Mary Margaret ONeal

Praxis Performance Assessment for Teachers

Task 1 Contextual Factors Chart

This chart is designed to help you to understand that many factors affect teaching and learning. They include the community, classroom procedures, the students, and the physical environment in which you will be teaching. All this information will help you to determine teaching strategies and approaches that will support your students learning. In this chart, address each of the characteristics listed as they pertain to your teaching assignment. (You must attach this document as an artifact in response textbox 1.1.1.) Source of Factor Contextual and Environmental Factors

Community

Urban, suburban, or rural; socioeconomic; census data on families

Greenwood is considered a rural county. In greenwood, 44 % of residence have an income that is below the poverty level. 56% of Greenwood residence are living on the poverty line. In Greenwood County, there are roughly 70,000 residents where 30% are considered to be school aged children.

District

Enrollment, percent free and reduced lunch; graduation rate; ethnic breakdown; percent with IEP; percent ELL; per pupil expenditure

The District enrollment for Greenwood County is 9,041 students Pre K-3-12th grade. Roughly 58% of students get free lunch, 5% get reduced price lunch, and 37% pay the full amount. Out of 782 enrolled 9th graders, 54.22% graduated in four years. The ethnic breakdown of Greenwood County is as follows: Asians 101, Blacks 3627, Hispanics 1076, Whites 4041, and Others 196. Roughly 12% of students have disabilities who would also have an IEP. The district spends about $8,370 per student. At Merrywood Elementary, there are 542 enrolled students. 56% of students get free lunch, and 5% get reduced lunch. Merrywood is scored as a good school because it exceeds the standards of progress towards the 2020 Performance Vision. The student/teacher ration is 21:1.

School

Enrollment, percent free and reduced lunch; achievement scores; ethnic breakdown; percent with IEP; percent ELL; recognitions; teacher/student ratio

Classroom Demographics

Ethnicity, language needs, gender, identified special needs including gifted, physical needs, and cultural characteristics

In my classroom, there are three ethnicities represented: Black, White, and Hispanic. All students speak English but there are four students who attend ESOL for Spanish. There are 11 males and 12 females. We have three students who have IEPs and five students who are on Tier 2 or Tier 2B for learning disabilities or behavioral issues. We have three students who will test into the Gifted and Talented program but that does not begin until third grade. We have one student who has glasses who has to sit towards the front of the classroom. There are cultural differences in the classroom because we have students from different backgrounds. There are students who are from a Hispanic background, low socioeconomic backgrounds, and high socioeconomic backgrounds. We have students who come from single parent homes as well as a two parent home. All of these factors play into the cultural characteristics of a classroom. The students in this class learn from hands on activities as well as from group interactions. The students have many prior experiences in the classroom. This class is evenly divided with have students who are strong in Reading and those who are strong in Math. In this classroom, we have positive reinforcements for students who are doing right and that effects the students who are not. This allows for a happy classroom with students who respect you and want to listen to you. The students have a major interest in physical activity so incorporating that into the classroom will be a positive for my students.

Knowledge of Students

Learning styles, prior learning/experiences, academic proficiencies, behavioral differences, and areas of interest

Copyright 2013 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo and LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). PRAXIS and THE PRAXIS SERIES are trademarks of ETS. Textbox 1.1.1 Community, District, School Contextual Factors That Influence Instruction

Community Factor: Greenwood is considered to be a low Socioeconomic because 44% of the county is below poverty level. This is a major factor in the classroom because along with a low socioeconomic status comes less educated families. An instructional strategy that could be used is cooperative learning. For example, the students could complete a math activity in small groups or pairs sorting money into the correct groups to make a given amount. The students could complete this together so that they could help each other with the concept. I believe that having cooperative learning will help the students work together to come up with the answer. This would also motivate the lower learning students to complete the task since they would have a partner helping them. I also believe that students want their peers approval and support and working in small groups would emphasize that. District Factor: In Greenwood District 50, there is an ethnic diversity with blacks, whites, and Hispanics. As a teacher, I would have to accommodate for these different ethnicities with the activities I plan. I need to make sure that every activity I do in my classroom is going to be accommodated for every need in the classroom. For example, I would have to make accommodations for the students in my class that have lower reading levels based on being English Language Learners. One instructional strategy that I could use in my classroom would be to have specific Reading groups for students on different levels. I would have the students grouped with similar reading levels so that the students are trying to keep up with students on much higher levels or students arent have to complete a book that is too easy for their reading level. I strongly believe that students benefit from being in similar level groups because the individual activities that can be planned would be more appropriate. School Factors: At Merrywood Elementary, there is a 21:1 teacher/student ratio. This impacts the student learning if you do not make a point to have one-on-one time or small group interactions with the students. The instructional strategy I would use would be Think-Pair-Share during our interactive read aloud as well as using journals as a way for students to reflect on the day and to share any concerns that they may have or need help with. I believe that having reflection journals would allow the students to share what is bothering them or what they think they need help with. I would have the students complete these journals regularly. Using Think-Pair-Share will make the students think about what our story is about, and answer the question given. This will also give the students a second opinion about the question where they can add on to it without having the whole class listen to them. This helps with students who are too shy to talk in big groups. Textbox 1.1.2 Classroom Demographics and Knowledge of Students Classroom Demographic Factor: In my classroom, I have a handful of students who have tested to be in our Gifted and Talented program in the upcoming year. These students tend to be ahead of the class in reading and complete their work quickly and efficiently. This plays a factory into having to adjust my instructional strategies. During our reading groups, this group of fast learning students has more advanced work assigned. On strategy used with this group is using compare and contrast within the story. This strategy allows the students to have a higher level of thinking about the stories. For example, this group would read a section of series books compare and contrast the books within the series. This has a positive effect for this group because they are constantly asking questions and

wanting to know more. Having this activity for this group to complete allows them to self teach and to actively converse with their peers. Knowledge-of-Students Factors: For this class, positive reinforcements work wonderful. The students want to make you happy and want you to be proud of them. Direct instruction would be the instructional strategy that I use with this class. To have positive reinforcement, you have to make it known to the classroom for it to have an effect on the rest of the class. For example, in this classroom, we give out Life Skills Tickets to students who are behaving or doing that they are supposed to be doing. Once you begin to give out the tickets, the other students begin to behave in hopes of receiving a ticket for themselves. We have a weekly drawing for ten students to get a prize from the treasure box. I believe that positive reinforcements work for this class because they understand the positive outcome of doing what they are supposed to. Also, pointing out students for wrong many times makes them embarrassed in front of many of their friends or peers so they want to rebel anymore since they have already been embarrassed. When you give a positive reinforcement, students want to get as many chances at receiving the prize at the end. Step 2:

Praxis Performance Assessment for Teachers

Task 1 Instructional and Support Resources Chart

A wide range of services and resources are available within a school system to support instruction. This chart allows you to become familiar with what is available to you within your teaching context. Complete the chart by listing available instructional materials and collegial/collaborative resources. (You must attach this document as an artifact in response textbox 1.2.1.)

Resource

One Example and Location

Community

Good News Club: A club that is run by local churches. Students are invited to stay after school one day a week to enjoy bible stories, songs, interactive activities, and more. This is an optional after school activity that the students could be a part of. The teachers are required to carry emergency kit bags when they go to recess, emergency situations or drills, and special activities. Inside these kits are a radio so that the office can relay messages to them, a first aid kit in case of emergencies, and regulation cards for drills. These bags are readily available inside the door of every teachers classroom.

Building/District Policies

Instructional Support Staff

In this school, there are resource teachers available for the students to receive help from if they qualify. These teachers are in place to help students with reading and math. This is a full time staff member who is based in our school. Every teacher is equipped with a SMART board in their classroom. These are in place for the students to use interactively. SMART boards allow the teachers to transition from on activity to the next easily whether it is an activity or educational video. One curriculum that my teacher uses in Accelerated Math. This program individualizes a math plan for each student. This program is completed online and allows the students to work on different skills that go along with Common Core Standards. These program is available online in school and at home. Merrywood Elementary has a cart of iPads that the teachers are allowed to use in their classroom. Our class will use them for a research project and to make iVideos to go along with the research project. These are located at the school. At the school, the students permanent records are available for the teachers to utilize when they are needing information on their students. The students test scores and behavior write-ups are all in their permanent records. These records are available in a vault at the school.

Instructional materials

Curricular Programs

Instructional Technology

Student Data Access/Records

Other Resources

Copyright 2013 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo and LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). PRAXIS and THE PRAXIS SERIES are trademarks of ETS. Textbox 1.2.1 Available Resources to Enhance Student Learning

Resources: Curricular Programs are very helpful in the classroom. I would take advantage of the programs that are available online, Odyssey for example, so that students can access them at school and at home, if they are able. These programs are aligned with Common Core standards and work to improve the students math and reading skills in a fun way. This helps inside the classroom because the students get extra practice with the concepts they are struggling with and it is personalized for the students. Another resource would be the SMART board in the classroom. The SMART board is utilized the entire day for multiple lessons. This board is great for the student because it allows them to be interactive while being familiar with technology. Having the SMART board also allows for easy transitions between activity to activity. It also allows to easily present videos into a lesson. I would use this on an everyday basis. Characteristics: In our classroom, we use positive reinforcement to help the students be the best that they can be. One resource that I would use for my own classroom would be to view my students permanent records to see what their prior behavior or learning needs are. Having a background knowledge on your students could be a positive way to help you create a classroom management plan. You would have to be careful not to make assumptions about a child before they enter your classroom.

Textbox 1.2.2 Student Interest Inventory After completing my student interest surveys, I learned that a majority of my students enjoy pizza as their favorite food. I would use pizza as an incentive for my students having good behavior. One way we promote positive behavior in my class, is by creating a link chain that we hang at the front of the classroom. Once the students earn enough links for the chain to hit the floor, they receive a prize. One prize that I would include would be a Behavior Celebration with pizza on the menu. The students would work hard to do their personal best to earn that celebration favor. One item I would use from this students survey would be that their favorite subject at school is P. E. One way I could engage this student would be to get them up and moving during our lessons. Having review games for the students to be active participants in will encourage them to do their best. Allowing this student to get up and move during a lesson might strike their interest more than having them complete an activity silently, by themselves, at their desk. Textbox 1.2.3 Communicating with Students and Families Communication can be made easily by sending home letters and posting information on our classroom webpage. This is effective for when notes are lost or misplaced; the parents can always look online to find the information. This also helps with not having to wait for a reply from a teacher. This is effective because there is more than one way to have information sent to the parents. Relaying this information in class to the students will also engage them in what is going on. This is appropriate for certain things. This method of communication foster interaction with my students and families because

having multiple ways to inform parents allow easy access for them. Making tasks easy is what many parents need with their busy schedules.

Textbox 1.2.4 Rules and Procedures Classroom Rule: Classroom rules are very important to have in the classroom. One rule that we have is to be respectful of others. Being respectful to others includes many things: working quietly, working independently, keeping your body parts and belongings to yourself, and many more. This is a main rule that students need to learn because it allows for a safe environment for everyone. Students who are not respecting others are hindering them from learning. Having this rule in places helps the students focus on what they are doing and not worrying about others. This also helps the students learn when they feel safe and are not distracted by others bothering them. Having a respectful class also helps have a healthy learning environment. When students can focus and learn new things, they get excited about learning. Classroom rules are very important to have an effective learning environment for students. Technology Rule: Having rules with technology helps the students be independent and responsible. One technology rule that we have is the student has to stay on the assigned task. If they do not stay on this activity, then they lose their computer privileges. The students each have a Computer Day for them to complete their Odyssey lessons every week. The students have approximately fifteen minutes to work on their Odyssey lessons. The lessons are personalized and help the students work on skills and activities that are difficult for them. This rule helps the students stay on task while working independently. It also helps the students follow the rules because they do not want to have their computer day taken from them. Allowing the students to work independently supports the learning environment by teaching them to work quietly on their own. Behavior Management: Having classroom behavior under control helps have a successful classroom. In our classroom, we use positive reinforcement to have the students correct their behavior. When I point out that a child is doing what they are supposed to, they receive a Lifeskill ticket to place in the bucket. Once a week, we draw names from the bucket to receive prizes. This allows for the students to have a positive example for what they are supposed to be doing. The students can then be hopeful that they will be the positive example next time and receive a Lifeskill ticket of their own. This helps the students refocus and pay attention to what is going on with our lesson. This also quiets the learning environment when there is too much noise.