Mia's Meditations

This is the fourth week of my behavior contract with my case study, “Alexis.”  Her behavior has improved with each week.  Ms. Hall, the assistant principal is her reward for getting all of the signatures for the week and Alexis really works hard to earn this time with her.  I am planning on changing the behavior tomorrow, Monday, to also include not talking to other students during seat work.  Although Alexis is sitting away from other students, she still tends to turn around and chat with whomever will listen to her.  We will see how well she copes with the new addition.  Thus far, the contract has been a success!

I have found this to be a topic of interest because my case study pertains to this as well.  My student is the only African American girl in the classroom.  She has many behavioral problems and often finds herself in trouble with the assistant principal, the classroom teacher, and I.  Many times she comes in late, does not do homework, has trouble staying in seat, is off task during instruction, and some of her comments that she makes towards other students is disrespectful.  I have never noticed it before, but I find myself calling on this student constantly.  My supervisor once told me that an outsider coming into the classroom to  observe may think that I am discriminating against this student for her racial and ethnic background.  Yes, this student may stand out in the classroom for her behavior, but it is my job to make sure that she is treated fairly.  I have learned from both experience and from this article that by showing personal interest and constantly reminding her of the expectations in the classroom reduces the unwanted behavior.  The conversations that I have with her daily about her behavior and her contract are meant to convey that I really believe that she has the ability to control her behavior and if she showed more interest and worked harder towards her classwork and homework, she could be an excellent student.  I want this student to feel like she is really included and is important to our classroom community.  The contract is a constant reminder of what her classroom expectations are and those conversations we have together allow us to have a caring relationship.

Thus far, I have established a behavior plan for my case study student, “Alexis.”  Again, her disruptive behavior consists of off-task seat-work and participation during instruction.  I have talked with the assistant principal about implementing a behavior contract.  This student will get a signature from me every time she meets her target behavior.  This target behavior will be subject to change.  For example, this first week, Alexis had to stay in her seat during morning work, math, language arts, and afternoon work.  If she stayed in her seat, I would sign her form and she would sign it as well.  The other target behaviors include: not talking to others and keeping her desk clean on the inside and on top.  If Alexis gets the prescribed amount of signatures per week, I have arranged for her to have “special time” with the assistant principal as her reward.  This may be in the form of lunch with her at the end of the week, time with her during recess/break, etc.  Prior to implementing the plan, I had a conversation with Alexis about her current behavior and what we were going to do together to help her improve.  When she heard about the reward she was quickly on board.  However, this week was a rocky start.  The first two days she was consistent with her target behavior.  The remainder of the week, I had to remind her of staying in her seat.  She did not get the reward for this week, but I plan on having another conversation with her about my expectations.

As I read this chapter, I was sure to keep my case study student in mind.  The reading helped me understand why my student behaves the way she does and strategies I might use in managing that behavior in the classroom.  For example, my student’s disruptive behavior consists of getting out of her seat during seatwork and during instruction.  She gets up to go to her cubby, get a tissue, or get materials off of the teacher’s desk.  This behavior may result from a deficit in skills such as raising her hand or asking for permission. This student also demonstrates impulsivity.  Often times, she will begin a task without receiving directions nor will she go back and check over for errors that have already been made upon receiving the directions.  I learned that by teaching the student the appropriate desired behavior and by giving consistent reinforcement for performing the appropriate behavior, reduces the student’s disruptiveness in the class.  Overall, I thought this chapter was very helpful in explaining the reason behind the specific behavior and offering effective intervention strategies to use to reduce the disruptive behavior.

So far in my case study, I have selected a student and I have completed one week’s worth of data collection.  I will call this student Alexis.  Alexis’ problem behavior occurs mainly during instructional time.  She is repeatedly called for off-task behavior.  She is currently sitting in the back of the classroom away from other students with the inside of her desk facing away from her.  During instruction, she manages to find a way to distract herself from the lesson, such as coloring and drawing pictures, getting up from her seat and getting things off of my desk such as the stapler or tape, cutting paper or tearing paper out of her notebook, sharpening pencils, etc.   I collected information by using the event recording form and the anecdotal form.  I chose the event recording form because of the number of times this student displays behavior during each lesson.  During one lesson, I recorded 7 different instances that this student was off-task.  I then used the anecdotal form to write more detailed notes about what exactly the student was doing during this time.  On many occasions I have had to refocus Alexis to pay attention to the teacher during instruction and during independent seatwork.  This morning as I was trying to get Alexis to return her attention to morning work, she commented that she did not like reading and answering questions.  I believe that Alexis often finds herself bored from instruction because she either does not find the content engaging or because the work is too hard.  Right now I am discussing strategies with the classroom teacher about an intervention plan.

I am sure that all of us either have a “Matthew” in our classroom or have observed a child that exhibits some of these same behaviors.   I see how this behavior, constantly off-task and comments and call-outs during instruction, affects and interferes the behavior and learning of others around them.  I think this chapter will be great help in our case study this semester.  I will definitely use some of the strategies in going about collecting data and implementing a behavior plan.  Overall, I liked how the chapter defined each step that is to be taken in a behavior intervention plan and how it offered strategies in not only instruction but relationship building and self-esteem among many others.  For example, for use of data collection, event recording is a good way to measure behavior.  Each time the behavior occurs during the observation period, a tally or the duration of the behavior may be recorded.  I also learned how to analyze the data that is to be collected.  The ABC analysis, allows you to consider if the behavior is related to other factors outside of the classroom, such as: physiological, home, ability, etc.  I also think that building a strong relationship and improving a student’s self-esteem is a great way to earn a student’s respect.  When a student begins to change their attitude towards the teacher and learning, I can see how behavior can begin to subside.  This chapter was a huge help in providing me with ideas of how to begin my case study and implement a plan!

Classroom management in my third grade classroom was established at the very beginning of the year.  Along with the teacher, the students created their own list of classroom rules that all of the students are required to follow.  This list was signed by all of the students in the classroom as well as the cooperating teacher and I.  The teacher has set up a credit/debit system in which students who do not follow classroom rules, is not on task, or is disrupting the class receives a debit.  Students who are following rules and fulfills their responsibilities for their classroom job, receives credit (s).  Every other Friday, students are paid and they may spend their money on items that are available in the classroom store.  That is the individual classroom behavior system.  As for the class as a whole, we have a compliment jar.  A handful of marbles are added to the jar when the class is given a compliment from other teachers.  This may be for setting a good example in the hallway or for good behavior during specials.  When this jar is full, students will receive a party of their choice.  Both of these behavior systems are incentive for students to be on their best behavior.  As for students who continue to be disruptive during instruction, the teacher often name drops to redirect their attention or they are sent out into the hallway until instruction is over and the teacher discusses their behavior.  If this behavior continues after two or three warnings, the student may be sent to the school back up room.  This room is for students who misbehave and are disruptive.  They may sit in there for the amount of time the teacher prescribes and then returns to the room. The guidance counselor or the assistant principal may intervene.  A call or email to the parents is the last step.

I thought this article was a great introduction to this course and this semester.  As the article relates to behavior management in the inclusive setting, it is relevant to our student teaching as we are constantly thinking about how to control behavior during instruction when we teach.  This article basically is an overview of how to create a sense of community for students who vary in ability and behavior, create a safe and responsive learning environment, and to consider and accommodate students to ensure fair expectations for all students.  The article was a review for us as we have talked about behavior management before and how we might go about providing exceptional students a place in our classroom.  It was very helpful and I liked that it provided many strategies that may be used in an inclusive classroom.

I thought this was a great chapter because it emphasized that not all students can benefit from a “one size fits all” teaching perspective.  Every classroom has students who will not always click with reading and writing, and it will not be easy for them.  These differences may be because of cognitive processes, language difficulties, lack of motivation or engagement, or the teachers’ beliefs and attitudes.  Teachers can effectively meet the needs of these students by providing a literacy curriculum in which interest and background knowledge play an important role in readers’ abilities to make sense of text, read alouds are used to engage students in comprehension strategies, modifying independent reading and writing time to better meet the needs of students, giving students the opportunity to read texts that are below their reading level, provide scaffolding to struggling readers and writers, and teaching strategies to help students monitor their own comprehension.  By providing and organizing a literacy curriculum which includes all of the strategies mentioned above, teachers are meeting the needs of students whom are struggling with reading and writing.

This chapter was really interesting for me, especially because I can remember participating in these discussions when I was in school.  Although I have  observed literature discussions with guided reading and read alouds in my placement, I have not seen discussions in the format in which the book describes.  However, I do find that these discussions are important for both students and teachers.  Students benefit from these discussions because it allows them to interact with the text and gives them the opportunity to voice their opinions and interpretations about the book, as well as allows them to reflect on their own background experiences.  Literature discussions are also important for teachers as it allows them to see where students are in their thinking and see what types of conversations emerge.  I believe that by allowing students to participate in discussions, it allows students to become more reflective and critical readers.  Overall, I liked how the book  provided helpful strategies in setting up and facilitating these literature discussions and it was an interesting read.