*note: Hannah and I are studying the same student in an attempt to share techniques and really understand him.

*portions underlined are what Hannah and I discussed Step 1: Student is an 11th grade African-American boy. He participates in wrestling as well as going to another school half of the day for electi e classes. In my class last semester! he recei ed a " and currently maintains a #-. He is rarely tardy for class but this semester has had at least one absence per wee$. Student%s problematic beha ior includes: -&arying le els of engagement depending on the day -'ften needs indi idual attention to moti ate student to complete wor$ **happens often in Hannah%s class -(aily wears hat to class despite constant reminders to ta$e it off) school policy denotes hats are not allowed in class. -Absent once or more times a wee$ that affects his ability to increase s$ill le el -'ften tal$s at inappropriate times with other students despite warning and $nowing class norms -Has wal$ed out of the class when as$ed to stop tal$ing one day) said he felt * ictimi+ed.* ,aited outside the door until teacher could spea$ with him. -'ccasionally loses focus and *+ones* out in class instead of wor$ing on the assignment -"iggest issue is engagement with lesson at hand -'ften is hesitant or outright denies participation in group-partner wor$ -Has had a few ./0 incidences where he questions teacher%s authority in a disrespectful way! resulting in sending him to the assistant principal%s office. ,hy is this problem important: Student often does e1cellent and insightful wor$ in 2nglish wor$. He had said that teachers group him into a category) he%s not li$e *others.* He most often has issues tal$ing at inappropriate times which causes teachers to spea$ with him! causing the reaction of feeling ictimi+ed by the staff of the school. 3pon conferencing with his pre ious teachers! I learned that his beha ior was much more inappropriate with tal$ing during class! but after starting wrestling! has impro ed significantly. I belie e he has the potential to succeed in this class with a higher grade and significantly increase s$ill le el. He has a strong personality that can be used to lead the class to deeper le els of interpretation and positi e participation. 4he student has a great smile when coa1ed out and is willing to as$ questions when comprehension is not achie ed. He can grasp grammar concepts! ocabulary and structure ery quic$ly. Howe er! he struggles with engagement with writing assignments! li$e +oning out during in-class writing time. Student is highly aware of classroom procedure when it comes to absent wor$ or the routine of the day with rarely any missing assignments! suggesting he is ery aware of the en ironment around him. Increasing his moti ation in my class will ma$e him a leader for the rest of the class and gi e him the tools to succeed in his future endea ors. 5reat 6ob of remaining descripti e and ob6ecti e. 7-7 Step /: Hypothesis

1. Sporadic beha ior and engagement le els suggest potential outside factors that affect his school life. 4here is potential that he has been targeted by pre ious adults in his life! that feeds into the thought that teachers often group him into a negati e stereotype of an African-American boy! as the article! *8ro ing Supporti e 9eedbac$!* by #ohen suggests is common. .p. 10 Immediately after this idea! the article $eys in on trust as a way to o ercome the sub6ecti e inequality. As a white women! the student may feel li$e he cannot relate to us and we only see his problems! not his successes. 'n the other hand! disingenuous praise can be detected and further push the student away from me. 2ach student comes to class with a deep history of schools and should he ha e a history of failure! he will be more apt to react negati ely to percei ed failure. .#ohen! p. 11:0 3pon loo$ing through his transcript! student shows a consistent " a erage in his classes! with occasional (s or #s. 4hus the student rarely *fails* o erall in a class! but still holds a certain e1pectation for himself reinforced by e1periences. As a participant in wrestling! the practices may e1haust him and affect his school life. As an urban school with many students economically disad antaged! there is the potential of an outside issue that requires cogniti e attention. *...;o matter where we teach! we will rarely ha e a classroom in which e ery student is moti ationmoti ated! has a full stomach! li es in a safe neighborhood! and has a relationship with both of his or her parents.* .*#hildren <i ing in 8o erty!* <andsman! p. /=0 4o o ercome this barrier! I want to focus on getting to $now the student. 4his includes daily chec$ ins and contact with home when something seems amiss. Showing I alue him as a student will hopefully brea$ down the social perception of himself and increase confidence. /. Student is demoti ated when he thin$s lesson or concepts are out of his reach of understanding See hypothesis three for e1planation and discussion. >. Student prefers to be seen as an intelligent and *good* student thus when he feels he isn%t! he disconnects with the lesson or beha ior norms to protect his image. **highly discussed and confirmed in both classes 4he article *Helping Students of #olor* says! *If students are pressed to achie e correct answers on challenging wor$ without adequate assistance! some may come to belie e that success is impossible! resulting in an1iety and disengagement from academic tas$s.* .p. =?0 ,hile I try to ma$e my classroom open to multiple answers and students feel safe to ta$e a ris$! it is really important to show how pre iously mastered s$ills are part of the ne1t lesson. Summers furthers this idea! *...if a student attributes his or her failures to low ability! this is a stable characteristic that may cause less effort or persistence on future assignments.* .p. 11:0 Should this student feel he is not *smart* and cannot complete the tas$! this feeling stic$s with him and affects his subsequent performance. 4hus! students who ha e the confidence to mo e onto the ne1t s$ill le el are more than li$ely to do it because they $now that they can do a necessary part of it. 4his student either feels li$e my class is not a place to try new things or puts a lot of pressure on himself to succeed. 2ither or both ways! it needs to be emphasi+ed with him that beha ior or academic challenges happen! and he has the s$ills to o ercome him.

4he same article ma$es some helpful suggestions regarding dealing with moti ation. 4o paraphrase! it%s important to reiterate to students that the goal is to achie e understanding! not 6ust the right answer. 4his would be reflected in my teaching with many formati e assessments and thorough feedbac$. Support also must be a careful balance of encouragement to continue wor$ing but also stepping in where necessary. ,ith this student! it will be necessary to identify moments when he does really need help and moments when he needs a short encouragement to start the assignment. '$ay! so one of the requirements for this step was that one of the hypotheses had to be related to your instruction. @ou mention your relationship to this student and ways you can reach him or support him but you did not mention specifically how something you are doing or not doing in the classroom could be the cause for his beha ior. 9or e1ample! the assignments you gi e in class or the sub6ect matter does not relate to the student. 'r if you notice a pattern of disengagement .i.e. student +ones out during writing time0! perhaps you could ma$e a conclusion to this as though you do not gi e him enough support during indi idual writing time. @ou mention this in your last hypothesis! but the hypothesis you mention does not relate to your instruction but to the student himself. (oes that ma$e senseA 'therwise! ery nicely done. 1/-17 Step >: Action 8lan 4he most important aspect of the student%s engagement is to ensure he understands that he can ma$e mista$es and it doesn%t impact his identity or credibility in the class. 4o do this! I will ta$e a range of steps! from a ery micro-indi dual le el to a whole class le el! which theoretically will benefit the whole class. I belie e the student needs to feel comfortable enough to try and as$ questions when needed. 1. Showing consistency across many practices pro ides a sense of stability for the student. 4his can range in aspects from ensuring his hat is off when class starts! grading! to beha ior e1petations. If I am consistent with my practices! the student will $now how to beha e or what to e1pect! negating any worry that he may fail without his $nowledge. 4he student should $now that he is in control and has the ability to function sucessfully in the classroom. 9urthermore! other students will benefit from a stable en ironment for similar reasons! establishing classroom norms and a sort of base on which we can all start. 4his also holds me to a higher standard to pro ide accurate feedbac$ on student performance! which can be difficult when assignments are late or the other myriad of issues that arise in a day. /. If I reference pre ious s$ills! the student may respond positi ly to the newer lessons! pro ided he feels successful. "y ta$ing time to point out the scaffolding! not 6ust doing it and students not $nowing that they can tac$le the tas$. Should I point out the s$ills needed! the student should feel able to try the problem if he does not initially understand it. >. Since writing step one and two! I ha e deliberately ta$en time to stop by his des$ and as$ about his day. 4his is often when I%m passing bac$ papers or monitoring group-indi idual progress on a tas$. ,hile I ha e not seen any huge changes! he has told me about wrestling and that he had a cold the pre ious day which was why he was absent from class. Along with

consistency! I hope the student feels more comfortable in the en iroment and less li$e he has to act li$e someone he thin$s he should be. :. 4he student has recently been tardy! sometimes more than 1? minutes. I belie e tal$ing to him for a moment in or 6ust after class will bring more light to the problem. He is coming from #ASA! a school that speciali+es in arts and humanties classes. It%s possible his ride is late or has been ha ing car troubles. If the beha ior is not eliminated! I will call home which has been pro en an effecti e method thus far for many students. 5. 4he upcoming unit requires a lot of student led-discussions. It%s a independent reading unit! thus a ariety of boo$s will be present and discussions will require a certain deep understanding of process. A dri e to complete the tas$ will be needed! and I thin$ if the student is moti ated! he can be a force. If I purposely put him in leadership positions that are suited to his strengths! he will rise to the occasion. It%s important to monitor his beha ior because if he feels inadequate! he and probably his group will be unable to complete the tas$ efficiently. I also want the leadership to arise organically) not forced by me. It is a ris$ to put responsibility on a somewhat olatile student but I belie e it will increase his senses of responsibility and control.
21cellent 6ob here. I want you to focus on how you can help this student .and all students0 find more connection to their tas$s in the classroom. I am sending along an article by (a id Bir$land from the 2nglish dept at CS3. @ou may ha e read it if you too$ a course with him. It might remind you of ways to reach him! help him see alue in the coursewor$ and feel confident in his wor$. 17-17 Also! I am assuming you did your IS with Hannah. ,hen you turn in your final draft with the reflection! please include somewhere in the document what you learned from your meeting with your partner. I mentioned that this was e1pected in an email I sent out. 8lease underline your inclusion of this so that I do not o erloo$ it. I donDt want you to lose out on those points.

Step :: 9inal Eeflection 4his past unit really enaged Eeginald. It was an independent unit that allowed for much student autonomy. He chose a boo$ called 9ist! Stic$! Bnife! 5un that really engaged him. He .and other students0 set a reading goal and had time in class to read. He settled into the rythym ery well and was e1cited to tal$ about his boo$ in one-on-one conferences and group discussions. He was hesitant to spea$ during an oral presentation! but the poster itself had an e1ample from his boo$ suggesting he participated in the creation and discussion of the poster. I too$ e1tra time to write on his paper! noting how hard he wor$ed and succeeded. He finished one particular assignment a wee$ early and I pointed this out to the whole class when handing bac$ papers. Students then came up to him and as$ed about the assignment. He was able to establish authority among peers and then did an e1tra assignment to show he truly mastered the s$ill. 4his was the first wee$ of the new unit! and it set the tone for the rest of the wee$s. 4he most disappointing part of this was the timing. ,e had a wee$ of testing in which I did not seem him for three days! and on 9riday after > days of testing! all the students were e1hausting

and beha ing quite odd. Eeginald was no e1ception! shouting out during moments when one person was addressing the whole class. 9erndale teachers often comment on the lac$ of student test-ta$ing endurance! noting how tired they get. I attribute Eeginald%s beha ior on that particular day to the e1haustion and my assignment of the final pro6ect. He! along with other students! felt o erwhelmed by the pro6ect! the prospect of ha ing to finish their boo$ in a wee$ and the disruption of a routine. It was a bad pratice to assign a pro6ect and I ha e learned how testing affects student beha ior .e en my A8 classes were wiped and unable to complete assignments0Howe er! the ne1t wee$ pro ed to be quite successful with the reestablishment of a daily schedule. I spo$e with him once about his tardies and he pointed to distance as an issue. He comes from Hannah%s class which is across the school. 4here are other students ma$ing the same route as him and are able to ma$e it! as I pointed out! and the tardies ha e been eliminated. His grade currently is a "-! close to a ". 4his shows his engagement and wor$ with the unit. 4he writing unit was difficult for him and many students noted how the prompts often were boring. (espite the prompts coming from a class brainstorm session! it suggests prompts need to be tied closer to their li es! or increased rele ancy. (uring writing time for the reading unit! I noticed he always too$ /-> e1tra minutes to begin writing. 'nce he began writing! he did not stop. 8erhaps he ta$es a time to thin$ about! which loo$s li$e +oning out. In the final unit I ha e with him! I want to ma$e sure I don%t 6ump on him when the writing tas$ is assigned. I often e1pect students to start right away! but it may be beneficial to obser e some ad6ustment time that allows for processing .still wor$ing this practice in this during discussions and oral assignments0. 4here is a distinction between processing and distraction) Eeginald helps to teach me what those loo$ li$e across students. I still don%t ha e it each time and I 6ump to *correct* students which may hurt relationships. Eeginald has not had any outbursts since his last and is still sha$y with full group discussions or acti ities. 4his unit is indi idually directed so that power increased the control he felt in class in small group or indi idual acti ities. He chose a boo$ that he wanted to read and thus was the sole owner of that $nowledge. "eing direct and open helped our relationship immensly as reflected in participation! questions to me! greetings in the morning! punctuality and completion of assignments. I laid out e1pectations or had him calculate the e1pectations! and he was able to rise to them.