Lauren+Martin

 //Wikipedia// is the possibly the most frequented internet encyclopedia for children and adults in the US today. Personally I have used wikipedia to answer random question I can conjour regarding the origin or history of common colloquialisms.
 * __LAUREN ASHLEY MARTIN__:**

Looking back we can all remember our high school's star athlete. Every school has one. Everyone knows his name. He is revered and loved by most teachers and students, and this pervasive accolade elevates him above the general student population. Ironically, the question that rarely gets asked is, Who is the person behind the talent?
 * __CASE STUDY DRAFT__**

Sam is the quarterback for the varsity football team at a private boarding school in Chattanooga, TN. Not a native Tennessean, Sam received a scholarship to the school his freshman year. Known for its pristine academic tradition, publicly educated Sam has drudged through three years of academic misery. Despite the fact that his functional capacity is beyond comparison, he has been spotted at faculty member's houses working on cars, fixing HVAC units, or performing general maintenance, but Sam remains unable to complete general language exercises or to translate remedial Algebra equations. Magically, though, Sam has managed to pass and is now practicing for his senior year of football. After practice one day, Sam is walking back to his host's house and runs into the mailman on his regular route. The mailman greets Sam by name and hands him a couple of envelopes. Within the group is an envelope with Sam's name on it. Quizzically, he opens it to find a full scholarship offer to play football for the University of Florida. Shocked and amazed, Sam hops and skips giddily home. The following morning, Sam bounces into the guidance counselor's office holding his letter. She welcomes him and after congratulating him they sit down and begin to talk specifically about what it is going to take for Sam to fulfill the university's requirements for entrance. In short, Sam will need a 2.5 cumulative GPA and an ACT composite score of 21. Sam sits frozen in horror as he thinks back over the perpetual difficulties he has faced throughout his academic lifetime. In spite of his best efforts and multiple tutors, Sam has struggled to achieve a 2.0 GPA, the school's minimum for scholarship attendance. Deep down he knows that the scholarship requires the impossible of him. Suddenly and decisively the guidance counselor shocks him out of his trance. With an empathetic gaze and a big hug, she tells him to go to class and not to worry about it, everything will be fine. Sam ambles back to class and doesn't hear from her again. The school year continues to pass and Sam forgets about their conversation. The football team goes on to win the state championship, Thanksgiving and Christmas come and go, and before Sam knows it, it is March. One day Sam receives a letter from the College Board congratulating him on his composite score of 25. Sam is shocked. He takes the letter to his guidance counselor and she smiles, pats him on the back, and congratulates him on his hard work. Dazed and confused, Sam returns to class. Finally, it is graduation day. Sam graduates with the rest and begins to prepare to make the transition to college. He is not sure how it has happened but he's sure he's accomplished the impossible. The following fall as Sam is sitting on the bench, preparing to start his first season as the starting quarterback for the University of Florida, he says a little prayer, thanking God for his guidance counselor.

Case Study 1 - facilitator notes: This case presents a dilemma for the classroom teacher. Candidates should evaluate the pros and cons of the issue with regards to both the academic and athletic/social dimensions. This case presents a dilemma for the classroom teacher. Candidates should assess possible causes for student's behavior as well as side effects of the classroom situation from both an individual and peer-focused academic perspective. Candidates evaluation should facilitate development of various potential solutions.
 * Facilitator Notes**


 * __WIKI PROJECT REFLECTIONS__

The Wiki Project was an enlightening experience. Until recently, I was only aware of Wiki from the "Wikipedia" perspective. It is fascinating to discover the multitude of fascinating tools Wiki places at the user's disposal. The group experience helped to clarify much of the meaning behind collaboratory effort. Group 4 consisted of Robert Lofton, Beth Israel, Edwina Johnson, and myself. We decided from the beginning that the best way to facilitate a truly collective effort was to enable each person to contribute individual ideas and then to discuss the pros and cons of each person's suggestion in order to derive the ultimate solution. I have to say that in the beginning we took great enjoyment from determining which particular direction we wanted to steer for the development of our case study. Writing an original case study that utilizes individual opinions to derive a general concensus proved to be more difficult than initially expected. As the project evolved the idealistic notion of paralell participation evolved into one of role assignment and task completion. Group collaboration became more a discussion of things that had already been done than things that needed to be done. I feel this is normal due to the reality that each person is comprised of unique thoughts, gifts, motivations, schedules, and so forth. However, I do not feel that this methodology fosters and facilitates elevated levels of creativity and expression. I believe that one of the primary purposes that wiki serves is to encourage people to ruminate, create, and endure outside that box by offering a chance to participate in an informational chain that stretches aroud the world. I think that attempting to model that purpose in the classroom would enable students that are less inclined or inhibited to utilize the contributions of others and reach beyond what they already know in order to string new and inventive toughts together. In our group we had the educator, the logician, the humanist, and the existentialist. Consider the potential of such a cooperative were the talents of each individual incorporated equivalently into the solution.**