Task 1.1.

Praxis Performance Assessment for Teachers Task 1 Contextual Factors Chart

This chart is designed to help you to understand that many factors affect teaching and learning. They include the community, classroom procedures, the students, and the physical environment in which you will be teaching. All this information will help you to determine teaching strategies and approaches that will support your students learning. In thi s chart, address each of the characteristics listed as they pertain to your teaching assignment. (You must attach this document as an artifact in response textbox 1.1.1.)

Source of Factor

Contextual and Environmental Factors

The community from which the students come from in mainly a suburban area. Greenwood has a per capita income of $31,732. The living wage estimate for two adult and two children living in Greenwood county is $18.09 per hour. As of 2012 Greenwood has a population of 69,756. Of the population 64% are Caucasian, 31% are African American, 5% are Hispanic and less then 3% are other. 79% of the population has a high school degree or higher.

Community
Urban, suburban, or rural; socioeconomic; census data on families

District
Enrollment, percent free and reduced lunch; graduation rate; ethnic breakdown; percent with IEP; percent ELL; per pupil expenditure

There are 9,031 students enrolled in Greenwood District 50. The free lunch rate is at 58% and the reduced lunch rate is at 5%. Within the district 1% of the students are Asian, 40% of the students are African American, 12% of the students are Hispanic, 45% of the students are Caucasian, and 2% of the students are a different ethnicity. Both high schools in Greenwood District 50 have a 76% pass rate for the 2012-2013 schools year. 12% of the students in the district have IEPS and 9.4% of the students are English Language Learners. The district spends $8,730 per pupil.

School
Enrollment, percent free and reduced lunch; achievement scores; ethnic breakdown; percent with IEP; percent ELL; recognitions; teacher/student ratio

The Instructional Services Center Preschool has approximately 37 students. The school building is used for offices of school physcholoisgt and other district officiala. There are only three preschool special educaiton classrooms with two sperate classes. Therefore 100% of the students have IEP. 32% of the students are African American, 36% of the students are Caucasian, 28% of the students are Hispanic, and 14% of another other ethnicity. 10% of the students are English Language Learners. The school does not supply lunch because it is a preschool and they do not attended during lunch time. If they did attend during lunch 80% of the students would qualify for free or reduced lunch. There is one teacher for about every 9

students. This is not including teacher aids, or ABA thearpist that are also present in the classroom. The students are between three and four therefore achievments scores are not appicable.

Classroom Demographics
Ethnicity, language needs, gender, identified special needs including gifted, physical needs, and cultural characteristics

The classroom is split into a morning and an afternoon class. Between the two classes 1% of the students are Caucasian, 63% are African American, 18% are Hispanic, and 1% of the students are Asian. There are four female students and seven male students. All of the students have language delays and receive speech therapy in the classroom. 72% of the students are developmentally delayed, 18% of the students have been diagnosed with autism, and 1% of the students are diagnosed with an orthopedic impairment. The students have a variety of physical needs. One student has a condition where the joints of the arms and legs are not developed to hold in the limbs. Therefore she has a gross motor delay. There are multiple students with minor gross motor and fine motor delays. We have one student with a tracheotomy. We also have two students have seizures. There are a variety of different cultures in the classroom, but the main cultural difference in the classroom is with the Hispanic students. They take pride in their work and objects. One example is they dont like to give us items such as their folders. We are working on with the students to build a trusting relationship between the teacher and student. With the students only being 3-4 years old do not show any stereotypes about themselves or others.

Knowledge of Students
Learning styles, prior learning/experiences, academic proficiencies, behavioral differences, and areas of interest

All of the students are kinesthetic learners. They all enjoys and learn best through small group activities with tactile and kinesthetic projects and songs that are accompanied by singing and dancing. This is the students first experience with school their for they have not had any prior academic learning experiences. Most of the students are interest in watercolors, play dough, animals, cars, and the rice table. There are a variety of behaviors exhibited in the classroom. Some of the students do not have behavioral problems and one of the students has a BIP. This particular student hits, pinches, and bites adults in the classroom. There are at least two students who do not like to follow directions and need a lot of repeating and hand over hand assistance.

Copyright 2013 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo and LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). PRAXIS and THE PRAXIS SERIES are trademarks of ETS. Guiding Prompts: Two pages max from your library of artifacts to the first sentence of your response a) Identify you chosen community fact. Based on your chosen community factor, identify one possible instructional strategy and one learning activity that you could use in your classroom to further student learning. Provide a rationale that explains how the identified strategy and activity connect to the chosen factor. Greenwood is known for being a small tight knit community. Most of the students have grown up and been in the same class together for many years. Therefore I would use group work between the students and small group instruction with the teacher for more structured task. This would all the students to work and learn while interacting with one another. I also feel like when it comes to structured learning activities the students would need more small group instruction to keep them focused on the task at hand because they can become easily distracted from the other students in the classroom. One learning activity that I would use in the classroom would be a jigsaw activity. The jigsaw activity would fit into the group work by allowing the students to complete parts of an activity and then come together to share with their group. This would work well for station teaching, which would allow the teacher to meet with the student individually or in small groups. The activity fits with the community factor because they are able to interact with one another, but still are able to learn independent work skills. b) Identify you chosen district factor. Based on your chosen district factor, identify one possible instructional strategy and one learning activity that you could use in your classroom to further student learning. Provide a rational that explains how the identified strategy and activity connect to the chosen factor. Greenwood district factor that I chose would be the 76% pass rate. One instructional strategy I would use in the classroom would be one on one instruction with manipulation of objects such as play dough in to letters and shapes. This activity allows the students to complete a task that they find interesting and fun while being educational. This would help build a teacher student relationship that would allow the teachers to make a difference and encourage the students. This bond you form with the students may be what pushes them to finish school. That is important because we would always like to increase the pass rate and especially with high school student you can make a difference with forming a trusting relationship with the students. One learning activity that you could do with students would be a career exploration activity. This would allow student to see the importance of graduating high school and for some student continuing on to a training, tech school, or college. This activity would fit with the district factor because it may open students eyes to the importanc e of staying in school and increasing the pass rate. c) Identify your chosen school factor. Based on your chosen school factor, identify one possible instructional strategy and one learning activity that you could use in your classroom to further student learning. Provide a rationale that explains how the identified strategy and activity connect to the chosen factor. The Instructional Services Center Preschool has a low student teacher ratio. Therefore, one instructional strategy I would use would be one on one instruction. I would take advantage of having aids and ABA therapist in the classroom. I would have activities such as station teaching. I would have each adult run a station by guiding them through kinesthetic activities. One activity that student could complete is string beads onto a pipe cleaner. This activity allows students to build fine motor skills, but if difficult to complete in a large group. With students split into smaller groups you are able to provide them more assistance, and make sure they are safely completing the activity. This is connected the school factors because if the district supplies the extra help in the classroom, I believe it is important to use them appropriately to the students advantage. 1.1.2 a) Identify your chosen classroom-demographic factor. Based on your chosen classroom-demographics factor, identify one possible instructional strategy and one learning strategy and activity connect to the chosen factor.

The Instructional Service Center Preschool is an extremely small school with class sizes from four to eight students. Therefore I believe it is important to allow the student interactions with other students in large groups. This would allow the students the opportunity to get comfortable in large groups that they are likely to encounter in when they go to elementary school. One instructional strategy I would use is large group instruction and interactive activities with other classes. This will all students to build social skills necessary for school in the future. One learning activity that you could use in your classroom would be to have a music lesson each day with all three classes together. This would allow the student to get use to the louder classroom setting, and dealing with the behaviors of other student in the room. This would be a great activity because the students are use to being in classrooms with four to six students. This would allow them to be in a group with around fifteen students at once. b) Identify your chosen knowledge-of-students factor. Based on your chosen knowledge-of-student factor, identify one possible instructional strategy and one learning activity that you could use in your classroom to future students learning. Provide a rationale that explains how the identified strategy and activity connect to the chosen factor. Knowing that most of the students are kinesthetic learners I would use that as my instructional strategy when possible. I would also mix in other learning styles to make sure all students receive the information in the best way possible for themselves and incase they do not get taught to their learning style in the future, they can learn the skills necessary to succeed. I would implement auditory learning techniques in to the lesson. One activity that I would complete with the students would be playing an alphabet rap with the sounds of the letters. During the song the students will verbally sing along and will complete the motion that go along with the song. This activity allows the students to get active while learning. They also work better in small groups, but due to the small class sizes they do not necessary need to be broken up into smaller groups than the whole class.

Praxis Performance Assessment for Teachers Task 1 Instructional and Support Resources Chart
A wide range of services and resources are available within a school system to support instruction. This chart allows you to become familiar with what is available to you within your teaching context. Complete the chart by listing available instructional materials and collegial/collaborative resources. (You must attach this document as an artifact in response textbox 1.2.1.)

Resource

One Example and Location

Community

The Greenwood Country Library is free to all members of the community. They offer students the chance to rent many different types of books for students of all ages. The offer preschool story times multiple times throughout the day. They also have other book readings older students. Located: 600 South Main Street, Greenwood SC The Greenwood District 50 office building is available for the student, parents, and teachers to offer support when needed. They have certain programs such as student support facility meetings. Located: 1855 Calhoun Road Greenwood, SC 29649 The staff at Instructional Service Center Preschool has a support group made up of all the preschool special eduction teachers. The meet together to check over their data binders and make answer any questions that they many have about their students. There is also person deicated to aduiting their IEP and returning them with any errors that may need to be corrected. Located: Instructional Service Center Preschool

Building/District Policies

Instructional Support Staff

Instructional materials

My Big Campus is an online resource allows teachers to connect with one another on ideas and strategy to teach in the classroom. It contains a variety of different videos that you can use in your classroom. You can organize the videos in to categorize to prepare and use for a particular lesson.

Located: online at mybigcampus.com

Curricular Programs

The Instructional Service Center Preschool implements Applied Behavior Analysis techniques and sessions with the students who are diagnosed with autism. They aim to increase meaningful behavior and positive changes. Located: In the classroom There are multiple iPads in the classroom that are available for both the students and teachers to use in. The students have a variety of different educational games that they play. As the teacher you can use the icomm app to allow nonverbal students to make choices and communicate with you. Located: In the classroom Power School is a program that allows the teachers and parents of the students to access the students information and record. This program keeps the parents connected to what is going on in the classroom and allows them to be involved in their education. Excent is also a program that is important to special education teachers. This program contains all the students IEPS, goals, and objective. Located: online Counseling services are provided to both students and teachers when necessary. This can help the students or teacher feel accepted and speak about certain topics in a safe environment. This can be a helpful resource for many people. Located in school

Instructional Technology

Student Data Access/Records

Other Resources

Copyright 2013 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo and LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING. are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS). PRAXIS and THE PRAXIS SERIES are trademarks of ETS. Guiding Prompts: Two pages maximum from your library of artifacts to the first sentence in your response a) Select two resources from the completed chart and describe how you would use each in your classroom to support student learning

I would use the Greenwood Library and the iPads daily in the classroom to promote student learning. I would use the iPad to allow student to practice puzzles, tracing letters, reading books, and commutating with non-verbal students. There is one app that alls the students to trace letters multiple times, and then it disappears. Then student then have to write the letter with out any support from the tracing. This has proven to be very help with students who are struggling with writing letters. Another app that is very useful is the icomm app. This allows the teacher to import pictures and vocal recordings. This allows the students to make choices by choosing pictures and then audio recordings play along with it. This can be use during snack time, center time, and circle time. It gives students the opportunity to be independent and make their own choices. I would suggest to parents that students should attend the library preschool reading sessions. Although this is not possible for all parents let their students attend, many parents ask what they can do at home with their students. This is an activity that the students are being read to by an adult. In the classroom we attempt to promote reading and get students interested in books, but it is not possible to read enough books to the students in two hours. Both the iPad and library promote and enhance student learning by exposing the students to many different content areas. b) Select a particular characteristic that you listed under Knowledge of Students in the Contextual Factors Chart. Describe how a resource, different from the two listed in Guiding Prompt A, could enhance student learning based on the particular characteristic selected. My Big Campus is a resource I would use in the classroom to get students moving. This is a great way to play student appropriate video with your students and enhance the kinesthetic learners. It also connects teacher with on another to share ideas. I would play songs during circle time from this website and act out the motions in front to the student. This gives students a visual to look at while the music is play. This is very important for students who are visual and need the visual aid to the music. It also has the auditory component along with it. These are both areas that have proven to be effective ways to teach the students in the classroom.

Sorry that I am just now getting this lesson plan to you. I will see you Monday morning.

Student Interest Inventory

Student: 1. She enjoys playing the childrens piano. - She prefers to look at books and pictures in black and white. - She enjoys when other students play games such as peak-a-boo with her. - She enjoys looking at pictures of her self. - She enjoys singing while playing the piano and during music. (babbling) - She enjoys exploring the classroom independently. He enjoys playing games on the computer and ipad. -He enjoys playing with cars and trains. -Like to paint with watercolors. -Like to watch videos with cartoon characters. She enjoys playing with baby dolls. -She likes to color with paper and markers. -She enjoys jumping and running. -She enjoys playing games with letters and colors on the ipad. She enjoys playing with any toy with a string. -She enjoys drawing with markers. -She enjoys crawling through the tunnel. -She like to make pretend phone calls. -She enjoys showing books to other students and flips the pages. He enjoys singing songs such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. -His favorite food is strawberry yogurt. -He loves playing with balls. -He enjoys crawling through the tunnel. He enjoys plays with any type of animal toy. -He enjoys playing in the rice table. -Like to play in the kitchen with the food. -He Like to play with the doll house. -He loves the donkeys. He enjoys singing songs such as the Money Song. (ooo, ahhhh, eeee) -He likes to play with puzzles. -He loves yogurt. -He enjoys riding the tricycles. -He enjoys music time with the other classes and actively participates. -He likes to play in the kitchen and pretend to make food. -He enjoys following and mimicking other students. -He likes to look at himself in mirrors. He loves Spongbob. -He enjoys playing with stickers. -He also likes to play with toy cars. -Enjoys playing with Playdough

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10. Her favorite food Poptart and juice. -She enjoys singing songs such as Big and Small and the Alphabet Rap. -Her favorite color is yellow. -She loves to play in the rice tray. 11. - He enjoys riding the tricycles. -He likes to play with other students.

- He enjoys building train tracks and running trains on them. -He enjoys playing with animals such as lions and zebras.

Guiding Prompts: Two pages max from your library of artifacts to the first sentence in your response A) Based on the compilation of information from the students interest inventories, analyze one example of how this information would influence an instructional decision you would make in your classroom. When making instructional decision in the classroom I would use the students interest to incorporate thing such as particular songs in to circle time and playing games that the student enjoy to promote learning. I would also use a lot of these as rewards for completing task such time playing with the animals they enjoy, playing with certain toys, and riding tricycles. These are all great motivators for the students and will keep them interested throughout the learning processes. B) Using one students completed interest inventory, analyze how you would use one item from the interest inventory to promote the students engagement and learning. Student one has goals such as pulling up on a table, crawling through a tunnel and crawling long distances. When working with her I would use the items she likes such as the piano to place in the tunnel or in an area you would like for her to explore. If you play the piano so she can hear a few notes she will hear it and begin to crawl where she would like. When working in the tunnel she is still getting use to the feeling of the tunnel on her hands, so she is more likely to reach in and pull the small piano out, but she is able to complete this skills, which was one a struggle for her. She also enjoys looking at black and white pictures of her self. Therefore, I would place black and white pictures of her around the classroom in particular spots to encourage her to explore and pull up on table and certain items in the classroom. The items can be used as a reward or can be use as part of her learning. I would make sure when I read books to her they are always in black in white. They are easier or her to see due to her vision problems. This makes her learning more enjoyable for her.

Task 1.2.3 Communicating with Students and Families Dear Parents and Guardians, As the school year get back in to the normal routine, I would like to start off by introducing myself. My name is Elizabeth Snider and I am a student teacher in you childs classroom. This semester is my last step at Lander University before I complete my Bachelors Degree in Special Education. I am very excited to be at the Instructional Services Ce nter Preschool and very fortunate to be working with your child. I will be working with Mrs. Jennifer from the beginning of January until the middle of April. Im looking forward to getting to know you and your child in the upcoming weeks. There will be ma ny wonderful experiences and opportunities to learn and grow in the days ahead. Please feel free to contact me at anytime with any questions or concerns. You can contact me by phone at ___ or by email at elizabeht.snider@lander.edu Best Regards, Elizabeth Snider One page from your library of artifacts to the first sentence in your response.

Prompts: a) Describe one example of how your method of communication addresses the demographic differences in the classroom. I sent home a letter in the students daily folder because this is where parents get other important information from the school to their home. This is appropriate for the demographic in the classroom because not all the parents have access to email, a blog, or a teacher website. This was a way to get a hard copy to every parent in the classroom. The letter was written on a 7th grade reading level, which would make it readable for the parents it is being send home to. All of the parents at the time this letter were sent home used English as their primary language. We just got a student in the classroom and the parents speak Spanish recently. For this student I will need to use the translator to help send the letter home in their native language. b) Describe how your method of communication fosters interaction between you, your students, and their families. The letter I send home with contact information of how the parents of the students can get a hold of me if necessary. This allows the parents to either call or email me any questions they may have. The letter is just one way I have fostered communication in the classroom. I briefly talk to the parents when we walk the student to the car. During IEP meetings and meetings with the parents there are opportunities to have conversations about their student. This allows parents the opportunity to let me know if they have any concerns or would need to meet to talk about a situation more in depth.

1.2.4 a) Describe one example of a classroom rule or procedure. Explain how the rule or procedure facilitates instruction, enhances student learning, or impacts the learning environment. One procedure that we complete in the classroom to facilitate instruction and enhances student learning is during snack time. We enter into the room after music with the students in a line. As the come in they go to wash their hands. Most of the students have washing their hands independently as an educational goal. As the teacher some of the students need you to wash their hand with hand over hand assistance. Then the students sit down at the table and wait for the aid to serve the snacks. The aid gives the students options and makes them ask politely for the snack such as cookie please or makes them sign for what they want. If students are struggling with asking for what they want we say it multiple types, show them how to sign the necessary sign, and even hand over hand sign for the student. During this time students are learning how to follow directions and life skills such as how to let adults know what they would like to eat. The students have a variety of different foods such as cookies, crackers, chips, yogurt and juice. This allows the students to work on eating skills, such as using a spoon, drinking from a cup, and taking appropriate bites from food. Then the students clean up their area and throw away their trash. This is developmentally appropriate for the students because they are learning self help skills and how to follow directions. This processes facilities the students learning these skills. c) Describe one example of a technology rule or procedure. Explain how the rule or procedure facilitates instruction, enhances student learning, or impact the learning environment. The students use the iPad and computers during center time. They are allowed to play any of the educational games that they would like. Most of the students know how to get into the games, but some of them need assistance to get to the game that they are looking for. Normally you can tell when they are struggling and the teacher will go over and assistance the students to get where they need to be. They play games such as ABCs, watch videos, books read aloud, and complete puzzles. This helps enhance the students learning by presenting the material that is taught in circle time in another manner. A lot of the students view the iPad is playing games, but they are also playing educational games that support the students learning. At times we use the iPad as a reward for completing a task. At the end the students are getting iPad time. This is once again a strategy that decreases undesired behaviors in the student, but at the same time enhances their learning. This creates a learning environment that is calm and the students able to learning from many different avenues. c) Describe one example of a behavior management rule or procedure. Explain how the rule or procedure facilitates instruction, enhances student learning, or impacts the learning environment. One behavior management procedure we use in the classroom is rewarding desired behaviors with skittles. This keeps the students motivated during work time. During name boxes we reward the student at the end of completing their name one time by giving them one skittle. This keeps the student interested in the activity to get them to complete the activity three times in a row. We also use the skittles during circle time. We give them to students who are actively participating. This can take the undesired behaviors of other students and turn them in to desired behaviors when they see their peers get a skittle. We also have the student choose a color of skittle from a chart and ask for it. Then once the student gets the skittle they match it to the sheet and say the name of the color. This is another way to incorporate learning colors and how to match objects. This makes it not only a behavior management strategy that facilitates desired behavior, but also enhances the students learning.