2. Philosophy of Classroom Management I believe that successful classroom management, establishes the classroom as a “productive and cooperative working environment” by: Making sure students know what is expected of them Giving students a role and say in the formation of classroom rules and procedures Providing positive and consistent reinforcement Wong, H.K., & Wong, R. T. (1991). The First Days of School. Sunnyvale, CA: Harry Wong Productions.
3. Classroom community I believe that a positive classroom community provides students with: A safe place for learning A sense of belonging A feeling that they are truly cared for and appreciated as unique individuals I plan to achieve this through: Classroom meetings Small group/collaborative learning Team building/initiative activities
4. Profile of student for BIP African-American male 5th grade student in an inclusion classroom Frequently comes in late to school Younger sister attends same school
5. Student’s Strengths and Needs Enjoys reading the popular Web comic series: Diary of a Wimpy Kid One of David’s strengths is math When he is focused and engaged in the learning process, he is always quick to call out answers (sometimes when another student has been called on first), volunteer to come to the board, and sometimes is caught saying “man, this is easy” If he doesn’t understand something right away, he is quick to give up and not ask for help. He doesn’t like writing down or showing his work or copying notes. David is quick to hold a grudge and complain (murmuring, glaring, name calling, etc) if the teacher or another student does something he doesn’t like or he doesn’t get his way (going to get water, holding the door, being called on, etc.) David is an oral learner because he would much rather tell you the answer and explain it than to have to write it down
6. Data Collection In order to develop a BIP for David, I began by collecting data and observations of him at the beginning of this semester by paying particular attention to him during guided reading because it was a smaller setting and I could observe him more closely Whenever David was off task, not paying attention or following along, I made note of those instances in my notebook. I also included strategies that were used to combat the behavior and the effectiveness of these strategies to correct his behavior. (table on next slide) After noticing some common occurrences of behavior including always wanting to read ahead, physically pulling away from the group, and not participate during the discussion, I had several conversations with David to discuss his feelings about the lessons and his behaviors. From these conversations I learned that David’s dislike of writing was because it “takes too long” and that he wanted to read ahead because he felt the other students in the group were reading too slow and he was jealous of the independent contract group who were doing reading work on their own without a teacher’s assistance.
8. Behavioral Intervention Plan When planning David’s Behavioral Intervention Plan, I had to take several things into consideration including: What specific behavior should be targeted? How would the behavior be monitored? Would their be a reward/incentive in place? After looking over my observation and strategy notes, as well as considering the conversations I had had with David, I determined that the biggest consequence or result of his behavior problems in the classroom was that he wasn’t accomplishing or completing work in the classroom, in all subject areas. His behavior was limiting his ability to learn and succeed in the classroom not because he wasn’t intelligent enough to understand the material, but simply because he wasn’t participating in the learning and practice of the material in the classroom. In order to hold David accountable for completing assignments, we came up with a chart (next slide) that was to be filled out each day by David and I together. He would meet with me at the end of each day and we would go through each part/subject of the day and I would ask him: What was he able to accomplish during this time? I would dictate his response and then I would tell David what I saw that day concerning his work and behavior and record these observations in the chart as well. We would then discuss what he thought of my observations and how he could improve again tomorrow.
10. Student Progress When putting any BIP into place for a student, it’s always difficult to tell how effective it will be. With this being the first BIP I had created with and for a student, it’s safe to say that I was a little wary as to how it would work out, but I was pleasantly surprised. Having David meet one on one with me at the end of each day was not only a good way to bring closure to his day by reflecting on what he was able to accomplish, but it also provided a time of accountability and a time to discuss the positives and negatives of the day and what might have caused them. By providing him with my own observations of the day’s events, I believe proved to be insightful to David in understanding how others might view his behavior in the classroom and helped him evaluate whether or not these behaviors were projecting the kind of image he wanted to project to his fellow peers and teachers.
11. Student progress When we first began to meet, David sometimes had a difficult time telling me what he was able to accomplish if anything during certain parts of the day, but as the days progressed his work ethic and focus increased as he was able to tell and show me much more work that he was able to complete. In addition, at the beginning, the comments section was full of observations I had made about his behavior and work that was often more about describing negative behavior and ways to improve. However, as the weeks went by, the focus in the comments section was dominated by praise of things David was doing including “holding door for students at recess”, “good explanation” during math, instead of comments like “drawing on arm” or “making fun of a student”. It wasn’t that at the beginning that David didn’t display any positive behavior, but rather that the good behavior was harder to notice because it was dominated by poor behavior. As the weeks went on David continued to make small improvements in his behavior and I began to see him smile more than I ever have!
12. Technology American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_with_oppositional_defiant_disorder Strategies for Auditory Learners http://www.education.com/magazine/article/auditory_learners/
13. Reflection This case study project has been a wonderful learning experience! As a new teacher, one of the major concerns I have is how will I create classroom community, maintain positive classroom management, and deal with behavior problems that arise in the classroom. This project has allowed me to experience first hand the process of developing a BIP for a student, including making initial observations, creating a BIP, and then implementing it. Through the implementation of the BIP I have come to realize: The importance of focusing on the positive and offering praise to students Improvement and changes in a student’s behavior don’t always happen overnight and we can’t expect them to. We must look for the baby steps of improvement and focus and celebrate those. The importance of focusing on a specific behavior. It is too overwhelming to try and fix and correct every behavior all at once. I can’t change the student, only the student can change themselves. However, I can help the student make changes by providing accountability and evaluating and changing the things that I do as their teacher.
