Mrs. Pal has her 7th graders involved in a lesson on converting fractions to decimals and percents. She has explained and illustrated the procedure and now wants to reinforce the ideas with her students. She displays the fraction 7/12 on the board and as she asks, “what is our first step in converting this fraction to a decimal? Dinesh?” she sees Sunil, who sits behind Veena, stick his foot forward and tap Veena’s leg with it. She also notices that Alina is whispering something to Krish at the back of the room.
In response to the tap, Veena whispers loudly, “Stop it Sunil.
Mrs. Pal moves down the aisle as Dinesh responds, “Twelve into seven.” Mrs. Pal stops at Sunil’s desk leans over and whispers softly but firmly, “we keep our hands and feet to ourselves in here”, and says. “OK, good Dinesh. Go ahead and do that, everyone, and see what you get.” As the students begin Mrs. Pal moves to the back of the room and stands by Alina and Krish.
- She intervened immediately and caught Sunil in the act
- She caught the right one and ignored Veena’s comment
- She dealt with potentially worst problem first and then moved to Alina and Krish.
Based on the case study, answer the following question-
What skills and qualities is Mrs. Pal demonstrating? This is an example of With-it-ness. How did the teachers orchestrate an environment suitable for learning with widely diverse students?
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