Trey Williams

EDU 429
Dr. OConnor
Contextual Factors
Teaching is more than just standing in front of a class and lecturing or doing worksheets.
Teaching deals with things that are not always tangible that alter how someone is able to teach a
class. These things are called contextual factors and they influence teaching in a classroom. The
contextual factors I will be dealing with are for my clinical class hosted by Mrs. Fran Doolittle
4th period Government and Economics class. These factors are classroom factors, student
characteristics, and the instruction implications that it brings.
The classroom factors that I have to deal with are things that are physically in the class
room such as seating, class time, technology available, and extent of parental involvement. The
seating in the class room is several rows of desks all facing the front of the class. This makes it
easier to distribute papers and focus on lectures and keeps the undivided attention on the front.
The class time is one hour and thirty minutes long. With this much time it will be important to
break up lecture with worksheets and other small things. The technology in the class is about 6
computers in the back of the class a white board in the front and a Promethean board in the front.
The computers in the class allow some student s to do some research or do other work when
needed. The white board is useful when writing down objectives and extra stuff from notes. The
Promethean board is perfect to use videos, notes, and lecture from to giver visual references to
students. The extent of parental involvement is little to none. This is because these students are
seniors and dont really need parent involvement.
The next factor is student characteristics. This is things such as age, gender, race,
language, interests, special needs, and learning style. This class consists of twelve seniors and
two juniors. This means that almost all the students are 16 to 18, meaning they are all well versed
in schooling. Students are even in male and female students, and all speak English as their main
language. With it being even number of guys and girls and all of them speaking English
discussion and lessons will be easy and not complicated for anyone. In order to find out students
interests we will have open discussions that students can voice their opinions. To accomplish a
will balanced learning environment we will go over material hands on, verbally, and visually.
The instruction implications of all this is quite simple. With the only IEPs in this class
being extra time on tests, it will be given to them. This will cause my class to be more thought
provoking, asking questions and debating them will be a good way to understand the material. I
believe that with the multiple views in the class it will make more fun to debate things. But to
ensure that the students have a good base of knowledge we will review material in oral, verbal,
and hands on ways.
While keeping in mind all the classroom factor, student characteristics, and instruction
implications they bring it is easier to see how to teach this class. With these factors in mind it is
easier to make lessons and guide class discussion in a way that is most beneficial for all students
in the class.