Elementary – You are the Principal of a large elementary school of 900 students. You are working in your office following school dismissal when you receive a call from the father of Olivia, a 3^rd grade student in your school.  He informs you that his daughter was “physically abused by her teacher, Mr. Jones.”   He says that , according to this daughter, “the teacher forcibly grabbed her by the arm during today’s fire drill, leaving it red, scratched, and sore.”  You ask if Olivia had reported the incident to the nurse or any other staff member, the father indicated that she had not.  “She was upset, crying, and her arm hurt. The fire drill was held near the end of the day, and she just wanted to get on the bus and come home.  She knew Mr. Jones wouldn’t listen.  Her mother and I are coming up there.  Nobody harms our kids!”

You thank the parent for bringing this to your attention, as it is the first you have heard of it.  You ask him to give you some time to investigate to get the teacher’s side of the incident and tell him that you would get back to him after speaking with the teacher.  He reluctantly agrees to give you some time to speak with Mr. Jones, but he indicates he is “going to the newspaper if that teacher isn’t fired.”

Luckily, you find Mr. Jones working in his classroom.  You inform him of the conversation with the father and what he indicated had occurred.   You ask, “is that what happened?”  

Mr. Jones says, “during the fire drill, as we were supposed to be moving quickly and quietly out of the building, I noticed that Olivia was lagging behind, giggling with some of her friends.  I called to her to stop it and to keep up with her class.  When she didn’t do as I told her, I went to her, took her by the arm, and gently moved her to her class.  I didn’t hurt her.  I barely touched her.  She just wasn’t listening.”  When you ask why he didn’t report it to the office, he says, “because there was nothing to it.  It was just a student talking and fooling when she should have been listening and doing the drill properly.”

 

You return to your office and call Social Services.  You explain the situation with the person who answers the phone.  You are told, “that case does not rise to the level of abuse.  It would not be a case we would accept to investigate.”

 Shortly thereafter, you receive a call from the Assistant Superintendent.  She has also heard from Olivia’s father and wants to know what you are doing with the matter.  You explain what you have heard from Mr. Jones and the call you made to Social Services. She indicates that if what the parent says is true, that disciplinary action may need to be taken with the teacher and that you need to deal with the parents.

 

What do you do?  List the steps you would take to address these issues.  Include a DRAFT of the memo you would send to the teacher. You have 10 minutes to work on this individually.  When the 10 minutes are up, you will share your steps with your group and determine a plan of action to share. 

 

[ The Pursuit of Power Unit: Introduction to Macbeth ] 

2.   Indicate the instructional goals for the unit. 

[ Students will analyze complex characters’ defining traits, their motivations, conflicts, and development throughout the text and their impact on plot.  Students will initiate and participate effectively in a Socratic seminar focused on an essential question.] 

3.   Indicate the goals for the lesson featured in the video. 

[Students will analyze the short story “The Monkey’s Paw” in order to identify the main theme. Students will use textual support, questions, and original assertions in a Socratic Seminar.] 

Link:

You ask the counselor to hold the student for a few minutes, you’ll be right down to talk to him.  She replies, “I already sent him back to class.” 

She gives you the name of the 6^th grade student.  As you are in the process of going to his classroom, you get a call on your radio from the front office secretary.  When you respond, she asks you to call her on a private line. “It’s important.”  You call her on a pre-designated private line.  The secretary tells you that she just received a call from a parent who says that her son just called her from school.  Her son said that “there was a bomb in the school, and nobody was doing anything about it.  He wanted her to come for him.”

 

What do you do?  List the steps you would take to address these issues.  You have 10 minutes to work on this individually.  When the 10 minutes are up, you will share your steps with your group and determine a plan of action to share. 

            You become aware of the situation when you receive a call from the mother of the student who posted the picture.  She is outraged.  She wants to know why the administration is allowing this kind of behavior to occur.  She indicates that she has already called the Superintendent’s Office to report this “blatant racism that continues to go on in your school.”  She demands that something be done immediately.

            You assure the parent that this is not something that would ever be allowed to occur in the school.  You indicate that you will be looking into this “as soon as you hang up” and thank her for bringing it to your attention.

            What do you do?  List the steps you would take to address these issues.  You have 10 minutes to work on this individually.  When the 10 minutes are up, you will share your steps with your group and determine a plan of action to share.