Case Study Part II: Behavior Intervention

1. Case StudyPart II: Behavior Intervention Katalin E. Jordan April 25th, 2010 EDUC 517

2. Classroom Management I believe that classroom management is about more than having students behave. The teacher must be fully aware of everything going on within the classroom and be knowledgeable of students’ school and home situations as well. In order to have effective classroom management, routines and procedures must be reviewed and enforced so that students can be self-sufficient. All teachers in the classroom should enforce expectations consistently so students do not become confused. Students should know the classroom expectations and be held accountable for them. I am a proponent of the Positive Behavior Support system, which reinforces desired behavior rather than punishing undesirable behavior. Systems such as card flipping and beans in the jar help students take pride in their good behavior and serve as an incentive to demonstrate desirable behavior. A teacher with good classroom management skills will have a smoothly running classroom that is a successful learning environment.

3. What Is Classroom Community? I believe that a positive community environment is a crucial component of an effective classroom. Students should always feel safe and comfortable at school, but still respect their teachers and each other. They should know that they are expected to do their best work at all times and take pride in their work. In my classroom, students would have many opportunities for collaboration and group work, allowing everyone to take the role of a “teacher” and a student. Students would also feel comfortable talking with their teachers about academic, personal, or emotional needs. Perhaps the most important component of classroom community is that students feel confident trying at whatever they do…whether they succeed or not. I also believe that parents should feel welcome in the classroom at all times, whether to volunteer or just visit. The classroom newsletters and personal letters and calls home to parents are good ways to maintain contact with parents. Of course, a classroom community needs to have a clean, organized feel so that students can have a positive learning environment.

4. Meet Nick Name: Nick Jones Age: 8 years old Grade: 2nd grade School History: Nick attended school in Penfield, New York for kindergarten and first grade. This is Nick’s first year in North Carolina and in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City School System. He has had good attendance so far, and he attends the school’s afterschool program as well. His behavior issues stem mostly from what appears to be hyperactivity and frustration. Nick’s has a somewhat negative attitude toward school, but can be engaged in learning as well. At the beginning of the year, Nick had trouble making connections and getting along with his classmates, but he has made significant personal-social progress since then.

5. Nick’s Strengths and Needs Strengths Needs Demonstrates evidence of hyperactivity and has problems with emotional and behavioral self-regulation. Easily frustrated and overwhelmed, so he needs explicit structure when working independently in class. Step by step procedures and routines seem to work best for him. The content of his writing and his handwriting shows signs of a learning barrier or developmental delay, which results in a need for extra time to complete independent assignments. • Very enthusiastic when engaged during class discussions. • Demonstrates excellent comprehension skills when listening to read alouds in class or reading independently during guided reading. • A very social student and he has made lots of friends in the class. • Mathematics is Nick’s strongest subject • Passionate about Star Wars, Yugioh, and the Dairy of a Wimpy Kid series.

6. Data Collection To collect data on Nick, I used anecdotal notes and a special form that I devised with the help of my cooperating teacher. We have seen quite a bit of change in Nick’s behavior over the course of the year. We are still unsure whether it is the result of the low-dose ADHD medication he has recently been prescribed, our behavior intervention modifications and procedures, or maybe a combination of the two.

7. More Anecdotal Notes These are a few examples of the observational notes that my teacher assistant took of Nick while I was teaching. Her notes helped me to understand how Nick was responding to my different methods of instruction.

8. This is Nick’s very first behavior intervention from September. He was asked to complete his own behavior plan with the teacher after a few recurring incidents on the playground where he was being rough with other students.

9. Behavioral Intervention Plan Nick’s Behavior Intervention Plan is multidimensional. The cooperating teacher, teacher assistant, and I have all worked to implement the various components in order to help Nick succeed. We came up with one main goal and objective to target Nick’s behavioral issues. Goal: Develop strategies he can use independently to help him remain calm during frustrating times and move on with his work. Objective: Stop getting visibly upset when something angers him.

10. B.I.P. Steps to Success • Nick will be given a separate seat away from his tablemates for independent work. This will help keep him focused on the assignment at hand. • He will have quick teacher check-ins, which will enable his teachers to monitor his progress on assignments and catch mistakes early on. • In order to help make sure Nick understands the directions for independent work, we will write down the procedure on a small white board for him to keep at his seat for reference. • Also, before having students return to their seats for independent work, we will ask some of them to repeat directions for the whole class to check for understanding. • To help with his frustration issues, we will tell Nick ahead of time if there are any changes in schedule and refer to the schedule on the board. This is especially important for Fun Friday, as we will need to let him know ahead of time if he cannot participate. • We will encourage him to get his Work in Progress finished and allow him to work with a teacher during nutrition break if he desires. • When Nick is frustrated, we will have him give his “chill card” to a teacher and go to the reading corner to calm down. Or a teacher can tell him that he needs some “chill time.” When taking “chill time”, Nick will: Count backwards from 20. Take 3 deep breaths. Get a drink of water. And return to work and try again.

11. Writing I found that Nick is most likely to fall into “frustration mode” during writing time because it is mostly independent and unstructured. Many students look forward to this chance to be creative and work at their own pace, but Nick becomes quickly overwhelmed and finds it difficult to concentrate and complete the assignments. This is an example of a modification I made in the classroom to help Nick with his writing. I had him dictate what he wanted to say and I wrote it down for him. Then he was able to copy what he had already “written.” This provided him with the structure he needed to succeed.

12. Nick’s Progress I monitored student progress in a variety of ways. I took my own anecdotal notes over the course of the semester, although it was a bit difficult to write down everything during my full-time teaching. I also discussed Nick’s progress with my cooperating teacher and teacher assistant to see how they viewed his performance in the classroom. Nick has made significant growth as a student. He started the school year at a reading level G, which is standard for a 1st grade student. He now reads at a level L, which is on grade level for 2nd grade. He has made about 1.5 years growth in about 7 months, which is amazing. It is harder to quantify Nick’s behavior progress, but all 3 of his teachers can see a dramatic change in his attitude toward school and his self-regulation skills. Although he is still a behavior concern compared to his classmates, he has made a great deal of progress over the past year. By analyzing the anecdotal notes taken over the course of the semester, I have noticed a significant improvement in Nick’s behavior. We did not find the need to consistently implement all of the components of his B.I.P. but strategies such as structuring his independent work time and allowing him time to cool down and process changes in the schedule have made a visible impact on his behavior in class. He still needs to be redirected 1 or 2 times during each lesson, but this is quite an improvement on his previous behavior issues. Nick has recently been put on a low dose of medication for his ADHD symptoms. We have noticed minimal changes in mood and behavior, but continue to take observational notes on him in class and keep in close contact with his mother about his progress.

13. Report Card

14. Where Do We Go From Here? • Nick has been recommendedfor summer school so that he can continue to make progress and prepare for the 3rd grade next year. • His parents have decided to enroll him in The Hill Center, which is a private tutoring facility in the area. The CHCCS school system recognizes this program as a substitute for public summer school. • I would continue to keep an eye on Nick and continue to implement his Behavior Intervention Plan. I think that as he matures and grows as a student, certain aspects of the plan can be altered or left out. I would definitely talk with his 3rd grade teacher next year about his individual needs and the most effective strategies that I have found for his learning styles.

15. Technology BrainPopJr.com I used BrainPop Jr. online to help engage Nick in the classroom and help make instruction more interactive for him. Whenever possible, we would watch BrainPop educational videos and take online quizzes to help enforce current topics we were discussing in class. HelpGuide.org http://helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_teaching_strategies.htm’ I found this website when I first met Nick at the beginning of the year. Although most of my strategies came from the articles we read for class and suggestions from my cooperating teacher, I found this website was helpful in getting an overall picture of what I needed to do to help Nick succeed in school. This site is specifically geared toward parents, but I was still able to use its information on ADHD to guide my strategies and instruction.

16. Reflection This project has taught me what a process it is to implement Behavior Intervention Plans and Personal/Individual Education Plans for students. I realize that as a teacher I will be responsible for creating these plans for all of my students that need them to be successful, but I was glad to have been able to help my cooperating teacher with Nick. I participated in Nick’s parent-teacher conferences both 2nd and 3rd quarter, and I was able to talk with his mom about the progress he has made over the year. I felt so productive and helpful because I could tell her each of the specific modifications we making for her son in our classroom that were helping him to succeed. Perhaps the most important lesson I will take away from this experience is just how rewarding it is to see your hard work make a difference in a student’s life. When you take so much extra time and effort to help a specific child, it is a great feeling when you can actually see results. Next year, I will be attending graduate school in school counseling. As a counselor, I will be able to help many teachers devise and implement behavior intervention plans for their students. I will definitely have the chance to apply and add to what I have learned in this course about behavior interventions and meeting individual student needs in the classroom.