Child Case Study

EDI 380-01
Option 2

Areli Berlanga
 Participant Information
Home Life
Name: Nikki
The child lives in a single parent home. She
lives with father and grandmother. She hasn’t
Age: 9 years old
seen her siblings since she moved to
Michigan with her dad. Her mother is serving
Gender: Female
a seven year prison sentence in Illinois. Nikki
has only visited her mom twice in the past
Ethnicity: Black
six months.
Interests: Music and PE
Why?
Areas of need: Reading, math, and I selected Nikki because of her personal
managing behavior. background. Students behaviors can get
misjudged and misunderstood without
IEP: Under review looking deep into the context of their
situation. I believe that there are strategies
that can help improve Nikki’s behavior in
classroom.

Daily Schedule
● Breakfast at 8:00-8:15 a.m.
● Morning circle 8:15-8:30 a.m.
● Literacy block 8:30-10:30 a.m.
● Recess 10:30 a.m.
● Specials 10:45-11:45 a.m.
● Lunch 11:45-12:15pm.
● Math Block 12:15-2:15 p.m.
● Social Studies or Science
Rotation 2:15-3:00 p.m.
● Clean up and dismissal 3:00-
3:10 p.m.
Classroom Context
Nikki’s classroom consists of 24 students. There are ten boy
students and 14 girl students. 12 students who are identify as
ELL, 4 students with IEPs, 6 students with 504 plans. All
students receive free breakfast and lunch. The classroom
instruction is in-person. There is flexible seating expect during
literacy and math block.
Expectations
Students are expected to read at their appropriate reading level
during independent reading and to fill out worksheet at the
end. In PE class, students are expected to bring their tennis
shoes.
 Classroom Management Strategy Description and Justification
Challenging Behavior
Nikki appears to struggle with
following classroom
procedures during in-class
activities.
According to the observation,
Nikki appeared to take a while to
settle down for independent
reading. She got up and sharpen
her pencil several times and
would focus on recycling her
science worksheet.
Recommendation
A recommendation that Nikki’s
teacher can implement is the
Teach, Rehearse, and Reinforce
strategy.
Justification
It is important that Nikki’s teacher
teaches, models, and practice step by
step the procedures before assigning a
task. This will explicitly help Nikki
be more aware on what to do. The
rehearse part is crucial because it will
enforce Nikki to practice and make it
a habit to follow classroom
procedures.
The recommendation will help Nikki
start and finish classroom tasks as
well as follow the classroom norms.
 Classroom Management Strategy Description and Justification
Challenging Behavior
According to the fourth
observation, Nikki missed
majority of morning circle due
to her sleepiness.
Recommendation
A recommendation that can be
implemented is allow for
movement strategy.
Justification
Allow for movement strategy will
help Nikki to slowly wake up and
gain energy. It is important that Nikki
is given opportunity to move around
or take a drink for the water fountain.
This will help for her to become more
present in the classroom. Therefore,
she will not miss important
instructional time/classroom activies.
 Classroom Management Strategy Description and Justification
Challenging Behavior
According to the fourth
observation, Nikki missed
majority of morning circle due
to her sleepiness.
Recommendation
Another recommendation that
Nikki’s teacher can used is to
determine the cause of Nikki’s
sleepiness.
Justification
It is crucial that Nikki’s teacher tries
to find the root to Nikki’s sleepiness.
Not only will the teacher gain a
clearer understanding to Nikki’s
situation but it can also prompt for the
teacher and Nikki to come up with a
plan that can help lessen sleepiness in
the classroom. Therefore,
investigating the cause for sleepiness
in classroom can help prevent from it
happening again and allow for the
student to be present in the classroom.
 Classroom Management Strategy Description and Justification

Challenging Behavior Recommendation Justification

Nikki appears to be off tasks or
distracted during in-class work
time. She talks and distracts
some of her classmates when
they are to work on their
activities.
A recommendation that can be
implemented by the teacher is to
provide needed instruction.
Providing needed instruction can be
used with check-ins for understanding
and assisting the student. This will
help Nikki stay on task and receive
the extra support that she needs. It
will also reduce the constant
distractions that may typically arise.
 Conclusions
One tentative conclusion that appears to be a pattern within the observations and analysis is the quick disinterest
in challenging tasks. I noticed that when Nikki finds something too challenging such as staying still during
reading or doing PE activities with her normal shoes, she distracts other students by having side conversations or
works on something else that is irrelevant to the task. A second tentative conclusion is that Nikki appears to be a
social butterfly. According to the observations, a lot of the times Nikki is socializing with her classmates. A third
tentative conclusion is that independent work appears to be a challenge with Nikki. She is able to be engaged and
cooperatively participate in math (her least favorite subject) when it is a whole class lesson. The moment it
becomes independent work that is when the distractions arise.

These conclusions will help me in the future with my own students because it made realized need specific
support. For instance, Nikki thrives when she is taught in a whole class instruction. This makes sense since she
appears to like to socialize. However, to get students into the habit of being independent, it is important provide
different approaches. In this case, have Nikki work in small group work before fully transitioning into
independent work. These conclusions also helped me become more aware of the strengths of a student and to
think of ways to really enhance that during challenging moments. Also, these conclusions assured me to be
empathic, I consider Nikki’s personal situation (divorced parents, incarcerated mother, and separation from
siblings) to be traumatic. Therefore, before judging a student for their misbehavior, it is important that I determine
the underlying cause of the behavior and apporach it with empathy.
 Recommendations
1. Build Supportive Relationships with Students and Parents
a. It is crucial to put in the effort to build strong relationships with students and their parents. It will
help with communication, understanding, and finding a middle ground when issues arise.

2. Interventions
a. Providing time for interventions with help with reflection on the student’s behavior and monitor the
student’s behavior.

3. Behavior Report Cards

a. Behavior report cards can be more specific and personalized. It can focus more clearly on the major
behavioral targets that are met or not met. It can also involve the student, teacher, and parent/guardian
to work collaborative on reaching the main goals.
 References

Evertson, Carolyn M., and Edmund T. Emmer. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT for Elementary Teachers. 10th
ed., Pearson, pp. 1-325.

Thompson, Julia G. The First-Year Teacher's Survival Guide: Ready-to-Use Strategies,Tools, & Activities for
Meeting the Challenges of Each School Day. 4th ed., San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2018, pp. 1-451.

Wong, K. and Wong, R. (2013). The classroom management book. Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc: CA.