K12 Performing Arts

Context for Learning Information

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Context for Learning Information Directions: Respond to the prompts below (no more than 3 single-spaced
pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or
alter the prompts; both the prompts and your responses are included in the total page count allowed. Refer to the
evidence chart in the handbook to ensure that this document complies with all format specifications. Pages
exceeding the maximum will not be scored.
About the School Where You Are Teaching
1. In what type of school do you teach?
Elementary school: [ x ]
Middle school: [ ]
High school: [ ]
Other (please describe): [ ]

Urban: [ x ]
Suburban: [ ]
Rural: [ ]
2. List any special features of your school or classroom setting (e.g., charter, co-teaching, themed
magnet, classroom aide, bilingual, team taught with a special education teacher) that will affect
your teaching in this learning segment.
[ My elementary school serves a high number of ESL students, international students, and mi-
nority students. The school population is 50.48% male, and 49.51% female. The school pro-
vides services to students who speak exactly 23 languages, with 61.81% of the students
speaking English. The second largest language that the students speak is Chinese which is
10.35%, and the school has a full time teacher that the students meet with to learn reading and
math in Chinese. Other languages spoken within the building include French, Spanish, Lingala,
Arabic, Urdu, and several others. In terms of community support, the school is in one of the
poorest areas of the city. The school has a free lunch program at school, and 84.78% of stu-
dents are part of the free lunch program. The remaining students either pay reduced price for
lunch (5.80%) or the students pay full price (9.38%).
The fine arts in this elementary school district are on 6-week blocks, meaning that students will
rotate between dance, music, drama, and visual art blocks throughout the school year. Students
get 3 different blocks of arts per semester.
Of the 20 students in my classroom, I have 10 1
st
graders and 10 2
nd
graders. All 10 of the 2
nd

graders are students with ESL. Although half the class has varying levels of ESL, none of the
students in class require IEPs or 504s. Ten of the students are international students. Some of
the students come from China, Guatemala, Congo, Indonesia, Iraq, and Pakistan. While half of
the class has international students, we do not have a bilingual aid, because all of the students
speak English, and if they have questions they will ask me to clarify. Our class does not require
an aide. In terms of racial demographics, 12 of the 20 students are African American, 4 of the
20 students are Asian, two of the 20 students are Middle Eastern, one of the students is Latino,
one of the students is Caucasian.
3. Describe any facilities considerations that might impact your instruction (e.g., equipment needs,
room layout/design, access to performance/practice space, instruments, accompanist, storage).
[ In the context of the lessons that will be taking place, we need to use the large dry erase
board at the front of the room, with the dry erase markers. We do not have a Smartboard, and
we do not require an accompanist. We will use a Yamaha piano for different singing and play-
ing activities. We will also use an iPod and speakers, to play musical examples for the the
K12 Performing Arts
Context for Learning Information
Copyright 2013 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 2 of 3 | 3 pages maximum
All rights reserved. V2_0913
The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is permit-
ted only pursuant to the terms of a written license agreement.
students to listen and sing along with. In the classroom, we also have access to 12 Orff in-
struments and a large container of boomwhackers. We do have a relatively large classroom,
where the students will be able to spread out and participate in movement activities without
running the risk of injuring each other. ]
4. Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations that might
affect your planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of spe-
cific instructional strategies, performance schedules, or standardized tests.

[ My cooperating teacher and I discussed the prior knowledge of the students in class, before I
decided on a central focus for the lessons. We discussed that at the beginning of each lesson,
students needed to do something physically engaging like stretching, or dancing to music. The
students also needed a vocal warm-up as well, so I would need to continue using our warm-up
song that we use at the beginning of class, Its So Good To See You. At this point in the se-
mester, the students in this class knew about melody, tempo, and had already finished an exten-
sive unit on rhythm. I also wanted to use the students prior knowledge of songs they already
knew, to help better help the students to take what they had learned and apply it. Because the
vocal warm-up song Its So Good To See You has an ascending major scale in it, I will be able
to use the students prior knowledge of this song and incorporate it as our starting point for learn-
ing the major scale. While my cooperating teacher did give me permission to use the Share the
Music book series, I am not required to use the books. My cooperating teacher allows me to use
the book at my discretion. Since we have different types of learners in our classroom (aural, vis-
ual, oral, etc.) with different levels of English proficiency, I wanted to focus on a lesson where
language comprehension would not be a problem. One of the requirements for the lesson, was
to make sure that there were different methods to teach the same concept. These activities could
involve movement, singing, reading, writing, following a story, etc. My cooperating teacher and I
wanted to make sure that all the students were responding to the information they were learning,
and participating in class to the best of their abilities. There were no standardized tests or per-
formances schedules that could interfere with the learning processes of the students. ]
About the Class Featured in This Assessment
1. How much time is devoted each day to performing arts instruction in your classroom?
[ 30 minutes per class, 4 days a week. ]
2. Identify any textbook or instructional program you primarily use for instruction. If a textbook,
please provide the title, publisher, and date of publication.
[ Share the Music. McGraw-Hill School Division. 2000. ]
3. List other resources (e.g., electronic whiteboard, recordings, videos, multimedia, online re-
sources) you use for instruction in this class.
[ We use the Yamaha piano, rhythm sticks, recordings, Spotify and iTunes, iPods, teachers
laptop, whiteboard with dry erase markers, boomwhackers, Orff instruments, and small bon-
go drums. We also have two speakers, cassette player, dvd player that we can hook the
iPod and laptop to if we need to play recordings. ]
About the Students in the Class Featured in This Assessment
1. Grade level composition (e.g., all seventh grade; 2 sophomores and 30 juniors):
K12 Performing Arts
Context for Learning Information
Copyright 2013 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 3 of 3 | 3 pages maximum
All rights reserved. V2_0913
The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is permit-
ted only pursuant to the terms of a written license agreement.
[ 20 students total in the class. 10 first graders and 10 second graders. ]
2. Number of
students in the class [ 20 ]
males [ 9 ] females [ 11 ]
3. Complete the chart below to summarize required or needed supports, accommodations or
modifications for your students that will affect your instruction in this learning segment. As
needed, consult with your cooperating teacher to complete the chart. Some rows have been
completed in italics as examples. Use as many rows as you need.

Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/supports or
accommodations/modifications to instruction or assessment (e.g., students with IEPs or 504
plans, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with
gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students needing greater support or challenge).
Students with Specific Learning Needs
IEP/504 Plans: Classifica-
tions/Needs
Number of
Students
Supports, Accommodations, Modifica-
tions, Pertinent IEP Goals
N/A 0 N/A
Other Learning Needs Number of
Students
Supports, Accommodations, Modifica-
tions
English Language Learners 1 Learning phrases in native language
such as please, thank you, whats
wrong?, etc to make transitions easier.
Learning how to count to eight, which is
important for the purposes of the lessons.
Provide facial expressions, and motions
to help explain activities to students.
Possible repetition of instructions.
Struggling Readers 0 NA