Amanda Machado-Vinano

Dr. Cathy Ikeda

EDEF 430
Student Case Study
Introduction
John Smith is a 6th grade student in Ms. A’s period 4 social studies class at Kapolei

Middle School. Like most students, he is very outgoing and looks as though he enjoys being in

the classroom. However, looks can be deceiving. When you think about how you can best teach

a student, it’s a very open-ended question. Sometimes no matter what you do, some students

will just always need multiple methods of teaching. That is how I felt with John. While I may

not know John as well as Ms. A, you can tell based on informal assessment that John is different,

but different is good. John is the type of learner that is all over the place. Sometimes John will

be loud or very quiet. Some days John will participate a lot, while on other days John will be

unengaged.

It’s hard to explain, but John is the type of student who will either do the work or just

entirely ignore it. In my mentors’ class, the students basically do the same thing almost every

day. They come to class, do their worksheets, talk about it vaguely, and then leave and do it all

over again the next day. With John, he has expressed that he is tired of the same old routine, and

simply finds it boring because nothing ever changes.

The crazy thing about John is that about two weeks into being in his classroom, I found

out that we are actually related. And that was when I knew I had to use John as my case study

student. You see, while we may be family, we were complete strangers. Yet at the same time, I

knew so much about him once I found out that his father is my cousin. To truly understand a

student, you have to know where they come from. Considering John and I grew up in the same
environment, I know for a fact that his surroundings play a huge role in determining what type of

student John is.

While John is the only child of his mother, he has 9 other siblings. However, most of

them have different mothers, so John didn’t really grow up with all of his siblings and rarely sees

them even to this day. When I first met John, he would not speak to me. It was very hard

getting him to open up, and once I mentioned to John that his father is my cousin, that was when

he really started to open up. I would notice that John would suddenly start talking to me about

his father, even if I didn’t ask. Unfortunately, John’s father is often in and out of jail, which is

why he lives with his mother in Kapolei.

I believe that in order to understand John as a student, you have to know his struggles.

While John is only in 6th grade, he has been through so much in his life. It’s very hard to get

John to open up, and I feel like because John knew I was his family, he was willing talk to me

about what was going on inside his home.

Interview
Because I only have one period with John, I didn’t have much time to interview him.

The questions I had the opportunity to ask him were very short and basic, but while they might

have been brief, I learned a lot about the type of learner John is. Overall, John does not care for

the subject of history. Like I mentioned before, John explained to me that he feels like every

class period is the same and that they don’t do anything exciting, which is why he does not enjoy

the class. To be more specific, I asked John why he tends to not do his homework. His answer

was predictable, John doesn’t do his homework because he thinks it’s boring. On the other hand,

to try and see if John likes working with his classmates, I asked him if prefers groupwork and if

he likes his table group. In a more positive light, John answered yes to both questions.
 I feel like this brief interview let me know that John does enjoy talking with the members

on his table, and therefore likes doing work that is collaborative/interactive. While John’s

overall attitude toward the class is negative, he enjoys talking with his classmates and his attitude

is more positive when doing engaging activities in Ms. A’s class.

Methodology and Intervention

How do I teach a student who does not like the content and therefore does not bother to

do his schoolwork? This may seem like an impossible question to answer; however, I think the

solution is a lot simpler that I originally thought. You see, I really thought trying to help John

was a lost cause, because no matter what I did, he just wouldn’t do his work. I want him to

succeed not only because he is my family, but because I see so much potential in him.

Unfortunately, John was placed in a class with a lack of diversity when it comes to learning

strategies.

We all know that every student learns differently, so it’s hard to believe that Ms. A has

the students do worksheets almost every day. What John needs is the opportunity to express

himself orally. We should be taking advantage of John’s communication skills. John genuinely

enjoys talking with his classmates, and doing a lesson that involves “talking story” is a great way

for John to show that he really does know the content. Because John has a hard time doing his

work on his own, but can also be quite the distraction to his table members since he sometimes

talks too much, the best way to solve this issue is to meet in the middle. Plan a lesson that is

graded based on student participation. If you participate, you get points. No worksheets, no

book work, just the students having meaningful conversation.

Analysis of Data/Resolution
 In the beginning, I really didn’t think there was much I could do to help John be more

interested in the content. Ms. A has everything planned to the dot, and while I don’t think

worksheets everyday are the best way to teach a student, it is what they are used to. With the

opportunity I had to teach the class, I decided that it would be best to just have a class discussion.

Overall, John interacts a lot more and shows that he does know the content. I think the problem

is that John has a hard time actually writing down what he knows, and that’s why when John is

given the opportunity to answer questions orally, his answers are more thorough, thoughtful, and

do not require additional time to formulate. John was also one of the very few students that

would constantly put their hand up to answer the questions. So, how can I best teach a student

like John? I believe the answer is simple; do less book work and give more opportunities for the

students to orally answer questions.

Appendix
Interview questions:
Do you like social studies?
Why do you not do your classwork and homework when you are given so much time to do it?
Do you like the people on your table?
Do you prefer groupwork?