Cases can describe in vivid and rich detail what happens in small, rural schools. Such schools, unfortunately, are difficult to use as field placement sites for student teachers, primarily due to their distance from most university campuses. Students enjoy learning from cases, which appeal to the universal delight in a good story. 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.