Instructors' Comments on Sonya's Case Outline

 Overall Comments: Sonya, this incident does seem like it has potential as a case-worthy experience. Now that I read it, I think it may make sense to say more about the whole unit, and perhaps talk in detail about a few specific days, as you have started to do here. I do think your questions of how to help students really appreciate aspects of literature would be interesting to other teachers/readers, and that they would identify with this.

 Specific comments:

Below are some specific comments about your case outline, based on the elements we've identified as important aspects of cases that should be included in some form. One prefacing remark: I do appreciate that because it's a draft, I know you won't have included all these elements already!

 Context & Students: You've done a nice job getting some information about the students into your case outline already. As you develop your case, you'll want to say more here; about the students, particularly about the school, as well as the community of Fairview. For instance, are the students typical/not typical of the students in the school where you teach? What school do you teach in? What community does the school sit within? What is the SES, racial background, etc. of the community? In some order that works for you and the flow of the case, you will need to provide this information.

You should also say a bit about the context for the content you introduce—what had you and your CT been teaching before this unit? What sorts of ideas had the students been learning, developing an understanding of, etc? What main ideas did you want them to learn from that unit? How do those preface, or provide a link to the unit on Cyrano you then sought to teach? Or was it hard to find a link?

 Content: Then, as you develop your case, you will also want to add and expand more upon why you selected Cyrano—i.e. what is important for them to understand and learn from the novel? You might also talk about the "big ideas" you wanted them to understand in this unit. So, to ask the Vickie-White-case question, why is it important for them to understand those ideas? What did you really want them to learn, to come away with from this unit?

Intended Scenario: Here is another place where you might develop your thoughts more. What did you think would happen in this unit? How did you think students would react to the novel? To the ideas you were helping them understand? How did YOU feel about teaching this novel—do you enjoy it yourself? What are your feelings about the novel and the ideas you were trying to help them understand? Exploring those expectations even more, in depth, will also be powerful.

Interactions: As you develop your case, you will want to expand the plot and interactions section. In fact, it might work to separate it out into headings for "Day 1, Day 3, Day 5" and so forth. You will want to give more detail about some of these choice days, for example, how exactly did that first day go? Here is where the emotions of a case can also come in—how did you feel about the way students acted, you acted, etc.

Your case will also benefit from adding in quotes from students, if you can recall them, or reconstruct them (feel free to use a bit of "artistic license" here to tell this story vividly). Also, memories of what you did, said, felt, thought, worried about, questioned.

Teacher Interpretation and Reaction: You may want to explain more about your thinking as you adjusted and revised your plans for the various days in this unit…how did this happen? What had you originally planned for the day for the Speeches? What made you choose the No Thanks speech, and why did you feel it was "worthy of spending time on?" What about it is important for students to understand? What about it seemed interesting to you? All this will begin to cull out the complexities of this event…and help the reader appreciate the many facets of this case.

New Interactions: As you continue to develop your case, you will want to think about what sorts of changes you would make were you to do this unit again…

Reflection, analysis and Connection to Theory: As you continue to develop your case, you will also want to think about how this case connects to theories and concepts we've started to discuss in class. I can see some connections to the notion of "understanding" and to your own view of your role as a teacher, constructing understanding performances such as the students' interpretations of Cyrano's speech. I can also see some possible connections to the notion of intellectual honesty and readiness, as well as structure. What were the "big ideas" this work helps them understand? What is it about paraphrasing the speech by Cyrano that might allow students to get at some deeper understanding of the novel? In what ways was this an "intellectually honest" activity for them? As you continue to work on this, I can imagine many other themes may begin to surface. We can continue to talk about this, too! Let me know if you want to meet to discuss your case at any time.