GUIDELINES FOR CASE COMMENTARIES

What is a Commentary?

Commentaries are relatively brief responses (1-2 pages) to a case that provide additional perspectives on what happened and why. The commentary is an opportunity to deepen dialogue, to raise additional insights or hypotheses, and to bring additional perspectives, experiences, or research to bear. Its major purpose is not to praise or condemn. Neither is it intended to provide editing advice. It may add to the interpretation of the case and/or explain how the case is a good illustration of particular ideas or concepts. It may also comment on the value of the case for the reviewer's own understanding of teaching practice.

Who writes commentaries? 

One commentary for your case should be written by a fellow STEP teacher, most likely your "case partner" (and thus, you will also be writing a commentary regarding the case of your partner). The other can be written by another teacher or administrator, an instructor, a parent, or even a student. For example, last year, several STEPpies asked students from the class which they described in their case to write a commentary. Another student, who wrote a case about his experience teaching a particular novel, asked an English professor he knew to comment on his case. Others have also asked their CT's, Supervisors, or professors from other STEP courses.

Suggestions for Commentary Writers:          

Here are some general questions to keep in mind as you write your commentary (and you might also wish to share these with your commentators to guide their writing): What were the main ideas of the case? What challenges was the teacher grappling with? What really grabbed you? What, if anything, did you personally relate to? What makes this a particularly good illustration of the dilemma the author is describing? What did you learn from this case that might inform your own teaching?  In particular, you might think about offering an alternative interpretation of the case--writers might share a competing analysis of "what this is a case of" that could present an alternative perspective than that offered by the case author. Another important thing commentary writers can do is to make connections in their commentaries. There are several different kinds of connections you might consider making in your commentary:

1) Connections to practice. Does this case remind you of any experiences you have had as a teacher? What links does this suggest to your own practice, or to what you know about teaching?

2) Connections to other cases. What cases does this case remind you of? What cases does this bring to mind? This could be cases from the course readings, or cases written by other STEP students in the class.

3) Connections to theories and concepts in the course. Does this case bring any particular theories, issues, or concepts from the course to mind? In what way might you add or suggest other ways of analyzing this case, using different concepts or theories?

Copyright 2000, Karen Hammerness, Stanford University. All the material contained on this site has been produced by Karen Hammerness, Lee Shulman, Linda Darling-Hammond, Kay Moffett, and Misty Sato. These materials can be downloaded, printed and used with proper acknowledgement, including the name and affiliation of the authors and the web-site addess.