Jessie Record Case Study

Summary:

Case study nineteen deals with a situation in which Mr. Hamilton (a teacher) is contemplating between keeping the trust of one student versus keeping the safety of an entire school. This case describes Mr. Hamilton as the teacher students can depend and trust with any issues they may have. Mr. Hamilton worked in an inner-city school in which a good number of students were somewhat involved with gangs and gang violence. The students that the case focuses on is Jessie Brown, a fifteen-year-old student who is timid, isolated, and weird. In Jessie record, it showed that he had trouble with forming relationships which play a role in his isolation. Jessie was not only isolated in school but also at home with his father, the only quality

time they had together was in the gun range. Jessie started getting bullied by a club called the Precinct Breakers. Jessie confined this information to Mr. Hamilton believing that Mr. Hamilton will not tell anybody. After the bullying continues Jessie once again trustingly tells Mr. Hamilton that he would take care of the bullying himself. A few days later the school is having continuous bomb threats and false fire alarms. Mr. Hamilton asks Jessie if he has anything to do with the recent alarms and he responded, ‘What do you think?’ At this point, Mr. Hamilton is contemplating if he should say something to the administration of Jessie’s plans.

Discussion Topics and Questions to Ponder:

1. The immediate problems described in this case is Jessie stating he is planning to harm the students who are bullying him by “blowing them away.” After commenting this with Mr. Hamilton there are several bomb threats and false fire alarms. Mr. Hamilton does not take action in telling the administration because he promised Jessie that he would never tell anyone.

2. Mr. Hamilton’s problems compared to Jessie’s can be very different but at the same time similar in some ways. Mr. Hamilton is facing a problem of giving up that trust of a student in order to keep in the procedure of school policies of reporting any school violence. Mr. Hamilton wants to be the most liked teacher that he is willing to go against school policies. He did not let the administration know that there are bullies in the school causing a student to want to blow them up. Jessie’s problem is that he is being bullied because he is the weird kid of the school. Jessie has a hard time to make relationship which causes him to be isolated and timid. Jessie and Mr. Hamilton problems are similar by they both may feel isolated. Mr. Hamilton does not have the support and trust of his administration while Jessie’s feels isolated because of his lack of relationship with other students.

3. The personality problems that both Mr. Hamilton and Jessie have is the ability to make a healthy relationship with others. While Mr. Hamilton does have somewhat a good relationship with his students, he seems to have a pushover kind of personality. He lets the students do what they want and won't confront hem or report them to administration. When he saw, the students writing graffiti on the administration door he should have stopped the students and taught them that what they were doing was illegal and wrong. Jessie, on the other hand, does not know how to make any type of relationship. His core relationship that should be his family is not the best. His father does not care much for him and only interacts with his father in the gun range. Being timid and isolated does not help Jessie case in building relationships.

4. I do not believe assertive discipline could have been used by Mr. Hamilton to resolve the problems he faces. Assertive discipline is when a teacher insist on proper behavior from students, recognizing and supporting them when they practice such behavior and utilizing well-organized procedures for when they do not behave (Scarpaci, 2007, p. 69). I believe assertive discipline would be best used in the classroom while Mr. Hamilton is teaching rather than a one on one with students. Since this model demonstrates power inequity, Jessie or other students might not want to disclose their problems to Mr. Hamilton.

5. I do think the logical consequences model could have been employed by Mr. Hamilton to aid him in making decisions. The logical consequences focus used on the idea that children should be given a choice of consequences when they don’t behave rather than being forced to behave as directed (Scarpaci, 2007, p.77). Mr. Hamilton could have used this model to find out what was the wrongdoing in each situation and then choose the most logical consequence. This model would have helped Mr. Hamilton to focus more on the cause before acting.

6. I believe that Mr. Hamilton’s desire to be well-liked is inappropriate because a teacher’s main goal should not be to be the most liked teacher but to educate the students. If a teacher is working hard to be the most liked teacher, then they will most lily do things that are good in the eyes of the students but inappropriate for an educator. For example, when he noticed the student writing graffiti on the door, Mr. Hamilton should have acted by telling the administration. Those students might have taught Mr. Hamilton was the best teacher because he did not snitch on them. Mr. Hamilton should focus more on teaching and discipline students to learn what’s right and wrong.

7. I think Mr. Hamilton should have told Jessie, “I understand that you might be scared and not want to tell anyone else, but it is important to tell at least administration so that we can take the appropriate actions put a stop to this situation” when Jessie asked him to promise not to say anything.

8.

The steps that Mr. Hamilton should have taken was to first break down the situation into sections. One section is the Precinct Breakers and the second section being Jessie’s comment on wanting to blow up the Precinct Breakers. Once he breaks down the sections he must find the problem and their causes. To resolve the problems, he should look for the support of his administration, counselors, and coworkers to build a plan to solve the issues they are facing in school. The first issue to be resolved is the bullying and the second is the comments and threats of Jessie. Once they create a plan they must follow through and keep track of everything.

9. I think it would have been wise to deal with the Precinct Breakers separately from Jessie because they might be causing the same harm to another student. There might be another student thinking the same way as Jessie but has not told anyone. By stopping the bad behaviors of the Precinct Breakers, the threats might diminish.

10. Mr. Hamilton should take immediate action so that problems such as those described in the study do not occur again. The action can vary from making a call home to speaking to the administration. The immediate action can be different for each scenario, but an action must be taken

immediately.

What Would you Do If…?

1. If the principal found out about the threats from another source and suspended Jessie, then I would meet with the principal and inform them about the causes of the threats. I would tell the principal about the Precinct Breakers and how they would always pick and take away Jessie’s lunch.

2.

If I reported my suspicious only to discover later that Jessie was only an innocent victim, then I would apologize to Jessie for causing him any embarrassment or harm. I would also tell Jessie that this misunderstanding should not stop him from trusting in me with any problems he may be facing. I would also tell him that the vocabulary he was using to describe what he wanted to do to the Prescient Breakers was the cause for the report.

3. If the Precinct Breakers beat up Jessie then I would first make sure Jessie is alright. Then I would assure him that the school and I will make sure the Precinct Breakers receive the appropriate consequence for their actions. Later I would meet with my coworkers and administration to come up with a violence protection program. Violence protection programs aim to teach students how to handle conflict in nonviolent ways and establish school environments that encourage peaceful behavior (Scarpaci, 2007, p.198).

4. If the guidance counselor said to me that I was derelict in my duties in not reporting what I knew, then I would accept their opinion of my action. I would also ask them to give me more information and advice on how I should handle the situation in the

future.

5. If a bomb was actually found in the school then I will first remain calm. would not try to figure out if the bomb is fake or real. The United States Department of Homeland Security (2018) states to never touch or tamper with, or move the package, bag or, item. Then I would notify my administration and based on their response I would call the police. I would then follow any other procedures that I may be given, rather it is to evacuate or stay in the school. If we were to evacuate I would make take my class out in a calm and orderly fashion and take a count of all my students.