Sarah Wilson

Dr. Flatt

EDEC 441143-Management

October 28, 2020

Application Assignment #2

PART A:

Scenario 1: When asked to complete an independent writing activity Jeramiah typically sits

quietly but does not complete his work. His reading skills are slightly below grade level. He is

able to accurately retell what he has read and can orally answer all comprehension questions.

However, when he is directed to answer comprehension questions on a worksheet, he begins

slowly, then eventually stops writing and puts his head down on his desk.

For Jeramiah, an 8-year old in our 2nd grade class, comprehension questions trigger a

visual shutdown causing him to stop writing and put his head down on his desk. As a teacher,

there are instructional practices I can implement that may work to prevent or improve the

situation facing Jeramiah. The first of these being the high-quality instructional practice of

activity sequencing, specifically behavioral momentum. This instructional practice involves an I

do/We do/You do model of explicit instruction. In this case, first I would answer a reading

comprehension question to model for the class. Then, the students and I would work together to

answer a few together, going through the learned steps and finding text evidence. Following this

the students would have an opportunity to work with a partner or small group and answer the

next few questions, and finally the students would work independently. This instructional

practice would improve Jeramiah’s behavior as he is performing slightly lower in reading than
other students. Because of this, Jeramiah may feel frustrated and defeated when the reading

comprehension assignments are harder for him than for other students. This explicit behavioral

momentum model of explicit instruction, provides Jeramiah with an opportunity to practice the

skill with a whole group and partner before working alone.

Another high-quality instructional practice I could use with Jeramiah is providing choices

for him prior to starting the reading comprehension assignment. As we have identified that his

problem behavior likely results from frustration with the challenging assignment, giving him a

choice provides a sense of control and autonomy. This choice will be related to the amount of

questions he does prior to taking a break. Jeramiah will be given the option of doing 2 questions

before taking a break or doing 3 questions before taking a break. Providing this choice, 1)

reminds Jeramiah that he is allowed to take a break while he is working hard, and 2) gives him a

sense of control over the assignment at hand, by making a choice for himself. The goal of this

instructional practice is to encourage Jeramiah to persevere through the challenging assignment

through giving him autonomy and motivation of choices.

The last high-quality instructional strategy that could benefit Jeramiah is scaffolding

through activity sequencing specifically task intersperse. Task interspersal involves identifying

the difficult task, identifying an easier task, and then altering the existing assignment or task by

interspersing the easier item among the target items. I have learned through working with

Jeramiah, that while he scoring lower on reading and performing lower in writing, he excels in

math. Through task interspersal I can identify that writing is very challenging for Jeramiah, while

math is much easier. I can implement this instructional practice by including a few math word

problems in the activity to give him a part that he can master. These questions will not be
provided for all students, but included for Jeramiah to encourage and motivate him through

interspersing tasks he finds easy within those he finds challenging.

Scenario 2: On the first day of a new unit, the teacher gives the students a brief overview and

guides students through the textbook, orienting students to the topics headings to help them see

where they are going with their learning. Students are excited about the new unit, but when

directed to take notes and “outline” the reading independently, several students seem to have

difficulty staying on task and soon are talking and out of their seats.

In this third-grade class students have difficulty staying on task when independent work

is assigned. This occurs most frequently at the introduction of a new unit. Even though the

student’s seemed excited about the new unit, the teacher directs the students to begin the

individual assignment, and the problem behavior begins. As the teacher, there can be

assumptions that the students were excited about the unit but were not understanding and

processing the orientation about the textbook given by the teacher causing them to be confused

when the assignment began, and thus caused the problem behavior. The first high-quality

instructional practice that could be implemented to prevent or improve behavior is Opportunities

to Respond (OTR). OTR occurs whenever the teacher provides an instructional stimulus during

learning (Scheurman, p.127). According to OTR “during the instruction of new material, each

student should respond correctly three or four times per minute, on average” (Scheurman, p.

127). This instructional strategy would be beneficial in this third-grade classroom, as the

teacher could identify any misunderstandings or misconceptions prior to sending the student onto

individual work. This may have prevented the student’s from being confused about the

assignment and turning to talk to friends instead of completing the task. This OTR could be as
simple as a thumb up, middle, or down for how well the students are understanding the new unit.

This could also include a review time and/or a question answer time. This plan intends to lessen

confusion and improve behavior.

Another high-quality instructional strategy is student self-assessments. At the conclusion

of that class period, the teacher could pass out a learning zone self-assessment where students fill

out parts of the lesson that were too easy, on target, or too hard. After looking at these, the

teacher could review what similar concepts the students found to be too hard, and focus on them

in the next class. This strategy involves giving student autonomy as well as self-monitoring

skills. This strategy also provides the teacher with the information for why the students were

participating in the problem behavior. If the individual assignment was too easy or too hard it

would be evident on these assessments, and then could relate these to the off-task behaviors by

the students.

The last high-quality instructional strategy is mediated scaffolding. Mediated scaffolding

is used to provide support during early stages of learning to assist learners in performing new

tasks that otherwise might be too difficult or complex. This strategy directly correlates to the

scenario at hand. The class has just been introduced to a new concept, so they are in the early

stages of learning. The students show problem behavior, likely because they don’t have a strong

understanding of the learning yet. Incorporating mediated scaffolding into this group of students

could be extremely beneficial. The students would be provided support until they have a grasp on

the learning, and will not feel alone in the difficult task. Through this strategy, the individual

activity should not seem as daunting and thus reduce or remove the side chatter and off-task

activities from occurring.

1. During whole group instruction in a lively second-grade class, Wayne often cracks jokes

to his small group table distracting the group and the class as a whole. Because Wayne is

distracting the class and preventing learning, the teacher practices the corrective strategy

of proximity/touch. When Wayne starts to tell jokes and cause giggles, the teacher quietly

moves to stand near his desk as a reminder that he needs to be on-task and listening with

the class. If the behavior continues, the teacher will place her hand on Wayne’s desk as a

second reminder and remain there until Wayne is back on task. This strategy decreases

Wayne’s problem behavior because it redirects Wayne’s behavior to more appropriate

behavior and gives Wayne a chance to change his behavior before a consequence in

involved. This strategy does not interrupt the teacher’s lesson, which is a goal of

Wayne’s, so the behavior is not reinforced and learning continues.

2. When Will finishes his assignment early, he begins trying to throw crumbled paper at

other students who are still working. Will is a very advanced student, and often turns in

his work early then becoming bored. To serve his boredom his throws paper at students

for entertainment. The teacher has observed this, and has chosen to use the corrective

strategy of diversion. The teacher makes Will the paper collector. When he finishes his

work early he waits for other students to finish and then collects their paper and gives it

to the teacher. This corrective strategy involves diverting Will’s attention from his

boredom, to a specific job responsibility in the class. This corrective strategy decreases
 the problem behavior as Will is not sitting with no activity, but instead performing a

helpful classroom task.

3. During lunch time, Becca walks back to the class with her eyes closed and neck craned

up causing her to walk slowly and, in a zig-zag line running into other students. This

behavior breaks the class’ respectful hallway expectations. Becca participates in this

inappropriate behavior because she wants make her classmates laugh and give her

attention. When the teacher sees Becca walking in this way she stops Becca and makes

go back to the lunch room alone and walk back to class the appropriate way twice. This

corrective strategy is referred to as positive-practice overcorrection. In positive-practice

overcorrection, the student who engages in inappropriate behavior are required to engage

in the appropriate behavior and then some. This corrective strategy aims to deter the

student from wanting to participate in this behavior again, decreasing the likelihood of it

reoccurring.

4. In Reading class, Harvey often begins to work on the computer math game prior to

completing his reading assignment. Harvey participates in this inappropriate behavior

because he does not like reading and would rather do the fun math game he is good at.

The teacher addresses Harvey’s behavior through the corrective strategy causal/rhetorical

question. When the teacher sees that Harvey has gotten a computer before turning in his

reading assignment, she will simply ask “Harvey, what does our schedule say that you

should be working on right now?”. Harvey then has a chance to look at schedule and see

that they are working on timed reading and change his behavior. If he does not, the
 teacher may ask if they need home from the teacher to complete. These corrective

strategies aim to get the student back on task without disrupting the whole class.

5. During Social Studies lecture, Ember fidgets with her materials instead of paying

attention to the teacher. Ember participates in this inappropriate behavior because she

finds Social Studies boring. The corrective strategy the teacher can use in this situation is

‘Name Dropping”. This corrective strategy is implemented through inserting the students

name into verbal instruction/dialogue. For example, during lecture the teacher may see

that Ember is not paying attention and insert her name into the situation casually such as,

“If Ember was in the South during July what outfit might she be wearing?”. Doing this

will grab Ember’s attention and remind her to be paying attention to the lesson.

PART C: De-Escalating Serious Problem Behaviors:

Scenario 1: You have just asked everyone to turn in their homework from last night. Ryan says

loudly, “What homework? I didn’t know about any homework?” You say, “Ryan we have

homework every Wednesday. Please turn in your homework.” Ryan replies, “You can’t tell me

what to do! You’re not my mom!

1) How might you respond?

a) I would respond by pulling the student to the side and saying “I hear what you are saying

Ryan, and I agree that I am not your Mom and I do not try to be your mom. I am sorry

that you did not know about any homework, everyone forgets things! I will give you two

options to solving this problem: you can take tonight to finish the homework and turn it

in for half credit, or use one of your homework passes.”

2) What type of response would you avoid? (2pts)

what I say or there will be major consequences. I don’t care if I’m not your mom, I will

call her and tell her how you’re acting right now! Is that what you want?”. This response

is very emotion and hostile as well as occurs in front of the whole class. This response

would want to be avoided because it would likely instigated Ryan’s behavior opposed

deescalating it as we want.

Scenario 2: Due to her problem behavior, Jessica has been asked to leave the classroom. You

have tried to respond calmly to Jessica’s refusal to leave the classroom, but her problem

behavior is escalating and she has started yelling and threatening to hit you.

1) How will you respond? (3pts)

a) In response to Jessica’s escalation of behavior I would remain a distance away from her

as to not instigate her verbal threats. I will also request that other students quietly stop

working, and go into the hallway for a moment so their friend, Jessica, could be alone in

this moment. As safety of the students is priority, this is a necessary response when

physical actions are being threatened. I will ask one student individually and privately to

go to the behavior resource teacher and ask her to come by for back up. While all of this

is happening, I will remain in a calm tone with a neutral expression as to not anger

Jessica. Until more professionals arrive, I will tell Jessica “I can see that you are upset. Is

there anything I can do for you right now to help you calm down?”

2) What type of response might continue to escalate the situation/would you avoid? (2pts)

a) The type of response I will avoid as it might continue to escalate the situation is raising

the volume of my voice and walking towards Jessica saying “This behavior is

unacceptable. You will go outside into the hallway now!”. Jessica may be feeling unsafe
in this moment due to emotional disturbances so charging towards her not only will

escalate her behavior, but also may cause her to act on the physical threats putting

everyone in the class in danger. The verbal directions did not provide any decrease in

anger the first try so trying it again will likely not result well. This response also does not

take the other students into account. Anytime a student threatens physical harm on

another person, the students should be removed for safety purposes.

Item Points

Possible

Description of high-quality instructional practices (3 points each) 18

Basic corrective behavior management strategies identified and described (4 20

points each)

De-escalating problem behaviors (5 points each) 10

Overall organization, clarity, and detail provided 2

Total Points 50