Speaking Frankly in the Classroom
Discussion Cases
If you find that key issues you need to discuss are not raised by the cases provided, please consider writing additional cases and submitting them to us at site@psu.edu for addition to our case bank.
Ethnic Issues:
Land Case - Teaching Salman Rushdie in a world literatures course causes big problems for this instructor's Muslim students.
Gender Issues:
Farmer Case - Why do Dr. Farmer's students all call her Beth? Can it have something to do with her age and gender?
Quark Case - An ambitious science student cannot understand why her male physics instructor doesn't seem interested in answering her questions.
Moon Case - What would you do if a student who was one sex on your class roster wanted to be addressed and treated in class as a member of the opposite sex?
Race Issues:
Close Case - An instructor naively assigns the only African-Americans in his class to a small, mixed-race group investigating the urban underclass.
Willis Case - An African-American professor experiences culture shock when he moves from a historically black college to a large, research one institution.
Smith Case - How do you manage the student who boastfully exercises his white privilege in your classroom?
Religious Issues:
Land Case - Teaching Salman Rushdie in a world literatures course causes big problems for this instructor's Muslim students.
Sexual Orientation Issues:
Jung Case - A small group almost deconstructs over the clash between a member who is openly gay and one who is straight, conservative, and Christian.
Adult Learner Issues:
Queue Case - Significant restructuring of a class to emphasize collaborative learning pleases everyone but a married-with-child student who has returned to college part time while holding down a full-time job.
Gaetz Case - How can an elderly student with lots of time on his hands threaten a new instructor in a class of mostly traditional age college students?
Disability Issues:
James Case - What can go wrong when you combine a physical geography course with a series of interesting field trips?
Patton Case - How do you balance a student's need to make an audio recording of lectures with an instructor's need to safeguard his intellectual property?
Socio-economic Class Issues:
Leone case - A student performs poorly on Dr. Leone’s exams because she does not have to money to pay for the required textbook.
Tomlinson case - The reading load for a 19th-century literature course is challenging enough, but Cheryl finds it even more challenging to read novel after novel depicting nothing but the lives privileged families.