Case Studies

Alone in a Crowd

-Brien Frail

Question: Darlene is clearly marginalized in Jim’s classroom. What are the signs of her marginal status, and how might she be better integrated with her peers?

This situation regarding Darlene is complicated, it is something that I have yet to face during my work in the school system. Darlene is marginalized within the classroom, which only gets worse as the situations escalate. Upon reading this situation, it becomes apparent that Darlene is faced with many challenges. The first challenge that becomes apparent is her sensory overload. The sense of anxiety that Darlene feels begins right at the start of her day. The act of simply walking to her locker causes tension for Darlene. The toughest part of this instruction is how fast Darlene’s emotions can escalate, resulting in an emotional explosion. After the physical outburst, Darlene takes her frustrations out on the other students, which only furthers the marginalization. The situation escalated to such a level that students began avoiding Darlene and even lashing back at her. Darlene’s inability to regulate her emotion has created an environmental unease, which both students and the teacher feared the possibility of an outburst. I myself am no expert on this topic, therefore I can understand the teacher’s insecurities. This situation is a very delicate one, which needs to be navigated with care. My issue with this reading was the constant excuse of the teacher being always too late to intervene with an explosive episode. Darlene has techniques to help her calm down after an episode, but that is it. As far as the reading discloses, there are not techniques utilized to assist in the prevention of these outbursts. If I were the teacher in this situation, I would consult experts considering I myself am not one. I would attempt to find techniques that could prevent classroom meltdowns, rather than simply addressing the problem after an outburst. One takeaway I had from this reading is the value for schools such as Twin Rivers Education Center. TREC is a school that can accommodate students such as Darlene, who may suffer from sensory overload.

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Unmasking Halloween

-Brien Frail

Question: Imagine you teach in a school that has decided on alternative activities to traditional holiday celebrations. What kinds of activities might you plan that would be pedagogically defensible yet appealing to students?

Throughout my years of volunteer work at schools, the issue of traditional holiday celebrations has always been apparent. I have personally seen many different approaches to this topic from a range of different teachers with their own perspectives regarding the matter. On one side of the spectrum, I have witnessed teachers completely remove any aspect of the traditional holiday celebrations from their classrooms. On days such as Halloween, the classroom would operate as per usual. There were no alternatives to the celebration, just a regular day of class. On the other side of the spectrum, I have witnessed students being provided with different activities based upon their personal backgrounds. The majority of the class would participate in the traditional Canadian activities associated with the holiday, whereas the few students who did not celebrate the holiday where off doing unrelated activities. Neither of these approaches sat well with me personally. The approach taken within this reading seemed to be within reason. Although the students would not be celebrating the traditional holiday, they were still provided with activities that made up for a lack of celebration. The activities listed with the reading were inclusive, while still being educational. That being said, there still was outrage from the parents. I had a discussion with a principal who had been in the profession for quite some time. We discussed the question of what they would do in a situation similar to the one in the reading. There are still aspects of education that can be celebrated without the addition of tradition. A solution that we discussed was the celebration of the unique aspects of the seasons. Although celebrating the unique aspects of the seasons is not the same as celebrating the traditional holidays, there are still similarities between the two. In addition, celebrating the seasons is both inclusive and educational. That being said, communication between the school and parents is also important when addressing change. The lack of communication between the staff and the parents may have been an aspect of the escalation of the situation.

 

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Bang Bang you’re Dead

-Brien Frail

Question: Do you agree that playing violent video games at a young age can lead to violent behaviour? Why or why not?

This issue is more relevant now than it has ever been. Do video games make the people who play them more violent? Watching any news station, there becomes a common theme. People claim that video games are a major contributor to the mass shootings that are seen in the headlines. Donald Trump himself suggests that video games are to blame for events such as mass shootings. The discussion on whether or not video games lead to violent behaviour as a very split and heated debate. What makes this situation more complicated is that scientific research and findings are also split, much like these debates. Some findings claim that video games result in more aggressive behaviour, whereas some studies claim that there is no correlation between the two. What I do believe though is that discussion is necessary for there to be any meaningful change. We are not going to find any solutions to violence if we only hear the things we want to hear.  Where I find this reading interesting is the fellow colleague’s unwillingness to have a debate regarding the topic. Instead of thinking critically about the topic, the other teacher seems to have a set mindset on the topic. Instead of considering the question “that not everyone who plays video games acts violently, but do a lot of violent people also play video games”, the teacher is set on believing that video games are the only reason for violence. With such a closed mindset, there cannot be any chance for any meaningful change.

 

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Case Study: Who Cares?

-Jacob Bigham

Question: Kate is intentionally vague with her students about her sexual orientation. How much about their private lives should teachers share with students? Why do you think so?

I think teachers must have a firm baseline and stance on what a teacher wants to disclose with students and what they have to disclose. If the information about a teachers personal life is being used to teach a lesson or speak from experience it could be critical in getting across a point or giving information that can help a students understanding. In Kate’s situation, I think letting her students know her sexual orientation and situation could have helped defuse a situation. She is teaching high school bio and she has to see these students every day. For her to be fully honest with her class would take away all that wonder for students who might be trying to figure out who Kate is. This full disclosure I think would let the students get to a point of developing their learning and understanding of the actual subject, instead of wondering who their teacher really is. The classroom is supposed to be an honest and open environment and a subject like biology might be the most appropriate space to have a discussion about sexuality. I know that it is not an open and safe environment at all times but as society moves forward I think the classroom will be the guest space for a conversation such as this.

Case Study: Who Cares? – Response

-Brien Frail

Hey Jacob.

 I do believe that teachers have the right to disclose or withhold personal information about themselves. I also agree that a teacher’s own experience can be a powerful resource when discussing such topics. I do not believe that Kate should be pressured to disclose personal information regarding herself to simply defuse a situation. I do believe that a situation such as this one should be addressed regardless of an educator’s sexual orientation. Despite Kate’s sexual orientation, the classrooms misconception should be addressed before their perceptions grow any further.

 

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Case Study: Flipping Burger

-Alyse Hoshowski

Question: How does Elizabeth address learned helplessness in her classroom, and what are the positive and negative implications of her approach? 

Elizabeth addresses her concerns to the principle Dianne. First, she asks Dianne if it’s okay that her class write and perform a play in front of the school instead of doing individual speeches. She approached Dianne again asking if it would be okay that she let her students revise and resubmit assignments to which Dianne approved of her approach.

Elizabeth changed her approach because she noticed that her students were more concerned and “stressed” over their marks than their learning. A student voiced their concerns as well by telling her that they just “can’t do math” and that they have always been a “C student and that’s the best they’ll ever do”. The positives to this approach are that she noticed that her students were taking more of an interest in learning, and in turn their grades were improving. She believed that by giving them a chance and believing in them, their self-esteem and their marks would improve. Which they did. Teachers like Elizabeth adapt and don’t take preconceptions of students to heart. She gave them a chance to take control of their learning. Teachers like Kevin stick with judgments made and don’t give them a chance to help them improve. Learned helplessness can lead to serious mental health issues, so by giving her students this option Elizabeth helped provide them overcome it. As a student, you always want to have a teacher looking out for your best interests.

The only negative implications to Elizabeth’s approach that I thought of while reading this case was that she was giving the students multiple chances to resubmit their work. As she said, one student handed in their work seven times. Although done with good intentions, you don’t usually get opportunities like this in high school, university, or in your career.

Flipping Burger – Response

-Brien Frail

Hey Alyse.

Similar to Jacobs comments, I witnessed learned helplessness quite a bit during my grade 2 practicum. The learned helplessness was to such an extent that students would not attempt their work without a teacher or a teacher candidate present observing them. Learned helplessness is something that I wish to learn more about myself. I do agree that that teaching and learning should address the need of the students, and allow them to take their learning into their own hands. As mentioned, this can be in the form of alternative assignments or revisions. This all ties into UDL. My greatest wonder though, is when does UDL become a crutch? I am not saying that I am against UDL, but question aspects of it. Through UDL, students are allowed a sense of choice, which is a positive, but a safe aspect. If students are never pushed past their comfort zones, then I question how much learning can actually take place?

 

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Let them eat Cake

-Nicole Fowles

Question: In the past, libraries and books were at the heart of the educational enterprise, but with the ascendance of new technologies and media, they are now vanishing from schools at an alarming rate. Is there still a role for libraries and if so, what is it? Explain your response. 

When I think about a school, I picture classrooms that surround a library full of books. Libraries are usually central or in the middle of the school, which can be a metaphor for the “heart of the school”.  To imagine a school without a library is sinister. The case study mentions the importance of a centralized library instead of distributing books to classrooms. For instance, only about 100 books can fit in each classroom, leaving the students with less choice and variability in books, which in turn will lose their interest in roughly 3 weeks (pg 87). Further, the librarian in the case study states, “The purpose of a library is to centralize books for all readers, not to break up the collection so teachers can squirrel away books in their classrooms” (pg 87). This statement makes me think back to my volunteer hours as well as my first practicum in regard to the different reading levels in each classroom. I would imagine that if the library were to close, the Grade 1 level books would go to a Grade 1 class while the grade 7 level books would go to a grade 7 class. However, not all readers are at the same level. There may be a grade 7 who is at a grade 3 reading level. How would that make this student feel knowing all of the books in their classroom are too hard for them to read? It decreases their choice and may even lower their self-esteem into an “I can’t” mindset. If a student wanted to read a book that was housed in another class, would they be allowed to? Would they have to disrupt a class just to pick out a new book to read? It just does not make sense to have books in classrooms rather than in a library.

Further, librarians play a huge role in school systems. In my experience going through elementary school, my librarian was amazing, and I would help her put books away, which is a skill in its own. She would also run extracurricular activities that I took part in. I always looked forward to library time as I enjoyed reading, picking out new books each time and also being read to by the librarian. The librarian of a school enhances the “Daily 5” by reading to the class as a whole as well as providing a safe quiet place for students to silent read to themselves.

Not all students have access to books outside of school. A student living with low socioeconomic status (SES) may not have the same privilege as another student with a higher SES, who may be able to sign out books from the local library or order books online. If libraries were to vanish in schools, it may decrease literacy rates. School libraries give students the opportunity to bring reading and literature into their homes.

Overall, there is still a role for libraries in schools. Libraries are a central place for learning and house invaluable knowledge. There is also technology in libraries, such as computers, which can aid learning. The combination of books and computers makes libraries an important learning area for students.

Let them eat Cake – Response

-Brien Frail

Hey Nicole.

Reading through your responses, I completely agree with what you say. I do believe that libraries have an important place within schools to encourage both learning and knowledge. I do understand the value of the use of technologies within schools, but it should not be a replacement of books. Select students are already in front of a screen for too many hours in the day, the lack of actual books within schools would only further this. I could not agree more with what you said regarding not all students having access to either books or technology outside of school. If a student is unable to access reading material because of their situation in life, the lack of a library would only do more harm.

 

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