Teaching: Contextual Factors

Standard 1: Contextual Factors

One of the most difficult tasks teachers face is learning to proficiently educate across students’ individual academic and background differences. Students gain knowledge and are shaped by their life experiences which may come from their school, their families, their communities, and their cultures. In order for a teacher to properly connect with his/her students and properly educate them, teachers must familiarize themselves with and understand the students’ families, communities, and cultures. In fact, research suggests that what often stops teachers from giving students what they truly need is the teacher’s lack of awareness and stagnant practice, being informed by their own learning styles, relying on their own cultural and class-based norms, and limited understandings of how their students’ unique demographic differences enter the classroom (Delpit, 2006). In other words, instead of teachers making the assumption that demographics do not matter or should influence classroom learning, perhaps teachers need to reflect upon their population of students and create classrooms, lessons, and activities which are conducive for a diverse class of students. When I reflect upon the diverse population of students I have this year in my student teaching classroom and the demographic and academic data I have collected for my students, I recognize that all the pieces of this information is highly important for me to know in order for me to proficiently instruct my students and in order for me to design differentiated lessons and activities. I can think of many ways in which this demographic data would influence the décor of my classroom, daily interactions, instructions, planning, and classroom engagement/management plans: * My classroom décor would consist of posters, pictures, and/or information of various things in the students’ community. I would also designate an area which would celebrate the various cultures which were represented in the classroom in order to show value to each student. * I would familiarize myself with which students were on free lunch in order to make sure that they are eating and receiving the nutrition that they need. * I would use visuals often. I believe visuals can help every student, especially English Language Learners or special need students. * I would communicate to the students how special diversity is. The world would be so boring if we were all the same; however, they should know that they are also the same in many aspects. They are all American citizens and are all a part of the classroom community. * The books I would choose to include in my classroom library. * The method of delivery that I would choose for lessons would need to be appropriate for all students. * I would need to make sure that the themes chosen for unit instruction was interesting for all my students and did not disrespect any of the cultures being represented in my classroom. * The classroom activities would need to be designed so that every child could perform them regardless of any limitations. * The way I would choose to group children for group work would be greatly influenced by their similarities, differences, and/or academic abilities. * Though I believe a wide-range of assessments are necessary in order to get the most accurate picture of a student’s academic abilities, I believe that in a diverse classroom, I would benefit the most by performing ongoing assessments so that I may provide my students with on-going on consistent feedback.
Considering student demographics in the classroom is fairly new in the educational system. Teachers must gather as much demographic information as possible in order to help each student reach their educational goals. The more data I gather, the more I recognize how I could become a more efficient educator by understanding this information.