Cases as Guides for Teaching

In terms of the structural perspective, I once encountered issues during my 75 hour clinical where I had the responsibility of giving a lesson and assigning a cumulative project. Looking back, perhaps I hadn't structured the lesson appropriately given the fact that some of the students were a bit distracted and confused about what was expected of them. Learners clearly need structure, but in an appropriate manner. Rather than supplying them with a project and acting as a facilitator, I should've provided more prior instruction with specific examples of what the end result should look like. Also, including a checklist for the students would have been beneficial, as they would have had the opportunity to self-monitor their progress. Sometimes, an authority figure is needed to provide explicit outlines and expectations to follow. 

Given that I don't have too much prior teaching experience, I cannot recall a time when I disregarded the human relations perspective. However, there was a time I was working in cooperation of a host teacher and I took special notice of the way she dismissed the energy and talent of a student who was immensely interested in music and and possessed serious musical ability. We were working on career projects and learning how to properly research and analyze information collected on a career, when this teacher suggested (to the student) that perhaps his selected career was a bit far-fetched and unrealistic. I could tell that the student's energy and interest plummeted after this interaction with the teacher. There were other ways to handle this issue without damaging the student's self-confidence and esteem. I would've suggested that the student explore several different careers in the music industry-such as producing and other more practical musical careers. 

In terms of the political perspective, I find it difficult to pinpoint a particular instance in which I experienced a power struggle of some sort. However, I know that from personal experience in the field of public education that 9 times out of 10 the teacher will have the final say. Rarely, if ever, is there a democratic approach in which the students are allowed to participate in a decision. I feel that if this was reversed and we gave students the power of choice in school that their interest and levels of motivation would increase exponentially. In fact, this has been proven through various practices. 

In terms of the symbolic perspective, I recall an instance that's very similar to the hat story in our reading. I was in a rural middle school, where boys liked to wear steel-toed boots. Some of the teachers saw this as a sign of danger, which I could completely understand given the reasons why somebody would wear these types of shoes. However, many of the students came from a family where their fathers and other family members worked in the coal mining industry, and the boots were worn as more of a cultural statement than anything. Interestingly enough, many of the faculty and teachers of this school proposed the idea of banning boots (including boots without steel-toes) altogether. To many of the students, this was interpreted as a way for adults to stop them from expressing their sense of individuality. Given the fact that middle school is a period of tumultuous adolescent experiences, this symbolic event was not a happy experience for the students even though the faculty saw it as a major victory against defiant behavior. 

There is a wealth of information that we can learn from cases, which tend to focus on more practical rather than theoretical knowledge. From reading this first chapter, I am now familiar with the four major perspectives that are present in case studies. While textbook knowledge is throughly informative and more than necessary, practical knowledge from experienced and veteran teachers will provide beginning teachers with the tools necessary to prepare them for a successful classroom experience, with information that cannot be found in textbooks. 

As an avid reader, I have read much non-fiction that includes memoirs and narrative works. To me, these types of works provide me with knowledge of the experience without actually having the experience itself. I read the memoir Orange is the New Black a couple years ago, and it left a huge impression on me. The author wrote of her experiences in a minimum security women's prison, while weaving in information about social injustice and mandatory minimum sentencing-which many women of minorities are subject to. Had I not read this book, I never would have had first-hand knowledge of the poor conditions and undesirable situations that many of these women find themselves in when serving their federal sentences. Reminiscing on these many works puts into perspective the idea of cases as guides for learning in the field of learning and teaching.