Demographics and other background

Belmont High School serves approximately 1200 students in largely affluent suburb of Boston. The student population is relatively homogenous. African-American and Hispanic students are underrepresented as compared with the state as a whole, while Asian-American students are slightly over-represented. In other ways the school seems even less diverse, as the “Special Education” and “Low Income” populations are both noticeably smaller than the statewide average.¹ In spite of these statistics, the town does have a less affluent section, with triple-deckers, duplexes, and single-family homes on small lots, close to major streets and heavier traffic.

The unit plan presented here was taught to a Sophomore Honors class in Modern World History. There are only two levels taught of this course--”Honors” and “College Prep” or “CP.”

My Honors class was 39% female, 61% male. Approximately 9% were African-American, 17% Asian-American, and the remainder were white. The classroom is rather unusual, as it is an interior, windowless room with three tiers of built-in seats around three sides of the room. The fourth side has bulletin boards and two sections of chalk-board, but the chalkboard is generally obscured by the projection screen. There is a multi-media projector installed on the ceiling and connected to the computer on the teacher’s desk, which is directly in front of the screen.

1 Massachusetts Department of Education Web Site, http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/hom.asp?mode=so&so=133-6&ot=5&o=127&view=all, accessed July 11, 2007