Case Scenario 3: Fairly Accused Or Never Given A Chance?

Jamie Gonzalez
Laura Gamez Contreras
Jordan Rucker
Caitlin Fowler
EDUC 2130-W01
Scenario #3
Sept. 26, 2014
Scenario 3: Fairly Accused or Never Given a Chance? In the scenario that was presented, there are many pressing issues with the way that the teacher, Ms. Johnson, handled her student, Billy. To set the tone of the scenario, it all began before the school year even started. Ms. Johnson had developed significantly misconstrued ideas that she was not going to like nor tolerate her up and coming student, little Billy. The scenario told us that while planning for the coming year, Ms. Johnson was informed by her colleague, Billy’s former teacher, that he had proven to be a problematic instigator. She said that he caused an immense amount of disturbances in her classroom the
year before. As the first week progressed, Ms. Johnson began to notice that the students seated around Billy were increasingly speaking loud and giggled without regard for her lessons or their classmates surrounding them. With the preconceived idea that Billy was a bad child already implanted in Ms. Johnson’s mind, she automatically assumed that the disturbances were stemming from him. With this being said, she immediately decided that Billy was the issue. With Ms. Johnson thinking Billy was the problem, she decided would send a strong message to him and his classmates early on in the year. She choose to do this in order to show she would not tolerate that type of behavior. With this decision she proceeded to dismiss him from her class. All the classmates heard the dialogue between Ms. Johnson and Billy. “Billy, I do not tolerate that type of behavior in this class. If you want to have another difficult year, then just keep it up. I want you to leave the room and go to the office. I will deal with you later”, says Ms. Johnson. Billy responded back with, “But, Ms. Johnson, I wasn’t doing anything. I was looking for a pencil so that I could do the assignment.” Following the child’s response Ms. Johnson scolds, “I’ll not tolerate back talk from you. Leave the room!” There are many issues with the way that Ms. Johnson handled this situation. Just to state a few, our group believed that Ms. Johnson should not have singled Billy out when the other students were also being disruptive. We also felt that she should have punished everyone. Along with these two things, Ms. Johnson should not have scolded Billy in front of his peers in a manner that could have potentially been degrading to his inner self. Knowing that Ms. Johnson handled the situation wrong, we as a group collectively came up with some better ways and ideas that Ms. Johnson should have handled the situation in her classroom. In order correct Ms. Johnson`s mistake, it would first be best to apologize to him privately, as to not embarrass him again by scolding him in front of the class. Afterward, we thought it would be necessary to speak to the class about the rules and procedures in the classroom. Our group also decided, that Ms. Johnson needed to find a way to earn back Billy’s trust. We collectively feel his trust needs to be regained because; accusing him of doing something he was not actually doing most likely made Billy lose trust in Ms. Johnson. Also as a group we feel that children need to always know that a teacher is the one person in the world they can always trust. We also thought it would be appropriate to write a note or send an email to Billy’s parents letting them know what happened and how we resolved the situation. With regard to upsetting Billy, we saw it best to let his parents know that we were the one who upset him and that we did all we could to fix the situation. It may take a while for Billy to forgive Ms. Johnson but as teachers these situations are types of things we need to be conscious of and be sure to work on.
The second solution we came up with, as a group was better classroom management for Ms. Johnson and her students. Classroom management, “a set of techniques and skills…as to create a positive learning environment for all of them” (Sternberg 392), plays an essential role in this particular scenario. As stated before, Ms. Johnson automatically assumed that the disturbances were stemming from Billy. She should have never adopted what Billy’s previous teacher said because it only created a misconception of his behavior. We felt that Ms. Johnson should have been acting differently since the very first day of school. For example, instead of believing what the other teacher said she could have started off by establishing the classroom rules with her students. This is something very important when it comes to classroom management, according to the video Hot Tips for Classroom Management. Establishing classroom rules allows teachers to work better with their students because the rules let the students know what the teacher’s expectations are of their behavior and performance. This also allows the students to see what they are allowed to do and what they are not. Clearly, Ms. Johnson’s response was neither appropriate nor fair. She was criticizing Billy`s behavior, but her criticism was not constructive. The importance of constructive criticism is that, “it focuses on inappropriate behaviors rather than on the person performing them” (Sternberg 400). Having used this type of criticism instead of what Ms. Johnson did would have helped not only Billy but also everyone in the classroom. Using constructive criticism would have allowed all of Ms. Johnson`s students to better understand what she expected of them. Once again, we felt that in order to effectively address issues similar to this, “teachers need to ensure they have a strong classroom management system in place that appropriately responds to behavioral challenges and creates a safe, respectful classroom environment” (Loeser). Though behavioral issues vary from classroom to classroom, effective management strategies will help to ensure that challenges like this one are minimal in the future.
The solutions our group provided above are creative in many ways.
Not only did Ms. Johnson make a mistake by going off on an assumption, but she also could have damaged a possible relationship with one of her students. We feel that the solutions we came up with deal with the situation very appropriately. Each resolution provides a way for Ms. Johnson to correct her mistake and make amends. For example, Ms. Johnson was criticizing Billy for his behavior, which was the wrong way of helping the situation. One of our resolutions for this particular issue, was to use constructive criticism towards her student rather than blatantly criticizing him in front of the class. According to A.J. Ryan, “It is important that you attempt to correct unwanted behaviors as "in the moment" as possible. If you can intervene and correct the negative behaviors as soon as possible, the child remembers the details of the situation and the emotions he or she feels that caused the inappropriate actions.” In conclusion, these were a few of our group’s creative ways of resolving the issues between Ms. Johnson and
Billy.

References
Hicky, L. Hot Tips for Classroom Management. VEA: Bringing Learning to Life. http://proxy.kennesaw.edu/login?url=http://digital.films.com.proxy.kennesaw.edu/play/5PEYWQ
Loeser, J. (2008). Classroom Management. Research Starters Education (Online Edition), Sept. 14, 2014. Web.
Ryan, A. (2014, January 1). Ways to Give Constructive Criticism to Kids. Retrieved September 20, 2014, from http://preschooler.thebump.com/ways-give-constructive-criticism-kids-4013.html
Sternberg, Robert J., and Wendy M. Williams (2010). Educational Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PEARSON.
Sternberg, Robert J. Williams, Wendy M. Educational Psychology. Merrill. 2010. 85-86, 397-398.