Respond to the specific questions for each scenario in essay format; no bullet points.
You will refer explicitly to content covered in this unit. As a minimum, you are required to reference your set or essential textbook and at least two (2) additional sources for each (mini) essay. The additional sources must be academic, peer-reviewed journal articles, not Internet sites.
Further details:
- Give each essay topic a title. For example – Educational Scenario 3 – Friendship Development in an Early Childhood Setting.
- Do not repeat the questions. Please incorporate appropriately into your answers when you discuss the scenarios.
- Use an essay format – write in paragraphs with clear topic sentences; include an introductory and concluding paragraph; bullet points are not used for essays.
Educational scenario 2:
Second-language acquisition and reading
Morteza is very shy and embarrassed during his first days at high school. He learned sufficient English to be able to talk with other students in the playground, but is still not fluent. He is having particular problems in learning to read and write in English, despite having attended EAL classes at his first school for almost two years. Morteza is a quiet boy who prefers to listen and observe rather than actively participate during lessons, but he is motivated to learn and be accepted in his new school. His English teacher is aware of Morteza’s lack of proficiency in the new language, but is willing to allow time and space for him to adjust to the classroom situation. She avoids asking him direct questions and, whenever possible, places him with a group of competent boys who encourage him to interact with them. They also model appropriate language and behaviour. When Morteza seems to lapse into daydreaming – often after a particularly demanding lesson – the teacher leaves him alone on the assumption that he is simply worn out and needs time to recover. (She remembers needing such ‘time out’ herself when she lived overseas as an exchange student, and was often exhausted by the effort required to communicate in a foreign language.) By the end of the year, Morteza is much more confident, both as an English speaker and as a member of the class. He now participates more fully in class activities, has developed close friendships with two other boys and is rarely observed daydreaming or withdrawing from class activities. He borrows regularly from the school library and has a speaking part in a play being prepared for the end-of-year concert.
Questions:
- Identify some of the problems – linguistic, academic and cultural – that students such as Morteza face when they move to a new country and are enrolled in a new school system with an unfamiliar language and culture.
- Would students born in this country, but from home backgrounds where English was not spoken, experience the same problems as Morteza?
- Are the strategies used by Morteza’s teacher appropriate?
- What else might Morteza’s teacher do to assist him?
- How can teachers support students like Morteza most effectively?
Educational scenario 4:
Jo, teaching about morals and values
Jo’s aim: We wanted to develop a set of values for our students. There had been some problems in the playground, and we wanted to address those as well. We felt that the students should be the ones to identify values that were important to them, and to own the process. Jo’s experience: The whole school met together over several sessions to brainstorm the values that were important to them. We grouped similar ideas, and then ranked them to identify the five most important values. We ended up with: being a good friend; honesty; care and compassion; respect and responsibility for each other; and cooperation. The next step was to identify what those values would look like in the classroom and playground, in student and teacher behaviour. Once again, students brainstormed and then grouped ideas until they had an operating definition of each value. These became the core values for our school, and they are now displayed in the entrance foyer and in each classroom. The students elected a project that would help them practise the values they had chosen, and selected a special fundraising program where they worked in teams to identify a humanitarian concern and then developed a fundraising strategy to support a humanitarian organisation. We followed up with incorporating values across our curriculum. We teachers in the arts-based disciplines thought we would have the best ideas for classes, but actually, the maths and science teachers have been really great at coming up with curly issues and problems! They’ve really helped students to think hard about some big morals- or values-based issues. The students are getting on so much better now. They are more likely to be thinking about the next fundraising strategy rather than ganging up against each other in the playground. The friendship groups are a bit more flexible too; they’ve learnt to work with others in teams now.
Questions:
- What stages of moral reasoning do these students seem to be exploring?
- Can you identify any social and emotional competencies that would assist students at these levels of moral reasoning?
- Think about your own curriculum area (early childhood, primary or secondary). How could you support students’ moral development and values in your classroom?
Educational scenario 6:
Working with children who have Autistic Spectrum Disorder
‘I’ve got another autistic child in my class this term! I guess I’ll just sit them all together; at least then I can work with them on the same activities at the same time.’
- Critically evaluate this statement with reference to a. the use of person-first language, b. labelling, c. a non-categorical view of disability.
- Identify 3 strategies for effective inclusion in the classroom in your area of study (early childhood, primary or secondary) of a student who has ASD.
- Would the same strategies work with all students with ASD? Why or why not?
