Pat Walters

Student Teaching
Fall 2014

Case Study
Description of Student:
The student that I have decided to observe and work with is a young black male in eighth grade at Wilson Middle School, standing at around 510. He is Athletically built and very popular in school, especially in
the sports arena. He seems to have a good level of self confidence and does show and signs of serious trouble in
school or behavior problems (such a expulsions). He has a very faint amount of facial acne but doesnt seem to
mind it. He dresses well and has always maintained a healthy bodily hygiene. He does not show up to class late
and has an obvious talent and passion for music. He is an transfer students and this is his first year at Wilson
Middle School. This student has already begun and made a fairly smooth transition through puberty as his voice
has already changed and seems to have no problem with voice cracks or vocal holes. He does, however, have a
bit of a challenge singing the octave in the ends of the bass clef (anything from the top line G to the D about
middle C).
Interpretation/Hypothesis:
I believe that the greatest cause of the students behavioral issue is a lack of challenge and a feeling of
needing to fit in. Although I have already stated that he seems to be popular with his classmates, I interpret his
behavior and actions as attempts to keep within the in crowd at school. Secondly, this student quite obviously
has some musical background and has a familiarization of the movable-Do solfege and the name of the notes on
the staff. I think he is bored with the basics of music that the rest of his class is still getting familiar with, and
therefore is having a slight Einstein moment (i.e. not doing as well in school as he is capable of, not be cause
he doesnt have the knowledge, but because he is bored with it).

Another, and likely minor, reason behind his actions is due to the color of his skin. White students tend to think
highly of black peers and give them an almost celebrity status without any real reason besides the fact that they
are black. I think this student was aware of this and felt that he didnt really earn his popularity, but inherited it
by birth.

Strategies/ Curriculum decision:

My strategy for this student is to help him understand that there are different ways to maintain popularity
with his class mates. One, i like to refer to as the Jesters Road which means they gain and maintain popularity with their peers by acting cool and behaving in a way that may be funny, but can also be disrespectful, distracting, and does not help anyone learn anything. The second, I refer to as the Gentlemans Road also bring
popularity and last well beyond the years of middle school and even high school. However, it takes more work
to achieve. In short, he can be a follower of trends and do the same thing that his age see on most T.V. shows in
which children are very disrespectful to their elders and are taught that that is funny, or they can be leaders, and
see through that delusion and understand that wisdom and respect are much more valuable and attractive to the
truly important people in the world. Being a leader means having to set a good example for your peers and continue to do what is right, regardless of what your peers initially tell you. true goodness has a attractive shimmer
to those who see it in action.
Also, I wanted to help this student find interest and challenge in the class, thereby becoming more engaged in what the class was working on, even if he was an higher level of understanding than the rest of the students. I attempted to do this in two different ways. One was to make his homework slightly more challenging so
that he would have to take time and think about the process that he would have to go through to arrive at his answer. The second, was to allow him the opportunity to help others around him, and be a leader to those who
were struggling, therefore raising the good popularity level. Another benefit from this opportunity is that he

came to understand the the basic musical theories even better. By teaching a concept, you gain a heightened level of ownership of that knowledge for yourself. It fairly easy to just understand the process of tempos are written and read, but to be able to explain it to someone else in a way that they can understand it for themselves requires a higher level of understanding yourself. As a More Knowledgable Other (MKO), this student was able
to act as a scaffold for students who were not as advanced as he was.
results:
The results are good, I believe. The student has become more focused in class and has shown signs of
maturity that were lacking a month ago. He asks intelligent questions and questions that show that he cares
about his progress as a musician e.g. Am I singing this part of the song in the right octave? Or, am I still
singing too low?
Though his talking in class is not completely corrected (this is middle school, after all) it has decreased a
substantial amount and I am able to reign the student in much more easily now. I think the most important lesson that he has learned/ is learning is that he can be a good student and be smart, without losing his popularity
or credibility amongst his peers at school.
Reflection:
Looking back I think I made fairly good progress on this student considering this was my first real attempt at performing a Case Study like this. In retrospect I think I could have helped the student better studying
guides to help him apply himself more efficiently when doing his homework and thinking through different
processes. Or even as simple as documenting the processes he uses when answering questions, so that when he
makes a mistake, he or I can identify what step he messed up and fix it for next time. In a way, helping him be a
reflective student. I think what drew me to this student so much is that he reminds me of exactly what I was like
when I was in high school. I was more than able to achieve academic success but failed to do so because I was
too busy trying to be popular and fit in. I wasnt challenged enough by most of my classes and therefore put

homework and other academic necessities on the side burner and focused more on my social life. If i could go
back, and apply my self differently in the way that I know I should have now, I would have been much better off
and learned valuable study skills sooner and save a lot of time with academic stress, even in college. In this case
study I have been able to help a student who is struggling with issues that I have struggled with in my past and,
therefore, was able to connect and help in a more effective way.

!
Case Study Framework
Student:

Pat Walters

Teacher:

Kathy Kane

Observation
date & time

Student talks
during class a
majority of the
time. Even when
confront him, he
begins again in
less than 5 mins.
10/20/14

Dates:

Interpretation

Perhaps he is
looking for
attention, or is
bored.

Nov. 23, 2014

Hypothesis

Curricular
Decision/
Strategy

Reflection/
Result

If I ask student
why hes talking in
class and explain
that it really is
distraction to the
whole class. If
realizes the
impact he has
through his
actions, I think
hes be more
mindful and
focused in class.

Talk to student
after class and ask
him why he needs
to talk out in class.
Let him know how
his actions are
affecting other
people.

This first attempt

to connect with
him did not work
as well as Id
hoped. When I
first talked to him,
he seemed to
connect and
agree, but during
the next few days,
he seemed to fall
back into old
habits.

Student
addresses teacher
respectfully. yes,
maam. yes, sir
10/28

Student has a
good head on his
shoulders, but
perhaps is falling
into pressure to be
accepted by his
peers, and
therefore acts out
in class and puts
his energy into
impressing
classmates, rather
than into his
musical talents.

If I talk with
student about
being a follower
vs. leader, he will
realize that he
has a potential to
be a leader who
inspires his peers
to do well in class.
He could still be
popular, but it will
take more work
than just being
the class jester

Ask student if he
would be willing to
be a kind
designated helper
for his classmates
if I find anyone
who is struggling
with some of the
more basic
aspects of music
theory.

This action was

quite effective. He
seems to have a
positive effect on
the students. Hes
helpful for those
students that are
straggling behind
in the basics of
music theory. His
confidence level
has seems to
have gone up, as
well, leading to
less talking in
class.

Student Is
knowledgable in
music. However,
often does not
take time to think
answers through.
11

Student seems to
be very musically
knowledgeable
and gifted.
Perhaps finds the
level of
understanding that
the rest of the
students are at to
be boring and
therefore doesnt
bother doing the
work well.

If I require student
to explain the
reason behind his
answers and find
somewhere in the
text where he can
find the answer,
then he will be
more accurate in
his answers.

Write an extra
homework
assignments that
is more
challenging, and
require him to
write the page of
the Theory Packet
in which the
answer can be
found. Also,
requiring him to
write out steps that
he takes to find
answers to some
problems requiring
minor
mathematics.

This step has

been greatly
beneficial to his
scores on his
homework.

Example of more challenging homework