Generic Instructional Context Graphic Organizer (national board)

Generic instructional Context (copyright Stanford 2011, Jumpstart Program)

For each question consider why your answer matters with respect to the reasons for making instructional decisions.  For example, if you teach 30 students in the first grade, your selections of instructional strategies are likely very different than you would make if you had 18 students. So, consider how this will play out as you develop your commentary.

1. How many students are in your class?

2. What are their ages and grade levels?

3. What is the title of your class and the subject matter in addresses?

4. Relevant characteristics of your class

·      Ethnic diversity

·      Cultural diversity             You don’t need to recite a long list of statistics just give                  a general overview.

·      Linguistic diversity

·      Range of abilities (determined through ways of knowing not just last year’s test scores)

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?”

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.

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, how many students you teach altogether, nois,e and other complicating problems.

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)