National Board: Generic instructional Context (example/model)

(Below model: copyright Stanford Jumpstart) posted for educational purposes only

Generic instructional Context

1. How many students are in your class?   25

2. What are their ages and grade levels? 5 – 6 years: all kindergarten

3.What is the title of your class and the subject matter in addresses? Multiple subjects and social development

4. Relevant characteristics of your class

·      Ethnic diversity 3 Chinese American; 5 Hispanic; 4 African American: 13 Euro-American

·      Cultural diversity      All but three are native-born American whose families immigrated to the US at least one generation ago.  They live in well integrated communities.     

·      Linguistic diversity Chinese or Spanish is spoken at home by 7 of the children but all of them come to school speaking some English.

·      Range of abilities (determined through ways of knowing not just last year’s test scores) Pre-screening at entry, reports from parents and my own observations show a wide range of development for this age.  Half the children have little exposure to literacy activities or have had pre-school experience. The other half of the class is well advanced and ready to learn academic skills.

5. What is the personality of the class? (What are they like as a group? Highly motivated and intense? Very social and talkative?  Like to work together and very cohesive?  Shy and compliant-difficult to know if they have confusions? )  Think about this as answering the question, “What do I need to be prepared to do when I work with these students?”  The children are generally well-behaved and delight in being at school.  Because of previous lack of experience the group needs very tight routines and reminders of behavioral expectations.  They like predictability. They are very caring of one another and eager to please adults.

6. What kinds of students in this class bring exceptional needs, e.g., learning disabilities, physical challenges, attentional difficulties, behavioral difficulties (including those that result from being grouped with particular classmates)  Be prepared to cite ways that the characteristics of certain students impact ways that you plan a lesson and instructional decisions you  might make or accommodations that must be made. Two exceptional needs students have serious language delays.  One has Down’s syndrome and needs physical care that requires a special paraprofessional assistance.  The other has hyperactivity and autism and requires calm, consistent redirection. My second language learners require that I check in to make sure they understand what I am doing and saying at all times.

7. What are the relevant features of your teaching context that affect how you plan and teach?  Consider factors such as room environment, schedules, co-teaching, instructional assistants, noise and other complicating problems. This is a full day kindergarten.  I have a room that is equipped to handle special needs children and a full time paraprofessional.  In addition the exceptional needs specialist spends an hour three times a week in my classroom.  Some parents regularly volunteer in the classroom. I am expected to follow a district mandated curriculum that is sometimes difficult to tailor to the needs of my students.

8. What particular instructional challenges are represented in your group of students? This means students with backgrounds that have not prepared them for this class, a preponderance of challenges like behavior issues, lack of support outside of class due to community or family circumstances, etc) The biggest challenge this group presents is the wide range of abilities, both cognitive and developmental, that they bring.  Finding the right mix of activities and strategies to meet all their needs is a constant challenge.