Teaching+cases

// 1. Jaques and Alex // //Narrative:// Jacques was a senior in my 4th period chemistry course. He kept up with his work and was doing a pretty good job in class. On the weekend that fell 2 months before graduation, Jacques had the misfortune of getting into a fight and ended up being beaten so badly that he was hospitalized for 3 weeks time. He was in critical condition and was placed on a respirator. Needless to say, the least of Jacques worries was chemistry. As it turns out, one of the students who beat Jacques was a student named Alex in my period 4 Chemistry class. The same class! When Jacques returned to school to meet with me and to get "missing work", charges were filed against Alex and as a result, a restraining order was placed on Alex. I was ordered by our building police officer not to allow Alex in the chemistry room for the rest of the year. And, I was ordered by Jacques doctor to allow him to miss the remainder of the year because he would be undergoing reconstructive maxilofacial surgery. Both of these students have the right to receive an education even though they can not physically be in my chemistry classroom. That means they are held to the same standards, yet the conditions for their learning are much different than "typical".

//Question:// How would you deal with this situation? What technologies, methods and strategies could you employ to address this situation?

I had difficulty understanding why the principle would order Alex to not be allowed in the class if Jaques not going to be in class because of his reconstructive surgery. Obviously there would be no violating of the restraining order if Jaques wasn't going to be in the classroom. However that question set aside, I would give both students the details of what needed to be done to pass my class. I would also schedule each student separate times and days to meet with me for questions and to do any lab work that would be necessary for passing my class. .

//2. Andrew//
//Narrative:// On the first day of my 6th period chemistry class one of our school counselors //Bruce// entered my class with //Andrew// (student) his advocate //Jeff// and his mom //Sally//. I said //"hello"// to Andrew and noticed right away glazed-over eyes. Andrew couldn't hear me. He was listening to music from his ipod. Bruce began explaining //"Andrew has Schizophrenia and is taking psychosomatic "meds" for treatment.//" His mom chimed in //"As you might have noticed, he is under medication as we speak".// I held out my hand to Andrew and said //"welcome to chemistry"//. Andrew kind of smiled and looked down. Bruce then spoke //"Here is Andrew's IEP (individualized educaion plan)." "There will need to be major modifications made so that Andrew can be successful."// Sally said "Andrew might miss you class for weeks or months at a time. It all depends on his meds." //"One thing that helps him cope is his music.//" Bruce and Sally left the room and Jeff commented //"I'll come by after school to discuss further".// Andrew went over to a desk in the back of the room, sat down, looked blankly at the front of the room. He turned his music up - I could hear it from the front of the room. Shortly thereafter, Andrew had his head on his desk with his eyes closed, a hoodie pulled over his head. He stayed that way until the end of class. The next day of class, Andrew's mom called and explained that Andrew would not be in class for at least the next two weeks and requested that I provide the next two weeks of lessons that he would miss.

//Question:// How would you deal with this situation? What technologies, methods and strategies could you employ to address this situation?

As a mother of a special needs child, I know that extreme patients will be needed in dealing with a special needs student. I would use some of the same techniques that my son's school uses. The most important being constant communication and parental help. I would put together a workbook that would have all the necessary assignments for the class. If a lab is needed than we will than make arrangements to make it up

// 3. Dianna //
//Narrative:// Diana from Brazil not speak English. She entered my chemistry class 2 weeks after it started. She was a very successful student in Brazil, and her parents have met with me regarding their expectations that she do well in chemistry. The text used in chemistry is in English, as are all of my resources.

//Question:// How would you deal with this situation? What technologies, methods and strategies could you employ to address this situation?

I would find some websites dedicated to chemistry. I would make sure that they cover the same material that is covered in the texts. Then I would show Diana how to change the language on the sights form English to Portuguese. She than can answer the questions in her language than I would run the same translation program to get her answers back to me in English.

//4. Gabriel//
//Narrative:// Gabriel was a student of mine who was taking one of my online AP Physics courses from the University of California College Prep. (UCCP), Santa Cruz. As per the accreditation for online science courses, it was mandated that the laboratory component be "physical", whereby students manipulated "real" equipment to study physics-related concepts. The students that I would have in the online AP Physics courses would be from all over the country and, in some cases, international. In fact, one of the reasons some of these learners were form all over the country and international was that many had exceptional talents above and beyond the AP Physics courseroom. For example, one learner was training to compete in the winter Olympics as a figure skater, while another was a world renowned pianist. Some students attended schools that did not offer an AP Physics course. And ever since a 1999 [|class-action equal access suit filed] against the state of California, students are to be guaranteed the right to access college-prep or AP courses, even if their school does not offer such courses. If their school does not provide such programs, it is the district's and/or state's responsibility to provide such opportnunities. Hence, online AP Physics. Now keep in mind the earlier statement that the labs for these courses were to be "physical". This meant that the school that the students attended was to have a mentor to ovversee the proper use, set-up, and safety of the physics lab equipment. Even if the school did not have the equipment, the mentor was expected to get creative and utilize similar supplies such that the lab could be performed. And get creative we did!

OK, so Gabriel attended a school that lacked "common" science lab equipment (e.g., voltmeters, ring stands, circuit kits, and so forth). And, he was to complete the AP Physics "physical" labs prescribed for the course. I received a call from Gabe's mentor regarding how the labs were to be completed without the necessary equipment. In essence the majority of the labs could not be completed because the host school did not have the requisite equipment. Technically, Gabe's hosting school (someone other than the Mentor) signed that they had access to all of the necessary equipment, so Gabe was enrolled with UCCP. And, Gabe enrolled 2 weeks after the course began.

//Question:// How would you deal with this situation? What technologies, methods and strategies could you employ to address this situation? What should I tell the mentor?

I would try to find a softwear program that simulated the experiments. In this way Gabriel would be able to "do" the expierments with the computer and get the same results as with a lab.

Case # 5 Allen the Actor: While I was working in a high school drama class, the class was doing a unit on monologues. The students had to find a published monologue and perform it in front of the class. The teacher had an added challenge for his students. It was the teacher's policy to have only three grades for the class. The grades were A, B, and F. It was the teacher's belief that if the class work was less than 80% it wasn't good enough to be seen by an audience there for it was an F.    Allen worked very hard memorizing his monologue to make sure he didn't fail. He was very nervous because he had never did any acting before. When Allen did his first monologue he passed with an 80%. When it came time for the second monologue Allen faced yet another challenge. This challenge was that he would have to write the monologue he was going to perform. After a couple of class periods Allen was getting frustrated at the assignment. He said to me "I don't know what to do, I just can't write a monologue. I just don't know what to write about. " I looked at him and asked, "What is your favorite tv character." He replied "Garfield." I then asked him "What is it about Garfield that you like." Allen said, "The way he picks on Ode." I than said "Why don't you write a monologue about how Garfield picks on Ode, except put it from Ode's perspective and how he wants revenge on Garfield." Allen loved this idea so much that he finished writing his monologue before the class was over. When he preformed it, he expected to get the same grade he got on his first monologue. Instead he had improved so much that his monologue earned him a 95%.