Context:

This assessment portfolio has been developed for Poudre High School (PHS) which is
located at 201 N Impala Drive in Fort Collins, CO. The High School belongs to the Poudre R-1
School district which serves approximately 27,000 students and includes 50 schools
(pdsschools.org). This is the 9th largest school district in the state as it serves the Fort Collins
population. Fort Collins is an urban city that is home to 152,061 residents. This is an affluent
community a median income of $51,343 compared to $56,765 at the state level (city-data.com).
While the average house costs $242,800 individuals working for AMD, Anheuser Hush,
Colorado State, Advanced Energy, Avago Technologies, and Colorado State University can buy a
home under the states average home cost of $254,900 (city-data.com). As of the 2010 Census
Fort Collins is not a diverse community as 90.5% of its total population is white, 10.6%% is
Hispanic, .8% is African American, and 1.9%is Asian (http://www.co.larimer.co.us/). Though the
city is not diverse as other cities in the state, Fort Collins has a wide spread political affiliation
with 36.6% whom are Unaffiliated, 34.3% are registered Republican, compared to 27.8%
registered Democratic, and .3% Green party affiliation. In the most recent elections the city has
trended towards Democratic with a 51% swing towards Democratic candidates, 46% for
Republican, and 3% other (city-data.com). Though there is a close gap between the political
parties Fort Collins belongs to a state which values its education that supports the Colorado
Education Association (CEA) which receives $10.5 million dollars to support education.
In Poudre School District (PSD) their mission is to Educate Every Child, Every Day
(pdsschools.org). The district is committed to assuring that all graduates hone the skills
necessary to compete in the global economy (pdsschools.org), and this is what PHS aims to do

with its education. As PHS mimics a close relationship with the schools mission, The academic
program at Poudre High School is based on three core principles: Relevancy, Rigor and
Relationships (phs.psdschools.org). PHS lives up to this as they offer a wide range of
programs to reach all of their students. The school offers an IB program, AVID and AP for
advanced learners, a Capstone for students with interests on specific aspects of their learning,
FRCC College Now which pairs students with Front Range Community College to earn
students an Associates degree upon graduation, and PaCE to engage students in the working
community. As PHS is a one-to-one school all of their students are given a laptop upon
entering the school and have the option to buy it or return it at the end of their senior year.
Having access to this technology mirrors the districts belief in preparing students for the 21 st
Century.
PHS does not reflect the cities demographics as 69.87% are white, 23.35% are
Hispanic, 1.14% are African American, .11% are Native Hawaiian and .85% are American
Indian. While there are 1,727 students at the school 9.4% are ELL while 15.55% are gifted and
talented. As PHS has a more diverse population than the city resembles these students are
united by the driving force that they are the Impalas and can brag about being the only high
school in the country with this mascot (History of Poudre High School). This school is united not
only by its student population but by its alumni who have been giving gifts to the school since
1998, the first gift can be found representing the river in which the school is named after.
PHS is named after the Cache La Poudre River that runs through Fort Collins (District
History) and according to fishing and rafting guides the name means hide the powder in French.
The Fort Collins Discovery Museum of History confirms this with a more detailed account by
Abrer Loomis in 1886. Loomiss story claims that French fur trappers in 1836 had to hide goods

in a ditch along the river when a harsh winter conditions forced them to leave goods behind until
the following spring (2014, Massey). The following spring a group of men went to recover the
goods and in ditch was a large amount of cache or powder (2014, Massey). In which this story
connects PHS to the city and natural landscape.
While PHS belongs to a district that believes that schools should be of choice, PHS
manages to maintain a rigorous curriculum while meeting the districts academic achievement
goals (cde.state.co). The school is in good standing overall but there is always room for
improvement. With 19 Language Arts teachers at the school students meet with their teachers
three times a week as they have a block schedule system with eight periods. This system allows
students to have 80 minutes with teachers in individual classes with extra time to complete
homework in-between classes. The following lesson plans were created for this class:
5412 World Literature/Composition Number of semesters: 2 (10 credits) Prerequisite:
None, **At PHS, Grade 10 Meets requirements: 1, 2 This course provides students with a
foundation in reading and writing skills necessary for completion of a comprehensive
standards-based high school curriculum. The course integrates the teaching of writing
with the study of literature. Students read a substantial selection of world literature
including short stories, novels, drama (including Shakespeare), non-fiction, and poetry.
Students produce expository, narrative, descriptive, argumentative, technical, and creative
writings. **At PHS, this course also includes film, art, and music, and is focused on
skills/knowledge presented in the Spring Board Program, as developed by College Board.
Speech credit is embedded in this course (2015-2016 PHS Curriculum Guide, 32).
This classroom is an IB course which is structured like a college level course. Students are
expected to complete assignments at a college level as well as meet required expectations of the

IB curriculum. With 33 students, 21 female and 12 male, in the class each student has a different
perspective to bring to the course. To name a few: Lilly brings a great passion and growing
understanding for feminist theory, Cale and Anthony are great working in collaborative groups
while Malcom and Adam seem to work well on their own and prefer to ask for specific help on
tasks, Brook is a student who is flexible to all situations and Mia brings a creative and artistic
approach to the work that she completes. All of the students in this class are extremely hard
working and stay on task for long periods of time during designated work days. Because this is a
college level class and the expectations are higher, the students are expected to meet these
demands and do so extremely well. Because this is an IB course and students are expected to do
work at the college level there is no need for differentiation for lessons, for these students.
However, based on the performance of students in this class, instructors need to be prepared to
extend lessons as students may complete tasks faster than planned.
With the class set up with two rows of three on each wall and a row of two down the
middle, students are positioned to listen to lectures as well as transition easily into groups when
they need to. Mr. Hlawaty utilizes this setup to introduce each class since it is easy to get
individual students attention. As classes progress this setup allows for students to easily break off
into pilot groups as need be depending on the days lesson. The benefit of this classroom design
is that the majority of students can see one another when discussing. Since the classroom does
not have sufficient space to create a circle, this seems to be the best design for capturing students
attention in a seating arrangement.