A Practice in Writing a Case Study

The demographics will offer some insight into the direction of the overall goal. The Option Pathways Program student is enrolled in an alternative educational path to graduating high school that is somewhat different from the two paths currently used in West Virginia Public Secondary schools, which are the skilled or academic pathways. The Option Pathways Program is closely aligned with the skilled path in that a "completer" program is required. Many of the students in the skilled pathway choose a vocational career, which traditionally covered the building trades such as carpentry, masonry, electrician, welding, and some clerical skills classes. The modern technical classes include various classes in the medical field from medical records and medical office assistant to full Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) and Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) classes that serve a prep classes for Registered Nurse (RN), which in many ways is considered an academic pathway, but with specialized training for workforce readiness. There are many other skilled pathway classes that are academic in nature as well like, Criminal Justice, Business Marketing, Finance, and Information Technology that easily translate into two year and four year college degrees. The main shift for the Option Pathways student is how the core subjects of math, science, social studies, and English Language Arts (ELA) are delivered to students. Many of the referred Option 1 students are failing or have failed multiple core subjects and the student I'm going to talk about had not passed a core subject since ninth grade.

The Socio-Economic Status (SES) of the students in the Option 1 Program is representative of the majority of the county population, which is identified as low with the exception of one attendance area elementary through secondary schools, which is likely moderate (not the perceived high). The SES plays a roll in that many of these students struggle to meet basic needs, which as Maslow points out must be met if learning is to occur. The gender ratio is about 60/40 male to female though not equally distributed in the two possible classes of AM or PM. The age range is 16 to 19, but draws from currently enrolled freshman to seniors. Like their peers many of these students have experimented with tobacco, alcohol, drugs, gambling, and sex, which I mention because some have already entered the court system, residential placement, or have parents / guardians in the court system with either charges pending or serving sentences for convicted crimes as well as some students that are also parents themselves. Many of the students have attendance issues that have resulted in court ordered completion of high school and are not able to get their driver's license until they turn 18 years of age. The truancy has a direct affect on loss of basic instruction and is likely the single greatest factor to a lack of success in the classroom because missed work seldom gets turned in for credit and ability to be successful on assessments, which results in a failing grade.

My case study student can be identified in many of the aforementioned categories though Not in the court system and exhibited No tendency toward tobacco or drug use. He lived with a grandparent that seemed to demand a great deal of structure and adherence to the rules of the house, something this teen outwardly opposed, but inwardly desperately needed. I interacted with this student in three very different settings, yet all were in a classroom or an academic setting. The first point of interaction was in a Vo-Ag setting for a 90 minute block class that dealt primarily with the greenhouse. The second interaction was later in the same academic day in a 90 minute block class Intro to Ag. The third interaction was the following year in the Option 1 class. All three of these settings offered different insight into how to best approach and meet this student's academic needs.

The student would be identified as an average teenage male 17 years of age turning 18 years of age prior to graduation. He had 12 of the 28 required credits needed for graduation when he arrived to the Option 1 classroom. He was not a student that caused problems in a classroom, but was very passive when it came to classroom performance. In my first interaction with this student I met a vibrant young man willing and eager to be part of the class... taking part in the assigned jobs ... planting seeds, watering, transplanting... etc... we even built a two-bin-compost structure out of pressure treated lumber to recycle potting soil, in which he was one of the best workers on the project... he along with two other students wanted to restart the hydroponics system we uncovered in the greenhouse. To begin with this adventure was new to me and the students because I took over the Vo-Ag position soon after the start of the second semester when the teacher quit mid-year. As a substitute, the students were expecting to do very little and I was encouraged to Not open the greenhouse, but How can you have a greenhouse class without going to the greenhouse? How was that fair for the students, it wasn't their fault the teacher quit. This set the stage for a very positive interaction with most of the students. Keep this thought in your mind as we begin to progress through the next two interactions... hands on authentic and relevant learning. The second interaction came 3rd block, right after lunch, in a classroom of 24 students, in which 19 of the 24 had an IEP, 504, or BIP and in four of those cases the student had both an LD/IEP and BD/IEP because their behavior impeded their academic progress, needless to say My focus was primarily on classroom management. In this class, there was some group work, a few experiments, and teacher led direct instruction. My case study student actively participated in the experiments, but passively refused to do any of the rest of the work. The first time I caught him on his phone with an earbud in his ear with his hoodie over his head he was... wait for it... reading and listening to Yahoo.News. What! I said to myself, "you are refusing to do the class work and ignoring the teacher to read and listen to news articles"... "how do you punish a student for that?" That was my quandary for the next 12 weeks... needless to say, the minimal amount of work he did in class was awful, yet his test scores were high 90%, and the test were made by me and were only reflective of my direct instruction... rather than modifying 19 tests form the canned lesson plans left for the class... No Thank You Please! How could this be? except for experiment days this student spend the entire class head down un-engaged... or was he? Interaction number three started in September in the Option 1 class... he seemed glad to see me... even offered words of praise to his peers that he really liked my classes... especially the chocolate covered bacon!

This third interaction is where things come together and separate at the same time... the Option 1 program prepares students for for the TASC Assessment in the core subjects through 5 different summative assessments, one each in math, science, and social studies with two assessments needed to pass ELA one reading and one writing that has a grammar and essay component. We focus on a content area and once that content area has been successfully completed No more work is required in that subject for the remainder of the year. We set the curricular path as social studies, science, and math first semester with ELA focused on in second semester... with the primary goal of completing math before the Christmas break. This student constantly refused to actively engage in the direct math instruction, but did participate in the hands-on math, like finding the height of unknown objects with an astrolabe, stick, and mirror. Knowing that this student had Not received credit in a math class since 9th grade I felt a sense of urgency for him to do the math work, yet day after day head down or independent work at the computer was filled with gaming Not math. When the math assessment day came he easily met the minimum required score on the readiness test (TRA required to register for the actual test), which didn't really surprise me, but his TASC Assessment score in the high "B" range did... which led me to this discovery... This student was in the A+ Certification and Information Technology program because he had a genuine interest in computer technology, which likely stemmed from the fact that he was well suited for this type of endeavor... for example he could type a lengthy  web address in the address bar faster than you could read it... and when he was gaming while working on the "math" independently... he had multiple games going at the same time. He was processing multiple pieces of information like the math while at the same time interacting in an online game such as War Craft.

The failings of this student lay at the feet of his non-interactive or non-engaging instruction... it took months for me to Not over react when he didn't comply with my request to participate... and while his classmates thought he was getting away with something it was easy for me to produce the evidence of his learning (with what looked like little to No effort), but that was not the case, he was listening and learning, just processing information in a way that was Not easily recognized. I questioned several of his former teachers and all were quick to exclaim he was the laziest student in their class. This student was able to use a distraction like technology to process information in a passive way if he was Not able to interact with the information in a tangible way like an experiment or project.

The Authentic vs Functional Literacy connection seems obvious to me, he used his understanding of technology literacy as an authentic learning strategy to meet the demands of required functional literacy for the core subject requirements, but only after he was in a setting that allowed that to occur without repercussions. It was, I think, through the intrinsic value of Authentic technology literacy that he was successful in core subjects that he showed little interest in learning more about, which led to a comment he said to me, "I will never use that in the computer technology field" and he was right, so I countered with, "that's Not the only reason we learn some things... sometimes we learn things as a platform or basis to learn other things that we do need to know... like complex problem solving," but my wisdom of years served No real purpose in the Now!
The positive outcome for this student is that out of a possible total score of 4000 for the TASC Assessments, he missed a 3000 score by only a few points and graduated with a full high school diploma. His literacy interactions had prepared him for the "Good Life."

Lankshear, Colin, and Michele Knobel. Literacies: Social, cultural and historical perspectives. Peter Lang, 2011.

Criteria for Functional Literacy vs Authentic Literacy

Before I start with the quote that spoke to me in the reading assignment I must first acknowledge two influential and insightful professors that challenged me to reflect on my philosophies by encouraging me to read authors like Paulo Freire, Carol Dweck, Herb Kohl, Neil Postman, and many more... some of which I had already read. As with any reflection more questions arise than answers and the need to dig deeper fueled my curiosity, so I researched more about Karl Marx, Kant (Critique of Pure Reason... warning very deep subject), and countless articles from ED Week that explored the ideas and precepts of that seek to answer this question... Who or What is the driving force behind defining the criteria of Education?  The many different resources I have read and explored all seem to center around intrinsic value as it relates to quality of life, but that only presents another question... What is the definition of quality of life? I only bring this up because in previous posts I have talked about the societal definition of success... and even that definition changes as society changes and varies greatly from cultural group to cultural group. I was also reminded a great deal of words Frederick Douglass spoke about the connections he made between literacy and slavery in his Learning to Read and Write..."I 
would 
at 
times 
feel 
that 
learning 
to 
read 
had 
been 
a 
curse 
rather
 than 
a 
blessing 
 It 
had
 given 
me 
a view 
of 
my 
wretched 
condition, 
without 
the 
remedy."  These thoughts and others led me back to those ideals and the criteria for the definition of functional literacy, which seems to be ever changing... and so even in these modern times of the "information age" (which always seems ironic when you say that aloud because think about how the printing press revolutionized information... right?) where so much information can be accessed from many different sources... a thought that fueled Neil Postman's book The End of Education (a pdf link I highly recommend reading this short book and if Nothing else at read the preface).

I, like Douglass, do not know if some of my prior readings are a blessing or a curse when it comes to reflecting on this week's assignment. It seems very well to me to hit the high spots cast a small light into some of the darkness, but that in and of itself also seems undo-able. I seemed plagued on where to start for fear of not being able to answer questions that arise in the reader, so I can clarify my views... but I also find that the great educational theorists in my head (Piaget, Vygotsky, Erickson, Montessori, Gardner,...) want their say as well and while they reconcile on some points they differ on others leading to even greater disparity for me Not being there to answer questions. After reading the Pedagogy of the Oppressed  (goodreads link)  and the above mentioned books and articles I have settled in on this definition for functional vs authentic, but reserve the right to change or alter my understanding without prior notification... Functional Literacy is defined by a set of standards that a cultural group collectively agree upon as the minimum necessary to be a productive member of the cultural group. In this definition the term cultural group term is used synonymous with local, county, state, or federal government or a social / cultural group. For me that is to say... the group imposes their standards on the individual. Authentic Literacy is internalized by the individual for its intrinsic value, which leads to unlimited potential and possibilities regardless of the power structure of the cultural group. The definition for cultural group remains the same as aforementioned. There are several examples throughout recorded history that truly illustrate authentic literacy and the best one that comes to mind is William Shakespeare because he went far beyond the conventions or standards of the time and created over 1700 new words, which I'll bet was quite a problem for some of his English teachers.... I can hear them now... red ink smeared across the page (its likely they didn't use red ink, but I'm telling the story) words circled for usage... "you can't use verbs like nouns"... "that's Not a word" ..."stop writing like that, you are ruining the purity of our language" .... which sounds like nothing you would hear today... am I right???  Another great example would be Joseph Stalin... that's right the cruel communist leader of the USSR from the mid 1920's to 1952, Not that I agree with with his leadership, but... my point is... that in his "five-year" plans he mandated functional literacy necessary for industrialization, which in my opinion ultimately led to authentic literacy and the end of  the concept "Socialism in one Country," he started. Even Frederick Douglass, pointed this out from the words his master Hugh had warned... "only discontentment will come from that boy learning to read." (I agree that there is much more to be debated about this). I'm just trying to circle back and say... the difference likely lies in the understanding of learning how to learn versus learning how to think... both have value, but only one is invaluable. and still so much more to say about the whole topic...
Now for the quote..."Something is good to the extent that it performs its function well. The Greeks extended this view to the ideal of living the Good Life."(Chapter 1, pg 17)   This quote to me epitomizes the the underlying ideology society places in its constructs and definitions of success, which leads me back to what I have said previously about unimportant jobs and happiness.... the goal I have for every student that crosses my path is for them to fully understand that they are only limited by themselves and their choices... understanding that when they walk out my classroom door and choose a job or career path that is Not the only choice they have, but one of many choices they will make over their lifetime. The second quote follows that same ideology... "By literacy "plus" I mean, then, that the process of making people literate is also, and inevitably, a process of communicating values, assumptions, habits, traditions, practices, etc..., whether this is recognized or not."(Chapter 2, pg 23), which further illustrates the point Freire and others are trying to make when it comes to centralized educational standards... they oppress more than they liberate or at least have that potential in that what values that are communicated to the social group are the values the power group wants communicated. I know this may sound a little radical from the points I'm offering, which was a concern I presented because there is so much more to be nuanced and debated that cannot happen in a single blog post. Consider this proposition... in this election year we will be electing a new president... the candidates are soliciting votes by campaigning to be the respective party nominee... and all are espousing what makes them the best candidate... and we all have our values and ideas about who would be the best person for that position... Reflect then on these questions... How did you get your ideals or beliefs that you use to make this type of judgment? Why do you find yourself aligning with the view of that candidate? Rogerian theory then asks us to strip away everything we know to be true about our views and truly consider the tenets of the other view... something that is nearly impossible and requires great courage because you will be forever changed.. are your values and beliefs wholly your own?  Now define Functional vs Authentic Literacy...


Lankshear, Colin, and Michele Knobel. Literacies: Social, cultural and historical perspectives. Peter Lang, 2011.

Teachable Moments

Right or Wrong... Good or Bad... when trying judge a situation I feel that equal weight needs to be placed on each side before rendering judgement. Usually the person presenting their side is looking for justification or affirmation that they are right for feeling the way they feel. In this case the host teacher is wanting justification, but so is the student teacher... and I say, both handled the situation poorly!
Clearly, both teachers had some idea as to how the lesson should have played out... it was a good plan on that both seemed to agree... the execution of the plan was differing from what the host teacher envisioned right from the start. She would have done things differently and in that difference it began to affect her orderly and controlling nature, which also began to heighten her anxiety, which led to errors in judgement. Sandra had her own expectations and when things were going differently instead of mentoring she let what she felt was a disaster spiral even further out of control before over stepping.  (please keep in mind that it is only from Sandra's perspective that things were out of control). Sandra had a teachable moment in the making, but instead cut it off and missed it. There is in my opinion a great deal that can be learned from failures (I do NOT think this was a failure by any means) or lessons Not going exactly as planned... you get to refine an hone your craft by learning what Not to do as well what works. Mainly because what works with one group will not with other groups so as dynamics change so does the lesson and you as the facilitator may even learn something new that needs added to the lesson.
Case in point, when I was student teaching in the middle school I had four forty-five minute back to back social studies classes every afternoon right after lunch ... fresh off the playground. The classes varied in ability, but were generally evenly mixed for 6th grade level students... I basically gave the same lecture and activities to all four groups, but my host teacher and I both recognized that the 3rd and 4th group performed better... Not because they had a higher ability level, but because they benefited from me making adjustments to the lessons and activities by seeing what worked and what didn't. We also agreed that the first group coming back from lunch was a harder group initially engage and teaching to that group was the greatest challenge... if my host teacher would have shut me down on that first group everyday... I would Not have learned how to make the adjustments necessary... Was she going to have to deal with those students for the rest of the year... you betcha! By allowing me to struggle and offer some guiding suggestions we developed a different strategy for that group to help them better prepare for their afternoon classes. This collaboration was beneficial to both of us, because she was going to have students for the remainder of the year. Sandra missed what I would call a great teachable moment... Not just for her student teacher, but also for herself.

The student teacher is also at fault because No matter how bad it gets you need to be in control of your emotions. If a host teacher stops your lesson because it's not going well.. the lesson is not going well.. it's Not the end of the world... step back and adjust to the immediate needs of the students... help to transition them back to the classroom. Try to find a way forward for the remainder of the day and when the students leave for the day sit down with your host teacher and discuss the matter. Learning how to develop a working relationship with colleagues is vital to your future success as an educator. In the modern co-taught classrooms learning how to work everyday with a peer starts with good communication... and many times a week you are going to have to reflect on what worked and what did Not so changes can be made... and this I guarantee some of the things that go wrong will be your fault... Own IT... Fix It... Talk about It... but most of All.... Learn from It! But don't just be mad and hurt ... and the biggest thing to learn is if you are going to or need to cry... cry on the drive home... and then prepare for another day.

Experience is Not learned, taught, or gained from reading a book... it comes from doing... and the doing requires practice, preparation, and perseverance! At the end of the day I do Not know if the student teacher thought the goals of the lesson were going to be met... What I do know is sometimes students just exploring with little intervention may discover far more then you ever imagined. If the only goal you have as a teacher is for students to only discover meaning in what's important to you then you should find something else to do because you are wasting your time, but more important than that is the adverse affect on students. Sad but True! How does that parable go.... "the tighter you grip the sand in your hand the more you lose"... classrooms need to be safe places for students to explore and discover meaning, Not centers for single thoughts.

Exploring the Questions for Understanding

Questions Questions Questions... and even the answers create more Questions... In an age where students have answers in the palm of their hand via a Google search it's easy to think the Questions will end, BUT they don't... they multiply. The experiment with the egg through direct observation, while cool it really is just a platform to launch more questions than answers, questions that guide learners into discovery. This phenomena seemingly exists all around us all the time, What is it? What does it do? How does it do it? Start  a prior experience brain search and then move to Google search.... but what question do you type in the box? Which results lead to the best possible answers? Because even when you access to answers you need questions.

How can I do my job if I have No supplies to do it? I'm mean how can I teach without my teacher's edition??? (Sarcasm... heavy Sarcasm!!!) I'm probably not the best person to answer this type of question because of my approach to the possibilities of teaching because I come with nearly 35 years of working in many other different fields. As a US Navy "Seabee" our mottoes were (are)  "Can Do" and "We've done so much with so little, we Can Do the impossible forever with Nothing," which is to say that, in many cases as a teacher you need to improvise and be flexible. The idea that you can be taught how to manage a classroom seems quite ridiculous when you actually say it aloud... Ask yourself this question as you reflect on pre-service student teaching... Who would have taught the classroom management class?   What would have been the assessment tools used by the professor to assess your progress? Classroom management comes from managing, the very different dynamics that will exist in every classroom, and experience, not a class. Teaching is the same approach and rarely does good teaching only come from the teacher's edition.

The connected trappings of a spider web always leads me to an idea that I heard in an undergrad class... "remind your students that everything they learn and experience is something they may or will need in another class... so put that learning in your backpack and take it to every class with you." The common thread between the egg experiment and spider is the learning that is gained through direct observation... in one case a lesson plan... the other a teachable moment... but both rely heavily on the observation experienced by the learner... and that is influenced by many different variables. When learning sparks curiosity and excitement it is infectious for all and learning goes well beyond a CSO.

I sure do Not want to seem like an overachiever, but I need to add an additional graphic representation of this assignment... because all of these readings remind educators that the real goal is to create lifelong learners capable of  doing amazing things and test scores or scripted lessons are not what a make student successful...

Constructing Meaning... by Building on Prior Knowledge

When reading this week's assignment I was led in several different directions based on the many different discussions I have in the past about this very subject. One such discussion that started in my Human Growth and Development class at Fairmont State (FSU) came back up later in the day in a Psychology class where the Professor suggested I read the following... Epistemology offering from Stanford University  (Epistemology Link ) for further understanding. Then other discussions that followed from that led to reading offerings in Philosophy by Kant, which led into even deeper discussions and more reading as way to construct meaning and build deeper knowledge. This example is exactly what the reading was conveying in the idea of reflection and cognitive conflict resolution. The struggle to understand new concepts begins with learning something new, which initially gets added to something old, which then gets refined or redefined in order to better use it in the future. As a self proclaimed Constructivist I really enjoyed reading and reflecting on this week's reading, while I had Not read this exact passage it felt very familiar to me.
The four perspectives provide a framework to better understand how you learn as a learner, which can then be used as insight into how the learners in your care might approach learning.
The symbolic perspective really struck a chord a with me (especially given the population I of learners I work with and the behavior initiatives that are currently being implemented around us) in that the idea of a hat being a barrier to learning when said aloud really does sound ridiculous. Yet for some in a position of power the slightest notion of being what their private logic tells them is disrespect, they then create a learning environment that is filled with contention and strife where the majority of time is spent on classroom management rather than classroom engagement. In that same perspective substitute Cell Phone for hat... Now lets have that updated conversation....(feel free to add a sidebar comment about this topic I welcome any and all views on this topic).
The structural perspective almost always leads me to "sticks and bricks" and in this new technology age the sticks and bricks play a greater role than ever... aging buildings with limited electrical and cooling pose a big obstacle to providing network infrastructure necessary for optimal computer productivity and internet connection. This obstacle is also realized in trying to define space for computer technology / labs. My current issues with the structural perspective is the lack of a defined usable science lab... I have a great activities room where projects can and are created, but the lack of a sink and safety equipment limit the types of experiments the learners can perform.
The human relations perspective is an issue with many of the learners in my learning environment... many come from low SES or other issues at the bottom of Maslow's pyramid. The barriers to learning when learners are dealing with basic survival issues that are many times beyond their control and in some case generational long can be very difficult to over come... the biggest one of these obstacles in my opinion is the value (or lack there of) of education. The goal I have for my learners is a full high school diploma and many of them want this, but fail to fully understand what exactly the consequences are for failing to reach that goal. Example: my girlfriend is due to have our baby next month and I need to work in order to provide for my new family... I don;t have time to stay in school and earn a diploma... I counter with "but if you earn your diploma you put yourself in a better position to earn more money and become a better provider for your family in the long run" which is met with but I don't need more money later I need money now... the full consequences will never be understood as concept... it will be experienced as a reality. Sad but true
The political perspective is a constant dynamic between learners and facilitators and this struggle extends far beyond the defined walls of the classroom. The political process and learning how to best navigate that process for future gains is a skill all learners need to acquire and yet because of the competition for resources it may be skill some are reluctant to teach or pass on others for fear they will then be out maneuvered and left behind. Sad but true.
My concept map is the representation: Interlocking and constantly turning... science begins with curiosity and ends with even more curiosity... and even a break through discovery usually leaves us with more possibilities.

I love helping other learners explore their understanding of science... well their world... well every aspect of their world... and since learning rarely occurs in a vacuum... knowledge of many other fundamental subjects is necessary in order to better understand science... example the processing of data usually involves the understanding of manipulating formulas so math is needed... the recording of data requires some basic skills in reading and writing... and my favorite social studies because everything happens somewhere (even space) and that's geography...  So the interconnections that exist between all subjects can be explored in every classroom especially the science classroom.