Professional Competencies - Sanford Inspire Program Learning Library

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Professional Competencies: Co-Planning for Social Responsibility

I.

Case Study

II.

Answer Key

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Co-Planning for Social Responsibility Case Study

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Directions: As you read the following case study, locate instances where the professional competencies may be at play. Be prepared to share your findings.

Case Study As a special education teacher in their third year of teaching, you have begun to hit your stride. You enjoy working at Happy Elementary School and the theory behind inclusion settings into practice. You are pleased with the relationships you’ve built and how integrated you’ve become with the faculty. You are welcomed to every grade level meeting, where colleagues regularly ask for your assistance in accommodating or modifying curriculum for exceptional learners. Happy Elementary School has recently encountered some problems in the student population. There has been a rash of bullying instances, in the upper grades, stemming from cultural differences. Furthermore, the bullying seems to have leaked into other grade levels as one of your 3rd grade students, Jared, shares that students are harassing him at recess and on the way home. Jared shares that students are teasing him about his reading ability and have been calling him “slow” and “dumb”. He won’t give the name of any students because he is afraid it will get worse. Jared is clearly distressed and you decide to take action about this trend. At the next 3rd grade planning period, you propose the team use different texts for literature circles. You share with them a list of 25 award-winning texts that should help decrease the levels of bullying. You are careful to provide a wide-range of reading abilities and texts with protagonists similar to your exceptional learners and the diversity at the school. Expecting your actions to be met with excitement and enthusiasm, you’re surprised by the uncomfortable silence that follows your announcement. You see Miss Borden and Miss Lorin shift a bit uncomfortably in their seats and give some sideways glances to Mrs. Sprouls, the grade level chair. Mrs. Sprouls thanks you for your suggestion but says that she doesn’t think that it would work out. Surprised by the reaction, you sit silently dumbfounded the rest of the meeting. Wanting to ensure Jared’s learning environment improves, you spend your own money to buy eight of the books and reach out to Jared’s teacher, Miss Lorin, and see if she can incorporate. She thanks you and mentions that she’ll display them in her library for the children to read in their free time. After a few days, you notice that none of the students are interested in the books and you’re still concerned that students aren’t getting exposure to social responsibility. You know that Jared is still distressed and even witness an escalated exchange between him and another student which begins with name calling. You meet again with Miss Lorin and ask if she is willing to modify the Library Book Loan Cart to incorporate some of the texts you researched. Shared across the grade level, the Library Book Loan Cart is a cart of books related to the units of study third graders are studying at that point. Miss Lorin acquiesces to your request but seems nervous about the whole idea. When you come to visit Jared in class the next day you are heartened to see that some of your anti-bullying texts have made the cart and some students are even reading them. Later that afternoon, Mrs. Sprouls comes to your office to speak with you. She looks upset and shares her displeasure at you, “going behind her back to usurp the grade level plans with Miss Lorin.” Before she leaves the room in a hurry, she says, “Your books about getting along are more appropriate for Kindergarten and first grade. We have real content and 3rd grade is a high-stakes year in reading for our children. I can’t risk some students not passing 3rd grade because you want to devote our reading time to making them play nice. Please don’t interfere anymore. We’ll invite you to the next grade level meeting we need you at.” Considering the volatility of the current situation and your desire improve the overall environment in Jared’s class, you realize you have a variety of options on what to do next and therefore the very difficult decision of exactly how to proceed. What is your next step?

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Discussion Questions 1. Suspending Judgment: Assuming that Mrs. Sprouls was operating with the best intentions, how might her behavior be interpreted?

2. Asset-Based Thinking: How might a characteristic or behavior that you found problematic in Mrs. Sprouls actually be a strength?

3. Interpersonal Awareness: How might Mrs. Sprouls have interpreted your words and actions? How might others (your colleagues and students) have interpreted your words and actions?

4. Locus of Control: What things were within your ability to affect in this case study? How could you have targeted these things while still operating with respect and humility?

5. The case study ends at a critical decision/action point. Consider the Professional Competencies and the responses you’ve made in the previous questions. Then: a. Decide on a course of action and share it with your discussion group. b. Discuss as a group the possible consequences (positive and negative) that could arise from that course of action. c. As a group, evaluate which suggested course of action leads to the most desirable outcomes.

Copyright © 2017 Arizona Board of Regents, All rights reserved • SanfordInspire.org

Co-Planning for Social Responsibility Answer Key

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All of the competencies come into play at various parts of the case study. The following table highlights the locations within the case study where competencies are relevant.

Exemplar Responses • Declining to use multicultural and exceptional learner texts in literature circles does not

Suspending Judgment

necessarily mean that Mrs. Sprouls is against such texts or against creating a safer environment at the school. It is possible that the team had already created/gathered the necessary materials for the next set of lit. circles and it would take a lot of extra effort to create new ones for the new texts. It could also be that the whole team is very unfamiliar with these texts and don’t feel comfortable using them right away. • The fact that Mrs. Sprouls and the team didn’t take more time to discuss the texts during the meeting doesn’t necessarily signify their opposition to the texts but could have due to a very tight meeting agenda already. • There appears to be multiple instances where there is the assumption that no one is working on bettering the environment for Jared or the school in general. You may not be the only person at the school or grade level concerned with this issue or working to solve it. • The altercation that Jared had with another student may not have stemmed from bullying, but something else completely.

• Some people on the grade level might think that your actions lack respect and humility. From Interpersonal Awareness

their perspective, it might seem presumptuous and arrogant that you expect them to alter their plans and routines to adopt your new idea. • Having already bought the books and having them in hand may cause Miss Lorin to feel unable to refuse your offer to integrate them into her classroom library. • Not conferring with the grade level about altering the library Book Loan Cart may upset some of the teachers on the grade level since they all share the cart and it fulfills a particular purpose.

• Mrs. Sprouls has been distinguished as grade level chair and as such as been deemed a competent leader for the grade for a reason.

• The grade level appears to value communication and conferring as they do everything very Asset Based Thinking

similarly. • Miss Lorin’s various interactions with you, show that she is willing and committed to working with you. • Mrs. Sprouls comments at the end of the scenario demonstrate her commitment to ensuring that all of the 3rd graders receive the education they deserve and she is committed to having all students reading at grade level.

• You considering what actions you can take to improve Jared’s situation. • You buying resources and using established routines in order to impact the bullying situation is Locus of Control

within your control. However, as established before, some of these actions may not communicate respect and humility. Reaching out to Mrs. Sprouls to get some time on the grade level agenda is within your control and even sharing your circumstances and concerns and asking your colleagues what they think the team should do is also within your control. • Checking in with the school leadership about what actions are being taken to remedy the bullying problem and volunteering to assist is also within your locus of control.

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1. Suspending Judgment: Assuming that Mrs. Sprouls was operating with the best intentions, how might her behavior be interpreted? Mrs. Sprouls may know that the timeline for preparing resources for new lit. circles is just not feasible. Mrs. Sprouls may also just be protecting the grade level plans and procedures that have been decided on by all three teachers from being hijacked for some unknown reason and by someone who has not gotten the consensus of the grade level to back their actions.

2. Asset-Based Thinking: How might a characteristic or behavior that you found problematic in Mrs. Sprouls actually be strength? Some may consider her rigidity to the grade level plans to be a negative but it can also be seen as a positive. Mrs. Sprouls did state that they have a large task ahead of the 3rd grade team and much planning and purposefulness may have been infused into all of their time and actions. The Book Loan Cart, agendas, and lit. circles may have been all crafted in a very particular way because they fulfill very specific purposes that have been carefully designed and agreed upon. The actual grade level dynamic of collegiality and consensus appears to be very important and may allow everyone the chance to contribute and have a say in what happens in 3rd grade.

3. Interpersonal Awareness: How might Mrs. Sprouls have interpreted your words and actions? How might others (your colleagues and students) have interpreted your words and actions? You may have come off as overstepping your bounds; you’re not actually a 3rd grade teacher and the rest of the team has been at that school/grade level for years. You may also have come off as pushy or arrogant by crashing the team meeting without getting on the agenda or asking the team how they think 3rd grade should respond but rather pushing your own idea. Miss Lorin may also feel particularly uncomfortable as she appears to try and appease you and her teammates.

4. Locus of Control: Which things were within your ability to affect in this case study? How could you have targeted these things while still operating with respect and humility? Your own thoughts, mindsets and actions are the first things you could affect. You clearly have identified that you can influence Jared’s safety by bettering the environment he is in. Reaching out to school leadership or the team to share your concerns and see what is already being done would be a respectful approach. If nothing was being done, collaboratively seeking advice and ideas from everyone about what could be done would be a humble approach as well.

5. The case study ends at a critical decision/action point. Consider the Professional Competencies and the responses you’ve made in the previous questions. Then: a) Decide on a course of action and share it with your discussion group. b) Discuss as a group the possible consequences (positive and negative) that could arise from that course of action. c) As a group, evaluate which suggested course of action leads to the most desirable outcomes. Answers may vary.

Copyright © 2017 Arizona Board of Regents, All rights reserved • SanfordInspire.org