Roger C. Sullivan High School

Roger C. Sullivan High School is located in the Rogers Park neighborhood in the northeastern corner of the city of Chicago.  It first opened its doors to students in 1926 and has been a staple in the Chicago Public School System for nearly one hundred years.  The student body is composed of approximately 800 students and serves as a neighborhood high school which welcomes students that live within close proximity of the institution.

http://www.sullivanhs.org/

Mission

Sullivan is committed to its students and takes pride in their academic excellence that has been a part of the school's storied tradition.  The mission lists these tenets:

• We believe that all students can learn.
• We believe it is the responsibility of the entire school community to help students learn.
• We believe that learning is a response to curiosity and is best fostered in active learning situations.
• We believe that the educational needs of a heterogeneous student body is multi-faceted and requires different instructional methods depending upon the course of study, faculty strengths, and student needs and talents.
• We believe that students must share in the responsibility for their own learning.
• We believe that each student's culture and heritage enriches the entire school-community and should be respected.
• We believe that teachers and administrators should continue to promote their own curiosity and intellectual development by engaging in professional learning activities and trainings.
    

Athletics and Clubs

Sullivan High School offers a number of extra-curricular activities including many clubs and quite a few athletic programs.

http://www.sullivanhs.org/clubs.jsp

http://www.sullivanhs.org/athletics/index.jsp

Demographic and Test Scores

For full use of this interactive report card, go to:
http://iirc.niu.edu/School.aspx?schoolID=150162990250042

Technology

In the classrooms that I've observed in, the technology consists of a few televisions here and there equipped with DVD players.

I hope to have use of a bit more sophisticated technology in my classroom such as digital projectors, and the like.  I hope to employ the use of an iPad in my lessons to enhance and make the material that I'm presenting more visual.

History Department

I observed in a number of classrooms within the History (Social Studies) Department and I must say that I was really impressed with most of the faculty.  They all seemed to be invested in their jobs and it was quite apparent that they wanted to be there.  They were all very hospitable and were happy to have me in their classroom.  I was able to sit in on World History courses, U.S. History courses, and Geography courses.  There is a large Nepalese population at Sullivan which meant that ELL were present in most classes.  I was also privy to a number of inclusion classes that had students with special needs that ranged from LDs to gifted students.  I only observed one classroom in which there was an aide which tells me that budget restrictions at Sullivan leave the faculty with little to no support at times.

Mrs. G.

Mrs. G. was my cooperating teacher at Sullivan High and she was always very welcoming and kind.  She had a way about her that commanded respect from her students without being a complete jerk bag.  She used the perfect mix of professionalism, humility, and cool to win her students over and it really showed when it came to her classroom management.  While there was a bit a chatter during her classes, (I'd like to see a classroom in which there isn't), she was able to maintain order and to keep the kids engaged while relaying the lesson in a manner in which the kids were quite responsive  Every teacher at Sullivan is responsible for taking attendance at the beginning of class and entering it into a spreadsheet that gets routed down to the main office.

As far as resources go, Mrs. G. dealt with very limited supplies but was still able to teach an effective lesson.  She used a pretty standard text book and as she taught her lesson, she wrote all of the notes that she expected her students to have (which they were able to use on quizzes) and went through all the material with them while having students participate and fill in the blanks, as it were.  Mrs. G. used a mix of lectures, readings, quizzes, and tests to effectively relay the material to her students.  I very much like her classroom atmosphere, her teaching methods, her classroom management, and her overall presence while teaching.  I feel like I will incorporate similar methods when I embark on my teaching career.