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Environment Analysis

When it comes to providing new ideas in the classroom, there are always the ups and

downs. The ups and downs can come from anywhere and anyone. Sometimes they affect what

happens in the classroom and sometimes it affects what happens outside the classroom. Every

strength and weakness plays a part in the concept of teaching real-world applications in the

classroom. It is up to teachers to know what is a strength and what is a weakness. Being able to

identify strengths and weaknesses can help teachers realize what they need to work on or utilize

more.

Internal Strengths

There are many resources that can be used to help incorporate real-world applications

into classroom learning. Technology is one resource that can be very helpful when it comes to

teaching new lessons. With technology, teachers would be able to find different articles and

videos that can help with their lessons. By incorporating technology into class lessons, students

will become more engaged and will want to learn more. This resource is one that not only will

help students, but teachers who are less educated about the topic.

Internal Weaknesses

A weakness that may come into play is class time. Most class periods range from 50 to 55

minutes and on early release days they are 30 to 40 minutes. For students, this may seem like a

long time, but for teachers it is not enough to teach everything they have planned. Teachers

organize their lessons so that they can fit with the unit and school schedule. With short class

periods, it will be hard for teachers to add a new lesson into their schedule. Adding a new lesson

means more work for teachers as they have to rearrange their lesson plans. This can be a
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weakness for some teachers if they reuse the same lesson plan year after year and have no

experience with creating new lesson plans.

External Opportunities

There are a variety of opportunities in the community that can help incorporate real-

world applications in the classroom. People from all over the community can come to the school

and help teach. These people can be anyone as long as they know how to fill out bank loans,

credit cards, or tax forms. By allowing people from the community help teach in classrooms,

students will feel more comfortable since they will be taught from people they grew up around.

This will also show outside perspectives, such as parents and other school districts, just how

community friendly their school is. Schools that incorporate community interaction will receive

more attention which is a good thing for the school.

External Challenges

An external challenge that may affect this new idea are parents. When it comes to

teaching certain things in the classroom, parents have the last say on whether or not they

approve. Without a parent’s approval, teachers are not able to teach what they had planned. If

one single parent were to disapprove of the idea of teaching real-world applications then the

whole idea gets shut down. Having all parents agree on allowing teachers incorporate this

concept to their children’s learning is a challenge because there will always be one parent who

questions everything. It is up to the teachers to be able to back up their claims and justify why

this concept is important for the students.