Guided Observation #1 Contextual Factors

Name: Blake Lamb

Date: April 16, 2017
Course: EDUC 2300 Introduction to Education
School: Bean Station Elementary School

Interview your mentoring teacher to obtain the demographics about the school. Write a
response for each question in a paragraph format.

1. Record the number of males, females, and ratio of ethnicity within the
classroom.
Mrs. Smith has four total classes throughout the day and she also has an RTI group. She
has 17 more boys than girls out of 74 total students. Her classroom is predominately
made up of Caucasian students. Mrs. Smith has two African American students and one
Hispanic student.

2. What are the development levels of the students within the classroom you
are observing?
The 6th grade students at Bean Station Elementary School are split up into four different
groups. Each child is put into a group based on ability. Each group is then given a name
at the beginning of the year; Lakers, Heat, Celtics, and Mavericks. These names make it
much easier for the teachers to communicate about the groups.

3. How is the instruction modified to meet the diverse needs of the students?
Mrs. Smith only modifies instruction for her lowest group. She allows this specific group
to work with a partner. She also highlights areas of texts where the students will be able
to recognize the answer more easily. If needed, she lets them have more time for specific
assignments. Mrs. Smith also takes the extra time to read to this group because they
struggle focusing and understanding the information when they read by themselves.

4. Research the school and the Tennessee State Government web site to
obtain information about the school community, school report card, and
school population.
Based off the TN State Report Card, Bean Station Elementary School consists of grades
Pre-K/6 with 550 students. 94.5% of these students are Caucasian, while 4.1% being
Hispanic. Grainger County has a total of 48 ELL students, which is 1.3% of the entire
student population.
5. What are the specialized programs/activities found within the school that
would assist special needs children, those who need enrichment activities,
or remediation? List the specific programs that are available.
The Grainger County School District offers a program that is called Douglas Cherokee.
This is an after-school program that gives students who are struggling in any subject area an
opportunity to make improvements. The Douglas Cherokee program is very beneficial and gives
an equal opportunity for all students in the school district.