climate.
Adding together all of the factors which facilitate Boltz Middle Schools climate is what defines
their culture. After spending a brief time at Boltz I would claim they are taking action steps
towards fostering a cultural value of collaborative progress towards high academic and
behavioral standards which relies on inclusiveness, mutual respect and responsibility.