Benjamin Zuke

Contextual Factors Analysis

In order to teach effectively every teacher must have thorough knowledge of their

students, community, school, and classroom. This information then must be used to

guide them towards teaching strategies and methods that will help students with their

individual needs. You must also engage in your students interests and find vessels to

which students will find the learning interesting. Therefore, a teacher's work must start

prior to entering the classroom, with evaluation of the school, community, and external

factors.

I have been placed at Mt. Blue High School in RSU 9. The RSU is located in

Franklin county and includes the towns of Farmington, Wilton, Weld, Temple,

Chesterville, New Vineyard, New Sharon, Starks, Industry, and Vienna. The area is not

very diverse in terms of race, with 94% of the population being white. The full

breakdown is listed below (6).

Fig. 1 Racial Diversity in Franklin County, Maine

However the area does have a rather large gap in terms of socioeconomic status. With

12.4% of the population living in poverty and a median household income of just over

$45,000 (2). This poverty rate and median household income is nearly identical to the

state average. However with a high poverty rate, I cannot assume that my students

have access to everything they need outside of the classroom. The low median income

from families could also be a sign that parents might be working more than 40 hours a

week. When looking at the education of adults in Franklin County, it can be seen that

only 69.2% have some kind of college education. The full breakdown is pictured below

(6).

Fig. 2 Over 25 Adult Education Franklin County, ME

With this being said, as a teacher I am not fully aware of all my students responsibilities

outside of the classroom. Students may be working to help support their families or
watching after a younger sibling when their parents aren’t home. This is why I chose to

give minimal work to students outside of the classroom. With time in class, learning can

be achieved, without giving work that needs to be done at home.

The newly renovated Mt. Blue campus is where general education students from

RSU 9 attend high school. The space is also shared with Adult Basic Education classes

and the Foster Tech Center. The Foster Tech Center is the newest addition and is

available not only to students from RSU 9; but also to students from Rangeley, Mt.

Abram, and Spruce Mountain (3). The total number of students enrolled in the high

school for 2019 is 715 with 52 full-time teachers (4). This equates to a student to

teacher ratio of about 14. However with the classes I am teaching, I have no more than

10 students at a time. This will give me more time to interact with individual students in

order to determine interests as well as strengths and weaknesses. However in general

terms this number is still relatively high and has been decreasing over the years.

Despite having small class sizes myself, I must prepare to teach large classes. The

breakdown of the classes is listed below (4).

 The classroom I will be in for the duration of my student teaching is with Jake

Bogar and is part of the Foster Tech Center on campus. He has only three classes this

semester, but sees each class for three blocks every other day. The classes are

Advanced Pre-Engineering, Pre-Engineering, and Physics 1. Physics 1 and

Pre-Engineering are taught in unison for Sophomores and Juniors. Then Advanced

Pre-Engineering is available for students that have already completed a year of the

course. Because these classes are part of the foster tech center, students have chosen

to be in the class, and are not required to take the class in order to graduate. The

physics class is also tied to UMF and students receive college credit upon the

completion of the class.

The normal agenda for a day in the pre-engineering classroom is very different

from the agenda in a general education classroom. This is because Pre-Engineering

and Physics 1 is taught in unison. Normally, physics will be taught at the beginning of

the class and engineering lessons will begin at around 9:30. However to make things

even more abnormal, the advanced pre-engineering students also share the same

space for those three blocks. However, they do not participate in the physics lessons

since they have already completed the credit. Instead they spend the first part of class

working independently, before rejoining the class at around 9:30. The second year

engineering students also have more freedom when it comes to scheduling. A few of

them take a different class either at the high school or through UMF during block one.

This can make learning difficult at times, but with proper pacing and thought out

transitions the class is able to run smoothly.

 Fig. 4 Classroom Layout

In order to really get into the feel of running a classroom, I was able to rearrange

the class in a way that made sense for my upcoming unit. I did so in a way that allowed

room for hands on experiments as well as a place for note-taking and discussions. A

visual of the classroom is placed above. The large table in the center of the class facing

the whiteboard to the left, will allow for lecture based teaching and learning, as well as

full class discussions. There is also a separate desk near the top of the figure that

allows for more individual or group based work. At the bottom of the figure there is also

a separate desk with two PC’s for student use. The two other tables to the left of the

figure are for labs/ hands-on activities. The class is also surrounded by cabinets filled

with tools. As well as a storage room to the left for anything else. Located near the top

of the screen of the figure with a gray box is where we store our safety equipment

(goggles, aprons, etc…). I believe this layout will foster an environment that will allow for

many kinds of lessons, involving either discussion or lectures. It also gives students the

ability to work alone or with others.

 In order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of my students, I developed

an Interest Inventory for all my students to take. The goal of the survey was to find out

more about my students. I also asked them about their favorite and least favorite

classes, as well as interests. My results were not very surprising, I assumed that most

of my students were very strong in math. But I was surprised to find out how

uninterested my students were in english/ language arts classes. Out of the 20 surveys,

18 answered English as their least favorite subject. While 18 out of 20 also said Math/

Science was their favorite subject (5). The like for math and science can be assumed

since this class they are taking is not mandatory. However english and language arts

are very important for anyone trying to move ahead in their education or career. I also

asked my students to rank their interests in seven different topics from 1-3. 1 being not

interested and 3 being very interested. The results are as follows (5).

Fig. 5 Student Interests

Through my interest inventory, I was also able to find out how my students like to

learn. One of the questions asked “What helps you learn? (hands-on, repetition,
reading, taking-notes, organization)”. Out of the 20 surveys 17 students circled

hands-on and repetition. I also was able to find out that most of my students have

interests in sports and technology. In fact some of my students are currently in season

for winter sports and preparing for spring sports. Through student interviews I learned

how into technology some of my students are. With the new VR system students were

showing me all sorts of new things. I also found out that many of my students had

interests in video games. Through my observations of the class, I also realized that

most of my students enjoyed working in groups and sharing ideas amongst each other.

In order to find out what level most of my students were at I was able to go into

Powerschool and look at standardized test scores for some of my students. I looked at

SAT and PSAT scores and took each student's current best score. I had 7 students that

had taken the SAT and 9 that had taken the PSAT (1).

Fig. 6 SAT and PSAT scores

The national average for the 2019 SAT was 528 in math and 531 for reading and writing

(college board). With my data I can see on average my students are above the national

average. However I can also see that two of the lower scores are in reading and writing.
Which stresses the need to work with to try and improve my students reading and

writing abilities.

With the information I’ve gathered through research, surveys, and student

interviews. I feel prepared to teach an engaging lesson that all students can learn from

and relate too. I plan on using sports and technology as a major vessel through which I

will teach my lessons. I also plan on being very hands-on and approaching every lesson

with some sort of lab. I believe with all this taken into account, all of my students should

be able to reach the learning goals for my upcoming lesson.

For my teacher work sample, I will be teaching two physics 1 classes. The class

will be during block 1 so students should come in ready to learn. Snacks and beverages

will be available to students that need it as they enter. The focus of the unit will be on

energy, and will involve hands-on experiments for most lessons. It will lead up to a

summative design projects in which students will come up with a design and test for

data.
 Works Cited

(1) Powerschool. Digital teacher grade book. 2020

(2) Franklin County, Maine statistics ​https://datausa.io/profile/geo/franklin-county-me

(3) Mt. Blue Campus Website. ​http://www.mtbluersd.org

(4) National Center For Education Statistics.

https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/schoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&DistrictID=2314809&ID=231
480900549​. 2019

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(5) Zuke, Benjamin.​ Interest Survey. 2

(6) World Population Review. 2020

https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/farmington-me-population/