Erin Worrell

Dr. Poetter
EDL 318
Case Inquiry Report
March 30, 2015
Last semester I was student teaching at Puerto Plata High School (this is not the real
name of the school). My cooperating teacher had just given birth before my internship was over
and before winter break began for the students. All of the teacher duties and responsibilities were
resting on my shoulders. For example, I had to respond to emails for my cooperating teacher,
retrieve mail, and seriously discipline the students while trying to maintain a part-time job and
my responsibilities as a student at Miami University. I must say it was extremely difficult but it
allowed me to get a glimpse into what I will be doing in the near future to come. I have made a
lot of memories during this internship but there is one memory that I will never forget. A student
in my class named Rafael (this is not his real name) became frustrated with me and called me a
bitch under his breath. This incident occurred in my level one Spanish classroom during the time
when classes were shortened.
Every day the class takes a short daily quiz and I grade them to see if there is anything
that the students did not understand from the previous lesson. The quiz normally lasts for five
minutes and then the students grade one anothers quizzes. While the students were finishing up
the quiz I observed that Rafael was cheating. This was not the first time that I had caught him
and I was not going to give him anymore warnings. Thus, I informed him that he would be
getting a zero. He asked me why and I told him that I caught him cheating. Of course, he tried to
finagle his way out of the situation but it did not work. He sat silent in his seat while the
remaining students finished up their quizzes and graded each others. After the quiz, an
announcement was made to dismiss all of the freshman to an assembly. Therefore, my class size
number diminished because it was mainly composed of freshman students. I had anticipated and
planned for this, thus the remaining students in the class were going to play an interactive game.
The class and I were playing a game on the smart board in order to help them to retain the
new vocabulary words. The students were divided into two teams and each member of their team
had to go to the front of the class and guess the Spanish vocabulary word on the board; with the
help of their teammates. When it was Rafaels turn he purposely made his team lose by looking
at the answer on the board. Obviously, his teammates were upset with him but they tried to cheer
him up and continue with the game. The announcement had been made to dismiss all of the
freshman, but the remaining students wanted to continue playing so we did. Rafael had become
happier and was actively participating. It was getting close to the end of the bell so I made the
decision to allow the students to relax before their next class. I had made the comment to Rafael
that I noticed that he was no longer upset and that he had become happier. Instead of agreeing
with me he said that he was mad because I had given him a zero on his quiz. I briefly explained
to him that I caught him cheating and that I would no longer explain myself to him. Then Rafael
was murmuring something under his breath and that is when I heard him call me a bitch. The bell
had rung and I told Rafael to see me after class. I firmly explained to him that I will not tolerate
disrespect and he had no right to call me a bitch, especially when I caught him cheating. He
informed me that he understood and he went to his next class.
One practical theory that came into play was self-control. My immediate reaction was to
yell at Rafael in front of the entire class and embarrass him. But I knew that would make the

situation worse and I was the adult that had to make a professional decision. I handled myself
quite well even though Rafael had upset me. I did not want to bring that negative energy into my
other classes because it would not be fair to my other students. In that moment I had to learn to
truly forgive someone in such a short amount of time, especially if I wanted to maintain my
sanity. The next day that Rafael returned to my class I greeted him with a warm smile. Every
day is a new day. This was said by my cooperating teacher and I lived by this quote while
student teaching. If I hadnt, I would not have forgave Rafael and there still would be tension
between him and me.