Contextual Factors

Contextual Factors Community – Woonsocket, SD Woonsocket, South Dakota is a small, rural town situated between Huron and Mitchell. The town is mainly known for the produce grown and sold all around which are muskmelon, watermelon, and pumpkin. Woonsocket is the county seat of Sanborn County and has a population of 680 according to the 2017 Population Estimates through the U.S. Census Bureau. The median household income for people living in Woonsocket is $39,948, and the percent of persons below the poverty level is 9.4%. The unemployment rate of Woonsocket was at 2.4% in September of 2015. According to the 2010 census, the ethnicity makeup is 97.4% White, 1.5% Hispanic, and the rest being small decimal percentages of Native American, Asian, and two or more races (City Data – Woonsocket, SD , 2015). School District/School – Woonsocket School District, Woonsocket Elementary Woonsocket School District encompasses only one building in town where all k-12 students learn. In this district, there is a total of 337 enrolled. The ethnic makeup of the district includes 93% White, 0.4% Hispanic, 0.3% Multi-Racial, and undeterminable percentages of Native American, Asian, African American, and Pacific Islander students. The school district records an 88.68% rate of students attending school 94% or more of enrolled days. The teachers in the school district claim an average of 12 years of experience with 91.67% of instructional staff earned Bachelors degrees and the remaining 8.33% earning Masters (Woonsocket School Report Card, 2017). Woonsocket participates in the Common Core State Testing and the entire district is classified as “progressing”. The school only has two sections, being the high school and elementary; the 7th and 8th grade middle school classes are taught by the high school teachers and follows the high school schedule. Woonsocket School District had a 45.38% proficiency in English-Language Arts (ELA) in 2016-2017 and

42.86% proficiency in Math of the same year. Woonsocket is a Title I school and also participates in the Backpack Program which provides students in need with a bag of food to take home over the weekend. Classroom and Student Characteristics– 4th Grade I am teaching in a 4th grade classroom with Mrs. Dunn, my cooperating teacher. For most of this year, our class had 13 students with 8 boys and 5 girls. We just recently had a boy move away and the following week, we received a new student. Our class remains at 13 students but now has 7 boys and 6 girls. The classroom consists of all Caucasian students with the exception of 3 students, two of them being African American and one being Latino. Of the 13 students, 2 students are part of the Backpack Program and takes home a bag of food for the weekend. In this classroom, there are no students who receive special education or Title services. One student does receive services for speech therapy. The age ranges in this class range from 9-10 years old. The reading skills of the students in this class range from Levels Q through W, or roughly 3rd grade to 6th grade. As for math, 4 students are on level for 4th grade while the other 9 students are at the level for the end of 3rd grade to the beginning of 4th grade. In this classroom, the schedule is very structured and always on display for the students as are the four classroom rules and expectations. Students have a set seating chart in the shape of a U with the main emphasis being on focusing and silence during lessons. There are set routines for lessons, transitions, walking in the hallway, and preparations for the beginning and end of the day which have been very consistent throughout the school year. Implications for Instruction The math skill in the 4th grade classroom is not spanned greatly between the 13 students, however, there is a distinguishable divide between 4 students who are on level and the 9 students who

are still progressing from the 3rd grade level. With this, my math lessons will be a combination of wholegroup, small-group, and individual instruction. I will be strategic with my grouping as to have one onlevel student in each group to help answer questions from the below-level students. Some students often need one-on-one reteaching after math skills are taught and I have found it useful to have peers try to explain it in their own words to possibly guide others. My cooperating teacher, Mrs. Dunn, purchased a new math curriculum from Teacher Pay Teacher this year and so it is still new to both of us. The curriculum breaks down units by standard as to only teach one standard at a time. I will be teaching the unit on 4th grade Operations and Algebraic Thinking with an emphasis on multiplying and dividing multi-step word problems (4.OA.2). Provided in this curriculum pack are an assessment, worksheets, vocabulary and example posters for each unit, and answer keys for each worksheet. No teacher guide is provided. My cooperating teacher also has many manipulatives available in her room including whiteboards for each student, dice, base ten blocks, counters, and flashcard sets for one-digit by two-digit multiplication. Flexible seating is also an option during classwork. The students in 4th grade know the expectations for classwork which includes working silently and raising their hand for help which makes working with students one-on-one or in small groups easier and more productive. The majority of the students work best with movement and hands-on activities with a few preferring to work alone at their desks. For this reason, I will try to have manipulatives available for use during math lessons which students can use if they choose to. A motivator in the classroom are my cooperating teacher’s “Dunn’s Dollars” as the class monetary reward system where they can earn and accumulate “Dunn’s Dollars” with the intention of being able to “buy” something from class store with price options being $3, $5, and $10. This reward system is not used very frequently but the students still understand the possibilities of rewards for hard

work and good behavior. Another motivator for math lessons is the opportunity to participate in a guided dance activity from the website GoNoodle.com after the math lesson, before we transition to our writing lesson.

References Woonsocket, South Dakota. (2015). Retrieved October 12, 2018 from http://www.city-data.com/city/Woonsocket-South-Dakota.html US Census Bureau. (2014, December 13). Search Results. Retrieved October 12, 2018, from https://www.census.gov/searchresults.html?q=Woonsocket,SD&page=1&stateGeo=none&searchtype=web&cssp=SERP&_chars et_=UTF-8 Woonsocket School Report Card [PDF]. (2017). South Dakota STARS