CASE STUDY: He Just Needs A Little Discipline

BACKGROUND

Matt is a struggling eighth-grade student who is dealing with several personal and at-home issues. He has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder since the second grade. He is emotionally suffering with the loss of his mother, difficult for anyone at Matt’s age. And, his father, Mr. Snyder, denies the positive effects of pharmacological treatment (Ritilan) have previously had on Matt’s behavior.

Mr. Snyder’s approach to Matt’s issues of impulsivity, emotional outbursts of frustration, anxiety, and poor academic performance is to reinforce strict discipline. He often yells at Matt, physically pulls his arm to gain his attention and grounds him for a month when Matt’s behavior results in his dismissal from the boys’ basketball team. We can also assume Mr. Snyder is juggling many personal issues including the loss of his wife, Matt’s constant behavioral and academic issues, as well as the stress of running a small business. More importantly for this case study is Mr. Snyder has run out of solutions in parenting Matt. He is frustrated and is acting emotionally to Matt’s issues. It is quite possible Matt is mirroring his father’s behavior.

Matt’s teachers have tried several approaches to mostly negative results. The case study focuses more on his frustration and outbursts in language arts, a class Matt’s teachers know he does not like. His team of teachers, which includes Jill the special education specialist, has modified several aspects of Matt’s day. He is provided lecture notes and often paired him with another student on writing assignments. He is also given extra time to finish work and is offered a secluded area in which to do it. Jill has taken further steps by working with him individually for nearly half the class period and developed a contract rewarding extra computer time.

Even with these modifications, Matt’s behavior persisted. Finally, the team and school principal agreed to send Matt to the office and call home when his disruptions escalated warranted it. This caused further problems as Matt’s father would yell at him over the phone. This caused great anxiety in Matt. And he appeared to feel helpless.

ANALYSIS

Mr. Snyder’s apprehension concerning his son’s Ritalin prescription is understandable. He doesn’t want Matt to be dependent on the drug to behave. Mr. Snyder would prefer Matt changes his behavior on his own. The issue at hand is Matt does not seem capable of self-control at this point in his life. It is also telling that Matt was required by his father to stop taking Ritalin after Ms. Snyder passed away. Maybe the question we should be asking is how does Mr. Snyder’s behavior affect his son’s behavior at school.

Research has shown a combination of pharmacology and behavioral modifications lend the most effective results in students. Also, such an approach alleviates child anxiety, improves academic performance, parent-child interaction and oppositional behavior (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). It appears this approach would best fit Matt current situation. His relationship with his father is strained at best; he demonstrates strong anxiety when the principal threatens to call his father and his academic performance is suffering from his inability to focus. But, keep in mind this is not a pharmacology-only method. The team of teachers should use proven academic and behavioral methods and home-school interventions tested on students diagnosed with ADHD. Mr. Snyder should be educated on this fact. A prescription of pharmacology should also be matched with a collaborative, structured behavior modification plan, similar to that which the teachers currently employ. Jill and Matt’s teachers should continue to use the secluded area of the classroom so he can better focus on his work. They should chunk the lesson into smaller parts so he may focus on one step of the lesson at a time without distraction – not as punishment (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). They should continue to provide him with lecture notes. They could also gear assignments to Matt’s personal interests, like basketball. The school could also try to reunite Matt with the basketball team – maybe not as a player, but as a team manager. They could also ask Matt about his mother. Does he miss his mother? What does he remember the most? Have him think about her and have him express his feelings through writing, conversation, pictures, or drawings. If he can control his behavior and demonstrate impulse control while unlocking some inner feelings, this could help alleviate some of the anxieties he may hold.

To be honest, the world is an unhappy place in Matt’s view. He is frustrated with school, home, and himself. He needs support and not the kind he is receiving from his father in its present form. The school can help by not making every school-to-parent interaction a negative one. Research shows that effective school-to-home communication in imperative (Davern, 2004). Instead of sending Matt to call his father every time Matt disrupts class, Jill should try to simply remove him from the classroom. She should talk with Matt about his behavior, try to calm him down, discuss with him as to what are acceptable choices and get right back to work. The team of teachers and the school counselor should devise a daily behavior plan showing both positive and negative behaviors, improvement, and failures. Then, they should communicate such progressions and digressions to the father. No matter how frustrating life may seem to Matt and his father, they need to feel progress is being made. Every communication cannot be a here-we-go-again moment.

There are several aspects of this case study that do not provide enough information to examine Matt’s case further. The following are several questions, as an outsider, I would like to know about the school, his team of teachers, his past academic and behavioral status and his social life.

Who are Matt’s friends? How does he act outside of the classroom with peers? Are his peers positive influences? Does he share his feelings or display impulsivity around his friends? These are important questions because he may use his friends as an outlet to blow off steam about school and life. Also, there is the possibility that peers can be a good or bad influence on Matt’s behavior. Matt may feel he needs pharmacology to help his current status (after all, he is a thinking, feeling human being). Is he using drugs or alcohol outside of school to help cope with his inner feelings? Such a situation would further disrupt Matt’s progress at school and raise further questions as how to deal with Matt’s behavior. There is no evidence in this case study to accuse Matt of such drug or alcohol use, but as an educator of middle school students and early adolescents, such issues are of immediate importance, especially knowing his prior use of pharmacological stimulants. If he has positive peer influences, who are they? When do they see Matt behave rationally/irrationally? What triggers do they see which cause him to snap outside of school? What is their perception of how he interacts with his father?

As far as the school structure is concerned: What have his sixth- and seventh-grade teachers experienced with Matt’s behavior. How did they deal with his outbursts? What worked? What didn’t? Does the current eighth-grade team meet daily and do they communicate about Matt’s behavior? How does Matt behave in his exploratory courses such as art, music, technology or physical education? Is there a person in the district who is a trained grief counselor? Are there other students in the school district who have experienced a death of a parent? Are there peer group organizations for such an issue? Are there single-parent organizations? Does the school have the capacity to organize such a group?

Mr. Snyder has a strong contention on his singular issue – Matt must eventually be able to regulate his behavior on his own. But, Matt is still a 14-year-old boy dealing with several personal, home and school issues. He has been diagnosed with a learning disability, which, with proper medication and behavior modification, can be controlled to make his life in the present more sustainable. But, now is not the time to say Matt should be on his own behavioral path. He is ill equipped to handle such a burden. A multi-modal approach of medication and behavioral modification should be administered. Matt needs to express his thoughts about school, the loss of his mother and his relationship with his father. His father should be the primary direction of communication, but that communication should not be all negative. Mr. Snyder should see foundations of progress and be encouraged that there is hope. The teachers should not react impulsively to Matt’s outbursts but react calmly, displaying a sense of control and understanding. They should also be firm in explaining such outbursts are not acceptable in the classroom and that there are consequences for such actions. Matt requires specific modifications to the daily structure of school. A collaboration of understanding and a positive relationship between the team of teachers, Matt’s father, and Matt himself would be best to direct Matt to a hopeful future. All parties are involved and invested in this one boy’s future. They must be understanding, firm, truthful, and open to ideas.

In the end, this case study is describing one child in several hundred at this particular school, all of which have their own unique, tragic, hopeful, needy and immediate concerns. A school should not silence those needs to promote a false sense of harmony, or deal with them in the easiest, most deflective manner. They should attempt to take on such challenges, using up-to-date psychological and educational literature, to create systems, lines of communication and interactive designs with the goal of meeting each student’s needs. There are many restraints and the school organization will come up short in many instances. But, the will of the individuals who truly care about the students coming through their path will, in the end, make an impact – however small or large – in each child’s life.

WORK CITED

Davern, L. (2004). School-to-home notebooks: What parents have to say. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 36(5), 22-27.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs, Identifying and treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A resource for school and home. Washington, D.C., 2002. Retrieved December 6, 2004, from http://www.ed.gove/about /reports/annual/osep/index.html.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs, Teaching children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Instructional strategies and practices. Washington, D.C., 2004. Retrieved on December 6, 2004, from http://www.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/osep/index.html.

University of Kansas, Lawrence, The Beach Center on Families and Disability. (n.d.). How to maximize fathers’ involvement with their children who have disabilities. Retrieved December 7, 2004, from http://www.idonline.org/article.php?max=20&id-989&loc=103

Zuna, N., McDougall, D. (2004). Using positive behavioral support to manage avoidance of academic tasks. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 37(1), 18-24.

Teacher-Led Instruction

TEACHER TALK

Since Socrates, and before, teacher-led instruction has been widely used in classrooms. From lecture-specific designs used primarily in large college halls, to “carpet time” in kindergarten, teachers have facilitated information through talk. But teacher-centered instruction is trending downward, especially in the middle school grades. There is greater emphasis on group learning, student collaboration, project-based and inquiry-based learning. The goal is not to wipe out the teacher from directly giving students information, but to encourage strategies aimed at improving learning for all students. Today, it is not the amount of information teachers can relay to their students but to what degree of effectiveness.

Formal teacher talk (lectures) and informal teacher talk (guided discussion) are effective ways to facilitate learning. Teacher talk is the most direct way for information to go from the teacher to the student. But few teachers are great orators and student attention, studies show, wanes after the first few minutes of instruction. No matter how conscience teachers are of their pacing or inflection, students will ultimately lose focus on what is being said. The article says, “The most useful strategy for recapturing student attention is changing to an entirely different strategy or learning modality.”

Transitioning from a lecture to guided discussion, the students are still at the mercy of the teacher. The teacher is still driving the discussion. This is an example of going from formal to informal teacher talk and has been shown to continue the downward trend of student attention. The article suggests moving from teacher-centered instruction to student-centered instruction. One example started with a lecture and transitioned into a student-led panel discussion. Another began with an informal discussion or lecture and built into a cooperative learning activity in groups. In both instances, the graphs measuring student attention were equal to or exceed student attention at the beginning of the class period.

Other ways to increase student attention is to have a focused, clear, planned lecture or discussion. Keep in mind, middle school students are hard pressed to give a teacher their full attention for more than 15-20 minutes. Having a well scripted, precise teacher talk with an engaging opening and a logical progression to a clear purpose at the end is a way to keep student attention longer. The use of questioning, demonstrations and audiovisuals also keep students attentive. When lecturing, a teacher must recognize that all students are not auditory learners. Many need visual representations such as charts, videos, graphs, notes or pictures. Some students need a hands-on activity. While modeling a process or a concept, allow students to model with you. If performing a demonstration, have students participate. Allow students to ask questions of you and of fellow students.

With the move away class periods filled with teacher lectures, students are participating more and more in group work, hands-on activities and projects. Does this mean the end for teacher-centered instruction strategies? The short answer is no. Without a context the group project or the hands-on activities can have shallow learning experiences. It is the teacher who ultimately should drive the curriculum. I prefer to look at a lesson with a fishing analogy: Bait-Cast-Reel in. By “Baiting the Hook,” a teacher is preparing students for the lesson. Whether it is defining terms, giving context, setting out goals, etc., the initial teacher talk gives students what they need to successfully accomplish the mission of the lesson. Then, the teacher releases (Casts) students to explore and otherwise actively participate in the lesson with a group or individual activity, project or student-led discussion. Finally, the teacher consolidates (Reels in) what students have gathered during the activity. This is also a time for correcting, reflecting on, questioning and challenging student thinking. Without the teacher providing such context, boundaries and perspective, hands-on or group learning can happen without direction or a foundation.

The effectiveness of teacher-led instruction is tied to the preparation of the teacher. If I gain anything from this article, it is how to organize my thoughts and objectives. By making an advanced organizer or composing a detailed outline with color and number prompts, focused preparation will better help me deliver a proper lecture or class discussion. It is much like writing a movie script. I need to plan when I will use an audio-visual aid, or when I expect to open the class up to questions. I have to keep in mind that my lecture or lesson introduction has 15 minutes before the students drown me out completely. And, when I lose them, I have to know how to get their attention back.

Teaching Influence

Teachers Who Influenced You

Throughout one’s schooling career a person will come in contact with over 100 individuals, classroom teachers, counselors, administrators, learning coaches, exploratory teachers, athletic coaches, substitute teachers, aides, etc., who help influence their life and learning. And while all these educators attempt to positively influence a child’s life, circumstances, professional and personal deficiencies, lack of skill, talent or motivation and/or personality conflicts cause eruptions within the educator-student relationship. And sometimes the student is to blame for many of the same reasons.

My purpose here is to take two teachers from the same school year and reflect on how one negatively influenced my view of 1) the teacher, 2) the subject matter and 3) learning and the school experience and how the other teacher was a positive influence in those categories.

First, let me state for the record… I can read.

Ms. S was my social studies, reading and homeroom teacher in sixth grade, my first-year of middle school in Boulder, Colo. She was mid-40s, Jewish and hardheaded. I was 11, from a free-spirited family and hardheaded. I should have seen this wasn’t going to work out.

As the year progressed my relationship with Ms. S deteriorated. I refused to turn in classwork. I thought journal entries were silly and I hated that I couldn’t select what I wanted to read. From what I recall, our social studies class was non-descript. We sat in rows, had to update agendas everyday (if not, you received a grade deduction) and did “book” work with worksheets. It was not a warm environment for me.

To be honest, I remember very little from her classes except three things: 1) we watched weekly videos about a fictional Mayan ruin expedition, 2) I failed reading during both the 3^rd and 4^th nine weeks, failed her social studies class the final nine weeks and would have failed homeroom if I had the chance, and 3) Ms. S and I did not get along. Looking back, I may have been a bit too insecure in my self (sixth grade does that to kids.) I was odd (still am), quirky and was bullied often. But I did not feel comfortable in Ms. S’s classroom. It was not the welcoming environment my other core teachers had. I did not feel I could talk to her, reason with her. I didn’t feel she was listening to me.

When I reflected over this paper as to who had the most negative influence over me there was little competition. I tried to think of my 7^th grade English teacher and how she was a tick eccentric. But she knew how to hammer grammar into my head. I tried to think of my fifth grade teacher, an intimidating, large old man from Texas with a belt buckle the size of a hubcap that shone like the sun. Or, my 9^th grade geometry teacher who was shallow with his subject knowledge, his teaching ability or a mix of both. But Ms. S was the combination salad of all these teacher defects. She was cold, dry, intimidating and uninspiring.

Sixth grade was not all bad. Three periods after social studies was language arts with Mr. D. He opened me up to reading and writing like I had never experienced before. Every three to four weeks we composed short stories, poems, plays, non-fiction research projects, fantasies and dramas. We were introduced to Edgar Allen Poe. We experienced music and studied the poetry and descriptive language of the lyrics.

The class had an open, creative feel. No rows or gluttonous teacher-directed lessons. We discussed, debated, created and shared. I enjoyed listening to other student’s stories. Some were silly (what would happen if Oprah met Barney the Dinosaur) or scary (the boy whose nightmare turned into reality) or gory (the genocide of a family of desert people by the mighty king). The class not only opened my eyes to myself but to the other students.

I learned to accept the editing process as not an indictment of my ideas, but of my writing. I understood that there are always things to tweak, re-word or just get rid of. I learned to better take criticism because I was able to freely create in the first place.

The way Mr. D established a rapport with students, making jokes, allowing open discussion and a free flow of ideas is exactly what I want to bring into a classroom. I want my students to feel like they can open up, express themselves and learn about themselves as well as others.

That is important for middle school students especially. Much like it is important for pre-school and kindergarten students to feel safe and secure, middle school students need to feel a sense of belonging and be able to express themselves in a welcoming, safe and community environment. They need to feel like they belong.

So, I will turn those rows into groupings of 3-4. I will turn those worksheets into open-ended discussion and debate. I will turn those weekly videos into project-based, hands-on units and I will turn those stale, incarcerating reading groups into free choice where the key requirement is you challenge yourself with your next selection.

But most importantly, I will not be labeled as a math, science, language arts or social studies teacher. I will be a teacher of early adolescents. I will meet the curriculum standards and requirements set by the state, district and school by first meeting the developmental needs of my students. I feel if I do that, the learning will come.

Teaching Philosophy

I believe teachers should have a synthetic understanding of content knowledge, proper developmental understanding of students, the willingness to adjust practices consistent with research literature and be an advocate for their students and the school they serve. While I do not believe teachers must have encyclopedic knowledge of the subject they teach, teachers should be comfortable enough with the material to facilitate learning. We all may have had a extremely intelligent math or history professor who would not do well in a middle school classroom. And we have probably had an inspiring middle school teacher who lacked a certain knowledge base.

Secondly, a teacher must be able to take content knowledge and use it in a multitude of ways which are developmentally appropriate, engaging, and applicable to a variety of learning styles and interests.

Next, the science and art of teaching is often updated. New pedagogical strategies, neuro-science research, and studies of motivation are constantly tested and published in scholarly journals. Keeping abreast of such modernization of best practices better prepares teachers to make wise decisions.

Finally, teachers should be an advocate for their students and their school. A child is undergoing several changes (physical, social, emotional and intellectual) while in middle school. It is the teacher's responsibility to be supportive of a child's individual developmental needs.

Most schools are publicly funded. Therefore, I believe they should play a role in the community. Teachers should support and promote their school during its successes and stand up and voice their concerns when a school fails to maximize its affect on students.

I believe in the progressive middle school philosophy of small learning communities, teaching a common core of knowledge by eliminating academic tracking, ensuring success for all students, and engaging families and the community in the education of early adolescents. I believe in blurring the lines between subject-centered daily structures and focus more on collaborative, expeditionary learning that solve problems, explore solutions and tackle issues of significance to early adolescent's interests and development. I believe in providing a safe, engaging and democratic environment where students can freely share ideas, feelings and criticisms.