In this task, you will choose one of the two provided scenarios and discuss how you as a teacher would respond to the student and the issues being encountered by the student in that scenario.
As a reminder, for the tasks in this course, the overarching term caregiver refers to anyone who has responsibility for the care of a child, whether that is a parent, family, foster parent, or other individual.
As a reminder, the overarching term stakeholder refers to a trained professional that is invested in the welfare and success of a school and its students including administrators, specific teachers, particular staff members, and identified community members.
Scenario 1:Anthony
Six-year-old Anthony is the youngest of six children all living in a one-bedroom apartment. His mother works two full-time jobs and is often gone 13 or more hours a day. His father left when he was one. On the few occasions he gets to see his mother, she is either drunk or high on whatever drugs she can purchase on the streets. Anthony is often left on his own and rarely has any type of meal in the evenings.
He has been caught on several occasions taking food from his classmates’ lunches in the coatroom, running into the restroom, and eating the food so quickly and violently that he often chokes himself. He also has taken food off other students’ plates in the lunchroom. His clothes are usually filthy, and he has an overpowering odor that prevents his classmates from wanting to sit near him.
In the classroom, Anthony often sits in a circle with the other children around his first-grade teacher, trying to read a page from a children’s book. Within seconds, he has lost interest and begins bothering other students by stretching out and hitting and kicking them.
Scenario 2: Denise
Denise, an eighth-grade student aged 14, was diagnosed with a learning disability in the area of reading when she was in the second grade. She has struggled in school academically and socially. As a young child, she was molested by a friend of her father over the course of two years. Her parents divorced after she told them about this. Denise has been having romantic thoughts about other girls and recently told her parents that she is a lesbian. Her father was accepting of the news, but her mother has rejected Denise based on her religious faith. Denise’s mother is pushing Denise to attend church to “fix” her thoughts and feelings. Denise has begun to do self-harm through cutting. She has attempted suicide twice.
While at school, Denise tends to withdraw and refuses to participate in class. She currently is not passing any of her classes and is in danger of retention. Denise struggles with relationships with other students and staff at school. She has tried to seek out relationships with other female students only to be rejected. She misinterprets any compassion or concern from female adults, leading Denise to believe she has romantic feelings for the adult.
A. Identify your chosen scenario, and describe two issues the student in that scenario is encountering.
B. Discuss how you would appropriately respond to the issues identified in part A by doing the following:
1. Describe how, as a teacher, you could respond to and address the issues in a sensitive, culturally responsive way.
2. Explain one relevant legal obligation and one relevant privacy concern that must be considered as you respond to the identified issues.
3. Describe relevant strategies for collaborating with the student’s caregivers to address the identified issues.
a. Justify your chosen strategies and why they would be effective.
4. Identify additional stakeholders, and explain why they should be involved in addressing the identified issues.
