Running Head: CONTEXTUAL FACTORS 1
Contextual Factors
Name
Institution Affiliation
CONTEXTUAL FACTORS 2
Demographic factors
My cooperating classroom is grade 16 which comprises 17 students; 6 girls and 11 boys
with an average age of 15 and 16 years. The students are from different ethnicities with 5 whites,
4 African Americans, 3 Latinos, 2 American Indians and 2 Asians. Socioeconomically, majority
are from low-income earning families. The demographic factors of these students influence
delivery, planning and assessment of the unit because considerations must be made on their
varying culture to avoid bias or stereotyping. It is unacceptable to show biasness on students
based on their culture as this promotes inequality and can also result in poor performance among
the students. Besides, the social status of the students determine the learning resources available
to them as well as their parents’ involvement in academic matters.
Environmental factors
The physical classroom arrangement is such that all the students face the teacher during
the lesson. The students are arranged in four rows and sit in two’s with the teacher’s desk at the
front of the class. There are resources such as a whiteboard, a projector, a laptop and charts at the
back of the class. The classroom is well aerated and receives natural lighting during the day. The
teachers are often involved in the academics of students through organized parents-teachers
meetings during the learning period. The school the necessary technology for students’ learning
such as computers and internet for research and further reading. However, only a few students
have such technology at home so they are given assignments from text books. Planning and
assessment of the unit must be done according to the technology available to all the students to
avoid leaving out those who lack.
Student academic factors
CONTEXTUAL FACTORS 3
All the students have Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) and 5 of them are English
learners. Due to these characteristics, the unit must be delivered according to the abilities of the
students. English learners are provided with remedial classes to boost their comprehension skills.