Sarah Forth

Unit Plan
Contextual Information

In order to student teach and keep students cultures, backgrounds, and home
life in mind, it is important to be aware of this information to effectively plan instruction.
John F. Kennedy Elementary is located in Windsor, Connecticut which is part of Hartford
County. Looking at Windsor as a whole community, the demographics collected show a
diverse community culturally and economically.
At a school level, John F. Kennedy represents the diversity shown in the whole
community at a smaller level. Within my own class, 50% of my students are African
American, 45% are White, and 5% are Asian or Other/Mixed races. Academically, there
are a range of needs that must be met in my classroom. Out of the 18 students, 1 is an
ELL student, 4 have an IEP, and 2 have 504s. This will play a major part in my class
instruction and differentiation, accommodations, and modifications in my lessons
throughout the unit.
John F. Kennedy is structured around PBIS. They use this schoolwide tying in
their school constitution of being respectful, responsible and safe. One of their reward
systems for following the schools expectations is passing out eagle tickets to the
students, adding to class compliment charts and picking one extraordinary eagle per
class each week. All of these incentives are ways to ensure the students are conscious
of following the schools expectations.

Staying aware of this contextual information will assist me with my instruction.

Primarily, when it comes to accommodation and modification academically and
behaviorally this information will help when planning and executing my lessons.