Case Book Four

Mr. Quiock is in a rare meeting with his team members, Terri Donaghue, Maria Cortez, and S'Ann Taylor. His team has been discussing the continued low achievement of a number of the students and how they are going to try to build achievement. We pick up on the conversation about ten minutes into the meeting.

MS. DONAGHUE: Look at the records of any one of these students. They are all the same. They get by on Ds, and Fs. They don't care. They have no record of trying harder. They just don't get it. They are not the brightest bulbs in the student chandelier!

MS. CORTEZ: These kids are good at getting by. I think that takes a certain kind of intelligence. They all cover for each other. They're so bonded. I find that they spend all of their time thinking about other things. It isn't discipline in a traditional sense, in terms of getting them on track. It's really about finding the ways that they are intelligent and using that. I mean, seriously, if all the energy they spent thinking about other things was instead put into their work, they would be straight "A" students.

MS. TAYLOR: I agree. I think that at least 75% of these students are really very bright, they just have lost interest and are waiting until they are old enough to drop out. We have already seen that with four students this year. They are here one day and dropped out the next. I really worry about them!

MR. QUIOCK: In my education training I learned about some studies where if they told kids they were smart, the kids achieved more. Maybe we could look at the assessments we are using, and find some alternatives that they can really achieve with.

MS. TAYLOR: Nelson, those are studies with younger kids, these kids have heard "dummy" so many times that they wouldn't believe us or trust us at all if we started to tell them that they were smart. Do you really think they would try to achieve if they had alternative assessments?

MR. QUIOCK: I think it is worth a try. Why not try to find some ways that they can really achieve, and we can tell them how smart they are, and encourage them? We make connections to them doing well, and maybe they will really shine!

MS. DONAGHUE: You are welcome to try it if you want. If it works for you, you can let us know, and we can then try it.

MR. QUIOCK: Well, okay. Although I think it might be better if all of us do it. I am sure I can come up with some alternative assessments for the things we are working on learning.

Teacher Notes:

• When you teach, you will face ethical issues all the time. If you tell students they are more capable than what they are, you may be motivating them, but you may also be violating ethical principles. You need to decide the way, and the extent to which you are comfortable doing things out of the ordinary. That should then help you in determining how far you go to encourage your students.