Educational Psychology:
Effective Teaching,
Effective Learning
3^rd Edition
Elliott, et. al.

Chapter One Outline

Case Studies of Teachers in Action

To further advance your application of the content of this book, we have designed three case studies featuring teachers and students. Each case study is comprised of five components: a case description located in the opening pages of a section, a case-opening box at the start of each chapter, case notes embedded throughout each chapter, a case reflections section at the end of each chapter, and a teachers case conference located on the closing pages of each section. Specifically, in the opening of Section 1 you will be presented with the case of Marsha Warren, an experienced third-grade teacher who is nearly overwhelmed by her heterogeneous class of students. Then throughout each of the four chapters in this section on the Development of Students, readers will find chapter-opening boxes to focus the general case on the specific chapter and case notes where we offer observations, hypotheses, and possible actions designed to illustrate how the content of each chapter applies to the case of Marsha Warren and her class. In the opening pages of Section 2, you will be invited to work on the case of Mark Siegel, a fourth-grade teacher who is puzzled by the learning problems of one of his students and also challenged by the student's parent to do more to help her child. The four chapters in this section on Learning Theories and Implications for Practice afford many perspectives on learning; consequently, the case notes on Mark Siegel illustrate the old adage "that there is nothing more practical than a good theory." Finally in the Section 3 opener, you will meet Melissa Williams, a novice seventh-grade teacher who finds herself in a high-achieving school and feeling pressure from her teaching team members to maintain the superior end-of-year test scores that the previous teacher had accomplished with similar students. The four chapters in this section on Effective Teaching and the Evaluation of Learning result in numerous case notes that document ideas for successfully solving the problems confronting Melissa.

We believe you will find these cases to facilitate connections between educational psychology and teaching, and they may even help you develop a passion for teaching and learning. In the words of Fried (1995):

Passionate teachers convey their passion to novice learners-their students-by acting as partners in learning, rather than as "experts in the field." As partners, they invite less experienced learners to search for knowledge and insightful experiences, and they build confidence and competence among students who might otherwise choose to sit back and watch their teacher do and say interesting things. (p. 23)