Case Study Assignment

Amy Jeong
EDTE 532
My practicum is in a grade ¾ class at Mountain View Elementary school, a class

consisting of 18 grade three students and 6 grade four students, 13 girls and 11 boys. During

my fall practicum I was able to develop deeper relationships with my students, which have

taught me many things about myself as a teacher and about my students as learners within

a classroom community. Since the students in my present practicum are mostly upper-

middle class, most of them come to school prepared to learn and they perform relatively

well in the classroom. This class is a fairly easy-going group, where clear expectations are in

place. There are, of course, some students with extra needs: one student with Cerebral

Palsy, one student with undiagnosed FASD, and one new student with trauma and

behaviour issues who influences the classroom environment.

1. Why did you choose this student as your “wonder” child?

I chose to do my case study on the new student with trauma and behaviours: M.T., who

is an 8-year old male student. I chose this student as my “wonder” child because I really

wanted to support him, but both my sponsor teacher and I have struggled to find the ways

to fully support him.

2. What do you know about this student as a learner?

M.T. has recently moved to Nanaimo from a small town in Alberta. My sponsor teacher

has told me that his father was addicted to drugs and stayed home all the time as he didn’t

have a stable job. Due to financial concerns, his parents had many arguments and fights,

and he was often exposed to violence at home. The police were often involved in these
situations, and M.T. wasn’t able to rely on either parent for safety or comfort while growing

up. M.T finds paying attention challenging, and when he loses focus, he has troubles using

the room or his classmates to get clues on what he should be doing. Also, he often calls out,

especially when the teacher is talking. My sponsor teacher has told me that his behaviour

has become worse since he moved. He has a hard time working collaboratively with a group

or in pairs, and he prefers working alone.

3. What else do you need to find out about this student as a learner?

I would like to know what would make him enjoy school more. Also, I would like to find

out how to effectively use positive reinforcement with this student.

4. What strengths, capacities, and/or “passions” do you see in this student?

One of this student’s strengths is that he asks many questions when we start a new unit

or lesson. He can sometimes be silly by asking questions that are out of the topic to get

everyone’s attention, but he still tries his best to be engaged in class. Another strength he

has is that he tries to keep our classroom neat and clean by being the first student to pick up

garbage on the floor and by putting away chairs. I also think he is very passionate about

learning math. He is strong at math, and he believes that he could do better through

practice.

5. What questions do you have about this student’s strengths and capacities? What

do you need to learn more about in order to offer powerful support (e.g. social-

emotional learning, engagement, interests, relationships, previous experiences)?

 How can I foster his love of math? I would also like to find out what he usually does on

the weekend as it seems that his behaviour is the worst on Mondays. How can I effectively

encourage him to enjoy group work?

6. What does the student think about his/her learning? Include direct quotes if you

can (e.g. What do you think you are at as a learner? What helps you to learn?)

I have noticed that when he gets his worksheets back with not getting everything right,

he self evaluates his work by writing “F” on top of the worksheets. Both my sponsor teacher

and I asked him why he does that, and he said because he didn’t get everything right and

that means he failed. We told him 18 out of 20 is great, and we don’t use letter grades

anymore, but he still continues to write letter grade himself. He is happy with his learning

only when he gets everything right. Also, I have noticed if he makes a small mistake when

we are doing art work, he will just sit at his desk and give up.

7. If you were planning for this student’s learning, what could you do to support

him/her? Why? What can you include in your unit/lesson planning to support this

student? What theories and information from the course connect to your

decisions?

I have noticed that M.T. is more engaged in a lesson when he is able to have a

discussion about it with the classmates. For my upcoming practicum starting in April, I will

allow him time to share his opinion or ideas about a topic with his classmates, rather than

me talking the whole time. Also, one of the strategies my sponsor teacher has been using to

support him is that she goes over clear expectations beforehand through one-on-one

conversation before teaching a lesson or going to the gym or music room. This has been

working well with him, and I will ensure I do that when I am teaching. During my practicum
experience so far, I have noticed that he has such a hard time staying on-task when he is

given a lot of pen and paper work. I will give him constant reminders to help him stay

productive through a task, and I will provide many hands-on learning opportunities to help

him stay on task while enjoying learning.

8. How does this experience inform your thinking about teaching and learning for

inclusive education?

I have learned that many strategies that helps M.T. will help everyone in my classroom.

This experience reminded me that I am not alone in this journey of creating an inclusive

community. There is the principal, who checks in with him every Monday morning, and a

school-based team who is supporting him to develop his social interaction skills.