Lisa Reagan

3/16/19

Context for Learning Form (25 pts)

Directions: Please answer the questions below completely. Each section should answer each of the prompts in
paragraph form. It is expected your responses will exceed 4-5 sentences for each section. You MUST
ANSWER each section of the prompt to receive full credit.
1. Context for Learning (Demographic description)
a. Provide information about the context in which you teach so that another educator can understand your
teaching decisions for the instruction in the learning segment. Address the following:

My field location is at Fairhaven Programs in Niles, Ohio. The setting of my placement is in a

preschool classroom. It is an inclusion classroom with children of varying needs. In the classroom, there is

a total of twelve students to each preschool classroom. Six of the twelve students are identified on an IEP,

while the other six students are not identified. All of the students speak English as their primary language.

The classroom is very unique in the sense that it has a mix of learners of varying levels of ability. A

couple students are nonverbal, which also makes this classroom unique from other preschool settings that

I have been placed at for field. The classroom also has many different sensory manipulatives and it also

has special sitting for the nonmobile child. The setting supports student’s needs and learning by

addressing their individual needs. All of the students feel welcomed and a part of the classroom

community. The teacher, Tricia Maxwell, provides many different supports to the children in her

classroom. This includes supports given to all children in their learning, but also supports that are needed

from the students IEPs. For example, this includes verbal prompts and modeling to students that need

more support.

The school is located in an area that is surrounded by houses. The children in my classroom are

versatile in the sense that they all come from different backgrounds. Mrs. Maxwell explained to me that

many of the children come from blue collar families. She also said that there is a healthy mixture of

socioeconomic status. Some of the families are lower middle class, as others may be considered to be

working class. Some parents have a college education, while others do not. There are a variety of cultures,
but the region is predominately white. There are also students of African American and Asian descent in

my classroom as well, which provides a variety of cultures into the mix of the majority. Mrs. Maxwell

explained that the community tends to support their school initiatives, making sure that the students are

benefiting from the resources that are available to them.

My role in the learners’ instructional program is to provide more individualized support in learning the

letters of the alphabet. In addition to this, I plan to eventually work on rhyming words and provide support in

learning to write their names. I also make sure that I help the students stay on task with the activities planned

for them and I help them make progress in their learning. I assess the students while I work with the to

ensure that the students are meeting the objectives for the lesson. I am not supporting a behavioral plan for

my target students, but I will implement a behavior plan for a nonverbal child with autism that just entered

the school three weeks ago. When I work with my target students, I work with them at a small table in the

classroom. This setting helps the students focus on the lesson that I have planned, using the small table in the

library area of the classroom. Therefore, the students are not participating in a pull-out program.

For instructional time with my target students, there are two times throughout the morning when I can

work with them. For an overview of their day, the students enter the classroom around 9:00am. At this

point, they work on their morning work for about 45 minutes. This includes coloring pages, a worksheet for

letters, and working on tracing their name. When I work with my target students, it is in the morning when

they finish their morning work. This is usually around 9:40am. I usually work with them for 15 to 20

minutes. This time varies depending on the activities planned for each day. After this, the students

participate in circle time around 10:00am. This includes reading a book, then working on rhyming activities

in a whole group setting. At 10:30am, the students go to centers. This is another time when I can work with

my students if the morning time did not work out. If they have gym, music, or swimming it is at 10:30am to

11:00am. They have lunch at 11:00am to 11:30am. Therefore, I usually work with the students for 15 to 20

minutes after morning work Monday through Thursday.

The students participate in an inclusive setting with other children of varying ability. Mrs. Maxwell

explained that the only time that Lily-Anna leaves the classroom in a separate setting is when she goes to

speech therapy. This allows for her to have individualized support for her speech, as she is currently

wearing hearing aids and had trouble articulating speech sounds. I’m not certain on how often she goes to

speech therapy, as it is later in the day when I am not at the preschool. Other than this, the students are in

the classroom with their teacher and the classroom assistant.

c. Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher, or student teaching requirements or expectations
that might affect your planning or instructional delivery. For example, do they use a specific reading or
math curriculum that is scripted? Is there a required system for reporting?

Mrs. Maxwell explained that the school does require them to follow a curriculum, but the teachers are

free to make adjustments as needed. Their curriculum will not affect my planning or instructional delivery.

They do have a required system for reporting English language arts, but it will not affect my lessons. Something

that may affect my ability to implement lessons is their classroom schedule. The students are required to go to

gym, music, and swimming once a week. If I am not able to work with the students in the morning of those

days, then I may not be able to implement the lesson for that day.

d. If you will be engaged in group instruction, please describe the size of the classroom. Describe how
many students are identified and receiving services on an IEP or 504. Are there ESL learners in the
classroom and how is their success supported?

At times, I am engaged in group instruction. For example, Mrs. Maxwell asked me to read a story to

the class and during another day she asked me to do a rhyming activity with the class. This does not happen

daily, but it seems that about once a week she provides me with the opportunity to work with the whole class

during circle time. There are twelve students in the classroom. Six of the students are identified on an IEP and
they do receive supports that are listed on their IEPs. The classroom does not have any English language

learners.

e. Describe classroom routines. How are these routines communicated to the students?

The classroom has many routines implemented throughout the day. For example, every morning the

students know that they need to put their backpack in their cubby and put their folder away. After this, they need

to go to grab their morning work and sit at the large tables to work on it. When they finish their morning work,

they have to work on tracing their name then they go to the library center to read a book. Then, students are called

over to circle time. They know that they have to sit on a letter around the perimeter of the carpet area. They are

expected to pay attention, participate, and stay on-task during this time. Next, the students either go to centers or

they will go to gym, music, or swimming. When they go to centers, they know that there is a limit to how many

students can be at a center at a time. The students are expected to clean up their areas after centers and put the

materials away in the appropriate areas. The last routine that I see during my field is lunchtime. The students

know that they have to grab their lunchboxes or wait at the table to receive the school lunch. The students are

expected to stay seated during this time and eat their lunch. The classroom has a routine in place that follow a

particular order, according to their classroom schedule. The routines are communicated to the students by

providing a reminder of what they should be doing. At this point in the schoolyear, the students have a good sense

of what they need to do. Sometimes the students do need a reminder if they are off-task.

f. How do teachers and staff provide students with feedback

The teacher and classroom assistant both provide feedback to students throughout the day. This is done

using verbal feedback throughout most of the day. For example, the teacher will make comments such as “I really

like that Gabe is working on his morning work” or “Rachel, what are we supposed to be working on?” When

students are off-task, the teacher will redirect them to work on the current activity. Since this is preschool, a lot of

the children are still learning how to socialize with each other. Throughout the day, some kind of conflict will
always arise between students, in which the teacher will address this by explaining how to handle the situation to

the children. In addition to this, the teacher has a behavior chart in the classroom. If she has to move someone

name, she will explain to the student why their name was moved to a different color. The teacher also uses

rewards or incentives with the nonverbal children, to help them learn the appropriate routines in the classroom.

2. Describing your target students for your small group instruction

Both of the target students that I will be working with for my first small group are female.

Theresa is a is five and a half years old, while Lily-Anna just turned four years old. The grade level

equivalent for learning and instructional purposes is Pre-K for both of the students. The Pre-K curriculum

addresses multiple levels of learners in the classroom setting, therefore they are both considered to be at

the same level. The students both speak English as their primary language. Theresa does not use any

devices of alternative communication. Lily-Anna wears hearing aids to support her in the classroom, as

she has difficulty hearing. Her teacher also told me that she has a machine with a microphone to amplify

her voice, but they no longer use it to support her in the classroom. The special instructional needs for

Theresa to show progress with the curriculum are verbal prompts, modeling, and verbal praise. The

special instructional needs for Lily-Anna to show curricular progress are supports in direct instruction,

modeling, demonstration, visual supports, and scaffolding of skills to increase independence. Both

students are identified on an IEP for speech, therefore their special instructional needs are similar. Lily-

Anna tends to receive more support as she has more of a need for special instructional services.