Impact on Student Learning – Contextual Factors
Community and School Information
The Mississippi community is located within the Boothel of the United States of Missouri, Arkansas State. The 2020 census showed that the city has 49,584 people, and more than 80 percent of this population were Hindus, with 8% being African Americans and other ethnic communities below 5%. The city’s socio-economic status depicts a household income of $49879, and its poverty rate is 18.7% (About Us | City of Ocean Springs, Mississippi 1). The Calvert MELC Pre-K School is a Title I public institution located in Oceanic Springs within Mississippi County, serving roughly 1000 learners (Calvert MELC Pre-K School). The school offers parental online training and technological resources to support learning. Additionally, the school meal program provides free and less costly meal plans to the enrolled learners who meet the income eligibility rules.
In addition, the special feeding program affects the student and teaching process because the number of learners getting free lunch within the school is about 250, which is considerably big. If the school fails to collaborate with the district to implement effective feeding programs, it directly impacts students, and learners generally find it hard to cope with school lessons. For example, a lack of nutritious meals at home and in school always results in poor understanding among learners. In addition, student transportation is a primary aspect that affects the learning process. Regarding the low economic status, the lack of transportation will likely hinder students’ learning and disadvantage them from competing fairly with other learners to get adequate transportation. Soundariya et al. say efficient and effective transportation enhances equity and equal playing ground for learners, leading to better performance (10).
The environmental factors that impact education include the ethnic composition of the classroom, which has 100 percent white learners. This ethnic composition interferes with the learning process as the learners are still ignorant of their races and cultures, meaning the students do not understand other ethnic communities within the county. This affects learners because the growing number of immigrants from different ethnicities to the U.S. means inadequate knowledge of other cultures, ultimately affecting students’ learning results (Hallahan 192). The other factor is that tutors in the school are primarily females, who are 96 percent, which depicts gender inequality within the teaching staff. Such aspects make it hard for female tutors to relate to male learners’ needs and study requirements. Restrained reach or attention to male students adversely affects their learning and teaching outcomes.
Classroom Information: Contextual Factors
Physical Features. The classroom’s physical features, such as positioning and equipment, primarily affect the learning course. Therefore, the school spends significant resources to improve classroom physical aspects. Learners’ perceived disparities within the classroom are caused by improved seating arrangement and general comfort, increasing their desire to learn and concentrate in class. Usually, high concentration among learners leads to improved results and more interactive learning courses. The physical feature of the classroom enhances learners’ satisfaction with their education and assessment of tutors, which leads to motivating educators and better delivery of learning content.
Parental Involvement. The degree to which parents get involved in their children’s education is another contextual aspect within the classroom. Ensuring the school’s webpage is easily accessible helps inform parents what their children are studying in real-time. Implementing quarterly meetings with parents enables them to see and track their child’s progress and interest in different study subjects. This allows parents to share their ideas, improving the learning and teaching process.
Technology, Equipment, and Resources. Technological availability in a classroom environment affects the learning and teaching results. For example, the existence of technological resources and equipment like computers within a classroom aids in improving literacy levels not just in class but also within the community. Hallahan et al. note that effective integration of technological resources and equipment provides learners with multiple ways of executing their tasks and focusing on improving academic results through research (158). To tutors, technology provides better and easier-to-understand teaching instruments.
Small Practices. At Calvert MELK Pre-K school, there is differentiated learning where learners get to class with diverse interests, strengths, needs, and experiences. Therefore, small group learning is used, which allows the teachers to meet the learners where they are stationed. It also ensures that teachers introduce activities and ideas that are just the correct challenging level for every student. Teachers also use learning centers that encourage individualization and collaboration among learners.
Classroom Rules and Routines. The classroom routine and rules also contribute to establishing a conducive and welcoming learning setting. Classroom rules create a good understanding between teachers and students. These rules include late work, food, extra credit, and cell phone use. They also make learners understand the repercussions of their actions, such as failing or missing exams. Therefore, having proper rules reduces absenteeism, keeps food out of class, reduces distractions, and enhances the timely completion of tasks.
Student Characteristics
For the chosen classroom, the tutor will instruct a pre-k classroom of 18 students, all of age 5. The class has nine male and nine female students. The class consists of learners from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and races—white and black. As stated in the population ratio and class characteristics, it is evident that learners from minority groups are fewer in the institution (Retnowati and Sweller 689). This institution also admits learners with disabilities and others with different grade levels, which is essential for teachers’ consideration when planning and preparing teaching materials. The teacher’s understanding of learners’ varied approaches to teaching will assist in catering to special needs learners such as two pre-kindergarten students with developmental delays. With this information, educators will have to design lesson plans and class activities incorporating diverse learning approaches for special needs students to enhance their learning. The knowledge of students’ skills and prior learning also affects students learning. For example, the pre-kindergarten class has one ELL learner whose primary language is Spanish. Thus, the teachers will have to evaluate the learner’s prior learning abilities, and such data or information will help strengthen learners’ engagement and education (Soundariya et al. 45).
| Contextual factors | Modifications/Accommodations |
| Students above pre-k level | The teaching should be designed in a more challenging manner to accommodate their abilities. For example, their assessment test can entail more complex tasks. |
| Two students with developmental delay | For such learners to be accommodated, the tutor should design their teaching to entail visual cues such as boundary markers to improve their independence (Hallahan et al. 168). |
| 1 ELL learner | The teacher can adjust the teaching approach for these learners to make it more learner-centered. In addition, the assessments can be done on the classroom board or through a formative assessment to improve the engagement of the ELL learners. |
Conclusion
Remarkably, while planning for instruction and teaching modes, different stakeholders must consider various factors within the classroom, community, and school. The dynamics of all the contextual aspects help address the diverse learning wants of various learners within the school. It is essential to have a problem-based approach instead of a project-based one, resulting in better learning and teaching outcomes. The racial, community, environmental, and socio-economic contextual aspects are vital in designing teaching approaches. The classroom features like access to resources and physical features additionally affect learning. Thus, tutors’ discretion in analyzing and checking the scope of contextual factors that influence child learning is vital to attaining holistic education. Therefore, teachers and stakeholders are challenged to be mindful of the various contextual factors likely to challenge or affect the learners’ progress.
A Short Summary of Experience Thus Far
I have three years of experience in early childhood teaching that I attained through internships, volunteer, and summer jobs. Most importantly, my practicum enables me to realize my greatest strengths and weaknesses. My greatest strength is the effective handling of special needs learners. I have volunteered in different special needs schools. I remember teaching and handling an Autistic learner, and his speech improved. This was so inspiring. My greatest challenge is being so sympathetic to learners that it is hard to discipline them even if they make a mistake. I possess diverse skills such as leadership, communication, organization, and classroom management.
Works Cited
“About Us.” City of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, 1 Apr. 2020, https://oceansprings-ms.gov/about-us-ocean-springs/.
Hallahan, Daniel E., James M. Kauffman, and Paige C. Pullen. Exceptional Learners: An Introduction to Special Education: Pearson New International Edition. Pearson Higher Ed, 2013.
Retnowati, Endah, Paul Ayres, and John Sweller. “Collaborative learning effects when students have complete or incomplete knowledge.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 32.6 (2018): 681-692. doi:10.1002/acp.3444
Soundariya, Krishnamurthy, Velusami Deepika, and Ganapathy Kalaiselvan. “A study on the learning styles and learning approaches among medical students.” National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy, and Pharmacology 7.10 (2017): 1020.7(9), 1. https://doi.org/10.5455/njppp.2017.7.0413011052017
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Question 
Impact on Student Learning – Contextual Factors
The teacher candidate will collect contextual factors about students, the school, and the learning community. The teacher candidate will analyze the contextual factors to inform the unit and/or lesson planning.
If you do not have time to ask your mentor teacher all of the questions related to contextual factors during your field experience time, you are welcome to email your mentor teacher and/or school counselor.