Adult Case Stories - History

A group of Fairfax County Adult Education and GED teachers in Virginia met on a regular basis for over a year to share case stories of individual students from whom they learned a great deal about teaching and learning. They wrote and shared their stories with each other, discussed the insights that occurred, and then edited their stories for this online manual. 

The stories are listed by a pseudonym; the title of the story gives some clue about the presenting challenge. A brief description of the learner is followed by the challenges encountered and the strategies used to overcome them. A group discussion of the story provides a more detailed analysis. A summary is provided with a notation of the learning systems employed. These systems are based on those articulated in Teaching to the Brain’s Natural Learning Systems (Given, 2002). They are: emotional, social, cognitive, physical and reflective. In her book, Given states that when various learning systems are engaged, learning is enhanced. The Director’s comments at the end of each case story offer suggestions for further strategies that may be appropriate for that case.

Team Leader: 
          Jean Lowe

Senior Advisor: 
          Bonita M. Moore, Ph.D.

Story Authors: 
          Lori Baker
          Mary Elizabeth Brookshire
          Penny Beuch
          Dixiane Hallaj
          Geri Cantwell

Project Director: 
          Barbara K. Given, Ph.D.

References:

          Given, B. K. (2002) The brain’s natural learning systems. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.


Funding for this project was received from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Rehabilitative Services (Grant # H133G000142-02): and a Congressional Earmark (Grants #H235L01003 and #H235J02007).