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Haley Estabrook

EDU 450

Contextual Factor Analysis

September 26, 2017

In August 2017, I will begin my student teaching adventure at Longfellow Elementary

School in Portland, Maine. During my time at Longfellow Elementary, I will be collaborating

with Laura Pellerin in her fourth grade classroom.

As I enter into a new classroom, I find it very important to learn about the school district,

city, and individual students in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom. By acquiring a

deep understanding of the community that students come from and the classroom dynamic, I will

have a much better ability to make meaningful connections with my students.

Community

Longfellow Elementary School is located in the city of Portland, Maine. According to the

United States Census Bureau, the population of Portland was 66,937 people in 2016.

City-Data.com breaks the poulation of Portland down into 96 percent of the population is urban

and the remaining 4 percent is rural. The population of Portland has gone up 3.8 percent since

2000 (Portland, ME). The median resident age of Portland is 40.3 years old (Portland, ME). The

population of Portland may be reflected in the classrooms, as there is such a large amount of

people living in the city. This may mean larger classrooms or less funding as there are more

resources needed for the large amount of schools.

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The median household income in Portland in 2015 was $52,139 (Portland, ME). Pictured

to the right in the pie chart labeled Income Distribution in Portland created by City-Data.com.

The pie chart is a breakdown of the income ranges of individuals

living in Portland. The estimated median income in Portland has

increased from 2000, when the median income was $35,650

(Portland, ME). The percentage of Portland residents that are

living in poverty is 15.5. The median income and poverty rate are

very relevant statistics as I enter into the classroom because it will

better help me understand the potential home lives. Students who

may be living in poverty or low income homes may be coming to

school hungry or not well rested depending on their home

environments. This is important to take into consideration while I

am student teaching at Longfellow Elementary because I need to be able to provide students a

learning space where they are given the proper tools they need to succeed. This may include a

quick snack for the students to eat if they are hungry or frequent movement breaks to allow

students to stretch and wake up if they are falling asleep.

For education in the city of Portland, 95 percent of the population 25 years and older has

a high school diploma or higher. 50 percent of the population of 25 years and older have a

Bachelors degree or higher. 21.3 percent of the population has a graduate or professional

degree. 4.8 percent of the population 25 years or older is unemployed - this is approximately

3,213 people in the city of Portland (Portland, ME). This shows me that education is valued in

this city community, which may mean the community is quick to help the schools in the area.
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District

Longfellow Elementary School is part of the Portland Public Schools. The Portland

Public School district is very large, consisting of eleven elementary schools, three middle

schools, and four high schools (Schools). On October 17, 2016, Marnie Morrione, Portland

Board of Public Education Chair, gave the State Of The Schools speech. During this speech, she

informed the public of many important statistics that make the Portland Public School district so

unique. The Portland Public Schools is the largest and most diverse school district in the state of

Maine. There are approximately 6,800 students enrolled in the district, starting in

pre-kindergarten and going through twelfth grade (State Of The Schools). The district also

employs many people in the city and nearby towns, as they have a 1,200 staff (State Of The

Schools). One of the newest staff members in the district is the superintendent, Xavier Botana,

who joined the district in July of 2016. Mr. Botana also adds to the diversity that Portland Public

Schools is so proud of, as he immigrated into the United States from Cuba when he was young.

The Portland Public Schools is a very diverse school district. About 2,300 students, or 33

percent, of the students enrolled in the district come from homes where languages other than

English are spoken (State Of The Schools). According to Marnie Morrione, there are a total of 60

languages spoken district-wide. Diversity in schools is very important as it enhances all the

students lives, cultural understanding, and results in a more accepting population. Diverse

schools and classrooms can benefit all of the students involved. The Century Foundation shared

research conducted by a group from Teachers College Columbia, saying researchers have

documented that students exposure to other students who are different from themselves and the

novel ideas and challenges that such exposure brings leads to improved cognitive skills,
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including critical thinking and problem solving (How Racially Diverse). Diversity in the

classroom can enhance the learning done by students as well as educators. As teachers learn to

accommodate the needs of their English Language Learners, they discover more techniques that

not only help their diverse learners, but also make their instruction more accessible to all the

learners in their classroom. I am looking forward to improving my instruction techniques by

being able to work with students from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The Portland

community also has strong opinions on diversity, as Morrione states the community said how

much they value the diversity of our school system (State Of The Schools).

One great piece of information that I learned while reading The State of the Schools

address was the district's valuing of cultural enhancement for their students. Culture

Club-Portland, a collaboration between the Portland Education Foundation, the Portland Public

Schools, the Portland Museum of Art, Portland Stage, Portland Ovations, and the Portland

Symphony Orchestra is working with Portland schools to allow students to go to programs at

each of the four participating institutions every year, at no additional costs to the district (State

Of The Schools). I will be fortunate enough to attend the first field trip of the year to see the play

The Money Tree performed at Merrill Auditorium in Portland.

During the start of the school year, I was fortunate to attend a school-wide meeting led by

the Portland superintendent. During this meeting, he informed the staff at Longfellow

Elementary School that there is a new comprehensive plan for the district. Mr. Botana explained

that the district received a grant from Unum that allowed them to collaborate with professionals

to recreate the comprehensive plan. Below are some highlights from The Portland Public Schools

Promise Comprehensive Strategic Plan for 2017 to 2020.

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Vision: All learners will be full prepared to participate and succeed in a diverse and

ever-changing world.

Goal 1 - Achievement: All PPS students will be prepared for college and career and empowered

to pursue a productive postsecondary path.

Goal 2 - Whole Student: All PPS students will develop the skills, habits and mindsets they need

to engage in and contribute to our diverse city and ever-changing world.

Goal 3 - Equity: PPS is vigilant in supporting each and every students particular path to

achieving high standards, rooting out systemic or ongoing inequities.

Goal 4 - People: PPS attracts, supports and retains talented and diverse people who use their

strengths to achieve our shared goals.

It is clear that the district works hard to ensure that students are prepared for their future,

regardless of what their postsecondary path of choice is. All the schools in the district are insync

as the superintendent meets with each of them to discuss the new goals. The district takes pride

in empowering each and every student. I am beyond excited to be able to learn how to be a

successful educator from the professionals in this district.

School

Longfellow Elementary School is located on 432 Stevens Avenue, Portland, Maine. The

mission at Longfellow Elementary is Within the Longfellow community, we are committed to

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honoring uniqueness, nurturing growth, and making a difference (Mission). Longfellow

Elementary School also has a set of belief statements:

The Longfellow community includes the students, staff, families, and all others who

participate in the life of our school.

The Longfellow community is a mutually supportive, interactive environment.

Honoring uniqueness means a commitment to recognize and appreciate our varied

experiences and individuality.

Nurturing growth means helping each other develop ethically, socially, academically,

physically, and emotionally, in a safe, stimulating environment. *We are mutually

responsible for creating and/or adapting our programs in response to the learners

experiences, interests, strengths, and learning styles.

Making a difference means developing an awareness of our ongoing responsibility to

value ourselves, each other, and our environment.

Making a difference means working together as we become contributing members of

society each realizing his/her own potential to affect anothers growth. (Mission)

It is clear that Longfellow Elementary is dedicated to giving students a well-rounded

education during their time at the school. Teachers are responsible for not only educating

students on core units of study, but also how to be an involved citizen who is respectful and

aware of their surroundings.

There are 340 students enrolled and 25 full-time teachers at Longfellow Elementary,

resulting in a 14 to 1 student-teacher ratio (Longfellow School-Portland). 26.8 percent of the

students at Longfellow are a part of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). 24.4 percent of
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students qualify for free lunch, and 2.4 percent of students qualify for reduced lunch. The

percentage of students that participate in the NSLP at Longfellow is lower than the average of

the rest of the Portland school district which had 55 percent participation on October 1, 2016

(State Of The Schools) .

The graph to the left, created by StartClass.com, portrays the ethnic distribution of

Longfellow Elementary and compares it to the city of Portland as well as the state of Maine. As

the ethnic distribution of Longfellow Elementary

school is less varied than the Portland district, it is

still more diverse than the state of Maine. This

means that teachers at Longfellow are still able to

learn from and create meaningful relationships

with many students from different ethnic or

cultural backgrounds.

After discussing the Longfellow community

with my mentor, I was able to see how important

parent involvement is in the school. The PTO at

Longfellow is dedicated to raising money to

provide the best resources for the students

enrolled. According to Mrs. Pellerin, the parents at Longfellow are responsible for raising and

donating more than 10,000 dollars to the school each year in the form of fundraisers in the

community and parent auctions. The parents in Mrs. Pellerins room are also very supportive and

understand how important supplies are to the class and allowing the school year to run smoothly.
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This is the first in-class experience that I have had during my college career where I have

been in a classroom that has so much support from parents. They are constantly donating their

time, money, or resources to Mrs. Pellerins classroom. It is clear that the teachers in Longfellow

Elementary School are not only supported by their fellow staff, but also by the parents of the

students in their classrooms. This positive environment and support makes teaching much more

enjoyable for the educators. Mrs. Pellerin also maintains a solid line of communication between

the classroom and the parents. I believe that it is very important to be in contact with the parents

frequently. It creates a much stronger relationship between families and educators. It is also very

important to be able to have many positive interactions with students families before any

negative interactions are made. Every week Mrs. Pellerin sends home a homework planner for

students and parents to view. It alerts parents of any upcoming events or projects, and keeps

students on track with their homework for the week. Mrs. Pellerin also sends home information

on each Science, Social Studies, Math, or Language Arts unit that she teaches. Parents really

enjoy this communication because they are able to see what their students are learning in the

classroom and Mrs. Pellerin always provides parents with ways to extend their students learning

while they are at home to develop a stronger understanding of material. While this teacher/family

communication requires more work out of the classroom, this is definitely something that I will

be implementing into my future classroom. I believe that family involvement, no matter how

small can only help students as they progress through the school year.

Every Wednesday, students are released one hour early from school. This is not so

teachers can get out early and go home, it is for teachers to be able to fit in professional
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development and keep enhancing their practice. The first early release day is September 27, so I

will be able to gain a lot of information from these professional development days as well!

Classroom

On August 28, I walked into my mentor teachers classroom and was amazed by the level

of organization and decoration that she had around the room. Each bulletin board around the

room was decorated with a purpose - Mrs. Pellerin had boards designated to encourage positive

classmate interactions and put the classroom responsibility into the student's hands. She also has

bulletins to peak student interest and spark their curiosity about the unit plans that would be

beginning in the near future. She also had many other posters on her walls, such as classroom

management rules or expectations, student work, and grading expectations. However, I have

noticed in the short time I have been in her classroom, that she frequently references those

posters to keep them relevant and in use. Mrs. Pellerin has one desktop computer in the back of

the classroom, and the three fourth grade teachers share a laptop cart that is left in the hallway

for teachers to access for their classrooms.

The desk arrangement in

the classroom is five groups

of four tables. This allows

for great collaboration

between students.

However, the students can

get chatty with each other

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at their groups. Mrs. Pellerin has counteracted this potential problem by creating a team chart.

Mrs. Pellerin sporadically checks in with the teams (table groups) throughout the day. When

each table is following directions and the classroom expectations they receive a star. The star

contributes to the classroom marble jar, and the first team to fill their star chart receives a special

treat.

Mrs. Pellerin is responsible for teaching all the subjects to her students, with the

exception of specials. An example of the weekly schedule is located on pages nine and ten if

there are no interruptions

or changes made to the

schedule. One advantage to

being in the school when

the students have their first

day of school is being able

to witness all the problems

that come up with

scheduling in the school.

Teachers and

administrators spend hours and hour at the beginning of the year to be able to have a smooth,

cohesive schedule. I never imagined how much energy goes into making a classroom schedule

that fits all the material that must be covered as well as specials.

Something very interesting that I learned about Longfellow Elementary and the Portland

school district is that many schools share special teachers. For example, the Longfellow gym
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teacher is shared with Deering High School. The librarian is also part time, which Mrs. Pellerin

has noticed really impacts her students, as now that they are in fourth grade they do not get

scheduled library time like the younger grades do. The school also ran into issues trying to hire a

new Spanish teacher. The principal was just able to hire a new Spanish teacher the week of

September 18 and she will begin teaching September 27. I have learned that unfortunately

budgets prevent schools from hiring full-staff and that creates another challenge for teachers and

administrators to maneuver through at the beginning of the year.

Student

Room 207 in Longfellow Elementary is full of 18 wonderful students who are passionate

about very different subjects, inside and outside of the classroom.Within the first few days in the

classroom, I gave the students a survey to tell me about their interests inside and outside of

school. One of the questions I asked my students was how much they enjoyed reading. I asked

students to rate it on a

scale of one (being

they did not like it at

all) to a five (the loved

it). The pie chart to the

left portrays the

results. The lowest

score was a three.

Looking back at this

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result, Im sure if this student were given the option they would change their score. They were a

new student at the beginning of the year, and I believe that now that the student is reading books

that interest him, he is much more excited to read every day. I was beyond excited to see that so

many of my students thought fondly of reading - they love to share what they are reading with

me and they get very excited to read independently every day.

I also inquired about student learning styles, such as; what classroom do they learn best

in, what do they think makes a good teacher, and what distracts them. By asking students these

questions, I was able to determine what I could do to ensure that they had a working environment

that suited their needs. When asked what distracts the students more, fourteen of them answered

sound (ie someone talking), while four students answered movement. Taking this into account, I

will make sure that when I am teaching, I create a learning environment where students can

focus and produce high quality work.

Charting Students Skills and Implications

Student Gender Age NWEA NWEA Gifted Special Ed. RTI Other Notes/
Math Reading and / ELL Interests
Talente
d

TB F 9 y 4 m 215 208 Animals,

dinosaurs
(paleontology
)

QC F 9 y 8 m 196 210 Sports

(basketball),
being outside

KD F 9 y 210 218 Reading,

11 m crochet

AD F 9 y 6 m 203 217 504 Plan Riding

(Hearing) horses,
science
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EE F 9 y 8 m 209 220 Dance,

animals,
spanish

IE F 9 y 7 m 218 219 Animals

(horse ride),
running,

AH F 9 y 2 m 187 193 ELL Math Soccer,

(pull-out) Support reading,
(pull-out) drawing

CL M 9 y 5 m 209 180 Football,

camping,
sports

AMa M 9 y 234 Math Work Reading

10 m Reading Completion
(pull-out)
Speech
(pull-out)
O.T.
(pull-out)

FM M 9 y 6 m 216 213 Sports, video

games

QM M 9 y 4 m 215 214 Drawing,

science

HM M 9 y 7 m 209 214 Math Football

Support
(pull-out)

AMo F 9 y 5 m 214 Reading Rap music,

martial arts

PR M 9 y 6 m 238 210 Math Soccer, math,

piano

NR M 9 y 215 196 Speech Drawing,

10 m (pull-out) geography

AR M 9 y 234 222 Math Reading,

11 m sports

PT F 9 y 7 m 216 219 Fishing,

drawing,
music

AW F 9 y 226 222 Math Art, biking,

11 m Reading reading, dogs
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As I start to analyze the data that I have gathered from NWEA test scores, interests, and

ages, as well as getting to know my students better as I spend more time at Longfellow

Elementary School I am determining how to better meet the needs of my students to enhance

their learning in the classroom. As I start to get a better understanding of the students strengths

and weaknesses, I will better understand how to cater my lessons to be as valuable as possible to

each learner in the classroom. Starting with the Math NWEA scores, it is clear that my teacher is

really in tune with her students needs to help them learn to the best of their abilities. The mean

score of the NWEA Math test is 202. As I look through the scores I noticed that the following

students have lower scores are AH, QC. As I look back at the students who are receiving math

help outside of the classroom, I notice that those students are AH and HM. While QC is not

receiving extra services in or out of the classroom, these test scores match up with this student's

current math level. The NWEA test scores will help me determine what students may need more

support as they move through the school year in the Envision math program. As I am designing

my future math lessons, I will know to check in often with these students as they are doing

independent work. It is also important to take into account that one of the students who requires

extra support in math is an English Language Learner. Because this student is receiving ELL

supports out of the classroom, it is important to recognize that this student may struggle with

directions while doing independent math work - this results in the student getting started on the

wrong track and completing work incorrectly. To accommodate this students needs, it is

imperative that this student is met with at the start of independent work to ensure that they are

understanding the directions so the student is able to complete the work correctly. Other ways
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that I can meet the needs of the students in math would be to have small focus groups during

math independent work. This focus group could be used in many ways such as reteaching a skill

from a previous lesson or providing students supplemental work to help enhance the students

understanding of the skill that needs attention. I am also able to implement partner work within

the classroom. By deliberately pairing up higher and lower students, it helps both students

develop deeper learning skills. Students who understand the material will have the opportunity to

gain a higher understanding by being able to teach it to a peer. Sending home supplemental

practice math handouts is another way that I can support the needs of the students who are

struggling and get those students up to speed. However, not all students have family support at

home to help them solidify the math skill, so as an educator I will take that into account and

work out something that will help the student without causing additional stress.

Many students scored well in the Reading NWEA as well. Looking at the data I noticed

that there were three outliers. One student scored a 180 which was a direct result of attention and

ability to focus for long periods of time. During the NWEA test, the student was often distracted

and looking around, due to the fact that this student does not enjoy reading very much. This test

was difficult for that student because it was so reading intensive and the child did not have much

interest. One goal for this student over the school year is to build up their reading stamina and

help them develop a passion for reading by connecting them with the right books. The other

student that score lower, is the ELL student, this student may have struggled with understanding

the directions as they worked through the test. The other student came as a surprise to Mrs.

Pellerin and I. The student is an avid reader and enjoys it. Judging by the work produced in the

classroom, this score most likely came from test anxiety or maybe an outside distraction. Mrs.
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Pellerin has a passion for reading that she works hard to instill into her students, and that is really

reflected in the testing scores. Knowing how well students are reading and comprehending texts

will inform me on how to create lessons that use text. After receiving the scores from the NWEA

and knowing each individual learner, I am able to understand how I can implement reading into

my instruction to help students get the most out of the specific lesson.

Being able to look at scores as well as sit down with all students at some point during the

day and getting insight into their learning styles will help me become a better supporter of the

learners in Mrs. Pellerins classroom. I was able to learn many new things about the community

in and around Longfellow Elementary School that will help me greatly in my future instructional

planning as I move through my student teaching experience.

As I continue my short time in Longfellow Elementary, I am working hard to become the

type of educator that the students in room 207 need to enhance their learning experience and

become strong learners and kind, involved citizens. In the survey created to get to know my

students learning styles and interests more, I asked the students to answer a simple question that

provides great insight into their minds and what they need; What do you think makes a good

teacher? Here are some of the answers I received, A teacher who challenges students, who is

expressive and considerate, A calm, nice teacher, Routine and humor, Energetic, helpful,

reliable, Respectful, and kindness, thoughtfulness, and understanding. As I travel through

my student teaching experience, I will take those words with me and make it a priority to become

a calm, considerate, kind, thoughtful, understanding educator who creates routines in not only

my student teaching classroom, but also in my own classroom in the future.