Problem
Case Study: A Contagious Situation
After receiving a teaching certificate in May, Ms. Cornell has accepted a position as a fifth-grade teacher. She has spent the summer identifying instructional goals for the year and planning lessons that should help students achieve those goals. Today, on the first day of school, she has jumped headlong into the curriculum she planned. But three problems quickly present themselves in the forms of Eli, Jake, and Vanessa.
These three students seem determined to disrupt the class at every possible opportunity. They move around the room without permission, intentionally annoying others as they walk to the pencil sharpener or wastebasket. They talk out of turn, often making disrespectful remarks to their teacher and peers. They rarely completed assignments, preferring instead to engage in horseplay or practical jokes. They seem especially prone to misbehavior during down times in the daily schedule-for example, at the beginning and end of the school day, before and after recess and lunch, and whenever Ms. Cornell is preoccupied with other students.
Ms. Cornell continues to follow her daily lesson plans, ignoring the problem students and hoping they'll eventually shape up. Yet the disruptive behavior continues, with the three of them delighting in one another's antics. Furthermore, the misbehavior begins to spread to other students. By the middle of October, Ms. Cornell's classroom is out of control, and the few students who are still interested in learning something are having a hard time doing so.
In what ways has Ms. Cornell planned in advance for her classroom and In what ways has she not planned?
What you learned from the case study?
How would you apply what you learned from the case study as a future classroom teacher (Be specific. Would you use a similar strategy in your own classroom? Do you have ideas of other strategies you could use i.e. from your own experience)