Growth Mindset

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1EDLD5345CaseStudyonastrugglingteacher.docx

Case Study on a struggling teacher: 21 students are in the classroom.

Dimension1.4 Evidence:

2

Objective: By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to identify and tell out the parts of an animal cell.

Teacher started the lesson by having students read from the Science Textbook…10 pages silently

While student read silently. The teacher turned on Smartboard and pulled up a picture of a cell.

She read the objective. She then directed the students to the smart board. This is an animal cell. She then described and labeled the parts of the cell explaining each part’s function. She then showed two video clips.

The teacher showed two videos that did not align with the objective of the day. The teacher referenced that one of the video clips was prior learning from last week.

T- Now it is your turn. Get into your groups. S- moved and got into groups.

Instructional groups are arranged in all boys or all girls…. all of the same ability level.

All students are aware of their role within the group…note taker, timer, materials, leader.

Each group was given an iPad. Only 2 of the 5 groups used the iPad for the group work.

Two of the six activities in the lesson aligned with objective written on the board and reviewed at the beginning of the lesson. Ex. Worksheet on Parts of a Seed…Obj. was to learn about the parts of an animal cell…no reference to prior learning on a seed. Two videos…One on cell division and the other about the animal kingdom. As a group draw and animal cell and label the parts of the cell. Discuss with your group the parts of an animal cell and create a list of its characteristics. Write in journal what you learned from today’s videos.

Materials were not readily accessible for students. Teacher struggled to find the worksheet for this assignment and not all iPads were charged. No procedure observed for getting or putting up iPads.

Questioning was mostly in knowledge and comprehension. Called on the same students to answer Mary, Evan, Tyler, Addison, Jacob, Jose, Roberto, and Ethan.

Ex. What is this part? Look at the example to give you a clue. After 3 students 1 was able to answer. What is a cell? Called on 4 students…Teacher finally answered. How are animal cells different from plant cells? No answer…Teacher then said in your group you will create a poster that matches this model of an animal cell. Do animals have cells? All answered yes. Can you give me an example of an animal cell? No student called on. Teacher looked at clock and closed the lesson without an answer.

Student noted as Special Education during our preconference were not called on during questioning.

The teacher directed most of the activities and the students waited for her to tell them every step of the activity before completing it.

Struggling Teacher Case Study Data

Below is some data collected and placed in the file of the struggling teacher along with the teacher’s latest evaluation notes.

Ms. Cardinal’s Classroom Demographics

Hispanic

71%

White

15%

African American

5%

Economically Disadvantaged

90%

English-Language Learners

32%

Special Education

11%

Additional information on Ms. Cardinal

2nd year as a teacher

The teacher has struggled with classroom management.

The students in the class have the highest-grade averages but the lowest scores on the district’s benchmarks.

There are 23 students- 4 ESL and 3 Special education students.

Evidence Notes from walk-throughs this month

Instructional groups are arranged in all boys or all girls…. all of the same ability level

All students are aware of their role within the group…note taker, timer, materials, leader.

The teacher showed two videos that did not align with the objective of the day.

Each group was given an iPad. Only 2 of the 5 groups used the iPad.

Materials were not readily accessible for students.

Two of the six activities in the lesson aligned with objective. Ex. Worksheet on Parts of a Seed…Obj. was to learn about the parts of an animal cell…no reference to prior learning on a seed. Two videos…One on cell division and the other about the animal kingdom.

Questioning was mostly in knowledge and comprehension.

Ex. What is this part? Look at the example to give you a clue. After 3 students 1 was able to answer. What is a cell? Called on 4 students…Teacher finally answered. How are animal cells different from plant cells? In your group create a poster that matches this model of an animal cell. Do animals have cells? Can you give me an example of an animal cell? No student called on was able to answer. The teacher closed the lesson without an answer.

The teacher directed most of the activities and the students waited for her to tell them every step of the activity before completing it.

Walkthroughs indicate the following areas of concern:

Lack of wait time

Lower level questioning

Calling on the same student

A teacher driven classroom

Classroom management issues

Lack of differentiated instruction

Lack of details in lesson plans

Additional Case Study Information:

This is the teacher’s second year on the campus and on a Probationary Contract.

The teacher has had five conferences with you and been assigned an instructional coach and mentor for support. The teacher was on two intervention plans last year and currently working on her second plan for the current school year. According to your documentation she is not showing improvement.

She has missed two deadlines and has shown to be unwilling to work the instructional coach on campus by missing two coaching sessions.

Her scores were slightly below the campus average last school year, but current year benchmark scores show that her students are significantly behind their peers at this point in the school year.