Teaching+Cases

Teaching Cases

Reflection #1: It's true that all students have the right to an education, and a misfortune that prevents them access to the classroom does not change that fundamental principle of education. In the case of Jaques and Alex, I would try to utilize educational technologies that would allow them access to the lessons and assignments they need to complete their school years successfully. I personally do not possess sufficient technological sophistication to design an online chemistry lab, but I know those who do, so I would enlist the help of those more capable than I. I would also design a simple website, like a Wikispace or TeacherWeb page, so I could post lessons and assignments and have them turn them in to me. In short, there is no reason why either of these students need to miss out on a vital part of their education, and I would make sure they know I expect them to perform just as well as if their warm bodies were in my classroom.

Reflection #2: The first thing I would do in this situation is review the IEP in more detail. The description of the situation didn't make clear what "significant modifications" Alex's IEP team thought were necessary. Knowing this might make it easier to come up with technologies and methods likely to help Alex succeed. If music really helps him cope and isn't hindering his effectiveness as a student, I might look into putting some of his lessons to music. There are a lot of online resources out there, including http://members.tranquility.net/~scimusic/resources.html and http://www.kidsknowit.com/educational-songs/index.php?topic=Chemistry; and if you're willing to spend a little money, http://sing-smart.com/. All of these and tons more can be found with a simple google search. You could form a really simple web page for him and upload the songs on there. Assessment would be more tricky. Perhaps you could ask him to write his own songs demonstrating his knowledge of the concepts as well as an objective test-type assessment.

Reflection #3: The nice thing about Chemistry, or any science, is that it's pretty much universal in every language. This situation would be easier to deal with than it would in, say, an English class. For a science course, a lot of background material can be translated pretty easily. http://babelfish.yahoo.com/, for example, can translate English into Portuguese quickly and reasonably accurately. Lectures and homework assignments can be translated for her this way. Since she's already been established as a good student, she can be trusted to use these resources successfully. There are also websites that are designed specifically for use by teachers of ESL students, which will provide content-specific vocabulary lists. For class time and lectures, I would try to use primarily symbols on the whiteboard since these are universal, and give her a Portuguese language translation of the lecture material so she can follow along as best she can. Since this is a good student with supportive and involved parents, you can trust she will work as hard as you will and probably pick up a working knowledge of English pretty fast.

Teaching Case #5: Create Your Own Carly is a Junior in high school and a member of my AP English Literature and Composition course. She is a very bright and dedicated student, and I have enjoyed having her in my class for the first three months of the school year. When she gets back from Winter break, however, it is with very bad news: she has recently been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. During January and February, Carly does her best not to miss classes. However, by late February she is so anemic that she only makes it to class a couple times a week. Her grades start to falter, and I decide something must be done. During a conference with her and her mother, Carly indicates that she still wants to take the AP exam and pass it, and that she wants to keep planning for her future in spite of her illness.

What would you do? How would you ensure that Carly passes her exam without her daily attendance in your classroom?