Case Book Five

Babalee Jenkins is teaching her health and wellness class. It is the start of the last quarter, and her seniors are more than a little distracted with graduation and life plans. So far, they have not embraced the idea that they have work to do to pass this unit and actually graduate.

MS. JENKINS: Okay, I know that most of you are busy thinking about your futures, the summer, your moves to schools or jobs. You have to pass this unit so that you can graduate. Trust me, not one of the teachers, me included, wants you here this summer redoing this unit. So, let's look carefully at this. You all have established a health plan for yourselves and worked over the entire year to track your own data as to how well you are doing on meeting your plan. Some of you are meeting the plan; others of you are not. A few of you have surpassed your plan, having met all of your goals and then some. Now, we're going to compile this information and build a health plan for someone else. Each of your groups will take a complex case, and work with it. You have to develop a reasonable health plan for this person. I have to tell you these are real people, people you know, drawn from the data sets we collected at the beginning of the year. None of you will know the person for whom you are planning until you have developed a reasonable plan. The last step in this process is going to be for you to figure out the best way to present the plan to the person!

S1: You mean that even though I have met my health plan, I have to develop another one?

MS. JENKINS: Yes. The best part is that you will get to work with your team and really consider the case you are given. It will be complex and require you to use all of your problem solving skills. You may have to work forward, or backward. You may have to break the problem down into parts. You are going to have to decide how to approach it. You can take as long as you want, but you won't graduate from this class until you have a workable plan that is presented to the person.

S2: Do we have to really have the person meet with us and approve the plan?

MS. JENKINS; Yes, that is the ultimate test as to if it is reasonable or not. After all, you can't have a plan that is not something the person is willing to do.

S3: Wouldn't it make more sense if we know who we are working with up front, so we know if the person will accept the plan?

MS. JENKINS: Good try! No way. You have to develop a workable plan based on all the information you are given. I have checked with the people, and they await the plans!

S1: So you are saying that these are people right here in the school, like other teachers?

MS. JENKINS: When the time comes that you have a workable plan to show me, I will connect you with your person. Are you ready for this task? Can you do this so you meet the graduation deadline?

Ss: Yes!

Teacher Notes:

• Up until the last step in this project, most teachers could easily use this. The last step, where students actually present the real person with the plan could be problematic if you have not previously received permission from the person to share the information and to put the student in contact, to develop the plan.
• If you were using this example, you would also need to be sure that the students understand that the person they plan for has no obligation to accept the plan or use it. You also have the obligation to make sure that the person who gets the plan does not feel obligated to the plan or to the student. In some states you may actually have to have a waiver of liability go with the plan.