Environmental Contextual Factors in My Classroom
Community
I currently am working in a small town about 30 minutes south of a major city. As a whole city by itself we are located in the middle of farm and desert. The only close cities are even smaller with traditional downtown main streets and no major super stores. Here in the city I live and work is a slow growing community that just in the last few years are benefiting from a movie theatre and a small strip mall only having Dillards and JCPenny as major mall stores. Some other bigger businesses had tried to make it here such as Best Buy; Best Buy was not making enough to stay so they relocated/closed the store two years ago. Population of the town where I work is about 50K people with the closest city being about 12 miles away with a population of about 10K people.
The community struggles with poverty levels ranging from 8-30% at or below poverty level in various sections of this town. Studies have been done related to poverty level and levels of home expectations for students to succeed. Although there are many factors in which play a key role in a students success there have been correlations found related to performance levels and household poverty levels. Having such high levels of at or below poverty levels I personally have seen and experienced the correlation with my students. Some students that have more financial struggles at home struggle more in school for various reasons. Some reasons I have experienced is making it to school when there is no money for gas, another is struggling not eating throughout the day making it harder to concentrate and learn on an empty stomach, and also stress and financial strain carrying over into the school day making it harder to cope with the demands of school especially when internet access is not available at home. I have also seen the extra strain on young mothers and fathers trying to juggle school and work and new baby.
This small community relies on tax and grant money to keep certain programs alive such as sports, music, and other considered extra-curricular activities. When the community is already struggling to make ends meet with the income or lack thereof it is hard for voters to vote for higher taxes. So far, there have been enough balances in the system that our school has not had to give these up at this time, but each voting time is something that is a worry for teachers and students not having access to these types of activities and classes at school. Not having these extra-curricular activities or classes at school limits our students exposure of possible future careers. Some of these students, in my personal experience, already are having a hard time deciding what they want to do in the future let alone limiting the access to classes they have that can help them further their horizons with the possibility of making more of themselves.
Knowing that a majority of my students struggle with these issues, I have a new procedure that I have used in my Special Education Math class which is limiting the amount of assigned homework. I officially do not assign extra homework, but instead I have made sure that the majority of students will have in class time to finish all of the work. Another technique I have used is unofficial makeup days for those students that have fallen behind, been absent, or need further assistance with assignments they had struggled with. The students I have being in a special education class already struggle with self-confidence and asking them to attend general education math tutoring is very difficult. With this I have allowed and planned for days where there are mini lessons with a new assignment that all or most students will finish with 15-30 minutes left in class to work on those other assignments. Students have the opportunity if they are all caught up and have grades C or higher they can play math games or take their work portfolio and redo/correct problems they missed to improve their math grade or peer tutor those working on other assignments.
District
The city that I teach in has a divided school district. There is an elementary school district and a high school district. I do not have a lot of experience with separated districts. This has been a change for me and a learning process. The differences that I have seen with not having a unified school district is that there are more agenda tasks when it comes to student that transition from middle school to high school, with special education having even more to do. In a unified district the paper trail for students is much easier to follow. When dealing with two different districts there is a lot of missing gaps with transition. Referrals or log entries that are kept in a computer system called Power School or Power Teacher are lost with transition. Teachers have a harder time going to the other district to find out more history of a student and tracking down teachers that have experience with certain students. With this I try and help close that gap with activities called icebreakers but I not only do them at the first of the year but throughout the year. Students transfer in and out of all classes for many different reasons. Moving, qualifying for special education services or increase/decrease in level of services, classes get moved around and it affects my class. The icebreakers help get to know my students throughout the year and catch the ones who transfer in and out of my class.
Having two school districts also affects bussing routes. With the districts being separate the zoning lines do not always align. Students that have gone to school together for elementary or middle school and then move to high school could end up in two different high schools. There are a total of four high schools in the high school district plus other charter or online/alternative schools. Having students that come in and choose to go to a different school than what they are zoned to, have the worry of transportation. Sometimes this is not an issue but more times than not it has created problems for students and receiving all their credits. When a student has too many 15 min or more tardy or absences they get no credit in that class. Having a deeper relationship with my students and finding out who is walking across town just to go to school and sometimes are 15 min late, or finding the student that is sleeping on the couch of a motor home (not mobile home) that never gets a good night sleep and has a few first period of the day issues has been more of a focus for me. Special education students regularly take extra time to fulfill graduation requirements, whether that is extra or retaking classes in the summer, an extra year, what we call a super-senior, and some do graduate on time. The more I spend connecting with my students and having that time to ask those not so easy questions, and I can do this by integrating writing assignments and journals in a math class, I can help solve these problems by letting the principal know and he has always been able to help.
The way I teach has changed a lot in the last 2 years at this district. I have had to adjust helping my students more by having to spend more time getting to know them, using writing assignments and other group activities, and also rescheduling how my classroom schedule is run on occasion to help all the students more completely. There are always going to be students that do not totally benefit from what I do, so constantly getting new ideas and being involved in professional development is a must for me. I always am trying to learn new ways to help reach my math students that have uncontrollable community circumstances.
School
At the beginning of the year during teacher in-service days we had a guest speaker come in and talk about teacher, peer, administrative, and other types of relationships. This speaker could have been a religious speaker. He talked about staff holding grudges against each other for years and people not forgiving each other and moving on for the greater good. I would have expected him to say these things in church but never at a teacher in-service. I was very impressed though because it opened my eyes to a lot of things at school. Some of the most unspoken things in schools are the teacher, administrator, and other staff relationships. I mean, I admit it is one of the most hush talk but definitely not out in the public talk. Meetings will happen, such as staff or departmental meetings, and it only takes one meeting to understand who does not get along and who does. I went to one math meeting and did not go back all year because of the friction and tension in the meeting against one teacher. I agreed solely with the speaker when he spoke of forgiveness and understanding and making a mends with teachers that one has not spoken to in three years all because of a miscommunication or because differences of opinions. I find it does not make for good team work in departments or a school as a whole when teachers and other staff hold a negative opinion about each other.
I do, however, realize that you are not going to like everyone you work with. But the guest speaker gave ways of getting along without necessarily having to spend all your time with those you do not mesh with. It boils down to being professional, acting professional, and leaving your personal opinions at the door when judging another person. If teachers are against each other, then the relationships for collaboration and advice are not there. Teachers need collaborations and to fight for the same thing, student success and teacher accountability.
Also there are teacher administrator relationships as well. When a teacher does not have the backing of administrators then it makes it very difficult to do ones job. Always feeling on egg shells and the slightest mistake or anything that one of the two parties does not like will result in a major melt-down is also not healthy. People in general have a hard time dealing with constructive criticism. It took me awhile to understand when an administrator comes in to evaluate or comes knocking on the door to discuss a difficult situation, it is not to condemn. However in my experience it is to guide and to teach. Wearing my heart on my sleeve as a personality trait has made it difficult to be in those situations with an administrator. But as an adult and as a professional, I have learned to leave my heart at the door and realize that part of what the other person is saying is true and part is opinion.
I think that the team building atmosphere plays a huge role on how the students perceive the school. When students feel the tension and feel the animosity between staff then it does not make them feel as secure. It is similar to the parents that are never on the same page and the child picks up on that and when they do, oh my, you better watch out because they use that against the two parents. Students have been known to play that card as well with teachers. Oh, miss, this teacher hates me. She marked me absent just because she did not hear me say here. And then that is all it takes for a teacher to start forming more opinions about a teacher, especially if there are already bad vibes between them. I do not know of a teacher that would do that. I know a few who say that, but do not to teach students the importance of being quiet during taking role among other things like accountability.
I believe teachers and staff set the tone for a school. When a leader, principal or otherwise, does not set the tone for his/her staff, the whole school from the top to the bottom can be greatly affected. I have seen only a few things in my time but overall what I can say about where I work is that I truly think the staff here is trying to make sure there is as little of this as possible going on.
Classroom Contextual Factors in My Class
Physical Features
I take pride in the atmosphere of my classroom. I try and make sure that I have relevant and up to date helpers posted on the wall. I connect with the students that have a hard time wanting to take notes or wanting to write anything down. I do this with different approaches. One is having neon colored lined paper available for student to write on and take notes. As this does get expensive I do this mostly as a reward for those taking notes and one day when I see students not taking notes I will start passing out my colorful paper to those on task and taking notes. It encourages others who want the color paper to start taking notes instead of always addressing those students who are not on task.
Another approach to try and help my students feel comfortable and relaxed in my math class I let them be as creative as possible, whenever possible. As I am a stickler on using pencil for class and assessment work, I create other opportunities for them to have color and creativity in their reach. One of the ways I do this is by having students create name plates and journals at the beginning of the year. The name plates are simply made of hot dog style folding of color paper and having student display their names. As long as it is legible then I do not mind how colorful and creative they write it. (By the way, high school students are not too old to enjoy sparkly foam stickers or any stickers for that matter.) When student create their journals that is made from half of a file folder they have to put certain information where I want it, such as their name and period, but other than that the cover is for them to decorate or doodle on. Some students need to fiddle with something during lessons or down time during the class to keep them focused. The students are allowed to do this as long as I do not find it distracting them away from the lesson.
For the most part I have student desks facing the front and in traditional rows and columns. On occasion when doing group activities or other fun math art, the desks will be arranged in what I call clusters. Another procedure I have learned that helps all students is the use of music in my classroom. I started off small, using the music during tests or fun activities. Depending on if it is an activity or an assessment depends on what type of music I play. Most of the time I play music that has no words. Some classes as a whole prefer piano solos, some prefer violinist such as Lindsey Stirling. I have had many who have visited my classroom comment on the peacefulness of my classroom and how the atmosphere is welcoming and inviting to guests, subs, and students. Music has also been proven to help the brain function when doing school work so I am all for certain types of music.
The supplies I have are limited to basic calculator, rulers, compasses, and protractors. Even with these supplies in my largest class I do not have a full set. I have not found this to be a huge problem as I have learned to adapt with students sharing or pairing up during these times. Having these supplies though has been good for the students to further their geometric knowledge, understanding, and
constructing. With the help of my technology it has been much easier to show the students how to properly use these tools.
Technology Accessibility
In my classroom I have six classroom computers. I have access to the internet wirelessly and on all of the computers. The classrooms come standard with a projector mounted to the sealing wired to the teachers computer. I applied for a grant through Donors Choose, www.donorschooose.org, for a star board last summer. I was awarded before the first day of school and it arrived before Halloween. That in itself has been awesome in my classroom. With this starboard, I was and am able to have students come up and interact with the starboard and have instant feedback with the collaboration of the other students in the class. It has also helped with student confidence knowing that their friends are going to watch and make sure they are on track and I am right there to help if needed. I have also been able to use the computers as stations in the classroom. While one part of the class is working on the paper/pencil part of an assignment, another part of the class can be using web sites such as www.tenmarks.com which allows instant feedback for students on new concepts. I have also used this web site frequently as it tracks data on breaking down concepts by strand for how students are doing and what they are struggling with.
Parental Involvement
In my classes it is hit or miss with parental involvement. I tend to have a higher rate of involvement than what I witnessed in my general education classes a few years ago. I still have some parents only call at the last minute when their son or daughter has failed a grading term but that is more than what I have had at times in the times past. Sometimes with the different cultures that I deal with in my class, which is further explained in the demographics survey, I find that it is difficult with parent involvement simply because of language barriers. I have parents that rarely call in because they do not know who to contact that could translate or ask questions to. I also run into the problem where parents are too busy at home or work 2nd shift and do not have the chance to make phone calls or be involved with their students learning when they get home. I have one student that actually stays with dads girlfriend the majority of the time as his dad his on the road as a truck driver.
With all of this, I have been trying to collect email addresses for parents at the beginning of the year and throughout the year. This next year the school is setting up web pages for all teachers to use and be able to post regularly. Having this will be great for parents and students who have access to the internet either on their phone or other internet device. There also have been times where I have no active phone number and have been able to get ahold of parent by email. What can I say, it is a technology world. Phone numbers change all the time, email addresses change less often I think.
Another Contextual Factor
This year I am not only teaching math but I am teaching special education math. I have between 10 and 25 students in any given class with a wide range of learning, physical, and/or emotional disabilities. It is not uncommon for a student to have a combination of the three as well. In each of my classes, though I might have taught the same lesson in a previous class, I have to alter my technique regularly. I have had a hearing impaired student that I had to write more vocabulary on the board with definitions or notes due to not having those words in the American Sign Language. There are also times where I have had a severely autistic student that I have had to set a 10 min timer during independent study where he would work for 10 minutes and play math computer games for 10 minutes. This student also had a flip book that had his picture agenda that would tell him what was next. So at the beginning of class it would be teacher time where he would try and take as many notes as possible. Then after lecture he would start the 10 minute rotations.
In general though for all of my classes I found out rather quickly that I could not plan a lot in one class period even though they were 90 minutes. I started to develop my own curriculum this past year integrating higher standards with some of the basic standards they were missing. As long as the students had plenty of time to practice, days, and we took baby steps on learning the concept the students did very well. I have also taught general education classes and my tempo was faster, more direct, straighter to the point, and pick up the pieces that did not make it in the end. I definitely have had to change my tune for these classes and it has been good for me. If I went back to general education classes I would slow down and change my technique from what I tried before because I believe that the ramp that gets everyone through the door is a better path than the stairs that may leave some outside unable to climb.
Student Contextual Factors
There are several different thoughts that are constant while developing instructions and assessments. Age is a more obvious thought for me when developing the components of my classroom. I think of stages of maturity and stages of cognition to the grade levels that I am teaching. I use age level as a base line, and then modify it even further to the maturity level of boys versus girls in the class. In my experience some grades I have taught the girls or boys, depending on the class will have more maturity and depending on the activity or group activity depends on what I plan and try to implement in a particular class. Sometimes I will change things up a bit for a certain class if I do not feel that particular class discipline-wise would benefit from a certain layout of a lesson or assessment. Once the age and gender have been monitored, I then think of achievement levels. This last year I taught two classes of each three different levels high, medium, and low (total of 6 classes) but I did not teach each of the same levels totally the same. Just because the two classes were in the same level class does not mean they were achieving at the same level. Maybe one class needed an extra day or needed to go slower on a certain topic and the other faster. It is a constant monitor.
As I was teaching all special education this year, special needs were always on my list to developing my curriculum. Once the lesson was taught I used a lot of peer tutoring for independent work. I paired the high performing students with the students that needed more help to work on certain problems. I also had the use of a paraprofessional to work with my really low students or myself. I always tried to constantly walk around and monitor the peer tutoring and the paraprofessional and the independent work more than the one on one, though I did that as well.
During each lesson I would try and ask the students as many questions as possible as to where they could relate a vocabulary word to something they were familiar with. For example: the word Quadrilateral, Is there any part of the word Quadrilateral that you have heard before, if so where? I get responses like quads, also known as four wheelers, and quad cab trucks. This gives me an opportunity to tap into their interest and hobbies a little bit. It does create a bit of a distraction sometimes but with careful and polite redirection it is easy to get back on track.
As stated above, I have had students that were hearing impaired. I have also had ELL students. These students need extra language gaps especially in math. Math is a whole other language in itself. I have had to integrate more vocabulary and definitions. And sometimes I have to provide definitions for words in the definitions. For example, Supplementary angles- angles whose sum is 180 degrees. Sum would be another vocabulary word I would add to the board especially for my ELL and ASL students. In my special education class though, I have put that definition on the board at the beginning of the year as review but some of them came in my class not knowing those basic words.
Student Skills and Prior Learning
I have certain students that do not know their multiplication tables. I also have students that do. Luckily I have had the majority of my higher level classes with the students that do know their multiplication tables. This allows me to do more with them and go faster on concepts without having to stop and wait while they are trying to count or pull out their calculators. It also allows me to use larger numbers and decimals or fractions. With the classes who struggle with the multiplication tables I still integrate these concepts but as a whole. Meaning there is a unit of fractions or decimals, whereas the other classes could be working on ratios and also be working with decimals at the same time. Being a special education math class and knowing my students depends on how many concepts I want to push at the same time depending on which level and which class.
Based on my students prior knowledge and prior learning such as their multiplication tables, can change a learning goal from, student will be able to solve ratios with and without decimals in a word problem to students will be able to solve basic ratios with whole numbers in a word problem. Based on these goals would affect the type of examples I would do in my instruction and during scaffolding. If the students needed to get to solving problems with decimals then I would start with whole numbers but would end with problems with decimals. If the goal was to solve ratios with whole numbers or multi digit whole number than I would start easy and work my way up to the goal. For any assessment I always try and test on what I teach. But further more I try and test students on if that can transfer things they know to something they do not know. So if they have had certain ratio problems of one type, maybe money and items, then creating another type with maybe geometry and similarity given an example and a formula and testing if they can transfer their knowledge. There are so many aspects that go into creating a good lesson plan and curriculum.
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