Berlynn Dineh Holdmann!

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EDU 202 | Professor Shkorpua !
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October 15, 2014 !
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Case Study #15 | Michael Watson !

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The case study I had pertained to a younger, newer teacher at Raddison High School,

his name being Michael Watson. Before he became a teacher here, he had bought a business
and was planning on continuing to pursue his graduate degree in mathematics and teaching
part time, until the teaching job market increased. His wife encouraged him to take a coaching
position. While coaching, he found an opening for a math instructor at Raddison High School,
where he immediately applied, sold his business and pursued a career in teaching and
continued to coach as well. Raddison was in a wealthier neighborhood and was known for its
academics and preparing children for college primarily. Michael taught trigonometry, algebra and
also intro too business classes. !
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Watson was greatly liked by his students and young adults at the school, and they

favored him tremendously. Always enjoyed walking through student sections to engage in
student | teacher conversation and observe how the students were interacting with one another
as well (places that most teachers tended to try to avoid at all costs). It goes to discuss one of
his lessons in the classroom. The example states that Michael had a lesson in class that
discussed a young American entrepreneur who had recently died. With this he moved to an
open ended discussion session about the mans career with the students. Michaels enthusiasm
about the topics encouraged and engaged the students to further in the discussion. Students
than began conversing and engaging in the conversation and topics thrown out during the
discussion, being activate participants in the classroom. When Dale was observing the
classroom, a fellow teacher and peer, he suggested that Michael utilize the whiteboard and write
down the days objectives every morning and also demand proper classroom etiquette,

including students to be called on and a more controlled setting. Michael followed this advice
and suggestions made, although he still didnt require the children to raise their hands for
discussion, but did demand respect for all students and their ideas and generously allowed
rebuttal. 3 weeks after Dale had made observations and suggestions, Alan Matthew (the
Assistant Principal), came in to also observe the class. He said it was his duty as Assistant
Principal to do so for untenured teachers. !
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Michael proceeded with his instruction by first writing all objectives on the board and

began lesson. He first started off with engaging students in discussion once again as most
classes entailed. Childre began immediately asking questions in return and not raising hands to
offer responses, but students did continue engaging in discussion actively, which included the
vocal words on the objective. Michael also asked questions in response, including the use of the
vocabulary words mentioned. Eventually, the bell rang and the class hands finished objectives
of the day, and Michael didn't feel that it was a bad lesson and it was still valuable, even though
the objectives of the day were not met accordingly. Alan finished observing and asked to see
Michael the following day in the office to discuss that class period. !
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The following day,Michael proceeded to Alans office for the meeting, engaging with

students the entire way there. Students constantly asking for advice, questions and so forth.
Once together, Alan read off of the evaluation sheet to Michael from the previous day and it
stated that the student - teacher rapport was good, although it was a poor lesson and
unstructured class discussions. Alan suggested that Michael become more demanding and
provide proper planning and Maintain a constant learning atmosphere. He reminded Alan
that the students would still appreciate him regardless of this change and it was drastically more
important for the students to view Michael as a teacher, and not as a friend. Michael argued
Alans accusations that the lesson was meaningless, due to the fact that the vocabulary words
were being discussed for the upcoming test, and it was still crucial information nonetheless.

Alan responded that Michael was too easy on the students and was a pushover. He also
stated that with new teachers they commonly become trapped in the idea of how the students
feel about you, rather than their learning from you, and that he observed him early to help him to
focus on this constructively. !
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The meeting proceeded and ended and Michael continued back to class somewhat

distraught and down. Although this was the case, on his way to class, he saw some of his
students still eagerly engaged in assignments that he had provided and when he arrived back at
the classroom the students were eagerly awaiting him at the door. Michaels spirits, regardless
of the events with Alan, began to soar once again with the students helping to achieve that. He
ends by walking into the classroom, still continuing to keep a smile on his face and says, Lets
go everybody, I have a class to teach! !

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1. Who do you think is right? Michael or Alan? Why? !

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I think that both Michael and Alan have different, yet very applicable teaching styles and

approaches to teaching. Alan wasnt implying that Michael end class discussions, he was just
implying through his observations that some of the classroom behavior was unruly and
unnecessary. And that with a little more organization and following the objectives more closely
and trying not to get too off topic, he could greatly increase the goal at hand, while still engaging
the class. Simple things such as: having students raise their hands during discussion. Although I
genuinely do like Michaels approach as well, I do believe that more structure is necessary to
have classroom management. !
2. What do you see as Michaels strengths as a teacher? His weaknesses? !
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I think Michael has wonderful attributes. It is okay to be liked by the students, but again

you need to decipher and draw that line between teacher and friend, and still implement those
specific values as a teacher and mentor. His unique teaching approach can be wonderfully
beneficial in the classroom to constantly keep the students engaged, but on the same token,
you dont want the children running your class for you, which it seems as though Michael
apparently lets happen, unknowingly. His weaknesses include his lack of organization. Based
on the fact that another teacher within the school had to provide him with very simple direction
on how to efficiently run his classroom (i.e. writing objectives on the board and having students
raise their hands for discussion), directly shows that. Michaels age and how young he is can
also play a role on both ends: strength and weakness. Strength because he can relate more
easily to the children, and a weakness because he does have that wanting the students to like
him mentality and not focussing mainly on the teaching aspect. Focusing on finding a median
between the two would benefit Michael the best. !