Context Matrix for Educator Work

Your context document from Module 2 is the one-page output. The context matrix is the thinking that fills it: six dimensions of context AI cannot guess. Walk these once and the document writes itself.

Every dimension has a teacher read and an administrator read. The first time you walk it, it takes ten minutes. The fifth time, sixty seconds. After that you do it in your head before you type.

• 1. Subject area or scope. Teacher: your subject area and the courses you teach, grade band, sections, how many students. Admin: your scope of leadership, building, grade levels, departments, how many staff you oversee.
• 2. Philosophy and methods. Teacher: your teaching philosophy and the methods you lean on (inquiry, direct instruction, project-based). Admin: your PD and instructional-leadership philosophy, how you grow teachers and run initiatives.
• 3. Unique situational aspects. Teacher: what makes your room different, Title I, EL percentage, special-ed caseload, mixed levels. Admin: what makes your building different, Title I status, EL population, special-ed footprint, building history.
• 4. Typical challenges you face. Teacher: attendance, reading gaps, behavior, engagement, range of readiness. Admin: resistance to change, initiative fatigue, veteran and new-staff divides.
• 5. Common pain points. Teacher: where your time bleeds out, grading, feedback, re-planning units, parent emails. Admin: evaluations, PD prep, scheduling, the conversations you keep putting off.
• 6. Institutional and district constraints. Calendar, pacing guides, contract and union limits, the evaluation system, and which tools you can use (Gemini, NotebookLM, Claude), plus FERPA and state data-privacy rules.

Dimension 6 is where the privacy rule lives. List the tools you may use and the rules that bind them, FERPA and your state's data-privacy law. When you give examples to AI, use "Student A" and role labels, never real names.