Contextual Factors

Contextual Factors

Community, District, and School Factors

Greenville, Mississippi is located in the Mississippi Delta area. It is well-known for its blues musicians and agriculture. Here in the city, it hosts its annual MS Delta Blues Festival every year in September. The city of Greenville spans to serve the Washington County which serves the community of schools through the Greenville Public School District. The title I school is Matty Akin Elementary School it serves grades 1st- 5th grade of 700 students. It also is a school which work with children of special needs according and per grade level with specialized teachers. The racial demographic of the district makes up 95.30% African American, 3.44% White, 1.14% Hispanic, and 0.11% Asian. Recent test surveys indicate that majority of the students are proficient in social studies, while only 24 percent are effective in mathematics. Parents, school leaders, and community members at Greenville often collaborate to promote positive learning outcomes among students. Due to different learning capabilities based on each student’s backgrounds, educators often employ a differentiated instructional technique to increase student engagement and knowledge retention (Renner, 2021).

Classroom Factors

The classroom environment is one of the most important factors that affect student’s learning capabilities. The atmosphere where learning occurs affects the state that individuals can feel but cannot touch. This includes the ways in which the classroom is physically arranged. Desks and the blackboards must be placed in ways that make it comfortable for students to effectively access learning materials and communicate with teachers (Renner, 2021). Additionally, posters that are related to social studies lessons should be fixed on walls to create vantage positions for easy accessibility. One of the simplest models of making the physical environment supportive of learning is to ensure that it has high indoor air quality, sufficient spacing, and proper lighting. Additionally, the psychological climate of the classroom should set the emotional tone for effective reading and learning. This can be accomplished by creating a mood that makes students eager to grasp several learning concepts (Renner, 2021).

Student Characteristics

My 23 kindergarten students are aged from 5- 6 years old. They have different learning styles and capabilities, which affect their overall performance. 2 of the students have IEPs, 4 students attend speech therapy due to low reading skills. Variations in learning competencies often arise from different factors such as their racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Learning style is also viewed as a potentially useful indicator of the ways in which individual differences may affect the effectiveness of distributed learning. Various conceptual constructs can be used to gain insights into each learner’s needs and personality with the purpose of fine-tuning the instructional environments (Day et al., 2018). The Myers-Briggs instrument for personality assessment, for instance, identifies four dimensions that students often take while learning. They include perception, decision-making, social interactions, and environmental interactions. These four dichotomous dimensions often categorize individuals as introverts, extroverts, sensing, intuitive, thinking, feeling, or perceiving and judging. Based on these constructs, I will develop instructional strategies that appeal to different personality traits.

Instructional Implications

Assessing the teaching and learning indicators is critical in enhancing students’ intellectual success. These initiatives are going to be important in promoting educational progress at community, state, and national levels. In order to accomplish these goals, I will improve both the learning and evaluation processes by integrating both student- and teacher-centered approaches. I will also embrace an open communication model, which accommodates feedback from students and uses their information to improve future learning outcomes (Lowenthal & Dunlap, 2018). This process will also encompass measuring and understanding students’ level of knowledge retention by assigning them tests. I will also need to make accommodations for my two students with IEP's; I may need to provide extra assistance for these students, including additional time, support, or readers/scribes. Since the concept of presidents is relatively new to students, it will be my responsibility to provide the foundation of this material. I will reinforce these concepts by connecting it to information students have already covered. Through these dynamic interactions, I believe that the students will improve their knowledge in different areas that I will deliver.

References

Day, I. N., van Blankenstein, F. M., Westenberg, P. M., & Admiraal, W. F. (2018). Explaining

individual student success using continuous assessment types and student characteristics. Higher Education Research & Development, 37(5), 937-951.

Lowenthal, P. R., & Dunlap, J. C. (2018). Investigating students’ perceptions of instructional

strategies to establish social presence. Distance Education, 39(3), 281-298.

Renner, R. (2021, November 20). What contextual factors will influence classroom management? The Classroom | Empowering Students in Their College Journey. Retrieved February 2, 2022, from https://www.theclassroom.com/contextual-factors-influence-classroom-management-7857038.html

Teacher Comments :

Looks good. Keep flowing. Reference page is incorrect. Remember the content page and cover page. Remember, the hard copy should be included also. Thanks.

Gwendolyn Johnson , Feb 16 at 5:47pm