IES N 4 Profesorado de Ingls

Didactics

The Ron Clark Story

Study Questions
1. What is the teachers attitude when he sees the kid inside the trash bin?
The teachers attitude when he sees the kid inside the trash bin is taking the strange
situation with tranquility, then he tries to find out why the child is there without worrying
him. Finally, without being obvious the teacher helps kid to feel good and gives him
courage and confidence.
2. Why does he decide to change his work place?
He decides to change his work place because he seeks new challenges. He follows his
ideals about dream big.
3. Why is he convinced that moving is the best idea?
He is convinced that moving is the best idea because he sees (in newspapers) that in
New York public schools are looking for good teachers and he wants to live new
experiences.
4. Where does he plan to get a job?
He plans to find a job in any public school of New York.
5. Does he encounter any difficulties? Is it easy for him to find a new job?
No, it isn't easy for him to find a new job. He encounters many difficulties and at
beginning he works as a waiter. He finally finds a job in a school located in a slum
district of New York.
6. What kind of problems do the students have?
His new students have different problems. They cannot have a good performance at
school because they are going through difficulties at home. Some of them, for
example, have to take care of their little brothers, others are involved in juvenile
delinquency or domestic violence. Students have a bad behavior with the teacher
because they feel that nobody cares about them.
7. Why are test scores so important in the USA?
The test scores are so important in the USA because they are an indication of
students levels or performances at a particular school.

Coca, Fernando Mazala, Lorena

IES N 4 Profesorado de Ingls

Didactics

8. Why does he visit the students parents?

Mr. Clark visits parents because he hopes that they could follow the performance of
their children and help them in all they can, especially in their homework. The teacher
looks for the parents support.
9. What can you say about the students background?
The students background is not the best. These children are going through difficulties
such as domestic violence, juvenile delinquency and bullying. This makes children
behave in a violent way towards all the teachers. The social problems they have affect
their learning.
10. What about his colleagues attitude?
The colleagues attitude of Mr. Clark is mistrust and no interest in his work.
11. Is it easy for him to work with that particular group of students? Why or why
not?
It isnt easy for him to work with that particular group of students because they have a
bad behavior and problems that dont let them concentrate and learn.
12. What are the strategies that he tries to implement with the students?
He uses different strategies to catch the students attention such as painting the room,
introducing certain rules to the classroom, looking for striking and interesting resources
like colors papers and songs in order to call the attention and concentration of his
pupils during the class.
What is the students reaction?
At first they just make fun of the teachers efforts to catch their attention. Other
students opt for ignoring him.
13. What are some of those rules?
Some of those rules are:
We are a family
To respect each other
We will form a queue before enter and after leaving the classroom
14. After facing so many unpleasant situations, the teacher decides to quit;
however, he takes his time to think things over and gives them another
chance. What does he do to call their attention? Do you agree with his ideas?
He uses games to call the childrens attention. We support the method he uses
because it seems effective for the children as they are attracted by these new
methodology because they find it fun and interesting. These innovative resources that
Coca, Fernando Mazala, Lorena

IES N 4 Profesorado de Ingls

Didactics

let us to change classroom dynamic and to obtain a more attractive learning

environment, but without losing control of the activity and its goals.
15. What can you say about the classroom set- up?
We like the new set-up because it gives the children a more friendly environment to
learn. The bright colors and the different pictures make the classroom warmer for the
students.
16. What can you say about creative adaptation?
When the teacher realizes that the classic method of teaching was not working with his
students because they were not getting a passing mark in their exams, Mr. Clark opts
for a creative adaptation of his methods of teaching and consequently it also has an
effect on the way the students learn. For example, in order to teach the History of USA,
he makes use of music and he composes a rap for the children with the names of the
different presidents. This is a creative adaptation because the teacher can finally get
the childrens attention and make them learn.
17. What do you think about using candies to motivate the students?
We think that using candies is not good strategy to motivate. It is referred to "Do this
and then, I give you that." But what happens if we want to do an activity without
offering any rewards or pupils dont have their candies because they fail doing asked
tasks?
There are better ways to motivate the children like when Mr. Clark drinks boxes of milk
every 15 seconds just to make the students pay attention to the grammar class. The
students in this case dont get any regard but they still do what the teacher say.
18. Are the students engaged with the activities?
Yes, they are very engaged. At the end they are so engaged with the activities that
even when Mr. Clark is sick they still watch his videos paying careful attention to him
even though he is not physically there.
19. How many subjects does he teach?
He teaches three subjects: Maths, History and English.
20. Apparently, he gets too involved with the students realities. What do you
think about the idea of getting involved in particular situations?
We think that all teachers need to have knowledge and understanding of his students
realities. Even though it is difficult we should try to understand the backgrounds of
every child so as to have an idea about what to teach, how to teach and especially
what to expect from the student. Sometimes we believe that bad students just dont
like the class because they are rebellious but there is more than that for sure. Each
Coca, Fernando Mazala, Lorena

IES N 4 Profesorado de Ingls

Didactics

student have different families, different socioeconomic backgrounds or different

capacities.
About the idea of getting involved in particular situations, we think that although we
want to help students as much as possible, we must realize that we should not try to
solve their problems ourselves, it is better to know refer them to professionals or
specialized institutions that can help them properly.
21. Does he trust his students? Why or why not?
Mr. Clark trust his students all the time. He never loses his trust in his students. For
him each of them are special and capable of achieving their dreams. He finds potential
in each child that is why he never gets up and teaches them with all his efforts,
encouraging them to do their best.
22. What happens in the end? Do the students fulfill their objectives?
At the end, many students realize that they can achieve their dreams and goals. Mr.
Clarks class gets the highest scores and that is when the children realize they can be
better in life.
23. Do you think you could use one of his strategies in your future lessons? Why
or why not?
The strategy we might use in class would be the one of making the classroom brighter
with different pictures or colors so that to make children feel comfortable and catch
their attention. Another strategy we would use is the one of applying rules so that to
make the class more organized.
The strategy we would not probably use would be the one of drinking milk because it
might not be appropriate and besides we might not accomplish it.

Coca, Fernando Mazala, Lorena