The first day of class at my school, I was shocked at the racial segregation of my classes; three of my classes contain primarily African American students, while my other two classes were made up mostly of white students. I have about four or five students who are fifteen, and the youngest age of my students is twelve. The ICR classes do contain at-risk students, and multiple students with IEPs. My students are also from various ends of the socioeconomic totem pole.
The abilities these students have is mixed in all of my classes; three of them are ICR, and two of them are AG. My first ICR class is not that big, while the other two seem to be larger. Both of my AG classes seem to make the room feel smaller. I was surprised when one student in one of the AG classes stated that her favorite books were written by Dan Brown. An eighth grader reading Dan Brown? This surprised me, but at the same time, worried me; the abilities of my students are literally on opposite ends of the spectrum. I am worried that I will not be able to teach effectively to each ability level, while also using appropriate differentiation.