High School Case Study
You have started to dread your fifth period class. It is made up entirely of seniors who are counting the days until graduation and seem to care very little about learning. Most of the students are obviously members of one clique or another. Whenever they think your back is turned, they start passing notes and text messaging. Worse, three boys have started disrupting those engaged in learning. No matter what you say, they laugh at the students who present their group projects to the class. Yesterday, Tony, Jeff, and Morris started roughhousing; then all three of them refused to sit down and follow the class procedures that the classroom community agreed upon at the beginning of the year. Although you have been using a set approach to handling infractions of rules, you decide it is time to change these procedures.
The aspect of environment within this classroom plays a major role in the behavior taking place in this case study, as many of the students are not motivated to learn and are already anticipating graduation. Although it is understandable that they are restless and bored at this point in their education, it is up to me as the teacher to find ways to engage them, regardless of their disinterest. It is also important to consider how their social environment is affecting students’ behavior, and whether the class is feeding off of the actions of their peers. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development assumes that children at the Formal Operations Stage have a higher sense of reason, and taking this into account, it is possible to adjust the mindsets of the students by providing explanations as to why behaviors should be modified. Students at this stage also have the ability to perceive alternative behaviors, but may not be able to determine what is appropriate for specific situations.
Although only three particular students have become a disruption, the rest of the class is not participating according to the expectations that were agreed upon at the beginning of the semester. Perhaps this is due to the students’ level of moral development, and by Kholberg’s theory, at this age many students may only be in Level I: Preconventional morality, and by this standard, may only be acting on the basis of punishment-avoidance. In acknowledgement of the students who are acting out only when they believe the teacher is unaware, it is noted that they are only disobeying the rules because of a lack of fear of consequences. For the other three students, they are exemplifying this stage in their lack of regard for other students’ feelings. Looking to the students’ level of moral development may assist in determining an intervention plan to eliminate problematic classroom behaviors.
(3.22) Check out tables 3.1 (p. 75), 3.2 (p. 83) and 3.3 (p. 91) with particular attention to the age ranges you are interested in teaching. Identify your personal favorite ways that an educator can promote a child’s sense of self, perspective taking, and moral reasoning skills.
Sense of self:
Help students to build a portfolio of their writing so that they can see how they have progressed throughout the year.
Provide consistent praise for students' efforts, as individuals and as a group.
Perspective taking:
During class discussion, encourage students to consider others' viewpoints and why they are also valid.
Have group activities in which students collaborate towards a common goal, using critical thinking problems so that students can debate their perspectives in a respectful manner.
Moral Reasoning
Model appropriate moral behavior for students.
Point out moral dilemmas in literature and discuss alternative solutions to the issues.
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