Contextual Factors The second grade classroom at Springfield Elementary School is very welcoming.

Each student greets me as soon as I walk in the door. When you walk in the classroom at the front is the SmartBoard in the middle of two whiteboards. On the whiteboard is the date and the number of days in school chart that a student does every day. On the left side of the SmartBoard is the calendar, weather chart, months, and days of the week. There is also a big blue rug in the front of the classroom where the students come for morning work, morning greetings, read alouds, and other different activities. The teacher has her laptop at the front of the class with a webcam attached to it. There are also different kinds if charts posted around the classroom. A few of the charts are Alphabet, Character Traits, Rounding, Transportation, Problem Solver, Question, and Our Promises (rules). The desks are arranged in four groups. Two students sit in the back of the classroom by themselves. One student is by himself because he likes to focus on and help other people in a way that is disruptive. The other student is by herself because she has a hard time paying attention and focusing in class. Each group is called by the colors blue, red, yellow, and green. The students are arranged by their personalities and behaviors. The teacher says she sometimes as to rearrange the desks at least once a week. The teacher uses a kidney table as her desk. She uses this table for guided reading groups and for working with students one on one. She also grades her papers at this table. Behind her table she has a cabinet where she keeps the supplies and books for the classroom. The classroom is filled with different charts around the walls. There is also a word wall and math word wall. On the alphabet word wall are words with prefixes under each letter of the alphabet. The charts are very helpful for the students because they can go back and look at them if they having problems with a particular content. The classroom rules are posted on the wall also with the students signatures and pictures on them. The teacher does not have consequences, she allows the students to try to solve problems on their own. The students solve their problems on their own by using the I Message. The I Message is where the students tell each other how they feel when they are having problems with each other. The students put their backpacks in baskets stacked on top of each other. In the back of the classroom are three computers where the students work on Odyssey. Above the computers are bookshelves where the teacher has books and pictures of her students. On the left side of the classroom is a bathroom and sink. The students are able to go to the bathroom whenever they are not doing important work. On the right side of the classroom behind the teachers table is another sink and water fountain. The class has a daily schedule that they follow. On Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the schedule is the same except for activity. The day will start off with WSPR News. Then the students will have morning work where they do subtraction problems and the morning message. After morning work, the students will have calendar, shared reading, and an interactive read aloud. Then the students will do guided reading followed by guided math. After math the students will line up for lunch. When the students are finished with lunch, the students head

outside for recess. After recess they will go back to class for writers workshop. Then students go to their daily activity (Monday: Music, Wednesday: P.E., Thursday: Media Center and Computer Lab, Friday: Art). After activity is buddy study, where the students study their spelling words. Then the students get packed up and ready for dismissal. When it comes to teaching social studies and science, the teacher does not teach it. She integrates both of these subjects with English Language Arts. The teacher will also use big reading books for the teaching of these subjects. On Tuesday the students have a different schedule. The day will start off with WSPR News. Then the students will have morning work. After morning work the GATAS teacher comes to the classroom to teach brain boosters. Then the students will have guided reading followed by guided math. After math the students will line up for lunch. When lunch is over with the students go to recess. After recess is buddy study and then the students go to their daily activity, computer lab. Students receive Sunny Money by showing good behavior, showing engagement in the classroom, and doing positive things. The whole class can also receive Sunny Money. The students have a designated place where they put their Sunny Money and that is on the classroom door in a pocket chart. When the students receive a certain number of Sunny Monies they get a reward. When it comes to parent involvement, the parents are really involved. They are very helpful. One parent makes copies for the teacher. Another parent comes in to file and organize papers. Another parent pulls out the worksheets in the workbooks that the students will need. Parental involvement is very good in this classroom. Student Characteristics The second grade class consists of nineteen students. The age range of the students ranges from seven to eight. There are ten females and nine males. There are ten Caucasian students, five African American students, and four Hispanic students. There is one student that the teacher is concern about having ADHD. The teacher plans on contacting the parents about this situation soon. One student goes out of the class for Speech Impairment. Two students are currently in Tier 2 for RTI (Response to Intervention) and two students are being looked at in Tier 2 for RTI. There are two ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) students in the class also. The students are very active. They love to play sports and enjoy watching movies. The students like working with a partner and learning new things with a partner. The students enjoy the subject science the most in school. Most of the students need help with homework, reading, and math. The students are great kids and I can tell they enjoy learning. According to the teacher the MAP scores of the students were not so good. There are nineteen students in the class. Ten students did not meet the math passing score on the MAP test.

Ten students did not meet the reading passing score on the MAP test. There are two students that are low in math and are currently getting help. Instructional Implications Based on the information that I have gathered from my cooperating teacher and the students interest surveys, I have an idea of how to plan my lessons. For the students that are from different cultures such as Hispanic and African American, I will plan my lessons based on their culture. For example, I will read books with Hispanic or African American people in them. Also based on what I have learned in class about these two cultures, I will plan lessons with a lot of collaborative partner work. For my student with ADHD, I will provide clear instructions when it comes to different activities. I will also make sure that I have the instructions to the activities displayed on the SmartBoard for the child to see them. I will make sure the activities are engaging. The students interest surveys also made it easier for me to plan my lessons. Most of the students love to learn new things by acting them out and working with a partner. They also love movies, computer games, and reading. This information will allow me to plan lessons where students will be able to act things out. Since the students also love reading, I can have them act out different scenes in the book. When it comes to movies or videos, I can provide video clips or a movie based on the content that is being taught. For most of my lessons, I will allow the students to do group work since they would rather learn with others than alone. When it comes to helping students with reading, I will model to students how to break down each word and sound out each part of the word. In my class, the students are learning how to punch and say each part of different words. This can be strategy to help them with their reading. I will show the students how to slowly take their time while reading each word in a sentence. I believe this will help them also. All of this information will be very beneficial for me when it is time to plan and teach my lessons.