Classroom factors

When walking into the teachers 4th grade classroom, some of the physical features I observed was that the students were not sitting in individual desks. They were all sitting at black tables that sat up to six students at once. There are eight tables put together making four big groups for students to sit in. On those tables, there are single filing folders that the students use to hold their classroom notebooks. The teachers desk is in front of the classroom in the far corner; there is where she works with students in small groups and individuality and works on here class preparations. Behind her desk, there are two file cabinets that she files the students homework and test. Along the back wall of the classroom, are five black computer which all have headphones for students use. On the wall above the computers, there is a long shelf that has two levels; on those shelves there are many books organized in baskets also on those shelves are pictures of her and many different students she taught in previous years. Next to those computers, is a two-door closet where classroom supplies are kept adjacent to that wall is another wall that have cubbies and begs where the students book bags and books are kept. On the front wall of the classroom there is a white board; on it she keeps the daily homework assignments and the behavioral chart. In the middle of the front wall is the Smart Board and next to it, is an Elmo that projects papers from her desk onto the Smart Board. The classroom does have two windows that have poky dots curtains on them. Along the walls, of the classroom there are many white pieces of papers that are dealing with topics of science and social studies like: weather, articles of confederation, slavery, and different type of mixtures. There are not many posters around the classroom, but the white papers on the walls do add color to the walls to make the classroom not so boring for the students. The classroom rules are not on display for anyone to see, but judging from the students behavior they all seem to know what is expected form them while in the classroom. Their routine is normally consistent everyday; the students arrive to school and wait in the hallway until 7:50. Once in the classroom, they all settle in and do their morning work. Around 8:05 the school announcements are shown on the Smart Board. While watching the announcements the students all do mini workouts, say the school motto, the pledge of allegiance, and the pledge to the Palmetto State. After that is over, the students continue their morning work and eat their breakfast. When the students are done with morning work and breakfast, the students switch teachers and classrooms to being Social Studies or Math.

Student characteristics

Within the teachers classroom, there are twenty-three students. Fourteen of them are males and nine are females who are all around the age of nine and ten. Culturally there are fourteen Caucasians, one Hispanic and eight African Americans. She has two resource students that have Individualized Education Plan. One of those two students requires the assistance of a shadow that follows him all day that same student also receives ABA and Speech Therapy. The other student is an ESOL student that receives oral assistance and small group testing in the classroom and twice a week is pulled out of the classroom for 50 minutes. Both students that need resources are severed for 50 minutes daily of inclusion with a specialist. In the class, there are seven Gifted and Talented students and once a week those students are pulled out of the regular general education classroom and into a classroom with other Gifted and Talented students in their grade for 200 minutes; together they work on things that are more challenging for them. Along with the Gifted and Talented students, the teacher also has six students that are under the RTI instruction/remediation. Due to the broad diverse students the teacher has, she also incorporated her own version of assisting her students in becoming successful. She meets with small groups for each group at different times throughout the day. For the Gifted and Talented she goes deeper with whatever lesson they are discussing in class at the time. With the RTI and resource students, she meets with them to give them more Guided Math and Strategy groups for ELA. The reading range of the 4th grade students in the class ranges from 30 to 44. Judging from my observation, the students all share many differences, but they do seem to share similar interests; a large amount likes to read The Dairy of a Wimpey Kid and Junie B. Jones books. Many of the teachers lessons are direct instruction with the students sitting on the colorful carpet and then the students break off into groups of 2 to 4. When she isnt giving a direct instruction lessons she allows the students to do research and worksheets about whatever topics. Even though her class is heavily taught on direct instruction I do believe that many of the students in the class learn visually and cooperatively. Although, due to the amount of noise I hear coming from students moving around in their chairs and desks I do believe some students, especially the boys, need to move more.

 Instructional implications. Address how contextual characteristics of the 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 teach your lessons.

Many of the student characteristics have implications for instructional planning. In this class, there are two students that have Individualized Education Plan, six students that are receiving Response to Intervention, and seven Gifted and Talented students; having those different learning styles requires the teacher to pre-plan with intentions of granting all students an equal chance of academic success. When planning my lessons for this particular class, I will have to pay close attention to detail that I meet every students academic needs half way with the accommodations and assessments. With the accommodations, for my students with IEPs due to I autism, I will make sure his follower knows in advance about the lesson that I am teaching. Another accommodation I will do for that child is stick with the teachers routine she has already established; when addressing him I will do as she has. With assessing the student I will give him longer time to take the quiz or exit slip that I have planned for all students to take. If the student has been use to taking the test with their follower I will allow that to continue. With my students with RTIs I will need to know what level of RTI they are on before I can accommodate anything. After I know, I will know how to address those students. Some accommodations I can create to help the students with RTI is hold small group instructions that will be lead by me to reiterate the lesson in more details with hopes of making the concept a lot easier for those students. When it comes to assessing those students, depending on what tier they are in is how I will plan on assessing them. After grading the assessment, I will continue to track those students success and depending on whether they performed good or not the decision will be made on their progress. Just because the Gifted and Talented students are higher on learning most of the material presented does not mean they to dont need extra planning for. With knowledge of how Gifted and Talented students getting bored with the lesson while waiting on their classmates to learn what they have already learn. I can allow them to assist me by helping their fellow peers. For accommodations I can hold small group instructions where I will then go and add more information to the lesson. Maybe give more changeling examples and broadening the subject a bit. With assessments I can give those Gifted and Talented students more difficult word problems to solve. I can also add more questions on the test that deal with topics that they have discussed in the Gifted and Talented class.