Nor do cases give students practice in pedagogical skills. The case method supplements, rather than replaces, other methods of teacher preparation. Some faculty find it hard to locate good case materials. Many are not sure how to go about teaching a case and fear that classes will degenerate into a pointless exchange of personal opinions. A series of teaching cases centering on problems in rural, multicultural schools has been developed by Judith Kleinfeld and can be ordered from the Publications Office, Rural College, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775.
Students often bring up stories of their own teaching experiences or field observations.
Students' anecdotes invite fuller description and consideration of the troubling situation, and the methods of case teaching can guide the discussion with an analytic framework. Teacher educators can develop their own teaching cases to prepare students for the particular problems in a local context. The Alaska cases, for example, were developed by local teachers, faculty, and graduate students. The problems of teaching in remote Alaska villages with Yupik and Athabascan Indian populations are so unique that no relevant curriculum materials were previously available. This observation doubtless applies also to situations in many rural and small schools, or in other schools that serve ethnic minorities.