Research Methods & Reflective Practice in

Education
EDU 4003

Report on the Preliminary Investigation

How can students use self-monitoring to
change their negative behavior?

Student Name: Amna Abdelrahman

Student ID: H00229351

Submitted to: Mindy Colin and Pauline Keith

Date: 13 th of December 2015
Word count=

Contents page
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Contents
page
1. Introduction
2. Literature review
3. Research methodology
4. Research methods

3
4
6
7

4.1Observation

4.2Interview

5. Findings

6. Action Plan

10

7. References
11

8. Appendices

Introduction

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13

The aim of this paper is to examine how does the use of selfmonitoring in public primary schools for boys in UAE can change
their negative behavior.

During my teaching practice in public and private schools in UAE, I

notice that some children were misbehaving during the class time,
which wastes the teachers and other students time and effort.
There will be many specialists from educational institutions who
might be interested in my research.

This question is addressed for the purpose of this study:

How can students use self-monitoring to change their negative

behavior?

Context

My research and study will be conducted in a period of ten weeks in

a primary school for boys in Sharjah. This study also has implications
for two teachers, and seven students, from grade two and I will
select them according to their abilities and their behavior during the

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class time. So they will be mix group. Each student will be given a
checklist to assess his own behavior at the end of each day. In
addition, there will be weekly interviews with the boys to check if
they are on the right track.

Literature review

From a limited search of eleven studies it was found that selfmonitoring is an effective tool, which has two elements that teachers
can use to change students behavior. The first element is
measurement, where students measure their own behavior and the
second element is evaluation, where they evaluate their own
behavior to specific standards (Wright, 2013). As Kaser (2007)
mentioned self-monitoring is a good tool because it allows students
to become independent, where they will be responsible for their own
behavior. Other studies have shown that some teachers who used
self-monitoring with their students did not see any improvement in
their behavior, but on the other hand their grades were increased

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(Wright, Cihak, & Ayres, 2010). In addition, Menzibs, Lane and Lee
(2009) reported that the students behavior might not develop
because students have to know why are they evaluating themselves
and what is the benefit of this evaluation before using this method.
As a result, of being aware of what are they doing, they will be able
to answer the form honestly and to think about their behaviors.
Rankin and Reid (1995) said that self-monitoring help students to
think about their behavior in a new way and to know that they have
full control on their own behavior. The good thing about the selfmonitoring is that there is no peer pressure when students evaluate
themselves, so they are not controlled by other people. When they
will evaluate their own behavior to specific standards they will
recognize and discover their mistakes and that will develop their
cognitive skills, where it will generates feedback that result in
lasting improvements to their actions (Bercher, 2012). As Piaget
(2008) mentioned on his discovery learning theory, the best way for
the students to learn is when they discover facts by
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themselves.Harris and Licht (2015) found that some students have

restrain awareness of their own behavior especially students with
disabilities and academic diffi culties, where Loftin, Gibb, and Russell
(2005) supported Harris and Lichts idea. Other studies have showed
that even some teachers suffer from some bad behavior habits that
happen in the classroom, especially from students with emotional
and behavioral disorders, they are hard to be controlled during the
lesson, so using self-monitoring will help students to improve their
own behavior (Blood, Johnson, Ridenour, Simmons, & Crouch, 2011).
The research by Rock and Thead (2007) reported on a study of five
misbehaving students with and without disabilities, where they
started teaching them self-monitoring by using ACT-REACT strategy
and students had self-monitoring recording sheet. The study results
showed that students behaviors have developed throw time and
they have succeeded in both behavioral and academic fields. On the
other hand, Jull (2006) used Auto-Graph strategy which is a new and
untested strategy, which focuses on technology. He makes a study
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on 65 students from different sections from grade six. The study

result was negative where 71% were incidents of antisocial behavior
and 29% were positive-points.

Research methodology

In my research I used qualitative research method, so I was able to

investigate my topic in-depth to understand how self-monitoring
develops students behavior. Moreover, my research will be
confidentiality where I will use alphabetical system, and the data
that I will collect will be privet, where the names will be anonymous.
Actually, I took the permission from the vice principal and their
teacher.

Plan

Act

Reflect

Observe

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Reflection: Why children are misbehaving during the class time?

What the factors I could change? Who I can discuss with? What is the
best strategy to change their behavior?

Plan: Observing the students, and thinking about the best solution to
control their behavior and create the checklist.

Act: Give the children the checklist sheet and observe them to see if
they are in the right truck and collect some data.

Observe: Analyzed the data that I collect. Do I have relevant data?

During the period of my research I anticipate that I will deal

attention-seeker, who will do anything to receive attention, besides
children who wont listen and obey to me as a teacher. My target is
to focus on those children, and hopefully at the end of the ten weeks
children will reduce the unacceptable.

Research methods

In this research I used observation checklist and interview to collect

my data. The observation was done in three cycles; first cycle I

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observed students behavior to see which student needs behavior

improvement and who will fit my research. Secondly, I used checklist
for students to let them monitor their own behavior, while I was
observe them to check if they are in the right truck. Finally, I
analyzed the result that I collected. The other method that I used is
interview, which don in two cycles; first cycle I organized an
individual meeting with the students outside the class. My focused
on students needs and which behavior should be improved, whereas
the second cycle I was focusing on students behavior improvement.
In addition, I listened to their reflections on their behaviors and we
discussed about the checklist sheet.

Observation

I used observation checklist, which was daily where it took

place at the end of the English period. The checklist contains
behavioral questions and three faces happy, not sure and sad
faces. The child should answer by putting a tick or color the

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face (see appendix 1). The benefits and advantages of using

observation as a research method is that I can see everything
in a natural context. Also, directly see what children do rather
than relying on what they say. On the other hand, it is a little
bit challenging to focus on the seven students while you have
twenty others who need your support.

Interview

During the interview I will use semi-structured and

unstructured questions which allow me to understand
childrens thoughts, opinions and ideas. One of the benefits of
using interview as a research method is giving me the
opportunity to explore my topic in depth and go further with
the questions. However, sometimes it is time consuming
because the process of the interview takes long time,
especially when you want to understand something in depth.

Findings

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Through the observation and the daily checklist, I found that

students behavior improved. Five of seven students who used the
checklist to monitor, succeeded in both behavioral and academic
fields. One of the students was getting 0 in the weekly quiz, whereas
now he is getting 5 out of 10 which shows a huge improvement. The
interview that I design helped me to demonstrate the reason of why
they are misbehaving during the class-time. One of the reason is
they feel bored in the class, which makes sense. Another reason is
they dont understand English, so when the teacher is talking they
dont know what does she is talking about. Finally, I realized some of
them need attention, and thats why they misbehave during the
class.

Action Plan

I create a Gantt chart (see appendix 2) to illustrate how I will

perform my action research.

Required resources:

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Mobil phone to record the interview.

Meeting room for the interviews.
Behavior checklist, for students

The methods that I am going to use are:

Observation.
Checklist.
Interview.
Reflective journals.

References
Bercher, D. (2012). Self-Monitoring Tools and Student Academic Success: When
Perception Matches Reality. Journal of College Science Teaching, 26-32.

Blood , E., Johnson, J. W., Ridenour, L., Simmons, K., & Crouch, S. (2011). Using
an iPod Touch to Teach Social and SelfManagement Skills to an Elementary
Student with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders. EDUCATION AND
TREATMENT OF CHILDREN , 34(3), 299-322.

Jull, S. (2006). Auto-Graph: considering the utility of student behaviour selfmonitoring for inclusive schools. University of Cambridge, 17-30.

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Kaser, C. (2007). Series on Highly Effective PracticesSelf Monitoring. Retrieved

April 25, 2015, from Darden College of Education:
http://education.odu.edu/esse/research/series/monitor.shtml

Loftin, R., Gibb, A., & Skiba, R. (2005). Using Self-Monitoring Strategies to
Address Behavior and Academic Issues. Impact.

Menzibs, H. M., Lee, J. M., & Lane , L. K. (2009). Self-MonitoringStrategiesfor

UseintheClassroom: APromisingPracticeto Support Productive Behavior for
Students With Emotional or Behavioral Disorders. Beyond Behavior, 27-35.

Rankin, J., & Reid, R. (1995). The SM Rap Or, Here's the Rap on Self-Monitoring.
Spotlight, 181-182.

Rock, M., & Thead, B. (2007). The Effects of Fading a Strategic Self-Monitoring.
Behavior and Education, 389-390.

Vialle, W., Lysaght , P., & Verenikina, I. (2008). Handbook on child development.
Melboume: Nelson cengage.

Wright, J. (2013). How To: Teach Students to Change Behaviors Through

SelfMonitoring. How the Common Core Works Series, 1.

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Wright, R., Cihak, D., & Ayres, K. M. (2010). use of self-modeling static-pictures
via a hand held computer to facilitate self-monitoring in the general
Education classroom. Education and training in autism and developmental
disabilities, 45(1), 136-149.

Appendices

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Observe students behavior

Ably the checklist
Ably the Act-react strategy

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Week10

Week 9

Week 8

Week 7

Week 6

Week 5

Week 4

Week 3

Week 2

Tasks

Week 1

Appendix 1

Establish interview questions

and organize interviews with
the focus group, teachers
Write up and analyze
interview responses
Write up and analyze
observation data
Write up and analyze
Produce final action research
checklist
report

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Appendix 2