Coras Case Study Report Name: Cora At Site: Aug.27-Nov.21 8 years old/2/25/05 Tenth Street Elementary/8-10 year olds Introduction I completed this case study report at Tenth Street Elementary School. Shortly after arriving to my practicum classroom, I already had an area in the room to work at every week. After introducing myself to the classroom, I returned quietly to my desk. As I was getting my school supplies out to use, a little girl named Cora made her way to my area. This sweet little girl asked me many questions and was very open when I asked her the same questions about herself. After speaking with Cora, I asked my mentor if this child would be a good choice to do a case study report on. My mentor explained to me some of the problems she has been experiencing with Cora, and that she felt as if Cora needed a little more attention in the classroom. Needless to say, my mentor thought it would be a great idea to complete a case study report on this student. Cora is a small and petite little girl. Compared to most students in her class, Cora is very small but very tall. She has long legs and arms, brown hair and eyes, longer hair, lighter complexion, and a cute smile. Cora is very outgoing and loves to hang out with her friends in her classroom. It does not matter if the student is a boy or girl, Cora will become friends with anyone. When the classroom gets into small groups, or the students participates in activities, Cora always wants to be the leader. Needless to say, she loves to be in charge. She is very confident in her abilities and loves to share about things she can do.
Cora expresses herself the best through writing. She always seems to carry around her journal she received from her counselor to document things that happens during her day. Even though Cora is very social, she has been through much more in her short eight years of life than many other eight year olds. She is very faithful to also documenting her personal thoughts that go through her head, due to depression she is experiencing, in her journal. History and Background Cora is Caucasian and lives with her grandmother, uncle, one older brother, one younger brother, and a baby sister. I found little out about her parents, but was informed that they have both been placed in prison within the past couple of years. Cora informed me that she was present in the vehicle with her mother when her mother was taken. With all of that said, she misses and talks about mommy and daddy very often. After contacting Coras grandmother, I found and understood much more about Coras history. Coras mother had her naturally during birth. There were no complications with mom or baby. Who accompanied Coras mom during birth was Coras father. About twelve months passed before Cora started walking. Little after the walking started, the talking had begun. Cora learned how to talk during the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth month of her life. Cora was a very smart child, so her mother did not believe that preschool was necessary. She enjoys attending girl scouts and Parkview Wesleyan Church after school hours (Kathy Blevins, 2013). Not only is Cora very active at school, but she is also very active at home. A few short years ago, Coras teachers, mom, and grandmother started to notice that she was too hyper most of every day. Because of this, Cora went to the doctor to be tested for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); she tested positive. Cora has been given many different 3 CASE STUDY medicines during my time in the practicum course. Each medicine does not seem to work judging by her everyday actions in the classroom. My mentor, Mrs. Barnett, has tried many times to talk to Coras counselors, Mrs. Nikki and Tom, about how Coras focus seems to become worse and worse. To this day, the doctors and her grandmother are still testing out her current medicine she is prescribed. Cora talks very highly of her counselors. I was told by Cora that Mrs. Nikki works with Cora on her behavior and Tom focuses on helping Cora learn how to focus better (Kathy Blevins, 2013). Along with her parents being away in prison, her grandfather passed away in September. Cora shows sadness quite often because she claims that everything in her life is going bad. I was informed that the biggest challenge Coras grandmother has at home is getting her to focus and calm down (Kathy Blevins, 2013). These actions match Coras teachers, Mrs. Barnett, biggest challenge in the classroom. Physical and Motor Growth and Development Cora is very active each day and has the ability to withstand physical activity. In Physical Education, PE, class, Cora enjoys doing obstacle courses while dribbling a basketball. Speaking of basketball, Cora is a part of Tenth Streets basketball team. Each time her gym teacher allowed the students to complete different activities, the basketball area was always Coras first choice. The first month I was there, it was hard for Cora to dribble a basketball without looking down; now she can run while dribbling without looking down once. Along with gym class, Cora enjoys to play outside. Each day at recess, Cora spends some of her time playing basketball and the remainder of her time playing on the playground equipment with all of her friends. Her favorite thing to do on the playground is going down the
slide. Going across the monkey bars is Coras biggest challenge during recess. Even though she is getting much better, she still has difficulties getting all the way to the other side. Cora has great fine motor skills and is interested in activities that involve social interaction and coordination. In the classroom, she enjoys drawing, coloring, and cutting with scissors. Cognitive Growth and Development Coras cognitive growth is typical for her age. She is interested in exploring new materials and real life situations. She struggles with problem solving, but is very good with comparing and contrasting. She is very fond of problem solving, asking many questions, and forming hypotheses. When I began studying at my practicum site, Cora was struggling with her math skills. Some of her weaknesses was counting coins, greater than and less than, and missing numbers. After working with Cora, she understands more and more. She is now one out of the many students in the class that does understand greater than and less than so well. Throughout the semester, I focused my attention to Coras cognitive weaknesses and tried to improve her skills. I came up with many activities and examples for her to work on to help her understand these specific areas of math. Creative Growth and Development Cora is a very creative student and expresses her love for creativity daily. Throughout almost all of her work, Cora incorporates art into it. Along with being very creative with art, Cora shows her creativeness in music as well. She is always being told to stop humming or singing throughout class. Every Thursday, Coras class attends music class as their special. Cora is always dancing and singing throughout this special. During each class session, the music 5 CASE STUDY teacher turns on a warm up song for the class to let out some energy. Cora loves when Mrs. Kimmer, the music teacher, does the warm up song because Cora is able to get up and move all around. This action is demonstrated on slide 25 of my Case Study PowerPoint. During the first month I was at my practicum site, it seemed that Cora had a very hard time sitting still throughout the whole special. Because of this, the music teacher would often move Cora to the back of the room to sit by herself. The last few times I attended the music special, Cora had more self-control and could sit still throughout the whole class without getting in trouble. Social/Emotional Growth and Development Cora defines self in comparison with others. She believes that she is better at mostly everything that the rest of the children. Cora recognizes and adjusts to personal space and personal space of others very well. It does not matter if the student she is playing with is a boy or girl, she will treat them both the same and be friendly. She definitely has more knowledge of and flexibility in gender-role stereotypes. When Cora is in a group with her friends, she enjoys telling secrets. She cuffs her little hands around her friends ears and whispers, and then giggles. At the beginning of my time at Tenth Street, Cora did not seem to be very open and ready for conversations with her peers. Now, she makes it known that her peers have become increasingly important to Cora and her life. Cora also has more complex self-concept and is more focused on feelings and ideas more now than at the beginning of August. Cora is working hard on how to express her emotions appropriately in the classroom. She claims that she still is not able to focus very long in the classroom because her medicine has not kicked in yet even though it has been a month since she has been prescribed this particular
kind. If Cora intakes medicine that actually triggers her ADHD, it would definitely solve many problems that the teacher has with her at school and her grandmother at home as well. Language/Literacy Growth and Development During the past couple of months, I have worked very hard with Cora on her literacy development. In August, Coras handwriting was difficult to read at times. Throughout the last couple of months, her handwriting has become more efficient and is easier for myself and Mrs. Barnett to read. Cora enjoys writing very much so. She creates books and handmade journals to write in often. When I first arrived at Tenth Street, I assessed Cora on her reading. The first time I assessed her, she was having trouble stopping when there was a punctuation point and also had trouble reading some of the shorter words. Here recently I assessed Cora on the same book; she did much better stopping where punctuation points were. Not only did she understand punctuation much more, she also learned how to correct most of her mistakes on her own. When she would read a sentence or word wrong, she would start the sentence over again and fix what she messed up on. The evidence of her improvement is located on slide 29 in my Power Point. Summary and Interpretation I have observed changes in all areas of development over the semester. Throughout this case study, I have given specifics in each domain that tells what she was weak at in August which she is now stronger in. I believe that Cora has grown the most in reading and writing. Cora has a passion for writing that most children in her classroom does not have. The area I would focus the most on is her social and emotional growth and development. She is confident and outgoing, but it is difficult at times for her to calm down and realize when it is appropriate to 7 CASE STUDY be outgoing. If I were to continue assessing Cora, I would pair her up with a child that is excessively obedient and knows when talking is and is not necessary. I would hope that this child would stay on task and be an example for Cora to follow after. I believe the counselors Cora goes to are positively affecting Coras behavior in the classroom. Based on observations, I believe that Coras focus will continue to become stronger the more she talks and spends time with her counselors. Cora shared with me that her parents will be coming home soon as well, so I believe this will positively affect Coras focus and behaviors alone.