Katherine Graff
CASE STUDY (Defining the Problem) Session
5, Page 05, Activity 03
EDUC 5329
M.Ed.T, Secondary, Foreign Languages (Arabic)
ACTFL, NCPTS (
Content practice test NOT TAKEN
TExES content exam NOT TAKEN
PPR practice test NOT TAKEN
TExES PPR 8-12 NOT TAKEN
Case Study #1
Listed below is a case study of a classroom
situation experienced by a student teacher working in seventh grade. Please
respond to the questions following the reading. Develop classroom procedures by
addressing the issues listed below. Post your procedures to the Discussion Area
marked Session 5: Defining the Problem Case Study. Please respond to the case
studies of your web buddy team, affirming, questioning or extending their
postings. Please acknowledge all of your responses.
The lesson I was presenting in health class that
day was on air pollution. I had not prepared a detailed lesson plan because (as
most new teachers) I was overworked from other classes. I figured that I
already knew a lot about air pollution. I planned to ask some general questions
about local air pollution and then read from the textbook. . . I asked for
volunteers to name sources of air pollution, expecting to hear answers about
automobiles, factories, cigarettes, buses, airplanes, fires, and sewage.
Richard, the most notorious troublemaker and leader of the pack, raised his
hand and wisecracked, "I know, teacher! Farts!"
This response caused a round of boisterous, exaggerated and lengthy laughter
and farting sounds from the class, and it gave Richard a feeling of personal
satisfaction as a successful comedian . . . I called the class to order and
cautioned Richard on his behavior. I could feel the students eagerly awaiting
another excuse for an outburst. (Shearer, 1988, p.39) Shearer,
J. (1988). Foul language. In J.. H. Shulman, & J.A. Colbert (Eds.).
The intern teacher casebook (pp. 39-41).
- What might you want to
know about the student and his or her family life or life experiences?
I would like to know the nature
of the relationships that this student has with his other teachers, other
students, siblings and parents. This may
be normal behavior for him and we need to work with this. I am prone to doing this in class as well
because I get bored easily. I want class
to be fun. See below how I would handle
this situation for an example. (You
would all probably dislike me as a student in class, so go ahead and send your
sympathies to Dr. Daza.) Information on his socio-economic and
demographic backgrounds would also be useful to estimate the extent of his
“problem”. I would also like an idea of
his overall performance in his other classes to help me determine if he is
bored and needs more stimulation or if he is struggling and is trying to mask
it through behavior.
- Describe the
characteristics of the problem. In what ways might it be both individual
and social?
Social – Richard is trying
to gain attention from his classmates and the teacher because he knows, as many
children do, that “Fart” is a semi-taboo and funny word (think Bart
Simpson-like behavior). Other students
played into his misdirection by making the farting sounds and laughing. Richard feels “satisfaction” at his
theatrical performance after he achieved a desired result from his peers.
Individual – Richard may
be bored with the lesson if he is G/T or is accelerated in sciences. Perhaps he doubts his abilities to perform in
that area and feels that he needs humor as a diversion to the real “issue”.
- Who seems to be affected
by the problem?
Both the teacher and the
students are affected because the entire class is now off task. I would say this was not in her list of “five
things” she wants her students to do.
- What factors might make
this problem difficult to handle?
The teacher already had
the preconceived notion that Richard was a trouble maker, so she may be
inclined to react negatively and not pursue other reasons for his
response. Also, she could see that the
students were looking for another excuse for an outburst, so they are out in
right field by now picking daisies (they aren’t paying attention). It will take more effort to get them back on
task. Richard feels satisfaction with
his Oscar-winning performance and he may be inspired to give an encore.
- How would you handle
this problem?
Honestly, the kid is
correct and I do not see this as a big deal.
Kids love farts and fart jokes, so I would turn
his comedic act into a lesson. First, I
would point out to the class that his fart joke is correct and thank him for
his answer. Then I would explain that
farts are technically methane gas released as a byproduct of digestion, and
that farts (methane gas) are the biggest silent, but deadly contributors to the
hole in the Ozone. Cows and marshes are
the biggest producers of farts (a.k.a. methane gas), and I would quiz the class
to see if they could guess these major “stinkers” that are “ripping a big one” in
the Ozone. We could also explore some of
the properties of methane gas and the bodily functions that cause the gas to
occur. After my fart explanations and “winded”
segways, I would review the real scientific portions
of what we just learned-guaranteed that they will remember these lessons. Then I would dish out positive reinforcement
for Richard’s excellent answer so that his feeling of satisfaction stems from a
correct scientific answer, not the “butt” of his joke. I will follow-up with a reminder to the class
that we need to give a signal if we wish to contribute magnificently thoughtful
answers to the discussion before yelling out.
I would also like the class to refer to “farts” by their scientific
name, methane gas emissions. By
explaining farts and talking about them, I have redirected the class’s
attention from Richard back to me. I
think after I totally overuse the word “fart”, it looses its magic and the fart
jokes are not as much fun. By the way, I was almost a biology major
before I switched to Education and Foreign Languages ; ) I
also believe that class should be fun, and if kids/students want to talk about
it and you can use it in a lesson, you should do so as long as no one is
offended and the context is academic.
CASE STUDY -
Buddy Response A
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Message
no. 1281 |
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Author: Wenyung
Chung |
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Date: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 12:32am |
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You said you acted like
Richard when you get bored in class. What is the center of your boredom? Is it the non challenging
element of the lesson or you are not interested in the class? Good way of hanlding the situation by turning the incident into a contructive lesson. Instead of handling the
students in the hard way, you do it the soft way to win their trust. I was thinking of the same
think when responding to the question. |
CASE STUDY - *My
Response* to Buddy Response A
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Message
no. 1337 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Thursday, October 11, 2007
11:16am |
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Hi Wenyung, Thanks for the response! I do not scream out things
in class like Richard, but I do have to make class fun for myself in order to learn. I get bored if either the curriculum or the
teacher is boring. I need to be challenged and
my mind needs to be working in order for me to be a more effective learner. I think that is my problem with
mathematics-I get bored. Not a lot of room for imagination
because it is all in black and white after elementary school and I never had a great teacher
that I could tell just loved math and was teaching because it was what s/he wanted to do,
but because it was a job. You sound
like you would be a great math teacher because
I can tell you care about your students and are willing to learn everything you can to help
them. God Bless You-the world needs
more teachers like you! |
CASE STUDY -
Buddy Response B
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Message
no. 1298 |
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Author: Stephanie Bohn |
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Date: Wednesday, October 10, 2007
2:22pm |
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Name: Stephanie Bohn Courses enrolled in: LIST 5326, EDUC 5310, EDUC 5329 Program: Initial Teacher Certification Only Seeking Certification:
Secondary English National Standards: NCTE State Competencies: TExES English Language Arts/Reading, Grades
8-12 Content practice test: not yet taken TExES Content exam: not yet
taken PPR Practice test: not yet
taken TExES PPR: not yet taken Hi Katherine, I loved how you reversed
the idea of the lesson and how you would handle it. I thought it was very clever and
practical. However, do you think that
using the idea of turning students into jokes can always be
appropriate? Also, what grade level
would you use this lesson plan on?...do
you think that it would work as effectively on younger students, since they might be more
immature on the subject? Thanks for
you comments! I enjoyed your point of view! Very clever! |
CASE STUDY - *My
Response* to Buddy Response B
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Message
no. 1342 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Thursday, October 11, 2007 11:28am |
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Hi Stephanie! Great question-thank you
for asking : ) I am assuming that an
incident like this is more likely to occur in sixth grade or below. In seventh-eight grade,
girls and boys start openly "liking" each other and would not want to risk open embarassment in front of the opposite sex. I do use this with my class
now, however, but its only because they sometimes have the mentality of
kindergarteners ; ) My students get
bored because the lessons they are required to learn are so
difficult, so when they blurt out obviously stupid answers, I play on it as a little stress
reliever. The student that says it
usually does not mind, but I make sure I address him about his
actions and make sure he was not hurt in anyway. It has proven effective, so I keep doing
it. I am a big smarty-pants in real
life, so it plays into my personality ; ) We translated Chuck Norris jokes into
Arabic Tuesday because they would not stop yelling them out
after break-voila-its a lesson.
Anything can be a lesson in my book! |
CASE STUDY,
Response 1 to a Classmate’s Work
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Message
no. 1263 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2007 12:25pm |
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Katherine Graff CASE STUDY (Defining the
Problem) Session 5, Page 05,
Activity 03 EDUC 5329 M.Ed.T, Secondary, Foreign
Languages (Arabic) ACTFL, NCPTS ( Content practice test NOT
TAKEN TExES content exam NOT
TAKEN PPR practice test NOT TAKEN TExES PPR 8-12 NOT TAKEN Hi Stephanie, I enjoyed reading your
paper and I agree with most of your answers.
I had not thought about someone in class
being offended by the comment, so that would certainly be something to address if it
happens. I definitely agree that
Richard is looking to gain the title of "class
clown"-great way to put it! I am intrigued by your
statement, "Structurally, the teacher should have been prepared for this class, she is
overloaded or not with other class work is not an excuse. That is her job, therefore, if she
would have outlined that day, this outburst may have been avoided." Sometimes we make outlines
and nice lesson plans, and our lessons for the day go totally out the window because of unforseen factors.
As teachers, we do not get all of the planning time we need (I
get zero and I teach full on 8 hour days).
It is almost impossible to prepare for
every possible outburst or disruption from students, and you kind of have to take it from
the hip and do the best you can. Since
she was described as a student teacher in the
book, we do not know if she has been in the class long enough to know Richard and his
history in class or with family, so that may be a big factor that was not revealed to us. My strategy is this: "Don't sweat the small stuff",
kids are kids, we correct them
appropriately, and go on with our plans because minor interruptions are not enough for me to stop the
class. What do you think about my
approach? Thanks for sharing
Stephanie-great job! |
CASE STUDY,
*Classmate’s Follow-Up* Response
1 to a Classmate’s Work
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Message
no. 1292 |
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Author: Stephanie Bohn |
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Date: Wednesday, October 10, 2007
1:01pm |
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Hi Katherine, I understand your comment
about the teacher not being prepared for the comment. While I do not think that a
teacher can prepare herself for outbursts, I do feel that they should be somewhat, if not
fully prepared for class...which the teacher in this case was not. She did not have a lesson plan for that
day, so she decided to have a discussion.
I do agree that discussions
are great ways to move through the class...unfortunately, in this case, it did not work too
well for her. Thanks for your
comment!!!! I appreciate your questions. |
CASE STUDY,
Response 2 to a Classmate’s Work
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Message
no. 1262 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Tuesday, October 9, 2007 12:10pm |
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Katherine Graff CASE STUDY (Defining the
Problem) Session 5, Page 05,
Activity 03 EDUC 5329 M.Ed.T, Secondary, Foreign
Languages (Arabic) ACTFL, NCPTS ( Content practice test NOT
TAKEN TExES content exam NOT
TAKEN PPR practice test NOT TAKEN TExES PPR 8-12 NOT TAKEN Hi Wenyung, Great report once
again! I agree with your answers to
the questions in this case and I also agree that this only
requires a low level of intervention.
I like your idea of being very clear about what was
the exact action that was wrong with Richard's answer, not just scolding him and not
giving a reason because his answer was technically correct. Thanks again for sharing :
) |
CASE STUDY, *Classmates
Follow-Up* to My Response 2
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Message
no. 1287 |
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Author: Wenyung
Chung |
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Date: Wednesday, October 10, 2007
1:13am |
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Thanks for you comment. Is
assigning classroom duties like cleaning a normal thing foudn in American school? |
CASE STUDY, *MY Follow-Up* to My Response 2
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Message
no. 1332 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Thursday, October 11, 2007
10:54am |
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In my schools (I attended
public schools in necessarily
"assigned" clean up duty, but it was expected that we clean up
after ourselves-like those little
pieces of paper that fall out of your spiral notebook after you rip a page out, pencil
shavings, etc...and make sure our desks are
neat. The only reason I am able to assign
specific clean up duties is because I teach adults and in almost every Marine Corps
class taught, Marines carry the clean up duties, so they expect it. Thanks again Wenyung-great
talking to you! |
CASE STUDY,
Response 3 to a Classmate’s Work
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Message
no. 1335 |
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Author: Katherine Graff |
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Date: Thursday, October 11, 2007
11:10am |
|
Katherine Graff CASE STUDY (Defining the
Problem) Session 5, Page 05,
Activity 03 EDUC 5329 M.Ed.T, Secondary, Foreign
Languages (Arabic) ACTFL, NCPTS ( Content practice test NOT
TAKEN TExES content exam NOT
TAKEN PPR practice test NOT TAKEN TExES PPR 8-12 NOT TAKEN Hi Erica, Nice to hear from you
again-lovely paper as always! I agree
with you on most of the points that you made,
especially the notion that Richard received a satisfactory response from his outburst and that he
will have the inclination to do it again.
I never thought of the teacher as being
discouraged by his behavior, but I can see how that could happen. Great perspective
: ) Thank you for sharing and
good luck! |
CASE STUDY,
*Classmate’s Follow-Up* Response
3 to a Classmate’s Work
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Message
no. 1387 |
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Author: Erica Bensik |
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Date: Thursday, October 11, 2007
3:31pm |
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Thanks for your response
Katherine! I alsways appreciate your thoughts and
comments! As for the comment about
teachers getting discouraged, I think because I have no experience in the classroom
yet, I am fearful of anything that can cause me to feel discouraged or out of my comfort zone! |
CASE STUDY RUBRIC
Fully answered question 1
I wanted to know the
nature of Richard’s relationships with his other teachers, other students,
siblings and parents to establish a pattern of behavior to plan for
intervention if necessary. I would also like to know his performance in other
classes to determine if he is just bored with his classes and needs to be
challenged or if he is using his behavior to mask academic struggles. 10
Fully answered question 2
This problem is social
because it is an attempt to gain attention from a public audience and felt
satisfied when he achieved his goal. It
is individual if Richard is bored with his lessons or he doubts his abilities
in the academic area because he is using the behavior to redirect everyone’s focus
to his humor rather than his academic performance. 10
Fully answered question 3
I explained that since the
entire class was totally off task now, every person in the classroom was
affected by Richard’s response. 10
Fully answered question 4
I assessed some
difficulties of the issue as the teacher’s preconceived notions that Richard
was a trouble maker, the other students were way off task because there were
looking for another excuse for an outburst, and that Richard was so satisfied
with the class’ attention that he would be inspired to become a repeat offender. 10
Fully answered question 5
I narrated how I would
decrease his shock value by turning his outburst into a lesson because his
answer is technically correct. It was a really long, colorful paragraph, so I
will not repost it here, but I do recommend reading it. This would redirect the classes focus from
Richard, give the exact opposite reaction that Richard and the rest of the
class expected from me, and we have a lesson about methane gas that those kids
would never forget for the rest of their lives.
I would remind the class that we need to raise our hand before we
thoughtfully answer questions As this is a minor incident I feel that only low-levels of
intervention would be acquired. 10
Responded to three members
of your learning team and replied to all responses to your original post.
I initiated discussions
with Stephanie Bohn, Wenyung Chung
and Erica Bensik
and I received original
commentary about my paper from Stephanie
Bohn and Wenyung Chung. 10
Total Possible 60
points My score 60 My percentage 100%
Rubric
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Highest Quality of Work Possible. Included all required
elements, well elaborated, excellent mechanics. |
Exceeding Expectations. Included most required elements,
some elaboration, generally good mechanics. |
Met Expectations with Minimum Standards. Included the
minimum required elements, little or no elaboration, acceptable mechanics. |
Needs Improvement or Did Not Address. |
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Fully answered question # 1 |
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Fully answered question # 2 |
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Fully answered question # 3 |
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Fully answered question # 4 |
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Fully answered question # 5 |
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Responded to 3 members of your
learning team and reply to all responses to your original post. |
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Total Possible 60 points |
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Please add your
points; divide by the maximum points, and compute a percentage score. PLEASE
place your completed self assessment and a copy of this assignment in your
PRIVATE ASSESSMENT FOLDER found in the discussion area.
Please post all
assignments to the designated discussion area (by session and team) and in your
private self assessment folder SAF).