ABC Project

Name: Caroline Reineke

November 10, 2014

Date:

Part I
How does this project contribute to your understanding of how classroom instruction
and classroom management might be a factor in behavioral issues?
This project contributes to my understanding of how classroom instruction
and management might be a factor in behavioral issues by giving me an
opportunity to analyze each piece of a problem behavior. Many times teachers only
think about things the student can be doing differently, rather than thinking how
can they make a difference in the classroom. I realized how many different
antecedents can affect a childs behaviors and how these can be affected by proper
classroom management and engaging instruction. If a child is engaged in what they
are learning, they should have no opportunity to act in a negative behavior.
Description of student:

Joe is a ten-year-old boy in fifth grade. He is fairly intelligent, but does not apply
himself in school. He will complete independent assignments only if he is being
monitored every couple of minutes. If you ask him to orally respond or participate,
he will do so without problems. Joe does not complete much of his work that is
expected in allotted class time. He has not finished many pages in his Interactive
Student Notebook (ISN), which requires writing, completing worksheets and
drawing. In English class he is generally off task and does not raise his hand to
speak. In math he is always talking and has poor grades because he does not
complete his work. In science on the other hand, he completes his work but still

does not raise his hand to speak. Therefore, he is successful in science class, but
unsuccessful in math, English, and social studies.
Joe flourishes in regards to his social abilities. He has many friends and enjoys
talking to his peers or teachers. This leads to many off task behaviors. He does not
understand an appropriate voice level in the classroom and must be constantly
reminded to keep his voice down. Joe speaks English very well, therefore English as
a second language does not seem to be aiding his behaviors. In all classes he does
not keep a proper voice level or raise his hand to speak.
Joe has behavior problems such as being off task, talking before raising his
hand, and speaking loudly during group work. During the review game at the end of
social studies class, Joe must always be reminded to raise his hand instead of calling
out answers. He is less likely to complete his work if he is paired with only one
person. He works best independently. He has been found copying his partners work
instead of collaborating with his partner. He has been given partners who are very
high in the class and very low in the class, but in both cases he does not complete
the work. Joe can listen to directions that are given to him specifically, but he does
not follow whole class directions.

Analysis of Behavior:
Joe forgets to raise his hand, does not complete his work, talks loudly
and participates in many off task behaviors. He often forgets to raise his
hand specifically in the review game at the end of social studies class each
day. Many times he will not complete his work and talk loudly whenever he is
in a small group or working with a partner. He will participate in off task

behaviors when he should be completing bell work or whenever he is

working in a group or with a partner.
Joe can raise his hand, complete his work and use his inside voice. He
can raise his hand whenever there are full class discussions or whenever
there is an opportunity to volunteer to read something. Joe behaves the most
correct whenever he is in science class. Science is towards the end of the
day, while social studies where he behaves incorrectly most days, is at the
very beginning of the day. He can complete his work whenever it is done
independently. His inside voice is usually used whenever he is answering a
question or reading directions to the whole class. Many of Joes behaviors
seem to stem from his ability to be distracted when not engaged in a full
class discussion. Joe is very socially engaged and, therefore, this results in
many problem behaviors when put in group settings.
Analysis of Patterns in Antecedents and Consequences:
Many of Joes problem behaviors are seen during partner or group
work, during share out time, during the review game or right when class
starts when he is expected to complete his bell work. All of these settings are
not very engaging for Joe. Each of these settings have different expectations
that have been made clear since the beginning of the year. Many times these
expectations are not given directly before the activity because the students
are expected to know and act appropriately on the given task. Joe sits in the
back of most classes; therefore it is easier for him to participate in problem

behavior and go unnoticed. Many of these problem behaviors could be

prevented with engaging classroom instruction.
Joe seems to act poorly whenever he must complete written work. All
of the work he does not complete is written. He does not finish many in class
assignments and rarely completes homework. He is able to participate in
group discussions because he can respond verbally. Also, Joe acts the worst
in his first period class.
Joe acts in the best behaviors during all class discussions, popcorn
reading and independent work. These are all times where Joe will be very
engaged. This engagement is not seen when he completing his own work,
participating in a full class discussion or reading independently. It is harder
for Joe to act in problem behavior when the whole class is quiet and his
teacher clearly has control of the classroom. He also acts the best while in
science class which is later in the day.
Whenever Joe acts in problem behavior many different consequences
have occurred. He is usually reminded to speak quietly whenever he is
noticeably louder than the rest of the class. During the social studies review
game, he will be called out in front of the whole class for not being engaged
in the activity. This leads to embarrassment. If Joes problem behavior
continues he is given less recess time. He has also been called out of class or
asked to come in before school to discuss his problem behaviors and be told
they will not be tolerated. Whenever Joe acts in appropriate behaviors, he is

only occasionally praised. I believe my mentor teacher does not think he

needs to praise Joe for acting in expected behaviors.
ABC Project Part II
How does this project contribute to your understanding of how behavioral
analysis and collaboration can work together?
This project helped me understand how to collaborate with others to
solve behavior problems. Analyzing behaviors allowed me to decide which
solution would be best to promote the desired behaviors. When deciding how
to implement the plan, I was able to decide which problem solving technique
would work the best. This helped me think in the mindset that I will in my
future teaching career. Behavioral analysis takes time and effort which helps
positively benefit students. This project helped me master the behavior
analyses steps, and I am confident I will be able to apply these in the future.
Classroom Management:
Classroom management changes for Joe could include preferential
seating, cooperative learning and a menu of rewards. All three of these
classroom management strategies should increase Joes desired behaviors
such as raising his hand, completing his work, and using his inside voice.
Preferential seating will help Joe pay close attention and will also allow
the teacher to use proximal control to gain Joes attention. The internal
arrangement of the classroom affects students every day of the school year,

therefore where Joe is placed in the classroom could drastically affect his
behaviors (Borich,2014, p.80). Joe should be placed in the front of the class
to eliminate distractions from other students. This will also allow him to be
easily accessed to remind him to stay on task during class.
Joe could also benefit from a cooperative learning technique.
Cooperative learning will help Joe enjoy class, which would encourage
completion of his work. Cooperative learning allows the teacher and student
to have a private conference where the student recalls the rules of the
classroom while the teacher tells the student what disruptive behavior they
are performing (Borich, 2014, p.106). This conference would help Joe
understand the rules of the classroom by repeating them himself. Also,
defining the disruptive behavior to Joe will help him understand exactly what
behavior is inappropriate for the classroom. Cooperative learning helps build
the student teacher relationship and allows the student to positively respond
to their problem behavior.
A menu of rewards would help motivate Joe to act in positive
behaviors. According to Hishinuma (1996), a menu of rewards will be more
effective the more its contents are determined by the students. This will help
the teacher create rewards that will reinforce positive behaviors, rather than
reinforce negative behaviors. Joe will benefit greatly from this reward menu if
the appropriate behaviors for him to act in order to receive the awards are
explicitly defined. Joe needs to understand what back up reinforcers he is

working towards and how to act in the desired behaviors. Therefore, it is

essential the reward menu be explained in detail to Joe.
Instructional Management:
Instructional management changes for Joe could include increased use
of specific positive praise, the No Opt Out strategy and clearly stating the
objective before each lesson. Increasing the amount of specific positive
praise given to Joe for positive behaviors will help him positively reinforce
appropriate behaviors. Lemov (2010) points out that it is important to
acknowledge expected behaviors and only give praise when desired
behaviors have been achieved. This will be important to keep in mind when
praising Joe to ensure he knows the difference between what is expected and
what is desired. Once he is specifically praised for acting in a desired
behavior, he will be more likely to act in the desired behavior again.
The No Opt Out strategy would help Joe understand it is not okay not to
try. This strategy ensures a student will always answer a question correctly,
but not necessarily on the first try (Lemov, 2010, p.28). I also think this
strategy can be applied to uncompleted work. This strategy states it is not
okay not to try, therefore not turning in work because you do not want to is
unacceptable. If the No Opt Out strategy is used for the whole class, then no
student will have an excuse for not turning in their work. If they do not turn
in their work or refuse to answer a question there will be consequences, such
as lunch detention.

To have effective instruction, teachers should state the objective of the

lesson to help students understand what they should gain by the end of class
time. This would help Joe have a focus for class. Stating the objective of the
class period has two purposes. It helps students understand exactly what
they will be held accountable for and it can also provide motivation for
students to learn difficult or unfamiliar content (Scheuermann, Hall, 2012,
p.275). Stating the objective is an essential part of an effective lesson, and if
implemented it would eliminate some of Joes problem behavior.
Engagement in Learning:
In order to increase Joes engagement in learning, pre-corrections
should be given before each lesson and high interest material should be
used. A pre-correction is a prompt of behavioral expectations before an event
that students are at a higher risk to exhibit problem behavior. To help Joe and
other students stay engaged during learning, it is important to pre-correct
problem behaviors. Pre-corrections should be actively incorporated into
teaching and should be changed from time to time in order to keep them
fresh in students minds (Scheuermann, Hall, 2012, p.223). These precorrections should take many forms in order to help students remember how
to behave in class. One example of a pre-correction would be to remind
students at the beginning of class that if the teacher claps three times they
must become silent.

High interest material helps students become motivated to learn by

allowing students to have a care for what they are learning. If students are
engaged in learning, then there is no time for students to be engaging in
problem behavior. Students are more motivated to learn when their
instructional activities are linked to a topic of high interest, therefore it is
important to find out what topics interest Joe (Kern et al., 2002).
Implementation of Plan:
To increase Joes desired behaviors, he will be given preferential
seating, the objective will be stated before each lesson, and specific positive
praise will be given. These three interventions will help increase Joes desired
behaviors of staying on task and raising his hand to talk during class. These
interventions can be easily implemented by any of Joes teachers.
Preferential seating can be implemented by giving the whole class a
new seating arrangement. This is easy to have students do at the beginning
of any class period. If the teacher draws up the seating arrangement before
class, then there will be no question of why students are placed in particular
desks. Joe should be placed in the front of the class and near the teachers
desk. One barrier in implementing this strategy would be ensuring Joe is in
the front of the class each time the seating arrangement is changed. This
could become difficult if the seating arrangement is changed every six
weeks. Some teachers change the seating arrangement to allow their
students to work with others and understand others ideas. To prevent this

barrier, the teacher needs to have multiple seats near her desk that she can
rotate Joe. It will always be important to put different people around Joe each
time to help him feel like his seat has changed like his peers.
The objective should be stated before each class period. This can be
easily implemented by adding a PowerPoint slide after the bell work slide
that states the objective. This will require a computer, smart board and
PowerPoint each day. These three things are already being implemented in
each of Joes classes. Stating the objective will benefit all students. One
barrier in implementing this strategy is the time the teacher must take out to
type out the objective each day. This may be considered a burden or
pointless to some teachers. To overcome this barrier, teachers should write
their lesson objectives in advanced and put them on a PowerPoint slide for
easy access.
Specific positive praise should be given to Joe each time he is found
acting in proper behaviors. A record of his appropriate behaviors should be
kept until it is found that his negative behaviors are rarely occurring. A chart
should be made and given to each one of Joes teachers to create
consistency and for all the teachers to easily track.This will help to see if the
specific positive praise is effective. A barrier in implementing this strategy is
once again the time the teacher must take to have a continuous record of
Joes behaviors and praises given. In order to overcome this barrier, the
teacher could easily tally the number of appropriate behaviors in the upper

left hand corner of the white board throughout the day. At the end of the day,
this number should be filled in on a chart previously created to monitor Joes
desired behaviors.
Collaboration:
I would present my ideas to my mentor teacher using the collaborative
conflict resolution style. The collaborative conflict resolution style allows two
people to develop and deliver a new solution together. This would ensure my
thoughts are given and also allow my mentor teacher to share his ideas or
help make my thoughts even more effective. There has been no plan in place
to address Joes behavior; therefore we must collaborate to create a plan to
help Joe succeed. My mentor teacher and I communicate very well with one
another, and I believe there is trust on both sides of the partnership.
The conflict resolution style I would not use to present my ideas is
avoidance. Avoiding the situation will not help the teacher or the student in
this situation. This would hinder Joes abilities and create continued
frustration and problem in all of Joes classes. Joes problem behavior needs
to be addressed and be discussed collaboratively.

References
Borich, G. (2014). Effective Teaching Methods Research-based Practices (8th
ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education.
Hishinuma, E. S. (1996). Motivating the gifted underachiever: implementing
reward menus and

behavioral contracts within an integrated approach.

Gifted Child Today Magazine, 1930.

Kern, L., Bambara, L., & Fogt, J. (2002). Class-wide curricular modifications to
improve the

behavior of students with emotional or behavioral

disorders. In Behavioral Disorders (pp.

317-326).

Lemov, D. (2010). Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that put students on

the path to college.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Scheuermann, B., & Hall, J. (2012). Positive behavioral supports for the
classroom (2nd ed.).

Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education.