Team Super Awesome

Team Members

Jaime

Katie

Sofia

Manpreet

Critical Incident: Intermediate Classroom

The teacher is unsure how to assess a student who refuses to speak at school at all. Two years ago, he was fine with talking to others, but now he doesn't say a word to anyone. The student has no learning impairment designation. The parents say that the student speaks at home and will not acknowledge that there is anything wrong.

Magolda's Model (1992)

Stage 1 (dualist):

The student must speak to pass work with an oral component. If he doesn't, the teacher will fail him.

Stage 2 (transitional):

The teacher is unsure what to do in this situation and asks the counsellor or principal for help.

Stage 3 (independent):

If the student doesn’t want to speak, then it is his choice. The teacher will adapt lessons for his needs.

Stage 4 (contextual):

The teacher realizes that the student has been through a tough situation that has caused him to withdraw from others around the school. The teacher can bring in the counsellor to assess the student in case of any psychological issues that the student may be facing. Other methods of assessment can be used for formal evaluation; the oral component is not the only necessary method.

Engaging Aboriginal families to support student and community learning - Chodkiewicz et al. (2008)

Question 1: What issues did the authors identify as a problem related to Aboriginal education?

Lack of connection between aboriginal community and education community.
Lack of parental involvement in school community.

Theoretical Explanations:

Difference- children have different language practices
Structural inequality- schools actively reproduce social inequalities in school
Resistance theory- certain groups of students actively resist white middle class schooling values.

Question 2: How did they analyze this problem? (e.g. What has created this problem? Why does it need to be solved?)

Need to refocus on engagement rather than content of program.
Way that aboriginal families had experienced colonization was very diverse so this was a way to analyse the problem.
Solved it by identifying that challenge lies in working to engage parents in aboriginal communities.
Also, schools have to address imbalance in the power control and resources between schools and families.

Question 3: What was their ‘solution’? (What needs to change and why?)

Strengthening the school links with parents and community by carrying out a more detailed mapping of school community.
Developing a network of local human services and community organizations in the school community.
Exploring ways of engaging aboriginal parents by asking parents about their views.

Question 4: How did they implement their solution? (How did they envisage change to happen?)

Mapping key organizations and people in the local community and involving stakeholders.
Setting up focused learning partnerships with key local aboriginal community organizations to support school curriculum in being more culturally relevant.
Offering courses in local aboriginal languages and organizing projects that record aboriginal families and stories.
Working with trusted advocates to assist parents in their contact with the school.
School commitment of resources to support aboriginal parents around learning.