Maggie Gearns

CEP 832

ABC Project Introduction

Part 1: Description of the challenging behavior

This year I have a student in my sixth grade science class, who I will call Arnold,

who presents some defiant and disrespectful behaviors. Arnold is currently failing

science and completes very few assignments. During class, he is often off task and

does not engage in his classwork. He completes little to no homework and fails most

assessments. However, I believe Arnold is a capable student. He is sometimes willing

to participate in class discussions and seems to demonstrate an understanding of the

content when he raises his hand to answer questions or comment on a lesson. At the

beginning of the year, he would raise his hand often. After a while he stopped

participating in class discussions as he became more defiant. He has just recently

started to participate again and I am hopeful that this is a step in the right direction for

him.

Besides his lack of engagement in his classwork, Arnold can be defiant. Several

times he has brought a toy skateboard to class. He refuses to put the skateboard away

when he is supposed to be working on his classwork. One day I told him he needed to

give the skateboard to me so I could hold onto it until the end of class. I had already

asked him to leave it in his locker for several days. He continued to refuse and told me
to “walk away”. I sent him to the assistant principal’s office for disrespect and

insubordination.

Arnold can also be disrespectful to his peers. One day a classmate suggested

that Arnold begin working on his assignment. Arnold told him to “shut the f up or I’ll

punch you in the face.” When I asked Arnold about the situation, he said that he was

not going to do it, but he didn’t deny making the threat. He has never been physically

violent, but his demeanor can come off as aggressive or angry. When he perceives that

he is in trouble, he often gets very quiet and will not make eye contact. His facial

expressions can appear defensive or angry.

(Revisions to part 1 due 2/2- observations are at the end):

The behaviors that are problematic with Arnold are not engaging in classwork,

bringing toys or other nuisance items to class, and his defensiveness when he is

redirected. The first two issues are tied to his defensive attitude. I find that Arnold is

least defiant and disruptive when he is left to himself. The confrontation of asking him

to become engaged in class leads to more of the defiant attitude and behavior.

However, while ignoring the behavior naturally leads to less opportunities for Arnold to

become defiant, it is not helpful in changing his lack of engagement in classwork or his

relationship with myself or his peers. I need to continue to work with Arnold to better

socialize him to the classroom.

Arnold’s behavior causes several challenges for my teaching. When he brings

toys or other nuisance items to class, his classmates are distracted during lessons and I
often have to stop to attempt to get Arnold to give me the items or put them away.

When he refuses, it causes a delay for his classmates and sets up a power struggle. If

he continues to be defiant, the other students see his behavior and think that he is

getting away with it, that I don’t care or that his poor behavior is being rewarded.

Arnold’s refusal to complete classwork is more of a “student owned” problem (Brophy,

1996). When Arnold becomes defensive it creates a power struggle between him and

myself and challenges my authority in the classroom.

At this point I am struggling to avoid the power struggle while still holding Arnold

accountable for his work and engagement in class. When I am feeling challenged by

his behavior, I notice that I avoid confrontation with him in order to try and not create

more of a disruption in the classroom. In doing this I am eliminating the “teacher

owned” problems that are created by his defensive reaction to being redirected, but I am

doing nothing to help him with the “student owned” problem of his poor academic

performance. I realize that I can not force him to pick up the pencil and start working,

but ignoring his behavior is not helping him. When I am challenged by Arnold I lack

confidence in my response to his behavior, what Brophy defines at “Ego Strength”. I

tend to let my own anxiety get in the way of having “realistic perceptions of self and

students”. I know that realistically, confronting Arnold likely won’t always go as poorly

as I assume it is going to. When Arnold brings toys to class and I ignore him to avoid

confrontation, I am not setting firm limits. As we move forward, I will try talking with

Arnold about why his toys are disruptive, reminding him that I believe he is a capable
student and will try some of the strategies for motivation from the Brophy text and the

Tough Kid Toolbox.

Part 2: Professional Stance

In working with this student, I have tried to take an authoritative stance. I have a

warm demeanor, greet students each day as they come into class, and have clear

expectations regarding classroom routines and procedures. I have had several

discussions with Arnold in which I have told him that I believe he is capable of doing his

work and have asked him what I can do to help him get back on track. I use cueing to

help remind Arnold of the expectations without singling him out.

However, I have not done enough to hold Arnold accountable for his work or

reinforce desired behavior when it occurs. Arnold is resistant to help and can be

defensive when help is offered. In trying to avoid confrontation and not knowing how to

help Arnold, I have been too lenient in allowing him to sit passively during class,

ignoring his lack of participation. Brophy says that ignoring misbehavior “will confuse

students or leave them with the impression that you are not aware of what is going on,

are unable to cope with it, or don’t care (pg.31). I am concerned that by ignoring his

behavior, I have sent the message to Arnold that I don’t care whether or not he

completes his assignments. There are several strategies discussed in chapter two of

the Brophy text that I think could be effective for Arnold, including contingency

contracting and use of effective praise. Going forward I will try to implement these
strategies and restate my expectations, while reminding Arnold of why his engagement

in class is important to his success.

As I contemplated working with challenging students I noticed several attributes

for effective socializers that I have developed during my first five years of teaching, and

several that I continue to struggle with. As a new teacher, I struggled with confidence

and interacting with students within a student-teacher relationship. I wanted to get to

know my students and build relationships with them, but struggled to maintain authority

while doing so. I have come a long way in developing this attribute and now feel much

more confident as the authority figure in my classroom, while still having a friendly

demeanor and being liked by students. I have firm but flexible limits. Students ask for

privileges that we negotiate based on whether I think they can effectively handle the

privilege while still maintaining a productive classroom environment. For example,

students have assigned seats but can earn the privilege of choosing a friend to work

with by following classroom rules and staying focused. I project positive expectations

by treating students as good people who sometimes make mistakes. I sometimes still

struggle with consistency and clarity in my expectations. For example, I sometimes

allow students to move around the room when they are working independently.

Sometimes my students will take it upon themselves to move seats without permission,

if I have not specifically told them otherwise.

Defiant behavior is especially challenging for me to work with, because I tend to

lack confidence in my own expectations. When a student outright refuses to do

something, I realize that I often can not make them do the things that they are refusing

to do. I am at a loss for how to handle these situations. Brophy says “You have the

right and responsibility to exert leadership and impose control, but you will be more

successful in doing so if you are understanding and supportive of students and if you

make sure students understand the reasons behind your demands in addition to stating

the demands themselves.” (Brophy, 21). I need to learn strategies for better

communicating my support and understanding to students when making demands. I

think my strengths include my warm and calm demeanor. I do not get upset when

students are defiant and this keeps the situation from escalating.

Getting parents to respond to emails or to hold students accountable for their

work at home seems especially difficult. Often, I have difficulty getting parents to

respond to emails regarding student behavior. Sometimes students are put on a plan

where they get their assignment book initialed each day to keep track of homework.

Often with “tough kids” there is no follow through at home, so even if the assignments

are written down their parents do not check to ensure that they are completed.

Part 3: Observations (due 2/2)

While observing Arnold over the last two weeks I noticed some improvement in

his class participation and behavior. He did not bring the toys to class last week. On

Thursday he did not have his homework complete. I asked students who did not do

their homework to go into the hallway while we corrected the assignment, and then to
turn in the assignment with a late pass the following day. Arnold did not follow my

directions and tried to stay in the classroom. I asked him directly to go into the hallway,

and he complied with my request without issue.

When he returned from the hallway, I asked Arnold and two other students who

did not complete their homework to finish the assignment before starting the classwork

assignment for that day. Their classmates were working on a virtual lab on the

chromebooks during class, and I thought the lab might motivate them to get the review

assignment complete so they could use the chromebooks. Also, I wanted Arnold and

the other’s to see that they are capable of completing the homework and they will be

held accountable for doing so. When I asked him to do the homework, he did not talk

back or get defensive. He took out the assignment and put it on his desk. I walked

away to give him a chance to get started. He sat and played with his pencil and eraser

for several minutes, but did eventually start working on the assignment. When he

started working, he was not entirely focused and only answered a few questions, but

this engagement is still an improvement from the first semester. When this was going

well, I noticed that I was projecting positive expectations by reminding Arnold to get to

work and then giving him the opportunity to do so, without reprimanding him or

“nagging” him to get going. I also displayed patience and determination, by waiting

several minutes to give him a chance to work, which he eventually did without further

requests (Brophy, 1996).

 Arnold seems to be well adapted to the classroom when he is left alone. He

does not like to be singled out and is easily embarrassed. He seems to be reactively

aggressive towards his peers. Brophy (1996) states, “reactively aggressive children

tend to be paranoid- prone to interpret neutral or even prosocial behavior of peers as

aggressive in intent” (pg. 179) Arnold often responds aggressively to offers to help from

myself or his classmates, as if he believes there is some negative intent behind the

offer. This week he moved himself to a table at the back of the classroom where he

could work alone. While he did not cause any problems for anyone while he was back

there, he did not get any work done. He seems to work better with boys, and with peers

who are confident in themselves but will leave him alone and not challenge him. Group

work, particularly science lab activities, are challenging for Arnold, as he has difficulty

being a cooperative group member and interprets requests from his group members as

them telling him what to do. During whole class discussions he is usually not disruptive

but sometimes whispers comments to the students around him or plays with nuscience

items.

Arnold’s strengths include his sense of humor and his participation in class

discussions. When he is in a good mood, Arnold has a playful personality and likes to

tease. Earlier in the year I twisted together a blue and yellow pipe cleaner while

students were building models of cells. Arnold has a good relationship with his math

teacher, who is a huge Michigan State fan and hates anything with maize and blue.

Arnold thought it would be funny to put the yellow and blue pipe cleaners on her desk to

tease her. I allowed him to take the pipe cleaners and he was very proud of himself for
getting them on her desk without her noticing, but he did tell on me when she asked

where they came from. He also likes to make his classmates laugh. He will sometimes

raise his hand and give a “silly” answer to a question. He gets a big smile on his face,

but it is sometimes hard to tell if he is doing it to make his classmates laugh or to draw

attention to himself. Other times, he raises his hand and offers good, serious answers

to questions, with sound reasoning. At these times he demonstrates his capabilities

and understanding of content. I will continue working on setting firm limits with Arnold,

while building a relationship and using strategies for positive reinforcement and

motivation.
Element 2:

Data collection-

Behavior Observed:
Playing with toys or other objects when expected to be engaged in classwork or
listening.

Data:

# of Target Behaviors: 1

(Target behavior: playing with toys or pencil when expected to be engaged in

classwork or listening).

Time/Activity Independent Work Whole Class Testing

on chromebooks Reading/
Discussion (Friday 2/7
(Thurs 2/6 9:00-9:45am)
9:14-9:44) (Mon. 2/10
8:50-9-45am)

Target
7 3 0
Student

Comparison
1 2 0
Peer

Observational Notes:

2/6- Arnold was playing with his toy skateboard during class when he was supposed to

be working on his chromebook lesson. He put the skateboard away when asked, but

took it out again after a few minutes. Arnold had difficulty logging into the platform to
view his assignment. He did not ask for help and sat for five minutes until I came to him

and helped him log in.

2/7- Arnold was occasionally distracted and sat staring for a minute or two, but for the

most part worked hard on his vocabulary test. He did not have any toys or distractable

items today.

2/10- Arnold was respectful and quiet during our review for the unit test. He talked with

his peers a few times when he should have been quiet, but quickly stopped when I

looked at him.

2. Data Analysis:

The behavior is occurring most frequently during times when students are

working on assignments with groups. The behavior occurs least frequently during tests

and when students are working on review activities on the Chromebooks. During this

time there is an opportunity to win candy, which seems motivating for Arnold.

When the behavior is most frequent, students are working on assignments

independently or in groups. This is usually reading and answering questions in their

science textbook or working on review packets. When the behavior is least frequent,

students are usually engaged in review games on the chromebook (Quizlet or Quizizz)

or quietly working on a test.

 No one is involved with Arnold when he is playing with nuscience items, however

he will occasionally talk with the student near him while he is playing. When the

behavior is not occuring, Arnold is usually working by himself.

Engaging activities on the Chromebooks, independent work and high stakes

assignments such as tests lead to more adaptive behavior. I can make more of those

situations happen by incorporating more chromebook work or using chromebook time

as a reinforcer for Arnold to motivate him to get his work done. I can also see if having

times where students are required to work by themselves on their assignment leads to

better focus for Arnold. It is interesting that he is able to stay mostly on task during a

testing situation, and I’m wondering if creating a quiet, distraction free classroom for part

of the hour would be beneficial for him.

3. Strategy Selection, Description, and Rationale

Goal: Arnold will complete at least 80% of his classwork.

Intervention Plan:

Arnold presents several challenging behaviors that I will address in this

intervention plan. I chose to work with Arnold because of his occasional

hostile/aggressive outbursts, defiant behavior and his lack of positive peer relationships.

Recently, Arnold has been much less defiant and more cooperative during class. I am

encouraged by his recent improvement, and I would like to focus on his

underachievement as a next step. I have also included a plan to address aggressive

behavior if it reoccurs.

Arnold displays several characteristics of an underachieving student. He is not

oriented towards achievement. He is poorly motivated and does minimum work.

Brophy (1996) lists personal and behavioral characteristics that have been linked to

underachievement. The characteristics that I see in Arnold include; low self-concept;

low perception of abilities; responding impulsively rather than thoughtfully to

assignments; poor peer relationships; and oppositional and aggressive response to

authority (pg. 140). The following plan will address Arnold’s underachievement.

Step 1: Conference with Arnold. I will meet with Arnold and commend him for the

improvements he has made over the last several weeks. I will let him know that I know

he is very capable and wants to do well in class, and I want to work with him to improve

his class performance over the next semester. We will discuss the need for change,

and I will talk to him about what gets in the way of his success at school. I will help him

link his excuses to natural consequences and own his problems. I will ask Arnold to

help generate possible solutions for any excuses that he makes, focusing on classwork

and engagement during independent or partner work time. We will then shift the

discussion to motivators. I will talk with Arnold about possible reinforcers that he would

like to earn as a reward for increasing his work completion. He is interested in

skateboards and computer/video games. He also responds well to candy as a

reinforcer. We will list several reinforcers on slips of paper and put them in a container.
Some possible reinforcers are a piece of candy, a mustang dollar, ten minutes to play a

game the next time we use chromebooks, ten minutes to play with his skateboard, bring

a toy to class pass, choose your seat for a day, line up at the door at the end of class,

listen to music pass. When Arnold follows through on the contract in Step 2, he will be

able to choose a mystery motivator (Jensen, Rhode & Reavis, 2009).

Step 2: Set up a contingency contract. I will create a contract with Arnold that

surrounds our goal. I will use the template from the Tough Kid Tool Box. I will start with

partial completion of assignments and work towards full completion through successive

approximations. The first goal would be for Arnold to complete at least 60% of his

classwork assignment. He will need to show me his completed work at the end of the

class period to verify that he has completed the work. I will stamp or initial his contract

each day. At the end of the week, if Arnold has completed at least 60% of all classwork,

he will receive his reward. For the second week, Arnold will be responsible for 70% of

his classwork. By week 3, Arnold will need to complete 80% of his classwork to receive

his reward. If Arnold does not meet his goal for a given week, his goal will remain the

same for the following week.

Step 3: Positive reinforcement/affect

I will use praise to reinforce Arnold for positive behavior. I will specifically look for

instances when Arnold is on task and focused on his work, self-monitors and corrects

his own off task behavior, or shows positive interactions with peers. I will display

positive affect towards Arnold and work to build a positive relationship with him by

showing interest in his goals and hobbies.

Plan for possible hostile/aggressive behavior:

If Arnold has another aggressive outburst like he did earlier in the school year, I will use

the following strategies: I will talk with Arnold about why aggressive behavior is not an

appropriate response and how it affects our classroom. I will set firm limits for

aggressive behavior. This may include consequences such as a parent contact, office

referral or detention as needed. I will work with Arnold on the five step approach to test

social perceptions before acting on them. The steps include encoding, interpretation,

response search, response decision, and enactment (Brophy, 1996). Arnold needs to

slow down when interpreting the actions of others and searching for a response. I will

help him to do this by talking through difficult situations with him and helping him see

that the intentions of his classmates are usually good. Arnold is easily embarrassed

and worries about how others perceive him. I will use Brophy’s technique of explaining

to him that when he acts aggressively he is being manipulated into losing control. He

needs to respond more maturely in order to look good in front of his classmates

(Brophy, 1996).

Rationale:

Brophy discussed research on several strategies for addressing

underachievement. Some researchers focused on pressuring underachievers to stop

making excuses and start taking responsibility for their performance. Others focused on

building relationships, encouraging persistence, using successive approximations to

move students from partial to full completion of assignments, setting goals and offering
praise (Brophy, 1996) Due to Arnold's resistance to authority, I have decided to take an

approach that focuses more on building relationships, positive reinforcement and praise,

rather than pressure and coercion.

For aggressive behavior, Brophy (1996) suggests a comprehensive approach

that incorporates various strategies. There are several cognitive errors that often occur

in students with aggressive tendencies that I see reflected in Arnold’s behavior. He

seems to make errors when encoding and interpreting social cues from adults and

sometimes peers. For example, Arnold can be defensive when redirected. He also

interprets suggestions or neutral statements by classmates as aggressive in intent. I

have chosen to incorporate the five step approach described in the Brophy text to help

Arnold challenge some of these cognitive errors and paranoia and to think about ways

to respond more appropriately.

Talking with Arnold about his aggressive behavior will help him to realize how his

behavior is perceived by classmates and work on finding other ways to express

frustration. Brophy (1996) says that students with aggressive behavior “are often

unaware of their own behavior, how it is perceived by others and the unintended side

effects that it has, so that they overvalue the potential benefits and underappreciate the

potential costs of acting aggressively” (pg. 182). He also stated the need to make it

clear that aggressive behavior will not be tolerated. This is why I have included the

possibility of a referral to administration, parent contact or detention, if it becomes

necessary.
 I will help myself to shift back to an effective stance by remaining calm and

remembering that I need to help Arnold to learn to be a better student by socializing him

in the classroom. I will use mindfulness strategies to help myself be aware of how I am

feeling when interacting with Arnold and responding to his behavior. I will maintain

realistic perceptions of myself and my students and clarity in our roles to help me be

confident is setting firm but flexible limits and following through. I will also project

positive expectations by incorporating positive reinforcement and praise when needed.

I will remind myself that Arnold is a child who perceives the actions or intent of others

differently. He needs support to keep from acting on his false perceptions and begin

analyzing the situation before responding with aggression.

Chapter 3 Elements:

1. Strategy Implementation

Date Plan Implementation

2/17 Mid-winter break (no school)

2/18 Mid-winter break (no school)

2/19 I met with Arnold during my prep hour for our initial conferences as

described in the plan. I told Arnold that I have noticed the growth he has

shown this year- he has become less defensive and more friendly towards

his peers. I told him that I can tell from his contributions to class

discussions that he is very smart and seems to understand what we are

learning. I told him that I would love to see his grades reflect how smart he

is, and to make this happen we need to work together to help him get his

assignments complete and turned in.

I asked Arnold ‘what gets in the way of your success at school?’. He was

quiet at first and said he didn’t know. Even after pressing I was unable to

get his thoughts on this. Knowing that Arnold is likely to shut down or

become defensive if he feels that he is in trouble, I decided to shift the

discussion to motivators.
 Arnold and I talked about possible motivators he could work towards for

getting his work done. After discussing possibilities, I asked him to choose

three he liked the best. He chose:

1) Candy

2) Choosing his seat for a day

3) Ten minutes to play a game on the chromebooks at the end of class.

I discussed the contingency contract with Arnold. He agreed to the goal of

completing at least 60% of his work in class for the first week, and

increasing the goal by 10% each week until we reach at least 80%.

2/20 In class, students worked on a final project for our ecosystems unit in

which they had to write a newspaper article describing how to save

“Pleasant Pond” from a dangerous Algal bloom. Arnold worked on his

project during the hour but seemed to be off task several times talking to

one of his classmates. This is a multi-day project, so it was difficult to

gauge a percent completed. At the end of the hour, Arnold had only

completed three (small) parts of his project out of a total of 10 sections. He

did not meet his goal today.

2/21 (Arnold was absent)

2/24 I reminded Arnold of his goal and that it is a new week. In class, we

launched a new topic and students read the first lesson of our new unit by
 themselves. Arnold read and completed 6 out of the 8 pages assigned.

He did meet his goal for the day.

Note: Arnold did not turn in his Pleasant Pond project that was due today.

2/25 Students finished reading the section from the previous day and

completing the work in their textbooks. Arnold completed the section,

although some of his answers on the lesson check lacked effort. He did

meet his goal of 60% work completion for the day.

2/26 Snow day- No school

2/27 Snow day- No school

2/28 Students did a group activity to model symbiotic relationships and then

watched a 25 minute video. Arnold was engaged in the activity and was

not disruptive during the video, so I said that he met the goal even though

there was no individual assignment to complete today.

Arnold earned his mystery motivator this week, which was a piece of

candy.

2. Description of Changes in Your Practice

In meeting with Arnold, I was able to get to know his personality a little better.

Although he is not what I would consider shy, I do believe that he lacks confidence in
himself. For example, he would not respond when asked what got in the way of his

success at school, and he seemed to shut down as if he was in trouble or embarrassed

by his lack of success. I think this lack of confidence is part of the reason for his

defensive attitude, and I hope that in showing him I want to work with him, he will

become less defensive and more willing to work.

My stance towards Arnold has become more confident. I am developing the

attributes of “realistic perceptions of self and students” and “clarity about roles and

comfort in playing them” (Brophy, 1996). I was apprehensive to talk to Arnold because I

did not know how he would react. He is a student who, when left alone, does not cause

much disruption but also does not engage in class activities. When he is challenged

with expectations, he can become hostile or aggressive. It would be easy to ignore him

and allow him to continue to not engage in class, but this would not be helpful to him. I

am learning to not allow my own apprehension about his hostility to get in the way of my

expectations for his success.

3. Problems and Prospects

So far, it seems the strategy is working for Arnold. I was concerned when he did

not meet his goal and finish his project during the first week. When we started a new

unit he seemed to be more engaged and more willing to work. Two snow days this

week limited the amount of time that I had to observe Arnold and track his work

completion. This may have also been a benefit to Arnold, as he had fewer days in

which he had to work to achieve his goal. At the end of the week, he was successful in
meeting his goal due to completing his assignment from Monday/Tuesday and being on

task during our activities on Friday. Completing his book assignment independently was

an improvement over his previous effort.

One problem with implementation of the strategy is how to hold Arnold

accountable for his goal on days where there is no independent classwork to monitor.

For example, on Friday the class completed a group activity in which we modeled

symbiotic relationships through building a tower of paper cups in three different ways.

We also watched a Magic School Bus video on interactions in ecosystems. At the end

of the hour, Arnold had nothing to show for his participation, by no fault of his own.

However, I observed him engaged during the group activity, and he was quiet during the

video although maybe not entirely focused. Brophy (1996) discusses “shaping through

successive approximations” in which students work towards sub-goals that are related

to an overall larger goal (pg. 26). This is the way I have structured the contract with

Arnold. According to Brophy, teachers should “help students to recognize and

appreciate the progress they have made, and thus to see that higher expectations are

now appropriate” (pg. 26). I decided to say that Arnold met his goal and reward him,

despite there not being an assignment on Friday, so that he could experience some

initial success and reinforcement for his positive steps earlier in the week.

Another observation that may interfere with the success of the intervention is

Arnold’s peers. On 2/20, when Arnold did not complete his project, he was working at

the back table in the classroom with another student who also struggles to complete

work. Although they both appeared to be working throughout the class period and
asked questions when I came to check in on them, neither student had much to show at

the end of the hour. The following week, Arnold was much more engaged in class work

when working on his own, in a quiet classroom environment. This was something I had

noticed in previous observations. Arnold seems to do better with completing work when

he is working alone and not distracted by other students' conversations. I will create

this type of quiet working environment for Arnold as frequently as possible to help him

be successful in the intervention.

The attributes for effective socialization that I can use more often in working with

Arnold are modeling, projecting positive expectations, and using firm but flexible limits. I

can model positive interactions by being polite and friendly when interacting with

students, especially Arnold. While Arnold does not seem to find praise reinforcing at the

moment, I can continue to model positive interactions and pair praise with other

reinforcement to begin helping Arnold respond positively to social reinforcement.

(Jenson, Rohde & Revis, 2009, pg. 56). I can project positive expectations by focusing

on what Arnold should be doing and providing redirection, rather than criticism. Brophy

(1996) suggests teachers “emphasize guidelines for more appropriate behavior rather

than personal criticism” (pg. 23). I can continue to work on having firm but flexible limits

and allowing students to negotiate privileges based on meeting expectations. I tend to

allow students to have privileges first, with the expectation that they will follow through.

For example, I will give them the privilege of choosing a partner to work with, with the

expectation that they will be on task. According to Jenson, Rohde & Revis (2009), it is

more effective to have students meet expectations first and “earn” privileges, rather than
losing privileges for not following through. This was referred to in the Tough Kid Book

as “Grandma’s Law” (Jenson, Rohde & Revis, 2009, pg. 58). Instead of giving

privileges first, I can have students work independently for the first 20 minutes of class,

and then allow them to work with partners after they have shown me that they are on

task. Arnold has shown that he works best independently. This would make him

accountable for being on task before being allowed to work with a friend.

4. Updated Strategy Descriptions (including parent strategies, if any)

After implementing the strategy for two weeks, I realize that having Arnold

receive a mystery motivator for meeting his goal every day of the week leaves open the

possibility that he will lose motivation if he does not meet his goal one day early on in

the week. For example as it is written now, if he refuses to work on Monday, Arnold can

not meet his goal for the week and has no incentive to work on Tuesday-Friday. I am

going to revise his goal to require him to meet the goal for 4 consecutive school days,

instead of each week. I will need to talk with Arnold about this revision and explain the

reasoning behind this change.

I reached out to Arnold’s mother on 2/24 to make her aware of the plan to help

Arnold with completing his work and improving his performance in class. I would like for

her to reinforce Arnold at home by praising him when he meets his goal, providing

encouragement or using other positive reinforcement strategies. I have not received a

response from his mother at this time.

References:

Brophy, J. E. (1996). Teaching problem students. New York: Guilford Press.

Jenson, W., Rhode, G., R., & Reavis, H. K. (2009). The Tough Kid Tool Box. Eugene,

OR: Pacific Northwest Publishing.

Rhode, G., Jenson, W. R., & Reavis, H. K. (2010). The Tough Kid Book (2nd ed.).

Eugene, Or.: Pacific Northwest Pub.