CONTEXTUAL FACTORS
Dear Future Teachers,
From the start of your field experience placement you need to start noticing your context. Keep in mind your class population will change from the time you begin until the time you actually start teaching, so you will have to re-write this section. Remember that anything you address in your context, you will be accountable for when you are making adaptations for assessments and teaching. Your cooperating teachers should help provide input for this section, as they know the school and students best. Also talk with other candidates who are placed at your school to see what they have learned. Good luck!
Standard
The teacher uses information about the learning-teaching context and student individual differences to set learning goals and plan instruction and assessment.
Task
Discuss relevant factors and how they may affect the teaching-learning process. Include any supports and challenges that affect instruction and student learning.
Prompt
In your discussion, include:
· Community, district, and school factors. Address geographic location, community and school population, socio-economic profile and race/ethnicity. You might also address such things as stability of community, political climate, community support for education, and other environmental factors.
· Classroom factors. Address physical features, availability of technology equipment and resources, and the extent of parental involvement. You might also discuss other relevant factors such as classroom rules and routines, grouping patterns, scheduling, and classroom arrangement.
· Student characteristics. Address student characteristics you must consider as you design instruction and assess learning. Include factors such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, special needs, achievement/developmental levels, culture, language, interests, learning styles/modalities or students’ skill levels. In your narrative, make sure you address student’s skills and prior learning that may influence the development of your learning goals, instruction, and assessment.
· Instructional implications. Address how contextual characteristics of the community, classroom, and students have implications for instructional planning and assessment. Include specific instructional implications for at least two characteristics and any other factors that will influence how you plan and implement your unit.
Suggested Page Length: 1-2
Tips for Success
1. This section should be written in present tense, because it sets the groundwork and explains how the Contextual Factors relate to student learning (Jones, et al., 2002).
2. From day one begin taking notes on the following: community, school, classroom, and students.
· Ask your cooperating teacher and/or other school personnel for information.
· Read a local newspaper for current and community information.
· Take a driving tour around town (Jones, et al., 2002).
· Pay particular attention to environmental factors that might affect student learning.
3. Define each factor as it relates to the classroom and students. For example, climate does not mean room temperature (Jones, et al., 2002)
4. For Contextual Factors, use less space for community and district factors and more space for school, classroom, and student factors.
5. After completing the Contextual Factors section, identify 3-5 factors about the students, classroom, school, or community to keep in mind while planning unit goals, assessments, activities, adaptations, and reflection on learning results. Keep these factors “front and center” when doing any of the other sections of the Folio. Each of the following sections should reflect a relationship to your specific Contextual Factors.
Instructional Decision-Making
Dear Future Teachers,
In this section, you have the opportunity to describe your ability to “think on your feet." Just be sure the incidences you describe are based on your students’ learning and not on things such as your power point presentation not working or a fire drill shortening your course period.
Good luck!
Standard
The teacher uses on-going analysis of student learning to make instructional decisions.
Task
Provide two examples of instructional decision-making based on students’ learning or responses.
Prompt
· Think of a time during your unit when a student’s learning or response caused you to modify your original design for instruction. (The resulting modification may affect other students as well.) Cite specific evidence to support your answers to the following:
- Describe the student’s learning or response that caused you to rethink your plans. The student’s learning or response may come from a planned formative assessment or another source (not the pre-assessment).
- Describe what you did next and explain why you thought this would improve student progress
toward the learning goal.
· Now, think of one more time during your unit when another student’s learning or response caused you to modify a different portion of your original design for instruction. (The resulting modification may affect other students as well.) Cite specific evidence to support your answers to the following:
- Describe the student’s learning or response that caused you to rethink your plans. The student’s learning or response may come from a planned formative assessment or another source (not the pre-assessment).
- Describe what you did next and explain why you thought this would improve student progress toward the learning goal.
Suggested Page Length: 3-4
Tips for Success
1. Throughout the course of your learning unit, keep a journal describing what went well and what you want to change. This information, accompanied with a sample of your students’ work, will facilitate your making more thorough and confident decisions (Jones, et al., 2002).
2. Make note in your journal of the manner in which you “think on your feet.” Were you able to read students’ body language, behavior, attention, etc. How did you know your lesson was or was not working? How and why did you decide to make changes? Asking yourself these questions will also help when writing the Reflection and Self-Evaluation section (Jones, et al., 2002).
3. This section of your work sample should be written in present tense (Jones, et al., 2002).
Common Challenges
1. Describing the decisions you made that were prompted by your observations of students’ reactions/responses throughout the unit.
2. Providing a clear description of the situation including an explanation of the modification(s) made and an explanation of how the modification(s) will help improve student learning.
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