This document provides 8 case study scenarios for teacher candidates to respond to. The scenarios describe common challenges teachers may face in areas like developing lessons, structuring assignments, managing diverse classrooms and addressing individual student needs. Candidates are to fully respond to 4 of the scenarios in APA format, demonstrating critical thought and consideration of all aspects of the chosen scenarios. Responses should reference the assigned chapter and draw on personal and professional experiences.

1. Chapter Two Case Study Scenarios
Each of the following scenarios presents a situation based on a
real world teaching situation that you may encounter during
your career as an educator.
Please respond fully to
four
of the eight scenarios listed.
Responses must be written in APA format, include critical
thought, and address all aspects of the chosen scenarios.
Students should include direct reference to the week’s chapter
as well as relevant personal and professional experiences where
appropriate. Your finished paper must include a title page and
reference page and should be 4-5 pages not counting
includingthe title page and ref. page.
James is a first year English teacher in a low-income high
school outside of a major metropolitan area. His students are of
diverse backgrounds and equally diverse learning styles. As part
of his opening unit, he is preparing to teach his class about the
tools that authors use to make their writing more engaging. He
decides to focus on symbolism, metaphor, and simile. He has
already developed a vocabulary handout that defines each word
and includes examples, but when he does an initial check for
understanding he finds that most of his students are lost.
Specifically, he finds that his students are having a hard time
understanding what a
comparison
is. This makes the concepts of simile and metaphor impossible
to comprehend. James decides to design a 45 minute lesson that
clarifies for students what comparing is.
How might James structure his 45-minute lesson to include

2. elements of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning?
What methods can James use to check for comprehension once
the lesson is complete?
How might he follow up in ensuing class periods as a continued
check of comprehension and to remediate students who may still
not understand?
Sean teaches an art class in a public elementary school near
Chicago. Many of his students come from difficult
circumstances and he has worked hard to make his lessons
engaging and accessible for a diverse group of learners. Still, he
finds it is difficult sometimes to contain the boundless energy
of 2nd and 3rd graders. Recently, he has been frustrated with
off-task behavior such as talking, moving around the room, and
horseplay. This is particularly a concern since his classroom has
expensive and breakable art supplies. A colleague suggests to
Sean that he try channeling the energy by including aspects of
kinesthetic learning in his room. He decides to plan kinesthetic
movement into his next unit which is focused on clay sculpting.
Specifically, he wants students to be able to correctly sculpt a
small human figure in the act of running.
Describe a three lesson sequence that would allow Sean to
include kinesthetic, visual, and auditory learning in his
sculpting unit.
How can he structure the kinesthetic elements of his lesson in a
way that makes his expectations and guidelines for the exercise
clear?
Beyond the kinesthetic movement associated with sculpting,
how might Sean use the energy and movement of his students to
aid in student learning during the unit?
Sarah is a 7th grade math teacher at a small middle school that
serves a farming community. She has worked at the school for
four years and has learned that it is a community that thrives on
three things: family, farming, and football. Every boy growing
up in town has aspirations of varsity football glory, but most
will end up spending their lives working the family farm.
Walking into her third period class on the first day of school,

3. she finds herself faced by 18 rambunctious teenagers. Even
scarier, 15 of them are boys. As she begins the year, Sarah
wants to grab her students’ attention by providing an engaging
introduction to the practical value of math. Her first unit of the
year introduces the adding and subtracting of fractions and she
wants to build on the knowledge her students already have
acquired, both in and out of school.
Give an example of a specific strategy that Sarah can use to
activate the prior knowledge existing in her classroom and steps
she can take to implement it.
What other resources might Sarah use to gain a further
understanding of the existing knowledge base of her students?
How might she combine what she knows about her students and
the community with her unit focus (fractions) in a way that
immediately engages the class?
Megan recently accepted a job as a first year kindergarten
teacher in a community that is primarily Hispanic. A majority of
her students are second language learners and many have
parents who do not speak English. Megan has never spoken a
second language, ignoring two years of high school French that
left her conversational but not very confident. She is worried
and anxious about how best to bridge the language gap in her
classroom. As she prepares for her first year as a teacher, she
wants to be sure she does as much as possible to help make the
transition easier and to facilitate clear communication between
her and her students/their parents.
What initial steps can Megan take in order to determine what
level of language capabilities her students have? What resources
can she use to help her?
What strategies can she use on the first day of class to help
determine the interests of the students in her classroom?
How can she include aspects of her students’ language and
culture in her plans for the school year?
Steve is in the middle of his tenth year as an honors high school
social studies teacher. As part of a unit on the Vietnam War, he
is having his students read

4. The Things They Carried
, a Vietnam-focused novel. His specific interest is in conveying
to students the social, economic, and cultural influence that the
war had on people at home. As a culminating assignment to the
three-week unit, he asks students to create a portfolio comprised
of a number of smaller assignments that are to be completed
during the reading. The portfolio is to include a journal entry
written as one of the book’s characters, a photograph of one
scene from the book, a letter home written by one of the
characters, and five reading logs completed at various points
during the reading. Steve wants to ensure that his students stay
on track during the assignment and that they are not allowed to
procrastinate and finish the assignment at the last minute.
How can Steve structure the assignment so as to ensure students
are completing the elements of the portfolio throughout their
reading of the book?
What responsibilities does he have at the outset in order to
ensure his expectations are clear to all students?
How might Steve enlist the help of other teachers on campus
and parental support at home to help students reach each
checkpoint?
Eunice teaches 10th grade English in a suburban high school.
Her third unit of the school year is focused on the novel
To Kill a Mockingbird
. It’s a book that she has taught many times, but the last time
she did she was less than pleased with the results. As an end of
unit assessment, she had students write an essay discussing how
one specific character in the novel changes. While she did
receive one or two fantastic essays last time around, the
majority of her students seemed unable to analyze with the
amount of depth she had hoped for. Many of her students ended
up with C’s or worse on the essay and in many cases it impacted
their overall course grade. This time around, she is hoping to
improve results by properly frontloading the assignment and

5. making her expectations more clear. After collecting the essays,
Eunice is pleased with the overall organization and the amount
of insight provided by the students. Unfortunately, she finds
that many students have issues with spelling and grammar that
need correcting.
In presenting the assignment, what can Eunice do to ensure that
her students have a clear understanding of her expectations for
the assignment?
How can Eunice use targeted feedback and revision to help
remediate those students who struggled most on the assignment?
How can Eunice properly recognize those students who
contributed exceptional work?
Lindsay teaches 12th grade earth science in a large suburban
high school in an affluent community near Los Angeles.
Virtually all of her students are college-bound and many have
taken or are taking AP courses in hopes of getting a head start.
While Lindsay enjoys the drive and dedication displayed by her
students, over the past few years she has begun to feel that some
of them are too focused on their GPA and have started to lose
focus on the bigger picture value of an education. For some
time, she has wanted to plan a unit with a culminating project
that will both give back to their community and encourage
lifelong learning in her students. She would like it to find a way
to tie it to the final unit of the year which has a focus on
California geology and natural resources.
Describe one hypothetical culminating project that Lindsay
could have her students do and explain specifically how it will
reach her goals of a) giving back to the community and b)
opening her students to the value of lifelong learning.
What resources might Lindsay pursue in order to augment her
community service and learning objectives?
What obstacles do you see in planning a large scale project in
service to a community?
Nancy teaches at a middle school near Baltimore. She has been
working for several years as a substitute teacher and teacher’s
aide, but this is her first go round as a full time teacher. Prior to

6. the first day of school, Nancy receives a list of three students in
her class with Individualized Education Programs. In all three
cases, the students are allowed modifications which will allow
them extra time on assignments. Nancy’s anxiety is that other
students in class will notice and will begin to question why they
are treated differently. She wants to avoid a mutiny but also
does not want to single out those students who are on IEP’s for
fear of embarrassing them. She is also concerned with how the
student IEP’s will impact her scheduling and timing.
As a first year teacher, what resources should Nancy consult in
terms of how best to handle this situation?
Nancy becomes concerned that one student with an IEP does not
actually need the accommodations listed or needs additional
accommodations. What is the process for reviewing or revising
a student’s IEP?
Suggest a way in which Nancy can inform the class of the
accommodations in a way that does not alienate any of the
students in the classroom