Not in anyway giving anyone permission to plagiarize or copy this and also not verifying the authenticity of any of the information. Also note that there are probably no sources listed and I am not one myself, so don't quote me. This is just some of my homework; thought it might be interesting to someone:
Read Case Study (CD) Joan Martin, Marilyn Coe and Warren Groves
React to what you read by answering the following questions:
What are the issues in this case study? What would be your stand in the meeting if you were Joan, Marilyn, Warren? What can be compromised in each person’s point of view? How could the issues be resolved?
The primary issue of this case study is whether or not it is justifiable to integrate a student with special learning needs into a regular classroom for the benefit of socialization, even if that child may not be capable of completing the coursework. The student in question in the study is named Donald Garcia, has reading abilities about three grade levels below his age, and has trouble speaking English, as it is his second language. Donald's special education teacher, Marilyn Coe, believes that it is essential for Donald to be integrated for social reasons and to prepare him for secondary education. Joan Martin is a social studies teacher who accepts Donald into her class, but later feels that Donald is simply unable to read and write well enough to be successful in her class. Joan cares about Donald's socialization, but does not want to compromise her own personal values by changing her grading system or curriculum. Warren Groves, the principle of the school, believes that these two teachers are the subject-matter experts and should be able to make the final decisions, but realizes that the conflict of interests involved may require his intervention. He is not quite sure whether it is more important for Donald to be mainstreamed or to remain in classes at his learning level, but he hopes to find a solution that will be advantageous to the student, without insulting the professional integrity of either teacher.
Personally, if I were Joan Martin, I think that I would stand my ground on the belief that Donald "shouldn't be in fourth grade if he can't read the work." I don't think it would be fair for Joan's other students, or ethical of her, to grade Donald using a different system or give him separate work. From the perspective of both Marilyn and Warren, I think that I would start out by admitting that I had made an error of judgment. Marilyn obviously did not seriously consider how this scenario was going to play out realistically or logically prioritize Donald's needs, which I will clarify in the final paragraph. Mr. Groves should also admit his fault in this scenario. While his intentions were good in offering advice but letting the teachers decide, he should not have let them decide in this case to put a child that cannot read in a fourth grade class.
Each person in the scenario can compromise in a few ways; however, the majority of those ways are probably not beneficial. If Joan keeps Donald in the class, she could compromise by grading him differently, giving him different assignments, or spending more time instructing him personally. Marilyn has fairly limited room to compromise because she is already doing what she can to help him with his social studies work and taking him out of the class would not be a compromise, but a submission on her part. I guess it would be a compromise if she just allowed him to fail, but a pretty lousy one. The principle should compromise firstly by involving himself more in the situation and giving these teachers some actual guidance, rather than just advice. He can also choose to do what is best for Donald, even though it would probably be at the expense of one of the teachers' pride and confidence.
I have very clear feelings about how this issue should be resolved. Firstly, I will return to my comment earlier about Marilyn not logically prioritizing Donald's needs. I have serious doubts that socialization will be more beneficial to Donald for life in America than learning how to read and speak English. It also seems like Donald failing this class will ultimately make both middle school coursework and socialization more difficult. Marilyn should have strongly considered these things before deciding to move him almost solely on a social basis. Another potential solution to this problem was apparent to me from very early in this case study. Everyone involved in the scenario openly acknowledged from the start that Joan is one of the best teachers, but also one of the most difficult, having some of the highest expectations. Even if it seemed to them at the time like the most difficult teacher would be the best place to send a student with special needs (it did not to me), it should have been proposed by someone involved to move Donald to the easiest teacher once they realized he was not able to handle the class. This is my solution; the principle needs to do his job and either move Donald back to the special education class that he was in to begin with, where he probably needs to be, or at least move him to a class with a teacher who's not holding a special needs student to the same standards as the top tier of her class.
No comments:
Post a Comment