Class Context and Two Student Case Studies

Class Context:

Students are of a Year 6/7 composite classroom in a semi-rural R-7 Primary School located in the
Adelaide Hills. All students seem to be starting puberty or on the verge of puberty based on their
maturity levels and physical features. Several students seem to change and alter their attitudes and
behaviour dependent on who is around them or who is watching. Students start to become
responsible for their own cultural development, respecting the values and aspirations of people and
the environment. Students are at their own pace of intellectual abilities, varying. Current
achievement and expectations of students are somewhat at the ACARA standards, with some
giftedness and diagnosed disabilities. Families are generally from a middle socioeconomic
background, with some students living with people other than their parents during the weekdays.
Minimal religious backgrounds and language backgrounds attend the school.

The gender ratios are fairly similar within the composite Year 6/7 classroom, with similar numbers of
year levels. 28 students are in this class; of those, each student has differing abilities, strengths,
needs, and areas of improvement. Students within this classroom are social where they enjoy
working in pairs or groups, knowing one another, and tasks that allow socialising.
 Class Context and Two Student Case Studies

Case Study 1: John

The student chosen for this case study is John*. John is 11 years old and is a Year 6 student in a Year
6/7 composite classroom in a R-7 Primary School located in the Adelaide Hills. He is of Anglo-Saxon
descent, is an only child and comes from a single parent home, him and his mother reside in a
nearby town from the school. John has suffered from trauma within his life from a close relative.
There are patterns of behaviour that have interfered with his learning successes, generally where he
disengages himself from the classroom content. John’s mother believes that his patterns of
behaviour are triggered by his trauma, though my mentor teacher believes that there is something
underlying this trauma, possibly a developmental disorder.

John is a very imaginative student within the classroom and can be quite disruptive as he distracts
his friends constantly. When John is assigned work, he looks at it, analyses it, then continues to play
games on his laptop. By playing games on his laptop, he is stopping his own learning from
proceeding and other students become annoyed due to the ‘unfairness’ of it. Unfortunately,
because of no diagnosis, there are no Education Support Workers to assist him and his needs. John is
very much into fantasy, gaming adventures and video games. He often imagines that he or we are in
the fantasy world as such. John was assigned by my mentor teacher to research a particular
entrepreneur of choice, yet John picks a character from Harry Potter, making it out as if he were
truly a real person and an entrepreneur.

I slowly learned more about what John was interested in which better educated me on how to
differentiate by interest. John, his friends and other class members were emerged as my lesson
warm-up activities focused on their interests – facts, opinions, dinosaurs, Fantasy Flight
Investigation, Big Books, educational and social games (hands-on), and several other of their
interests. John was engaged throughout the majority of the lessons, motivating his will to learn and
his student outcomes were higher than before. I found that providing a choice of tasks helped John
become more responsible of his own learning, empowering him to make his own choices. As said,
several strategies were needed in order to support John’s participation in his learning.

Differentiation was definitely needed in order to support John’s learning – differentiating the
assessments catered to his needs.

* John is a pseudonym name for the student

 Class Context and Two Student Case Studies

Case Study 2:

The student chosen for this case study is Jane*. Jane is 12 years old and is a Year 7 student in a Year
6/7 composite classroom in a R-7 Primary School located in the Adelaide Hills. She identifies as
African American, is the oldest child of three children and comes from a caring and supportive
family. The family resides in a nearby town from the school. Jane is very social and would be
considered as one of the ‘popular’ students at the school.

From observing Jane’s interactions with students during class time, she tries to motivate them to
continue on with their work and not be so distracting. If Jane notices another student stuck on a
piece of work, she takes initiative and offers them help on how to work it out, rather than giving
them the answers. Jane is considered to be a gifted student (following Gagne’s model on giftedness),
needing extension tasks that are made to be more complex, abstract or varied or organised in a new
and different manner. Focusing primarily on higher-order thinking, problem solving, and focusing on
critical and creative thinking and ideas. I believe that Jane works well in collaborative settings,
working with students of mixed achievement levels. Most students thrive from collaborative and
often competitive learning – guiding, simulating and encouraging their learning and socialising to be
pushed – especially Jane who often takes on each of the roles fairly.

If Jane becomes stuck on a problem, she carries on and thinks of different methods and strategies
that may be used to solve the issue. Jane has drive and cherishes her learning, if she had not
cherished her learning, I believe that she would not try to work it out leading to giving up. Though,
with the support of her friends, who are also gifted learners, she pushes hard and attempts to
somewhat compete against them and work harder – having determination and motivation.

* Jane is a pseudonym name for the student