Final Case Study

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Jenny Noel Koopmans
Professor Buursma
Education 202
May 11, 2016

Audience: Professional educators, particularly those aiming to set assumptions aside

and learn how to better understand student strengths and weaknesses. Looking at

contextual and sociocultural variables as well as neurodevelopmental functions helps us

deeply understand learning and learners which impacts instructional decision making

(or the way we choose to teach learners based on what we know about them) (Barringer,

Pohlman, Robinson, 2010, 29).

Over the last two months, I have had the opportunity to observe in Mrs. Alberts class at

Ridge Park Charter Academy twice a week. It has been amazing to get to know many of her 3rd

grade students, including Lance, whom Ive observed more in depth as my learner. At the

beginning of my time in the classroom, I knew nothing about Lance or the way he learned. I

tended to make judgments that were unsupported and only hit the surface level of whether a

quality was a strength or weakeness. Through careful observation, listening to what Mrs. Albert

has told me, and seeing his work samples, I have some tenative beliefs about who he is, how he

learns, and some methods of best teaching him. Lance seems to be a thoughtful and excited

person who really adds positivity to Mrs. Alberts class. He is quick to include others in a game

of soccer during recess and can be found sharing laughs with his classmates at almost any point

during the day (in or out of the classroom).

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Learner Story #1 (Classroom)

On one of my last visits to the classroom, Mrs. Albert was drawing popcicle sticks with

student names to decide who would use one of the class eight or nine chromebooks for that

particular activity. The other students would have to work with versa-tile booklets. Mrs. Albert

asked students to be honest with her about whether or not they had used a chromebook the day

before. One student, David, said that he had not used one during the previous day. A few minutes

later, after hearing laughter and what seemed to be a focus on something other than what was

instructed (there was talking between clasmates, Mrs Albert said David, you did have a

computer yesterday...I took it away from you for doing what youre doing now. David

defended, That wasnt me! After going back and forth for a few moments, Lance admitted It

was me you took the computer from, Mrs Albert. It was me. I thought this story was worth

mentioning because Lance took full responsibility for his own actions. He did not have to get

involved in any way. He couldve sat back and let his friend take the blame but he was respectful

and admitted the truth because he did not want to see someone else get in trouble.

Neurodevelopmental Functions

I dont know if this could be classified as a strength in any neurodevelopmental areas

because it doesnt have a lot to do with Lances working habits but rather his character overall. If

it does deal with neurodevelopmental functions, I believe it would fit into the categories of

higher-order thinking and social cognition. Lance used applied reasoning by thinking in a

systematic way in order to solve a problem that did not have a readily apparent (or truthful)
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solution (Barringer, Pohlman, Robinsyon, 2010, 41), (Higher Order Thinking Ppt). Telling the

truth in a situation that could be embarrassing, hard (in front of the whole class), or put you at a

disadvantage (he wasnt going to gain computer access by telling the truth) takes ability to know

what is right and solve problems in a systematic way even if it doesnt benefit you. In that

situation, Lance judged and deeply understood the right thing to do. Another possibility is that

Lance values his relationships with both David and Mrs. Albert. He felt the best thing to do was

to take responsibility, defend his friend, and be honest with his teacher. This is could be

considered part of social cognition because being able to judge the moods of others is a sign of

strength in this function (Barringer, Pohlman, Robinson, 2010, 50).

Contextual Variables

The contextual variables that couldve affected this situation are classroom environment

and the relationship between Mrs. Albert and her students (whether or not they feel it is a safe

place for them to share their ideas and opinions). If Lance did not think that he was allowed to

disagree with his teacher or if he were concerned that his peers were not going to accept him if

he said something different, he probably wouldnt have stood up in Davids defense.

Lance approached this situation in a way that made me believe that he was taught to

value and uphold honesty and respect even in circumstances where it may be hard. Based on

what Mrs. Albert has told me about his parents involvement in school and home life in general, it

seems that this knowledge comes from his family. Mrs. Albert had Lances sister in a previous

school year and said that while she was nothing like Lance academically, they both had hearts of

gold and were genuine in their interactions with all of the people they encountered. She also

mentioned that while things were very busy for Lances family, his parents always instructed
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him to listen and work hard in school. In many of the texts for this course, we saw the

importance of parent involvement in school. In the case of Jesus, having his mom and teacher

meet, despite how busy life was at home made it easier to reach the same page and get a better

understanding of how the other side felt about his strengths and weaknesses and possible

strategies to better his learning and do what was best for him--open communication and mutual

understanding on both sides (school and home) added to Jesus success (Taylor, Whittaker,

2003) and I believe the same is true in Lances case.

Other Questions and Connections

While Mrs. Albert did not punish Lance for what he said, she did not fully accept it

either. Is it necessary to affirm what a student says to keep this open communication and

make them feel free to share their opinion or perspective even if it is different? Or does is a

negative reaction to disagreement the only thing that will discourage a student from saying

how they feel? Affirming Diversity brings up a good point in the section Teachers Are Not the

Villians. It says that most teachers really care about what is going on in a students life and

want to hear about their perspectives and opinions. Differences in culture, background,

experience, or perspective between teacher and students should be understood as such (Nieto,

Bode, 2012, 6). The fact that one party (typically the teacher) does not fully understand what the

other is going through does not mean they dont care. It is just important to make an extra effort

to gain understanding/insight into their experiences and what makes them feel and learn the way

the do.
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Learner Story #2 (Work Sample)

Mrs. Albert was more than willing to let me look through Lances previous assignments

and tests. While showing me the stack of papers and about 3 to 4 times during my visit, she

addressed what she believed to be focus problems with Lance. She mentioned that one

assignment with the word incomplete across the top could tell me a lot about his academic

habits. I chose not to include that artifact because I wanted to find a better representation of both

his strengths and weakness and to avoid assumptions that could not be supported with facts. I

came across this short reading assignment and response sheet and was automatically struck by

many different aspects of his work. The students were given a packet with two pages of reading

followed by this page of multiple choice and short answers.

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Neurodevelopmental Functions

Lance seemed to have a hard time answering both types of questions correctly which

triggered some concerns in me about different areas of both memory and attention. The

Memory Module that gave information about long-term, short-term, and active-working memory

made me wonder what could be explained by Lances incorrect answers even though he had the

reading guide on the other page. Some indications of a weakness in short-term memory are

that a student is frequently looking up at the board when copying and gets confused with

instructions. I wondered if this was what happened in Lances case because he had all the

information needed to answer the questions but could not seem to remember long enough or

retain the info to write the answers down. An indication that this could be a long term memory

issue (with accessing information) is that there seems to be a struggle with free-recall which he

has to use to develop his own answers to short-answer questions. The part of this assignment that

deals with active working memory (Lances ability to remember how to form letters and words)

(ONLINE MEMORY MODULE, 2009).

Some areas of attention that could come into play are detail processing, mental effort, and

saliency determination. Lance was asked to take the most important data from the reading and

make it clear that he understood what it was saying by answering the key question. This requires

the ability to acheive enough intensity of focus to capture highly specific needed data as well

as deciding which incoming stimuli (within the reading and the classroom environment) was

most important to rememeber. If the keeping the flow of energy steady was difficult for Lance,

this might indicate problems with the mental effort subfunction of attention (Levine, 2002).
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While this assignment may lack correct information, it isnt hard to see that there is a use

of big words and creative thought which tie into language and higher order thinking. Lance

uses words like president and destroyed which may indicate a strength in expressive

language. He tries to imagine what it might be like to visit Mt. Rushmore and if he has never had

that experience, it could be hard. He tells an imaginitive story that shows that he can make strong

and creative connections to something even though he may have never been able to experience it

first-hand. His own culture may make coming up with correct answers extremely difficult.

Overall, I believe the areas of memory influence all the other abilities it takes to complete

this task (attention, language, graphomotor skills). Without being able to retrieve knowledge

from your long-term memory, handle factors and flip a page to write them out (short-term), or

remain constant in the ways your letters are formed (active working memory) affects the other

factors, like how long you will be able maintain a good flow of energy during the process and

what the final outcome of the work will be.

Sociocultural Variable and Questions

I struggled for a long time considering what sociocultural variables affect Lance and his

work. I dont feel that I have enough information to make claims about his socioeconomic status

or race but I do know that age affects him in several ways. The way his es tend to look like

8s could indicate a weakness in active working memory or could just prove that he has not yet

mastered written (expressive) language. I asked my child study team what they though about this

and I thought they offered some valueable advice. To get a better feeling for whether this is a

consequence of a personal weakness or if it will change with age, Lances skills of written

language should be compared to other classmates and if he is extremely far behind them, it could
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be reasonable to say that it is a potential weakness. Otherwise, it would have to be looked at

again at a later point in his life to measure his progress and see if it could be blamed on age

(CST meeting, 2016).

Final Thoughts

Through observation, receiving background information from Mrs. Albert, and looking at

Lances work samples, I am more convinced than ever that it takes so much time and investment

to really begin to know a learner. I am only starting to scratch the surface after two months. The

goal as educators and future educators should be to try to understand our learners despite the

many differences there may be and the assumptions that may be easier to believe than the truth.

Taking the time to do this can better students learning and create an environment where students

of all cultures, races, genders, etc. feel accepted and encouraged in the way of learning that is

right for them. I am committing to setting my judgements aside and taking up the truth because I

believe it is the best way to teach students and really, deeply understand how a learner learns.
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References

Barringer, M., Pohlman, C., & Robinson, M. (2010). Schools for All Kinds of Minds:
Boosting student success by embracing learning variation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Child Study Team Meeting(2016). Education 202 The learner: Development & diversity.
Class presentation. May 5, 2016

Higher Order Thinking Ppt(2016). Education 202 The learner: Development & diversity.
Class presentation. April, 2016

Levine, M. Attention Controls. Reading. (2002).

Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2012). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of
multicultural education. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.

ONLINE MEMORY MODULE - All Kinds of Minds. (2009). Retrieved May 12, 2016,
from
http://www.allkindsofminds.org/modules/memmod/Memory_Module_Workbook.pdf

Taylor, L. S., & Whittaker, C. R. (2003). Bridging multiple worlds: Case studies of
diverse educational communities. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
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Grading Criteria Possible Total Points

Points

EVIDENCE OF REQUIRED CONTENT 30

EVIDENCE OF SYNTHESIS AND 40

INTEGRATION

USE OF SOURCES 20

STYLE 10

Total points: /100

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