Elementary Education - Literacy

Task 1: Literacy Context for Learning Information

TASK 1: LITERACY CONTEXT FOR LEARNING INFORMATION

Respond to the prompts below (no more than 4 single-spaced pages, including prompts ) by typing your responses within
the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored.

About the School Where You Are Teaching

1. In what type of school do you teach? (Type an “X” next to the appropriate description; if
“other” applies, provide a brief description.)
Elementary school: __X__
Middle school: _____
Other (please describe): _____

Urban: _____
Suburban: _____
Rural: __X___

2. List any special features of your school or classroom setting (e.g., charter, co-teaching,
themed magnet, intervention or other leveled small group instruction, classroom aide,
bilingual, team taught with a special education teacher) that will affect your teaching in this
learning segment.
[This school is a Pre-K through 5th grade elementary school. The district’s mission statement
says: Committed to Excellence, Focused on Success. My school is a STEM certified school with
a mission statement saying they will inspire life-long problem solving and academic excellence
by engaging students through real life STEM activities. It serves 638 students in grade levels
Pre-K through 5th. Majority of the student body is on free or reduced lunch. The student body is
made up of 63 percent white, 28.8 percent black, 5.2 percent multi-racial, 2.4 percent Hispanic,
0.5 percent Asian/pacific islander, and 0.2 percent American Indian/Alaskan native. 64.1 percent
of the student body is economically disadvantaged while 17.6 percent are students with a
disability. Its College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) score in 2018 (which ranks
it on a percentile in various categories), this school received an 82.5 overall with a 69.1 in
content mastery. The district score was 75.9 while the state score was 65.7. In ELA, 22.3
percent of students ranked as a beginning learner, 34.3 percent ranked as developing learner,
36.7 percent ranked as proficient learner, leaving the last 6.6 percent ranking as a distinguished
learner. SOAR is the gifted program and students are pulled out for one day a week. The other
two elementary schools in the district have their students that are in the SOAR program bussed
in for the day. This school also implements Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS). The
special features of my classroom setting are having two groups of students pulled out for the
Early Intervention Program (EIP) during reading and mathematics, a paraprofessional being
utilized for small groups, and reading leveled small group instruction that I need to be aware of
when I am teaching my learning segment.]
3. Describe any district, school, or cooperating teacher requirements or expectations that might
affect your planning or delivery of instruction, such as required curricula, pacing plan, use of
specific instructional strategies, or standardized tests.
[There is a county-wide pacing plan that is to be followed because the first-grade teachers are
expected to teach the same things together. This pacing plan is aligned with the Georgia
Standards of Excellence and the Common Core Initiatives for this subject area. The pre and

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 Elementary Education - Literacy
Task 1: Literacy Context for Learning Information

post assessments from Illuminate will have to be used to analyze what the students know
before the unit and what they have learned after the unit.]

About the Class Featured in this Learning Segment

1. How much time is devoted each day to literacy instruction in your classroom?
[A total of one hour and fifty minutes is devoted each day to literacy instruction in my classroom.
Forty-five minutes is allotted for guided reading, forty-five minutes for phonics, word study, and
reading as well as thirty minutes for writing and grammar.]
2. Is there any ability grouping or tracking in literacy? If so, please describe how it affects your
class.
[There is ability grouping in literacy. This affects my class because they are grouped by their
reading level, running records, STAR reading, and pretest data. This groups the students by a
range of ability to push the lower levels to move up to higher levels. Regrouping occurs based
on changes in STAR reading scores.]
3. Identify any textbook or instructional program you primarily use for literacy instruction. If a
textbook, please provide the title, publisher, and date of publication.
[The text book curriculum primarily used for English and Language Arts in this classroom is
Wonders by McGraw-Hill.]
4. List other resources (e.g., electronic whiteboard, classroom library or other text sets, online
professional resources) you use for literacy instruction in this class.
[The resources for literacy instruction in this class are the electronic whiteboard, teacher
computer, classroom library, text sets, leveled readers, and online professional resources.
STAR, Accelerated Reader and leveled reading books are all used to guide literacy instruction.]

About the Students in the Class Featured in this Learning

Segment
1. Grade-level(s):
[The grade level of my class is first grade.]

2. Number of
 students in the class: __14___
 males: __9___ females: __5___
3. Complete the charts below to summarize required or needed supports, accommodations, or
modifications for your students that will affect your literacy instruction in this learning
segment. As needed, consult with your cooperating teacher to complete the charts. Some
rows have been completed in italics as examples. Use as many rows as you need.

Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/supports
or accommodations/modifications to instruction or assessment (e.g., students with
Individualized Education Programs [IEPs] or 504 plans, students with specific language
needs, students needing greater challenge or support, students who struggle with reading,
students who are underperforming or those with gaps in academic knowledge).

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 Elementary Education - Literacy
Task 1: Literacy Context for Learning Information

For Literacy Assessment Task 3, you will choose work samples from 3 focus students. At
least one of these students must have a specified learning need. Note: California candidates
must include one focus student who is an English language learner.1

Students with IEPs/504 Plans

IEPs/504 Plans: Number of Supports, Accommodations,
Classifications/Needs Students Modifications, Pertinent IEP Goals
Example: Visual processing 2 Close monitoring, large print text, window
card to isolate text

Students with Specific Language Needs

Language Needs Number of Supports, Accommodations,
Students Modifications
Example: English language 2 Pre-teach key words and phrases
learners with only a few through examples and graphic organizers
words of English (e.g., word cluster, manipulatives, visuals)

Have students use pre-taught key words

Example: Students who
speak a variety of English
other than that used in
textbooks
Students with Other Learning Needs
Other Learning Needs
Example: Struggling readers
Early Intervention Program
for reading
Early Intervention Program
for math
and graphic organizers to
complete sentence starters
5 Make connections between the language
students bring and the language used in
the textbook
Number of Supports, Accommodations,
Students Modifications
5 Leveled text, targeted guided reading,
ongoing reading assessment (e.g.,
running records, miscue, conferencing)
12 Pulled out for small group instruction
utilizing leveled text, targeted guided
reading, ongoing reading assessment
(e.g., running records, miscue,
conferencing)
11 Pulled out for small group instruction
reinforcing standards being taught.

1
California candidates—If you do not have any English language learners, select a student who is challenged by academic
English.

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All rights reserved. V4_0915
The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is
permitted only pursuant to the terms of a written license agreement.