Payal Patel Case II Reflection My group led an interesting discussion on my case and led me to view my case in ways entirely

different from how I initially judged it. I was concerned about the behavior of two young make students in my seventh grade Algebra I class. I was puzzled by their stubborn behavior on problems they had initially asked for assistance in. To make this case easier to deal with, we focused on the incident with venn diagram work with Tom (See the Appendix below for the full story and concerns.) One group member wondered what would happen if I just explained why I want all students to use circles to represent sets of numbers in Venn Diagrams. Maybe explaining that uniformity in student work would allow me to easily note differences in student work and allow students to compare answers more easily would have been a good idea. At the same time, the question arose: why does the teacher need to explain why the student needs to use circles over squares? Does it take that much effort on part of the student to make such minor changes? I found these points very interesting. The first idea is that maybe it is necessary to give a reason to Tom while the latter point emphasizes the minuteness of the effort Tom would need to make to follow teacher directions. In trying to analyze these points, I realized that regardless of whether I gave reasons to the student or not, Tom would most likely propose an argument to my suggestion. I think they best idea may be to figure out why in fact the boy acts like this. This leads to the next point my group discussed. Is it possible that there is something deeper taking place here? Is the student craving attention? Does Tom ask me to come over to help him but then engage in an argument to keep me there next to him? It is interesting that this point was made because some time following this discussion, I noted a case in which students were picking on the boy. I felt very upset and wondered about this comment regarding Craving attention. Maybe my student felt good when someone was there to listen to him? Maybe he felt good to be heard when he wanted to talk

back. These are all signs of possible emotional void that may be present in his school/social life. I am glad that this comment on craving for attention was made. Regarding the students constant comebacks at what I would ask him to do, one teammate suggested I say that Im only taking questions on what I have said. Maybe it is time to use some authority with students. I really thought this was a good idea until I observed what happened after I had this case study discussion with my group. The boy seemed to not have many friends in school. This case really made me look into the students social life. One comment during the discussion was maybe he is doing what his parents taught him to do: be resolute. However, even if this was the case, I think a lot more was at play. The more I have gotten to know the young boy, the more open he has been to my ideas and help. I think for now, I will continue to try to understand him and why I have observed this change in stubborn to flexible behavior with me. What I have learned from this process is not to form conclusions about students even after a few weeks of engaging with the student. While I was basing my judgment of this situation on two weeks worth of observations, it is essential to practicing open-mindedness and non-judging observation as student lives are complex and I only see them for one period in one subject among one group of students every day.

Appendix: My seventh grade Algebra I classes are both filled with bright hard-working students that are always enthusiastic about learning and get very excited about challenging themselves. They are very reluctant to give up even after many tries on a difficult math problem. An example of a problem they were given today is as follows:

Josephine writes out the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 in a circle. Starting at 1, she crosses out every second integer until just one number remains: 2 goes first, then 4, leaving 1 and 3. As she continues around the circle, 3 goes next, leaving 1 as the last number left. Suppose Josephine writes out the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4,, n in a circle. For what values of n is the last number 1? This is a brain-twisting problem for most people, let alone seventh graders who have not begun learning algebraic equations and the reasoning and pattern-recognition work that goes into this problem is neither based on Algebra I nor on previously learned tasks. Students work on problems of this difficultly level on a daily basis. I have never seen them touch an Algebra I text book or receive direct instructions on Algebra I. There are a few things I notice in these two classes. First, there are a few arrogant students. Max, in particular, raises his hand frequently and when I talk to him he comments back to me while I try to employ scaffolding: No, no, let me try it. I stand there for a few moments and he still doesnt get it. I try to say something and he says, No, wait let me try it. After a few similar occurrences, I stopped feeling so enthusiastic about working with him. He seems to want help but then treat me, a teacher, with a bossy higher-status attitude. I tried to teach another student the proper way of drawing Venn Diagrams and he tells me, No! You cant do that. I answer, Alex, this is how you will be expected to show the diagram in math classes. He answers back, Well, I saw another text book do it my way! I leave him saying, Ok, you choose your method. What do I do in these cases where these two young boys are building such an egotistical attitude from a young age. I do notice that these two boys do like to raise their hand to prove their points; they are proud of their work. However, to facilitate learning and create an atmosphere of mutual respect between me and them, I need to somehow send a message that we need to work together regardless of how intelligent we think we are.

I wonder: Are they stressed about not appearing smart? Why do they display a dominating approach to voicing their opinions (even in class they are ready to raise their hands more to share why someone may be wrong than right)? Given the whys, how can I address this situation? Other general concerns I have about the whole class are: 1. Stress levels regarding quizzes. Can stress be causing students to reach out to parents for more math help than they should be? 2. Possible unreasonably high expectations of themselves. This can really disappoint students who want to do well but due to the non-textbook/demanding nature of the class. 3. Losing students who are bright but feel intimidated in the classroom. Some students do poorly on homework and quizzes and I have told these students to email me a number of times. In addition to the specific instance above, are there any suggestions on how I should go about dealing with 1-3?