2009-2010 Student Case Study Third Grade

1. 2009-2010 Student Case StudyThird Grade By Caroline Carman

2. Philosophy of Classroom Management Behavior management is a critical part of maintaining the atmosphere in the classroom. I believe that all children need appropriate boundaries, limits, and expectations in order to learn self-control, self-awareness, responsibility, and respect. Establishing rules, routines, and procedures in the first few weeks of school is key to keeping the classroom managed and comfortable. All behaviors should be modeled and explained in detail so that every child is clear on what is expected. In addition, it is important to address the “why” question when establishing rules, routines, and procedures. In my opinion the answer for me is: We as a classroom community want to create an environment where everyone is comfortable, efficient, confident, and supported. When a behavior situation arises it is important to stress that it is never the child that is the problem, but rather the behavior. When addressing behavior it is important that each child understands this distinction. The positives should be enhanced and rewarded while the negatives are ignored (to a certain extent) and slowly fade away. When considering behavior it is critical to think about the classroom environment, clarity of expectations, external circumstances, and background. Every child and every situation is different and should be considered individually. Over the years I have begun to establish my own flavor of behavior management. Expectations are a huge part of how I like to manage the classroom. I have high and equal expectations for all and I truly believe that every student can be successful. I want each student to know that I have high expectations because each individual can achieve them. Further, it is always crucial to express consistency, equity, fairness, and firmness. I also believe that students should set expectations for themselves at the beginning of the year and self-reflect often to review those goals and make behavior growth a meaningful, personal, and self-reflective experience. Most importantly, student should be responsible and develop responsibility for their own behavior. 

3. Classroom Community “A successful classroom community promotes positive social skills and academic achievement. Children learn best when they feel they are part of a community, where everyone feels accepted and where individuality is encouraged. Creating a Classroom Community requires planning and practice. …You can help foster a sense of belonging where children learn how to participate in class meetings, work collaboratively, and resolve conflicts peacefully.” - Scholastic.com This quote expresses what I think of when I think of a successful classroom community. I have not yet seen a great example of classroom community meetings routinely occurring in a classroom. However, I do believe that creating a classroom community is necessary in every elementary classroom. It is important that all students feel accepted and encouraged, not only by teachers, but also by their peers. Much like rules, routines, and procedures, the classroom community foundation should be established at the very beginning of the year. Students and teachers spend a lot of time in the classroom and each individual should feel a sense of ownership and pride in the classroom environment. I believe in each student having a job (no matter how small) as well as each child having personal spaces around the classroom. If resources allow it is great to have cubbies, book drawers, chairs, hooks for backpacks, and any other personal spaces that can be given. I hope to learn more about little ways to build, develop, and nurture the classroom community throughout the year. I think having a classroom community is critical to any successful classroom and every child should feel welcomed, encouraged, and supported each day. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=296

4. Profile of Student • Age: 9 • Grade: Third • Background information: • My case study student is a new student at my school. He moved here with his family over the summer from Seoul, South Korea. He has a little brother at this school as well. My case study student is not a native English speaker, but he received private tutoring in Korea before moving to the United States. He also has a private tutor here in the United States to help with English and academics. He receives ESL services at my school. My case study student and his family plan to return to Korea summer of 2011. • Academics: • Despite being new to the country and learning English recently, my case study student is very smart academically. He reads on a very high level and is probably on a fourth grade level for math. We recently had a practice EOG and he did very well on both math and reading tests. However, my case study student usually does not follow oral or written directions and this makes it difficult for him to be successful in the classroom on a daily basis.

5. Student Strengths and Needs Strengths: My case study student is very artistic. He loves to draw and can draw with amazing detail. He really enjoys reading in both English and Korean. He loves action, adventure, and fantasy. My case study student also loves Legos and science experiments. Learning Style: We can see in the classroom that individual agendas are very difficult for him. He prefers structure and one assignment at a time. He is always trying to get through everything quickly so that he can get time to read. During a few conversations, my case study student has told me that he would prefer just a huge page of math drills and problems to complete. He hates the way we structure math lessons. One way I have found to maintain his attention is fun stuff on the SmartBoard such as videos, interactive multi-media, or games. Needs: Behavior a huge issue for my case study student and interferes with his ability to be successful. Attention is a problem for my case study student. Maintaining attention on anything besides reading, math problems, and drawing is a constant challenge. My case study student has been sick for several months and that is very difficult for him. He also has a hard time keeping his hands to himself and controlling his body.

6. Data Collection • When I collected data on my student it started out on sticky notes and scrap pieces of paper. In my classroom we also do something called a “behavior bank” where each week we write comments to the parent and the student self-reflects on their own behavior. After about a month, this scattered system got too complicated and I put all of my notes into this anecdotal record format. • These are a few samples of my anecdotal notes this semester. I chose the ones that involved the most behavior mishaps as well as my Behavior Intervention Plan development.

7. Behavioral Intervention Plan The Behavior Intervention Plan we chose to use is based on a conversation my Ct and I had with our resource specialist/inclusion facilitator.  My case study student needs constant everything (reminders, redirection, prompting, etc.)  He also tends to not respond to oral directions, reprimands, or corrections.  We needed a non-verbal mechanism to let him know when he was not following directions and when he did something correctly. We decided to create strips of smile faces.  Each strip has 32 smiles and he gets one strip per hour.  We staple all 7 strips together and write the times and subjects on each strip.  We keep the strips above a cabinet by the student’s seat. That way other students do not see the strips. Then for every redirection, prompt, take away, etc. that we have to do we use a hole punch (or marker to make an X) to get rid of one smile face.  Some things such as reading during the pledge of allegiance or fighting on the playground get more smiles punched or taken away.  Our resource specialist told me that it is good that he sees the happy faces disappear, but the smile faces left serve as positive reinforcement. When we decided to implement this plan we had a conversation with the student about what would be a motivator.  We wanted something keyed towards his interests like extra drawing time, extra reading time, Lego play, but instead he chose the money we use in our classroom behavior system.  He gets a penny for each smile left.  The total amount possible is $3.08.  Usually he gets around $2.00. The highest amount he has ever gotten in a day is $2.30. The lowest amount is zero because we do not give money when he has to go to the principals office, which has been on three days this semester. My CT, my TA, specials teachers, and I all punch smiles throughout the day. However, I am responsible for giving money and explaining why smiles are taken away. We send each strip home at the end of the week. As time went on we cut the smile faces from 32 on a strip to 16 on a strip to encourage more behavior control. This is an example of a behavior strip with 32 smiles per strip.

8. Student Progress • Monitoring Student Progress: • Student progress was monitored by how much money my case study student received each day on his Behavior Intervention Plan. We also monitored overall progress using his behavior bank. The behavior bank allows us to keep track of how much money he received over the week, self-reflections on behavior, as well as our overall behavior rating and comments. • What were the results of the intervention? • Overall we had good intentions with our Behavioral Intervention Plan we did not make many strides with behavior. • How we succeeded: I think the largest success we had with this BIP was getting the case study student to view all adults in the room as teachers. In Korea he told us he only had one teacher. Here, he has 3-4 in the classroom at all times. I think that now he sees us all as authority figures. • What I might change: Overall, we did end up having daily successes with behavior. Thanks to the BIP I feel that my full-time teaching experience was much better with my case study student than it would have been otherwise. However, my case study student’s behavior issues started much earlier in the year and we did not find an effective way to deal with the issues until March. Therefore, I think we did not make quite as much of an impact as we would have made using this BIP in the Fall. We have had several referrals to the principal in March and April and he recently permanently lost recess until he can earn it back. • Where would you go from here? • The last couple of weeks have allowed me to learn more and more about behavior each day.  I think some students know exactly what is expected and they know how to not break rules.  I think my case study student has not mastered the self-awareness and self-control skills that you need in order to control your own behavior consistently.  He has also been sick since he came to the United States and my CT and I sometimes wonder if lack of sleep and cold medicine could be a huge factor in self control.  Overall, I have learned a lot about behavior management from my case study student and I am interested to hear how the rest of the school year goes for him.

9. Technology • http://edition.tefl.net/articles/teacher-technique/respect/ • This is a great website for any issues with students who may not be native English speakers. Although I do not teach ESL, I wanted to find specific strategies for English Language Learners. • http://www.teach-esl-to-kids.com/classroom-management.html • This is another great website for any issues with students who may not be native English speakers. Although I do not teach ESL, I was hard-pressed to find specific strategies for students who are English Language Learners. • https://www.adda-sr.org/BehaviorManagementIndex.htm • This is a great website for any issues with attention. Although my student does not have an ADD diagnosis, but for whatever reason he displays a lot of issues with attention. I used this website before implementing a behavior intervention plan to look at specific behaviors and see what would be most beneficial. I mainly focused on the chart below headings specific to my case study student: Disobey/Conflict with adults, Act impulsive, Difficulty paying attention/don't seem to listen, Disorganized/loses things/messy space, Difficult to discipline, and Restless/easily bored.

10. Reflection What did you learn from this experience? • When you see challenging behavior in the classroom it is important to consider the child’s background, family, learning style, communication style, and context. • One of the most important parts of behavior management is to always advocate for the child and motivate yourself and others to look for the positives everyday. • Students must participate in self-reflection often to build responsibility and self-awareness. • You can motivate students to uphold expectations in many different ways. You yourself can constantly assure and support in an effort to build confidence and self-esteem. If you figure out what motivates each challenging student you can create opportunities to reward good behavior. • Always work with the child and keep communication open. If the student begins to relate negative feelings to the teachers behavior can escalate. Talk to the student everyday and try to encourage and support whenever possible. • MIX UP THE LESSON PLAN – This is a big one for me. Some students can get bored with the routine, everyday flow of lessons. Switch up the method of instruction once In a while to create and perpetuate interest and curiosity. Look for an educational video, experiment, or demonstration. • When multiple teachers are in the classroom make sure at the beginning of the year that each student understands that all are teachers and all have equal say in classroom management. Be honest and discuss how some teachers may be a little different with how they talk to you. If possible, make sure all teachers can be supportive , positive, and consistent with challenging behavior. • If you have a student with a diverse background try to research what teaching and discipline are like at home and at previously attended schools. • Use every resource at your school to help with challenging behavior. Even if they can’t physically be present in the classroom, sometimes an objective conversation can give you clarity and/or ideas for improvement. Everything I have learned this semester as well as everything I learned in my methods courses will influence my classroom management in the future. I have learned so many valuable lessons throughout the past two years. As a future educator I hope to put into practice everything that I have learned.