Contextual Factors In The Community

A1

Two of the contextual factors in the community where I will be student teaching are geographic location and race and ethnicity. The community where I am student teaching is a rural area. The nearest metropolitan area is two hours away. This location limits the resources that are available for the student and their families. Some activities that are offered to students in larger communities are not available in our area. On the other hand, in some ways it is better in a small community. Any students who want to are allowed to participate in offered activities. Another contextual factor is race and ethnicity. Even though the community is small there is a substantial group of different races. These groups of people help to make the community

more diverse and accepting of people with a different culture. They bring a dimension to the community that makes it a better place to live. Teachers in the schools need to include, in their curriculum, information that helps students understand different cultures and races. Students need to be taught about different cultures, customs and places. When planning lessons, teachers will need to concentrate on vocabulary to ensure that all students understand what is being taught.
In the school district two contextual factors are; youth in custody, and a diverse population. In the district where I am doing my student teaching, there are two girls’ homes, two boys’ homes, and a federal prison. The school district is responsible to provide public education for all students in these facilities. This pulls resources from the district. The district must provide teachers for these students so they hire a teacher who will never set foot in a school. Money that could go to the schools is used to provide teachers for these facilities. This money could provide more teachers in the schools which would reduce class sizes. Due to larger class sizes, teachers are spending less time with each student. After instruction teachers cannot give the attention to each individual student the way they would like. Some students require more help to learn and when the teacher has a large class this help is not always available. Another contextual factor of the district is a diverse population. Within the school district, there is a prison and a college. Because of the prison, people move to the area so they can be near loved ones who have been incarcerated. This brings in a large group of people who are typically less educated. On the other hand, within this district there is a college. The college brings in a large population of professors and people with a higher education. There is a high contrast of people who value education and people who do not. This gives each classroom a varying difference in parent attitude toward education. A teacher needs to take this into consideration when planning. The teacher needs to plan to help support students who do not have at home support and keep the rest of the class interested and on task. One strategy that could influence learning is provide after school homework help time to add support for students who would not have it otherwise.
Within the school itself two contextual factors are socioeconomic and school population.

The school I am student teaching at is a Title 1 school. This means that at least half of the students attending this school qualify for free or reduced lunch and breakfast. At least half of the families that have students in the school are living at or below the poverty income level. Poverty affects the school because, if students' basic needs are not being met it is hard for them to concentrate on their studies and learn. The second school contextual factor is the population. In the school, we have a population of families who are living on limited income and a population of privileged families, those that have plenty. This is seen in the classroom by how students are dressed and in the school supplies they have. Most students are supported in their education and encouraged by their parents, but some parents have more time and money to help their students. The teacher will need to be aware of these differences and when planning try to level the playing field. One thing a teacher could do is provide school supplies for the students. This way all the students will have the same supplies and all students will have what they need to complete their assignments. Also, the teacher will need to plan to treat all the students equally, showing no favoritism for either population. The teacher will need to be aware when teaching to call on students from both populations equally. By doing this

the teacher will be teaching her class that it does not matter the situation all her students can learn.
A2
The classroom has several physical features.

In the classroom the teacher has a meeting area that is called the Kiva. This is an area where the students meet to have class discussions, listen to the teacher read stories or to receive instructions. This area is in the front of the classroom in front of the whiteboard. The Kiva is a tiered structure where the students sit in two rows and is the shape of an arch. The west wall has two rows of lockers, one above the other, with the door in the back. The students each receive a locker where they keep their belongings. Above the lockers the teacher has a word wall where words are posted after they have been studied for a week. On the north wall, or back wall, there is a counter with a sink and a water fountain. There is also a cupboard where the teacher keeps supplies. The counter area is used for homework baskets and for pencil sharpening. In the northeast corner of the room there is a kidney table where the teacher works with different students when needed. Also, the northeast corner has bookshelves on both walls. On the east wall the top half is windows the length of the room. In the front and back there are shelves where the teacher keeps manipulative for teaching. In the middle of this wall there is a long table that has iPads on it for the students to use. The teacher’s desk is in the front southeast corner. On the front wall there are three whiteboards. The whiteboard on the right has math vocabulary and math helps. The

middle is used daily in teaching, and the left whiteboard lists the calendar and daily schedule. On the right side of the whiteboards there is a bulletin board. It contains writing tips. Under the whiteboards there are also bookshelves. The student’s desks are set up in tables of six around the back of the Kiva. The teacher has brought in an additional four bookshelves. The teacher has a personal library of approximately 5000 books, which are available to the students at different times during the week. In the southwest corner of the room there is a table where students can go if they need to take a break because of behavior. In this area there are some cards that reminds the students of the expected classroom behavior and some strategies of how to return to class. By the door there is a large container for playground equipment and on the other side of the door are cubbies where the teacher places papers and notes that the students need to take home.
The classroom has all the technology a teacher could want. There is a projector mounted to the ceiling, which projects on a screen that is pulled down in front of the middle whiteboard. The room has speakers, which are hooked up to the projector. The teacher also has a microphone that she can wear around her neck to amplify her voice when giving instruction. The teacher’s computer can be projected onto the screen. The teacher uses her computer to teach math every day and has also used it to teach science and art. On the back table there is a document camera that is used every day for morning work, math timings and when the teacher wants to provide an example for the students to follow. The classroom also is equipped with a VHS/DVD player. The teacher also has a table with iPads on it. The school is using different programs (IXL, ALEK, RTS) that the students can access using the iPads. The students take turns using the iPads to access these educational programs.
In this class I have not seen much parent involvement. When I attended “Back to School Night”, the school had a meeting first where all of the parent met together for general information and to be introduced to the teachers. Then the school held two breakout sessions where the parents could go to their child's classroom and receive information from their child’s teacher. I attended this in my HT class. This class has 23 students in it. In the first session we had about 10 parents show up and in the second session only 2 parents showed up and they were for the same student. I felt that this was a low number, my teacher felt that it was an average number. At “Back to School Night” four people signed up to be room parents. Since Back to School Night the teacher has received a couple of notes from parents, which the teacher responded to, with a note. One student had a birthday and a mother brought in some treats. The class has not had any parent volunteers. The teacher did say that one mother ask if there was anything she could do at home to help and she is going to let this mother cut some figures out for a project that will happen later in the year. The teacher has asked the parents to check their child’s homework and sign it and to once a week log on to the computer and record their child’s reading minutes. The teacher has provided all the information needed. In her class about six students are getting their homework checked and signed and two parents are recording the reading time on the computer.
The class that I am demonstration teaching in has very clear and organized rules and routines. The first week the teacher scheduled time to teach the rules and routines to her students. Every time a new rule or routine was going to be introduced the teacher would explain it to the students. She would tell them the correct way the routine was to be done. Then she would have the students model the correct way to do it. Then she would have them model an incorrect way to do this routine. She took a picture of each way. She now has the pictures of the correct and incorrect way that these procedures should happen and has them posted in the appropriate spot in the classroom. She often reminds the students to look at the picture clue to see how they should be acting. The HT has a routine for everything, and she teaches them, as they need to be taught. The HT has three simple rules for the students to follow. When she introduced these rules in the first week she had a class discussion about each rule. The teacher stated the rules and the consequences for breaking each rule. The students are allowed to ask questions about the rules at this time and the teacher answered all questions until there were no more questions about the rules. The teacher is consistent in enforcing the rules and consequences without deviation. The students understand if she says something that is the way it will happen.