Case Study 2

Prospective Teachers or Interns:
As a prospective teacher, I definitely learned that there is not a set way to teach your students. There has to be flexibility if I decide to group my students based on ability. The way Janet grouped at the beginning of the year ended up being completely different by the end of the year. This case really proved to me that grouping by ability can really segregate students racially which only makes the students feel as though they are never good enough and learn as much as they can. As said in the video, it is important to focus on what students do have rather than what they do not have. If you focus on that, then you can build off of students strengths to create excellent learners. I also thought that one of the videos was very interesting when she talked about how grouping was not necessarily a theory that produces the best results. This made me think about my future classroom and I will choose to do grouping when I feel it is absolutely necessary. As I will soon take on more responsibility for grouping decisions in my career, I think that I will have the back of this case study in my head. The videos and the reading did a really good job of explaining the importance of being really careful about grouping and believing in your students. The example of the teacher who had a student win an award for his writing proved that every one of your students has potential to be a good writer. Looking back on my first impressions, my impression of this case changed as Janet changed how she grouped her students. It was interesting to see that she took the advice from her advisor to group them off of ability and then grouping them based on their reading interests and formally and informally logging their progress individually.