Contextual Factors

Classroom Factors
This classroom is a 7th and 8th grade self-contained special education classroom. The
classroom is very inviting and comforting. The classroom is arranged very neatly and is not
messy or confusing. At the front of the room, there is a Smartboard on the wall along with a
digital projector on the ceiling. A white board is also at the front of the room. Opposite from
the white board there is a cork board that is used for all general classroom information. The
class rules along with the school-wide rules or goals are posted there for a constant reminder.
On an easel in the front of the room, a white board is displayed with the standards they will be
addressing that week and the essential questions they will be answering that day.
The students desks are arranged in neat rows and the students have assigned seats.
The desks are spaced in a way that the teacher can move freely through the rows and help
students individually. In the front of the room, the teacher has a desk that the students are
invited to visit if they need help or have questions if she is ever sitting there. Behind her desk
are two filing cabinets that hold all of her IEPs and paperwork. On the opposite side of the
room, the aide/assistant has a horseshoe shaped desk that she uses as her desk. A few students
sit here periodically throughout the morning if they need help with something in particular.
On the bookshelf in the back there are many books that students are invited to look
through and choose a book to read independently. There are also a few class sets they work on
throughout the school year. Some are picture books and some are chapter books that may be a
little more difficult for them to read alone. Also, in the back of the room are six computers that
students are allowed to use during independent time. They use them to supplement math and
reading lessons and also to publish their writing.
The walls are not overly busy but just enough to be inviting and bright. It does not seem
that many students are distracted by the prints/posters on the wall.
Students receive Titan Tickets as part of the positive behavioral support school wide
system that is in place. The teacher makes goals that the students can donate their tickets to
the class goal and they can all have a fun treat such as having a biscuit Friday, where the
teacher brings a biscuit per student to enjoy for breakfast. This is really motivating for the
students and helps with classroom management greatly.
The schedule is very conducive to learning in this classroom. First block is reading and
second block is math. After the students finish these two classes in the same classroom, they go

in two different directions. The students that require the most help in the classroom are
followed by the teacher and the aide into the social studies and science classroom. Inclusion
happens here and it is a wonderful setting. The students that do not require as much help go
into a different social studies classroom and are checked in on periodically by the special
education teacher. The students are included just as if they were general education students
and the teachers are respected mutually. The students are dispersed among the classroom and
not segregated into one little area. If they seem to be having difficulty with an assignment, the
special education teacher will sometimes take them back to her room to work in a more quiet
setting. Often times, a general education student or two that is also struggling comes along.
For the most part, there is not much parent involvement due to the age level. When it
comes to annual IEP meetings, the parents sometimes come, they sometimes dont. It just
depends on the student. One or two parents from this classroom are very involved in their
childs education and are very interested in how they are doing in school.
Student Characteristics
This classroom contains 10 main students all morning. There it is 80% African American
and 20% Caucasian. There are 7 males and 3 females. Other students come and go for certain
periods of times, but for analyzing sake this is only one period of students. The students range
from 12-14 years old. Most of the students have Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder and take medication for this in the morning. One student has an
Emotional Disturbance and is on a shortened school schedule. He comes to school from 8-10:30
a.m. There are not any students in the ESOL program in this classroom. The majority of these
students come from a lower socioeconomic level and receives free lunch.
Although all of the students are very fluent in English, language is often a hard thing to
handle in this type of classroom. Due to the high level of African American to Caucasian ratio,
the dialect is very different. I am constantly reminding the students to talk properly and to
enunciate their words so I can understand them. It is very hard to understand them when they
start talking really fast about something they are excited about. Making them slow down and
think about what they want to say definitely helps.
Most of these students are tactile-kinesthetic learners and seem to stay more engaged
when they are doing something with their hands or moving around the room. It is noticeable if
the teacher starts to lecture, you can tell the students are starting to check out and not pay
attention. Most of these students are very close to grade level. A few are very close to meeting
the MAP score requirement to being able to be in a general education setting more often than
a special education self-contained room. A few students are only 8-10 points away from their

goal. Other students are on a 3rd-4th grade reading level and really struggle with word
recognition and comprehension. In math, the students are excelling. They are learning 7 th and
8th grade level standards and seem to be handling it well. There is a bit of confusion sometimes
on certain topics such as 2 step equations but they are working on it.
Students interests include music, hanging out with friends, going to church with their
families and eating. When talking with the students, they are not very open with me but are
starting to trust me and open up more. They all seem to like the same things for the most part.
One student is very interested in comic books and we often have to tell him to put it away
during instruction time. Another student is interested in doodling and drawing and we try to
incorporate this into instruction as often as possible. The girls in the class are interested in
braiding hair and doing their makeup and beauty type things. We often have to tell them to put
their lotion or lipstick away in class because it distracts them from learning.
Instructional Implications
These contextual factors have many implications for the planning and assessment. For
example, the student that has an emotional disturbance will need more assistance than others
because he is so behind cognitively. His outbursts are very distracting to the other students and
his lack of participation makes the other students want to follow suit. It will be difficult to reel
the other students back in and help them stay on task and do their work. For the students that
are significantly behind in reading, other materials will have to be provided to them so they do
not get frustrated with the on grade-level reading material and get upset.