course material

1. Interdisciplinary Capstone
EDU 490 EDU490: Interdisciplinary Capstone Week 5 DQ 2 ( Chapter Five Case Study
Scenarios ) 100% SCORE2 Answers IncludedChapter Five Case Study ScenariosEach 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 two of the eight
scenarios listed. Responses must include critical thought, and aIDress all aspects of the
chosen scenarios. You should include direct reference to the week’ s chapter as well as
relevant personal and professional experiences where appropriate.1. Amanda teaches
elementary school art at a small school outside of Detroit. Within her department, only one
other teacher on staff teaches the same courses as her. The other teacher, Maureen, has
been difficult to work with, largely because she refuses to acknowledge the state standards
within their subject. Instead, she plans her own units based on what she thinks is important.
“ I know better than the state what these kids should know,” she has told Amanda on more
than one occasion. Within the school, there is very little oversight within her department as
most of the energy goes to core subjects. Amanda has begun to feel uneasy about the other
teacher’ s methods and the way they are affecting students. She approaches the other
teacher to discuss her unease, but she is greeted with disdain when Maureen says, “ Don’ t
tell me what to do.” a. What is the best way for Amanda to proceed in handling the
situation?b. Who should she approach first with her concerns? How can she ensure that the
situation is handled as professionally as possible? What is her professional responsibility in
the situation?2. Dan is the English Department Chair at a high school in suburban Seattle.
The school’ s administration has made a conscious effort to shift the school’ s mission from
simply getting kids to graduate to instead being a true college preparatory high school. As
part of this mission, the school’ s Principal has told all Department Chairs that all teachers
in each department will be expected to aIDress college-readiness creatively in their
classrooms. The Principal expects teachers to discuss their own college experiences with
their students and to weave information relevant to college attendance into their units. Dan
wants this to extend to the class culture as well, and believes that the physical space in the
classroom should also reflect the focus on college-readiness.a. Suggest three changes Dan
can have all teachers in the department make in an effort to emphasize the new college-
directed attitude of the school. Consider both changes in the curriculum as well as changes
in the physical space (classrooms, hallways, etc.) of the school.3. At River West MiIDle
School in Salt Lake City, the past few years have seen five specific instances involving
serious bullying. In four of the cases, one or more of the students involved has ended up in a

2. physical altercation. In one case, a student had to go to the hospital after being attacked at
lunch. The administration of the school has taken steps to curb the issue, but thus far they
have not seen significant changes. During their summer planning session, the Principal and
Vice Principals bring the issue to the table and decide that a school wide shift in culture is
necessary. They plan a series of school wide assemblies and put anti-bullying posters and
other visual materials up around the school. They also enlist all teachers on campus in
bringing the issue into the classroom. Angie is a first year math teacher at River West, and
wants to set a tone early that she is onboard and that her students are well aware of the
issue. Angie has particular interest in the topic because as a grade school student, she was
bullied by a group of other students due to her ethnicity and eventually ended up switching
schools.a. Suggest a first week activity that Angie can use to present the topic of bullying to
her students.b. What can Angie do, either through her instruction or in her classroom, to
ensure that her students will be constantly reminded of her refusal to accept bullying?c.
How might Angie connect some of the work being done in class- basic statistics, graphs, and
algebra- with the topic of bullying?4. Sally teaches kindergarten just outside of Las Vegas.
She has been at the same school for fifteen years, and during that time she has seen the
school population change tremendously. When she started, the majority of her students
were well-supported at home and she knew all of their parents by name. As time has gone
on, she has had more and more students with parents who seem less involved and in some
cases completely separated from what is going on at school. As a teacher, Sally wants the
parents to be involved and would like to take steps to reach out. With more parents
involvement, the learning taking place at school has a chance to be reinforced at home and
the school community will be closer and more dynamic. As the year opens, she decides to
plan out three specific strategies that will get parents more involved in her classroom.a.
Suggest three specific strategies that Sally can use throughout the entire school year to get
parents more involved in what is happening with her students. Include specific strategies
she can use within the classroom and also ways that parents can feel more involved at
home.5. Annie is an English teacher at a high school in the inner city of Chicago. The
majority of her students do not have access to computers. As a result of budget cuts, her
school’ s technology resources have remained the same for four years, with many of the on
campus computers falling into disrepair or non-functional. Within her classroom, she has
one working student computer and no access to a printer. Still, Annie feels it is essential that
her students’ essays are typed and correctly formatted. The resources and socio-economics
of the community are beginning to make this near impossible.a. Suggest a course of action
that Annie might take in order to ensure that her students have computer access for the
necessary assignments.b. What local resources might be available to provide computer
access to her students?c. What avenues can Annie pursue in order to get computers within
her classroom?d. Who might Annie speak with in order to have help in her mission to find
computers?6. Simon teaches 11th grade English in a wealthy community outside of New
York City. He has taught at the same school for ten years, and has increasingly found
technology to be a frustration in the classroom. At this point, all of his students have cell
phone, iPods, or both. While he does his best to monitor their use in the classroom, he
knows he is not always able to catch students sending text messages or using the internet

3. during class. He has become increasingly frustrated and fed up with the amount of
instructional time lost to these devices. Recently, a colleague mentioned to him that the
technology in his classroom might actually be used for good. He has never considered this
notion, instead focusing on the distractive nature of the devices. Simon begins to think of
ways to harness the power of technology in his classroom and decides to try to include
elements of social networking in his unit on The Great Gatsby. He assigns each student a
character and has them create a Facebook page for the character, complete with their
background information and interests. He then asks the characters to interact via Facebook,
evengoing so far as to have them use their cell phones in class to update the pages. To
Simon, the results are incredible. His students are engaged and their posts are thoughtful
and reflect an understanding of the text. He hears students in the hallway talking about the
book in a way he never has before. As a result, he is shocked when he returns to his
classroom and finds a message from an irate parent who is furious that he is letting students
use their phones during class. In the message, the parent tells him that he will be meeting
with the Principal to discuss Simon’ s unprofessionalism.a. How should Simon respond to
the parent’ s response?b. What can Simon do to prove the instructional value of the
assignment and justify his use of technology?c. What might Simon have done before
beginning the assignment in order to prevent the type of backlash he is experiencing from
this particular parent?7. Sara is in her second student teaching placement as a math teacher
at an elementary school in Orlando. Her mentor teacher guided her through her first
instructional unit, but for the second unit he tells her that she will be planning it on her own.
The only thing he gives her is a copy of the exam, to be given at the end of the unit. Not
surprisingly, Sara feels a bit overwhelmed as she begins to plan things on her own. The
amount of material in the curriculum feels impossible to fit into the three weeks of
instruction she has budgeted for it. The department that she has been working in at the
school is so unified in their instruction that she often feels like they are speaking a different
language. She’ s been afraid to admit how lost she has been, but she wants to prove to her
mentor teacher that she is able to go it alone.a. Suggest a series of steps that Sara can take in
order to alleviate some of the stress she has been feeling while planning.b. What resources
should Sara use to ease some of the burden she is feeling?c. How can Sara use the exam and
backwards design planning in order to prioritize the information she should include within
her three weeks of instruction?8. Matt teaches U.S. History at Brookville East High School
outside of Nashville, TN. Brookville is known for its boys’ basketball team, a tradition that
dates back to the 1970’ s when their superstar Guard led the team to four straight state
championships. This year, the team has been getting a lot of publicity, mainly because the
son of that 1970’ s star has just begun his high school basketball career. He has also started
his high school academic career, and he is in Matt’ s 5th period class. After two quarters of
class, the student/athlete in question is failing Matt’ s class as the basketball season begins.
With progress reports on the horizon, Matt knows that a failing grade would leave the
student ineligible to compete. The student, his parents, and at least one administrator have
made it clear that they expect him to pass. In one particularly tense phone exchange, the
student’ s father implied that he would have Matt fired if his son was ineligible because of
his class.a. With two weeks until progress reports, suggest a course of action that Matt can

4. take to ensure that he is fulfilling his role as a mentor and educator.b. How should he handle
the threatening parent? Who should he reach out to in an effort to cover all bases? How
should he interact with the student to ensure that he is holding him to the same standard as
all other students in the class?