These reflections for case studies were a part of Assignment 1 in EDEF 3200 where I needed to response to one question for each of the three case studies of my choice in the book titled “Case Studies in Educational Foundations”.
Response to Missing in Action (Implications for Practice):
What strategies might you integrate into your teaching that might help all the children in your class succeed?
In order to help all the children in my class succeed, I might integrate various strategies into my teaching: Firstly, I will try my best to know all the children in my classroom (including their name, cultural background, personality, learning style and etc.) as soon as I can during my teaching process so that I can better help them during their learning journey. Secondly, I will encourage all the students to share their thoughts during the class discussions and respect the ideas from each student. The purpose is to create an inclusive learning environment and increase their sense of belonging in the classroom. I attended an international high school in China and all my teachers loved to hear students’ understandings about different academic topics and they were willing to accept all the ideas. This made us feel that we were accepted, included and respected so that we became more motivated to participate in classroom activities. In that way, we enhanced our learning. Thirdly, I will encourage my students to ask questions when they are confused. From my own experience with kids, I know that some children are fearful about being not “smart” enough in front of their peers. I volunteered at an English education organization in China several years ago and I found that some kids were struggling with their written assignments but they never sought support from the teacher. I talked to some of them after class and learned that they did not want to be “unintelligent” or to be mocked by other students. Therefore, I will encourage question-asking from all my students in my future teaching to better assist every child. Next, I will implement cooperative learning and inquiry-based instruction in my future teaching. After reading the case study about Samantha, I realized that these strategies may not always be feasible for each child. However, I still see the necessity of including some of these to offer students the opportunity to learn from their peers, get valuable feedback from each other, improve their problem-solving skills and gain a deeper understanding of the knowledge.
Response to Let them eat Cake (History):
In the past, librarians and books were at the heart of the educational enterprise, but with the ascendence of new technologies and media, they are now vanishing from schools at an alarming rate. Is there still a role of librarians and if so, what is it? Explain your response.
There is still a role for libraries and it is supporting education in a better way. Firstly, we may not find everything on the internet. Therefore, it is still necessary for people to go to the library and get some information from tangible books or any other touchable resources. This will help people pursuit the knowledge that they cannot find elsewhere (e.g. on the internet). Secondly, lots of online resources are not free. When I was studying in the international high school in China, we were assigned a research paper in our English class. Most of my classmates searched online first in order to find some information about their favorite topic but many of them disappointedly found that they had to pay for an expensive subscription before accessing most academic papers on the internet. This fact discouraged many students in my class to use their preferred online resources in their assignment solely because they did not want to pay for those. From this example, it is clear to see the important role of libraries: students will have the opportunity to find information there for free and enhance their learning throughout their educational journey. For instance, they do not have to give up their top choices for their assignment topics and students’ education is well supported by libraries in this case. Last but not least, students will be able to acquire the ability to find valuable information through their own hard work and efforts by making use of libraries. That will be a great quality for students to have in their future studies because they can develop the spirit of perseverance. Getting information on the internet does not need too much effort and just a few clicks will solve most of the problems but searching in libraries teaches people to be patient and make efforts. There are more than just books in libraries, there are also librarians who can offer great support when you want to learn about research strategies, citation styles and etc. Just as the case study suggested in some way: dealing with technology is much easier and less sophisticated than working around with touchable resources in libraries. This idea may not be completely true but I can see a valuable point here which is learning in a physical library empowers people and teaches them a lesson (hard work is required before you can actually gain something).
Response to A Stitch in Time (History):
Given that Anti-bullying laws are in place, have we gone too far or not far enough in making schools a safe place for students? Justify your answer.
Although anti-bullying laws are now in place, I think that people have not gone far enough in making schools safe places for all students because there is still bullying existing in school systems all over the world. I am an international student from China. A Chinese movie about anti-bullying in schools was released in 2019. In that movie, various bullying in schools including physical, verbal and cyber bullying were revealed. From the movie, it is clear to see that bullying in schools is still a serious issue globally that needs further intervention and control.
Bullying can lead to serious consequences for both the bully and the student who is being bullied. If the bully’s inappropriate behaviours or languages are not prevented and corrected in time, the bully might form a wrong world view and he or she may violate rules or even laws in the future. That will have a negative impact on the whole society. For the student who is being bullied, he or she may have some psychological problems if the incident cannot be solved quickly.
In order to prevent bullying from happening in schools, it is necessary for teachers to hold a class meeting addressing the issue at the beginning of each school year and telling students that we have zero tolerance for bullying. It is important for teachers to create a safe environment to have students reporting any school bullying that they see or they are undergoing. Once the bully is detected, teachers should talk with the bully about this serious problem and the negative consequences that might happen. Moreover, teachers can contact the bully’s guardian to learn about his or her family background and the possible reason why the student is acting as a bully.
The case study suggested that there is a great possibility for the incident between Kyle and Jayce not to happen. However, the planned teaching assistant who should supervise Jayce was absent for that specific day which led to consequences. Therefore, there is still space for the school system to improve in terms of controlling students’ behaviours and eliminating bullying.
It is the common responsibility of schools, families and society to solve the issue of bullying in the school system.