Teaching Challenges in Secondary Schools

This case study book serves as a valuable tool for professors and instructors of educational psychology. It contains 17 cases that represent current areas of interest in Educational Psychology embedded within current challenges that teachers face in today's middle and high school classrooms. The cases are organized into six major parts: Human Development, Individual Differences and Diversity, Learning Theories, Motivation, Classroom Management, Instructional Approaches, and Assessment and Evaluation.Each case describes a detailed teaching scenario written from either the student or the teachers' perspective. To engage students in critical thinking, perspective-taking, analysis, problem solving and decision-making, the cases have been intentionally written without a conclusion. Because the cases are open-ended, it allows the professor or instructor more flexibility and autonomy in how they use the cases. Each case is followed by thought-provoking questions, highlighting the significant issues in the case, from which to analyze the case and apply various theoretical viewpoints. While the cases do not replace actual classroom experience, they present a way to immerse students in the classroom's culture by providing them with real-life teaching examples.

Alyssa Gonzalez-DeHass received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Florida in 1998, she has been publishing in the area of student motivation since receiving her doctorate. Her research interests lie in the areas of students' achievement goals, parent involvement, school-community partnerships, and the case study method to teaching educational psychology.
Patricia P. Willems is an associate professor of educational psychology at Florida Atlantic University, where she currently teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in educational psychology. She earned her PhD in educational psychology from the University of Florida and her publications are in the areas of case study instruction, learning environments, motivation, school-community partnerships, and parent involvement.

Part I: Human Development
Case 1: Adolescent Cliques: To Belong or Not to Belong?
Case 2:Internet Plagiarism
Case 3: Academic Honesty
Case 4: Cyberbullying and Adolescent Identity
Part II: Individual Differences and Diversity
Case 5: Gender Equity: Encouraging Female Students in Science
Case 6:Teaching Students with Special Learning Challenges
Part III: Learning Theories
Case 7: Cell Phones in Class: Problems with Texting
Case 8: Adolescent Relationships and the Power of Social Media
Case 9: Grade Grubbing: Complaining and Arguing About Grades
Part IV: Motivation
Case 10: Encouraging Girls Confidence in Math
Case 11: Stressed Out: Dealing with Academic Pressure in High School
Part V: Classroom Management
Case 12: The Role of the Teacher: Can Students and Teachers Be Friends?
Case 13: Responding to Students' Backtalk and Disrespect
Case 14: Encounters with Difficult Parents
Part VI: Instructional Approaches
Case 15: Making the Most of Academic Learning Time
Case 16: Meaningful Authentic Learning: Finding the Funding
Part VII: Assessment and Evaluation
Case 17: Meaningful and Fair: Grading Subjective Assessments