SEED 3000

Final Exam

Summer 2004

Grubbs

Case Studies

 

 

Instructions: Please choose one of the case studies from the selections below (do not pick your own case study—I know who you are). Please answer thoroughly and thoughtfully. You may write your response in longhand, but be forewarned that I do not grade that which I cannot read. You may use any resource with the exception of each other (please cite your references if you use materials other than the materials we used in class). This is to be turned in w/the final on Thursday. Good luck and do well! (25 points).

 

Case Study #1: John is in Mrs. Brody’s 10th grade Literature class. He is a bright student and performs well on in-class written assignments, but finds it difficult to turn in homework assignments on time. John is constantly late for class and frequently does not have his required text or writing materials. A comprehensive research project on The Scarlet Letter is due soon, and John has made little progress. Mrs. Brody suspects that he might have lost most of the work he did in class for the project. Mrs. Brody has talked privately with John on several occasions about the importance of turning in his assignments and focusing on the upcoming project, but does not know how she can help John complete his work. Mrs. Brody wants to make sure that John does well on the research project, so she decides to have a parent teacher conference with John and his parents to discuss the problems that John is facing. But after several letters home and several unanswered phone calls to John’s parents, Mrs. Brody is at a loss on what to do next. She knows that John’s parents are going through a divorce and John’s behavior may be an extension of problems at home.

 

  1. Where should Mrs. Brody turn for help?
  2. Should Mrs. Brody continue to try and contact John’s parents?
  3. What suggestions should Mrs. Brody give John to help him organize his work and get to class on time?
  4. In your opinion, what is the scope of Mrs. Brody’s responsibility to John as a teacher? How far should she go in order to help John overcome the problems that he faces?

 

Case Study #2: Mr. Henry is a first year teacher having a parent-teacher-student conference with one of his students from his 12th grade Economics class.  The student, Lindsey, did not turn in her term paper and is about to fail the class.  In class, Lindsay is often defiant and “attitudinal.” Mr. Henry has addressed the problem with Lindsey on many occasions and now feels compelled to have a conference with her parents.  Lindsey’s mother is also a teacher and is always busy. 

 

Finally, the mother agreed on a time to meet for a conference.  The student, the teacher, a school counselor and Lindsey’s mother meet in Mr. Henry’s classroom during his planning period.  Lindsey’s mother does not believe that Lindsey is capable of doing so poorly in class and demands to see Lindsey’s grade. Lindsay’s mother informs Mr. Henry that, as the daughter of a teacher, Lindsay knows how to behave in a classroom and that this is the first time a teacher has ever expressed a concern about her behavior or performance in a class. Mr. Henry pulls out his gradebook and allows Lindsey’s mother to peruse the grades. 

 

She becomes angry towards Mr. Henry and accuses him of discriminating against her child.  She says, “I hope you enjoyed this year because, when I am through with you, it will be the last year you teach in this system.”

 

  • How is this a violation of FERPA?  How could you correct the FERPA problem?
  • How can Mr. Henry respond to Lindsey’s mother?
  • Where did this parent-student-teacher conference begin to go wrong?

 

 

Case Study #3: Mr. J. Michael Cook is a first year 12th grade history teacher at Couldbeany County high school.  He has just finished college at a local four year university.  He went to high school with some of his students’ older siblings, and because of his ties to the community, he has been to some of the student’s homes and knows them on a personal level.  He is having trouble with classroom management. The students are not seeing him as a teacher however, a friend. The students have seen him out at local bars and the students have become more interested in his personal life instead of history.

            On the weekend, Michael was seen by Johnny (one of his students) leaving a local bar. Monday morning when Johnny came to class, he began asking Mr. Cook about his weekend and then began discussing it with the entire class. The entire class became loud and disruptive with all the students talking about all the other times they had seen Mr. Cook out.  The lesson turned into a class discussion about Mr. Cook’s personal life instead of history.  When he tried to regain the students’ attention, they started asking him more questions.  The entire class period was wasted because he could not gain control. The principal has been receiving calls from parents whose children have Mr. Cook as a history teacher. They are becoming increasingly concerned not only about Mr. Cook’s classroom management, but the rumors circulating about his social habits as well. The principal warned Mr. Cook that disruptions like this cannot happen again, and if it continues to happen he will be written up or, potentially, non-renewed.

 

 

  1. What should Mr. Cook do when Johnny begins asking him personal questions? (Give specific examples)
  2. What can Mr. Cook do to draw students’ attention back to the lesson instead of Johnny discussion what he saw Mr. Cook doing?
  3. What can he do to prevent the disruption without giving up his personal life and seeming cold and distant?
  4. Does Mr. Cook’s behavior constitute a violation of the Georgia Code of Ethics for Educators? Explain and cite specific standards and examples, if applicable.

 

 

Case Study #4: At South Park High School, Ms. Crenshaw teaches the 12th Grade British Literature course.  The class is currently studying medieval English.  The object of study this week is the epic poem, Beowulf. 

There are twenty-five students in the class.  Mary Nell, Bubba, and Sue Ellen are the highest achieving students in the class.  On the other end of the spectrum are  Brandon and Sally, who are lower achieving students.  Timmy is classified as MID (Mildly Intellectually Delayed), and he spends part of his day in a special education classroom.  The rest of the students in the class are average learners. 

The school requires testing every two weeks.  If Ms. Crenshaw covers the material too quickly, the lower achieving learners as well as the special needs student will fail to learn the material and fall between the cracks or give up completely.  If she moves too slowly, the higher-level learners will lose interest and begin to exhibit discipline problems. She must cover Beowulf in the allotted time so that her students will be prepared for the NAEP tests that will be given in October.

 

1. How can Ms. Crenshaw use Bloom’s Taxonomy and Multiple Intelligences to address this problem? Be specific and give examples.

2. How can Ms. Crenshaw assess fairly and still ensure that each student is learning?