Pender County is a rural county located in the southeastern part of the state. There are 15 public schools in the county, four of which were built within the last three years. North Topsail Elementary School is also a PDS (Professional Development System) school in partnership with the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Students majoring in Education at the university are placed at my school as student interns with partnership teachers.

My team teacher and I teach two third grade classes. I teach English/ Language Arts and Social Studies to these classes, and she teaches Math and Science. At present we have 48 students ranging in age from 8-11 years of age. There are 13 girls and 35 boys on this team of two classes. Five of my students are African-American, 41 are Caucasian and two are multiracial. One class consists of students whose reading skills range from high to medium, while the other class ranges from medium to low. This grouping provides my team teacher and me the opportunity to differentiate our teaching while also meeting the specific needs of each of our students.