Contextual Factors

Total Number of Students in the School: ___361_____

School Socio-Economic Make-Up (i.e., % free and reduced lunches): ___29%____

Class Class Class

1 2 3
Grade Level/Subject Taught 6th /Band 6th 6th /Band
Band/Choir (5th Hour)
Number of Students in Classroom 15 25 27

Contextual Information: Class Class Class Student Learning Adaptations:

(List the number of students identified 1 2 3 (Describe at least one example of a strategy to provide
in each class you teach and identify the equitable opportunities, accommodations, or
class in which you are teaching your modifications you attempted for any student identified
unit) within each contextual characteristic)
With this unit being performance base, the biggest
Gender 5 17 11 difference given would be sections of different
Number of Females: 10 8 16 instruments. Sections in low brass tended to be, but were
Number of Males: not entirely, male and higher woodwinds were the
opposite. Other than that, gender had no effect on the
unit.
In order to cover diversity in learning styles that may stem
Ethnic/Cultural Make-Up 13 24 24 from diversity in cultures and home backgrounds, I use a
Caucasian/White: 1 1 1 variety of instruction methods to better allow any student
African American/ Black: 2 0 0 to connect more dots. For each concept, I provide visual,
Hispanic/Latino:
0 0 2 aural, and kinesthetic examples before asking everyone to
Asian/Pacific Islander:
0 0 0 give me a thumbs up or down on whether they
American Indian/Alaskan Native:
individually understand.
Similarly to the above factor, a variety of instructional
Language Proficiency methods means that students don’t have to learn solely
Number of English Language 0 0 0 through their verbal and written fluency in English.
Learners (ELL):
Due to students attending choir every other class period,
Academic Performance the Wamego school system is accustomed to providing
Students Performing 6 1 2 differentiated instruction. This means instruction for the
Below Grade Level: 1 2 5 combined sixth grade, the students that need extra help
Student Performing
catching up every other day, and the students in the 5 th
Above Grade Level:
hour that are moving ahead of their 3rd hour counterparts.
While I ask the group throughout lessons if students
Students with Special Needs 1 0 0 understand, if their playing tests and google tests indicate
Learning Disability: 1 0 0 otherwise, Wamego middle school has the staffing to
Emotional/Behavioral Impairment: 2 2 3 allow for teachers to individually work with students in
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD):
0 1 0 need of extra help. There is also time after school that has
Developmental Disability:
0 0 0 allowed some students with extra needs to be a step
Intellectual Disability:
0 0 0 ahead of their class before they get to the next band class.
Speech/Language Impairment:
Autism Spectrum: 0 0 1
Gifted: 2 2 3
Blind/Visual Impairment (VI): 1 0 0
Deaf /Hearing Impairment (HI): 0 0 0
Physical Disability: 0 0 0
Other Health Impairment: 0 0 0
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Contextual Factors Continued

Student Characteristics:
Describe the developmental characteristics of students in your classroom.
(Cognitive, Physical, Emotional, Social).

The students in these sixth grade classes are from the ages of 10-12 and are in their first year of middle
school. This means that they tend to be more concerned with how others perceive them than younger ages
might be. In addition to this, they still lack the attention span for longer lectures. Physically, this is a time
where some students have started to grow a lot faster than others which, while having its own social
implications, affects how students can play certain instruments. This could mean if a student is large or
strong enough to hold an instrument or it could mean brass players struggle to play with new braces. I
believe that the greatest difference between students would be emotional maturity. There are many students
who possess the desire to get to work and improve and there are also just as many students—if not more—
who have made most of their friends in band and use the time to socialize. This causes frustration in the
class when it becomes difficult to either move forward in the lesson plan or to do something of interest, such
as playing a favorite piece.

Highlight the prior knowledge and interests of students in your classroom.

Students in the 6th grade band have either had a full year of 30 minute rehearsals each day at the 5th grade
level while in elementary school or have participated in the summer band program to be caught up for 6th
grade band. This means that students have learned how to read music, are familiar with the Essential
Elements method books Wamego Bands use, and have at least become acquainted with the people in their
section, if not the rest of the band.

Describe the implications these characteristics have on planning and instruction.

(e.g. What instructional strategies will you use to meet the unique learning needs of all your students?)

One technique that has proved useful for student attention span is to move quickly between activities with
speedy transitions. This requires extra planning for those transitions to both be smooth and make sense. In
response to the emotional differences, we have used both a short-term and long-term method. In the short
term, we don’t move forward in the lesson or we use a favorite piece to motivate the class to focus on the
task at hand. In the long term, we have had class discussions to look beyond the idea of “listening to the
teacher because they want you to” to the idea of why each student wants to be in band in the first place.
Both methods have proven effective in the right instances. Another instructional method that my Cooperating
Teacher strongly believed in was CHAMPS which provided planned responses to both desirable and
undesirable behavior in students.
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Environmental Factors:
Describe district, school, and classroom environmental factors impacting the quality of education for all
of your students.

The Wamego Middle School is part of a 4A-sized, partially-rural district. The 6th grade is split into 2 bands,
however, during the 3rd hour, most of the ensemble members go to choir instead of band every other day. So
I have split the hour into the students that are in the band room every day and the students that are also
choir members. Rehearsals are 47 minutes and, at the middle school level, they occur every day. In the
classroom, there are built-in risers that prevent much rearranging of the classroom set up. However, there is
always a walk way down the middle and sides so that directors can practice close proximity and not tie
themselves to the podium.

Describe community and family environmental factors impacting the quality of education for all of your
students.

The Wamego District had a bond passed allowing a 1-1 IPad ratio at the elementary schools and 1-1
MacBook ratio at the secondary levels. This allows for more online instruction and for the students without
access to wifi at home, they have been able to come early, stay after school, or even complete online playing
tests in class.

Describe the implications these factors have on planning and instruction.

(What instructional strategies will you use to address the unique environmental factors impacting each
student?)

The greatest challenge with the 6th grade classes is the divide between 3rd and 5th hour. Everyone in 5th hour
has band every day while the same lesson tends to be taught twice over the span of 2 days. This means that
5th hour is far ahead while 3rd hour seems to move as quickly as students can handle. This means that
combined concert uses music from the third hour while 5th hour has opportunities to rehearse more complex
pieces or even learn new styles such as jazz. When the two combine into one 7th grade band, the directors
attempt to compromise and students tend to help each other out.

Contextual Factors Continued
Focus Students Information
Provide information about the two focus students you selected from the class in which you will be
teaching your unit that you feel would benefit from modified instruction. You MUST choose one
student with exceptionalities or an English Language Learner as one of your focus students.
Complete the chart below referring to these students only as Student A and Student B. Do not use
proper names.
Describe this student
using information from
the Contextual
Information and Student
Learning Adaptations
Studen Student A is one of the 3rd
tA hour students that
participates in band every
day. He is a white male
that while he is obviously
intelligent, he performs at
an average level.
Studen Student B is a white male
that is on the spectrum and
tB
attends the 5th hour band.
He is assigned a regular
para-professional and with
her refocusing, performs
at an average academic
level.
C&I UG PORTFOLIO 4
Why did you What did you find out Based on this
select this about this student? information what
student? Address characteristics are the
from the Contextual implications for
Information and this student’s
Student Learning instruction?
Adaptations
I selected this Cognitive He is often assigned
student because This student is very to help the other
while I don’t want intelligent and that adds percussionists.
students to to his distractibility. Though he is not
struggle with Emotional always, he is usually
understanding Interested in both his correct and this task
concepts, another instrument and music, redirects him from
fear of mine as a especially outside of distracting himself
teacher are regular band class. and others from
students bored Physical instruction. He also
and not He seems likes to hide so the
challenged developmentally and back of the class has
enough like this physically average been rearranged
student seems. compared to classmates. some.
Social
He doesn’t seem close to
any specific other
student but is friendly
with most.
Though this Cognitive During band class, if
student has Grasps concepts and only one director is
available, there is not
difficulty focusing skills quickly when
much one-on-one time
on the task at focused.
keeping him focused,
hand, when he Emotional which seems most
does could he This student is easily effective for him. His
grasped concepts frustrated by para guides his focus
quickly. I was able environment and and then teachers can
to work one-on- sometimes his own answer questions or
one with him ability. play alongside him if
during after- Physical available.
school band Slightly above average
lesson and felt size.
familiar with his Social
learning style. He is friendly on good
days but doesn’t
consistently talk to
specific students.
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Data Analysis

Pre-Assessment Data
(Done through observations during rehearsal over Silvergate Overture)
Objective 1 (Students can smoothly transition between tempo changes)

Prior to this unit, students in both hours would stop at the tempo changes, a few students would
continue but the majority were unable to continue because they did not know what the tempo
terms meant or were more focused on other difficulties of the piece.

Objective 2 (Students can determine which tempo terms mean fast or slow)

While students could play at the tempo given by the director, the majority could not relate
specific tempo terms to whether the section would be played at a fast or slow tempo.

Objective 3 (Students can accurately define tempo terms)

Prior to this unit, students could only identify the terms which were unfamiliar to them and often
got the tempo terms confused with dynamic terms. Tempo and dynamics should have no
correlation but in this case, were both unfamiliar so the majority of students could not distinguish
between the two during class discussions.

Objective 4 (Students can identify which tempo terms match with given songs that aren’t
Silvergate Overture)

Students had no sense of which tempo terms meant fast, medium, or slow so while they could
identify if the given songs were any of those three, they could not match them to the given tempo
terms.

Objective 5 (Students can play through Silvergate Overture without stopping and starting at
each change in tempo)

The ensemble as a whole came to a stop at each tempo change in both 6th grade hours.

What do these data mean for instruction during the unit?

This data shows that students needed to take a step back from the piece and go over what these
new tempo terms actually entailed for their playing. Students needed to know the meaning of the
terms, how that affected their playing as individuals and an ensemble, and what these terms
meant in the context of not just Silvergate Overture, but other pieces they may play as well.
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What do these data mean for instruction for the Focus Students
during the unit?
This data means that student A will most likely need more of a challenge and would be a great
student to ask for examples, responses, and help with other students (knowing that he is
comfortable with that kind of attention on him). For student B, instruction should not be too
wordy—which has proven more effective for every student in the 6th grade hours anyway—so as
to retain his focus. And during individual work time, it would be beneficial for the teacher to
repeatedly come back to Student B and talk through the work to keep his focus on the task at
hand. As long as he is focused, his written assignments don’t require modification.
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Formative Assessment Data

Student Scores of Two Selected Formative Assessments
Student Formative 1 Formative 2

1 (5th Hour) 9/9 9/9

2 9/9 9/9
3 8/9 8/9
4 (6th Hour) 9/9 9/9
5 7/9 9/9
6 9/9 9/9
7 3/9 6/9
Focus A 9/9 9/9
Focus B 9/9 Absent

Quiz Questions:
(The quizzes were all in a multiple choice format)
1. Tempo tells us: (1 pt)
The speed of the beat
2. What is Lento? (1 pt)
Slowly
3. What is Maestoso? (1 pt)
Majestic
4. What is Moderato? (1 pt)
Medium
5. What is March Tempo? (1 pt)
120 bpm
6. What does Ritardando mean? (1 pt)
Gradually slow down
7. When you see a “rit” in your music, what are the three things you should do? (3 pts)
Watch the conductor, listen to the ensemble, and gradually slow down
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How did the data from these formative assessments impact learning
during the unit?

This data allowed the teacher to focus on the concepts students were struggling with while only
reviewing the information they all had down. These quizzes were taken on google docs allowing
the teachers to view responses from each question and each student so we could really see where
students got confused. Data also brought to light the confusion between tempo terms and
dynamics, which we were not aware of beforehand. This meant that in the next lesson, dynamics
were added to the discussion. It was important to know the exact issues that needed focus on
especially for the students that attended our class only every other day. We could ensure that
their classmates that had band each day knew the concepts and could assist while also not
wasting time with concepts the students didn’t struggle with.

How did the data from these formative assessments impact Focus
Student Learning during the unit?

This data informed the teachers that the modified instruction for Student B was working while
also informing us that Student A would be alright to assist others or provide musical examples
during rehearsal.
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Post-Assessment Data
(Done through observations during rehearsal over Silvergate Overture)
Objective 1 (Students can smoothly transition between tempo changes)

After the tempo terms units students were able to better prepare for the change coming up. The
biggest struggle we had during rehearsals was whether the percussion section would successfully
change tempos or stay where they had been. Because of this unit, however, I was more easily
able to discuss what was coming up in the piece so that percussionists in both hours were
prepared for the change.

Objective 2 (Students can determine which tempo terms mean fast or slow)

During instruction, I preferred to use call and response so that even if some students had lost
focus or didn’t understand, it was less obvious than if I had called on individual students. By the
completion of this unit, the majority of the class could answer my questions as a class and if I did
call on individuals, they could confidently tell me if Lento was slow or March Tempo was fast.

Objective 3 (Students can accurately define tempo terms)

Once students were comfortable with whether tempo terms equated to slow or fast, within the
same class, I could similarly use a call-and-response class discussion to go over the short
definitions of tempo terms. I could also visually see in each of their quizzes if they had chosen
the correct answer consistently.

Objective 4 (Students can identify which tempo terms match with given songs that aren’t
Silvergate Overture)

The students seemed to enjoy the activity in class that came with well-known pop songs. To
ensure that the majority of class understood the differences in tempos, I had different movements
associated with different tempos that students could all do quietly as a group before asking
individuals and then having the whole class respond. The majority was successful with this
activity in both 6th grade hours.

Objective 5 (Students can play through Silvergate Overture without stopping and starting at
each change in tempo)

Though students did not have their concert due to Covid-19, the ensembles were performance
ready by spring break. This meant that the combine 6th grade band could play through Silvergate
Overture with smooth transitions into different tempos without stopping until the end of the
piece.
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What does these data mean for learning during the unit?
While the majority of students were successful in this unit, the biggest struggle was the unique
situation of students in choir as well as students that were absent often. This data shows me that
the students I did not see every day were not ready to move faster than we were. This data also
shows me that the students I did see on a regular basis were found to be successful in this unit
and their scores and following rehearsals reflected that the intended concepts had been learned.

What does these data mean for learning for the Focus Students
during the unit?
This data showed me that my modification of instruction was effective for both students at this
level. This unit was not labor-intensive but easily tied in to the rehearsals both students were
already attending. If anything, students that were as successful in this unit as the focus students,
could probably have handled more challenge.

For future instruction, what have you learned about how students
learn and the efficacy of your instructional style? What would you
change, if anything?
Due to the success of both focus students and the majority of the class, I learned that the greatest
hinderance was the strange scheduling when a majority of the 3rd hour band would leave for
choir especially when several snow days occurred on their band days. With these students being
the ones who struggled the most with this unit, it makes me think that I could have provided
more tangible instruction such as study guides they could hold on to, completed-worksheets (we
don’t expect them to do any work out of school other than the playing tests), or more visual aids.
While these would be effective for the rest of the band as well, if I could change anything, I
would have taken more advantage of the students that had band every day in hopes that they
could assist their classmates.