Context

Twenty-three third graders file into Mrs. Peots classroom every

morning. Most students walk or are driven by parents to Breton Downs
Elementary, a kindergarten through fifth grade elementary school
about a five minute drive from Calvins campus. Breton Downs is not a
very diverse population and a lot of the students come from the same
socioeconomic background, but it is rich with parent and community
support. As learned in education 202, there are many factors that
affect a classroom, found in the individual students, the school, and the
community.
Some of the factors that affect the context of Mrs. Peots
classroom include age, gender, race, and ethnicity. The third graders
are eight to nine years old, and there are a few more boys than girls.
All of the students are white except for two African American students
and one Hispanic student. There is also one student whose parents are
from Quebec, and he speaks French in the home. In the classroom,
English is spoken, written, and read. Mrs. Peot is currently testing the
students reading levels, and students range everywhere from firstgrade reading abilities to fifth-grade reading abilities. This will affect
my unit plan because I will teach a unit in language arts.
Overall the students attention and memory skills are pretty
phenomenal, which I say because overall they are very well-behaved.
There is one student, however, who has a short attention span. I

frequently work with him in the hallway so that he gets more one-onone time, but I have to redirect his attention back on his schoolwork
about once a minute by telling him to sit down or by repeating the
question. He has spent a lot of time with the school social worker
working through emotional problems. There is another student who
also seems to have emotional problems, and one day he had a
breakdown in class. Mrs. Peot told me that in order to earn his respect,
he needs a lot of positive reinforcement. There is one student in the
class with an attention disorder, and Mrs. Peot told me that another
student clearly has ADHD but the students parents are not going to do
anything about it. There are no students with special needs in the
class, but there is one student who probably has dyslexia.
The students handwriting on the homework and tests that they
turn in makes me wonder if some of the students struggle with motor
and spatial/sequential ordering skills, or if their handwriting is messy
because of a lack of focus/attention. There are several students who
seem to excel with the higher order thinking range of abilities- several
take more challenging tests because they are very academically
advanced for their grade. One student goes to fourth grade math
everyday.
There is obviously a wide range of learners in Mrs. Peots
classroom, and it can be challenging to accommodate for every
student. However, the school has a strong parental support system;

parents regularly come in to assist teachers in the classroom (which I

have seen first hand in Mrs. Peots classroom), and parent volunteers
always drive all of the students to and from field trips. In addition to a
strong parental support system, the school has a strong social system
of peers. The principal and Mrs. Peot stress the rule that the students
have to respect one another, and I have yet to see any kind of
disagreement between classmates. This will be beneficial for my unit
plan because I will be able to worry less about classroom management.
Because the school is part of the Grand Rapids Public School District, it
does not promote any religion. Breton Downs does, however, promote
morals such as kindness and respect (their website addresses this).
Because I will be teaching my unit in this classroom environment,
it is important for me to know these factors that influence my students
learning. To accommodate my students who are at lower reading levels
and those who struggle with maintaining attention, I will be sure to
include plenty of partner work in my lesson plans so that they are not
left to read silently and independently. In terms of rules and routines, I
will follow Mrs. Peots lead by referencing the classroom rules when
needed and will for the most part use her routines, for example the
different attention-grabbers she uses with her students. I will leave the
classroom set up how it is- the students desks are in clusters.
Not only are the classroom factors important for learners, but the
school factors are important as well. Mrs. Peot told me that most of the

students in the school come from the same socioeconomic background

because the school is for the kids in the neighborhood, who all for the
most part are part of the upper middle-class. According to NCES, there
is a 16.13% student/teacher ratio and 355 out of the 393 students are
white (Breton Downs School, 2014). There is some tracking that
occurs in the classrooms- for example, a school worker asked Mrs. Peot
to write down how many times she had to redirect one of her students
each day. The social worker, speech therapist, principal, etc., all seem
very connected with every student in the school. Another example of
tracking in the classroom is that Mrs. Peot groups the students by
spelling abilities and gives harder spelling lists to students who need
an extra challenge. It might be challenging for me to apply UDL in the
classroom, but I think with Mrs. Peots guidance it will be a great
learning experience. Breton Downs uses the Common Core state
standards, and this year they have changed some of their textbooks.
For example, this year their math curriculum includes a writing journal
section to reflect on what the students have learned in math. This
affects my unit plan because Mrs. Peot does not know exactly where in
the new language arts curriculum we will be when it is my turn to
teach a unit.
The next environment that affects the students of Breton Downs
is the neighborhood. Housing surrounds the school, and all of the
neighborhoods seem to be part of the upper-middle class. The school is

regional (part of the Grand Rapids Public School District), so most

students walk or are driven by their parents. In the neighborhood there
are crossing guards at several corners who help students to cross the
streets safely. The parents of the students are the schools main
support base, but the community, which is made up of small
businesses (such as a D&W and a Starbucks), also seems to have an
impact on the school. However, the schools neighborhood is on a busy
road, which brings more traffic by the school. I do not know for sure
how I will connect the neighborhood with my unit plan, but maybe we
can talk about the importance of environments through some kind of
piece of literature.
I know that there are many factors that affect the context of my
classroom- factors that are found amongst the learners, in the school,
and in the community. I think that it is important to learn about these
factors and embrace them. I will continue to learn about my
classrooms context and will be aware of it as I teach my lesson.