Michael Abraham

GED 7825
Case Study
12/26/2013
General Development
Giovanni is an interesting kid. His teachers past and present will typically describe him
the same way, as a kid who is smart but not does not give much effort and will quit on a task
easily if he finds it to be difficult at all. He seems to crave attention; sometimes this manifests
itself in being eager to answer questions in class when he is confident he knows the answer.
But if he senses something is difficult he will resort to misbehaviors as a way to seek attention.
Misbehaviors can sometimes include bullying or picking on other students with
comments that are not nice. Giving up on his schoolwork will frequently look like him saying,
this is too hard and then throwing himself into an exaggerated slouch in his seat. Other
students do this too in his class but Giovanni more so than others, and also with him his
teachers usually sense that it is an act and the result of a lack of effort to even begin an
assignment or read its directions. His teachers believe he would not have difficulty with the
assignments if instead of quickly checking out he were to only put forth minimal effort. This
happens much more during independent work time for the students than with whole-group
instruction or guided practice, though it can happen in guided practice if he senses it is hard at
all. Whole group time, if he easily understands something, may be times that he chooses to
show off by offering up answers.
Another key trait of Giovanni is his frequent lying. Often this is the first recourse of
action for him in a wide array of scenarios, whether it is dealing with schoolwork, behavior, or
socializing with his peers. For example, in his class students have to read 20 minutes each day
and have their parents sign off that they did the reading, parents also sign off at the end of the
week that they have seen their students completed math and spelling homework. Frequently
Giovanni will lie about reasons for not having his signature or having not done the work.
Typical excuses for him are saying his mother refused to sign it, he had soccer practice, there

are no books at his fathers house to read; a variety of things that are easily discoverable by his
teachers through routine communication with other adults.
What is intriguing about Giovanni is that, compared to his peers, he seems to lack an
appropriate perception of what can be uncovered by his teachers and other adults easily when
he lies. His lies are not overly outrageous, it seems that he perceives lying to be the best tactic
to avoid different kinds of trouble, or avoid doing work. He might say that he never received a
worksheet when his folder can be easily taken out and checked to see if the worksheet is there,
revealing that it is. He has said that his soccer coach told him to not do his homework so he
could practice soccer. His coach is the schools PE teacher and can be easily asked about such a
claim, never mind that it would be totally outside that teachers character and values as a
coach/educator to tell a student such a thing.
Giovannis home life definitely factors into these traits. His parents divorced before he
was school aged. His mother has primary physical care over him and he visits his father every
other weekend. His 14-year-old brother follows the same custody schedule. His schools
Family Coordinator, who is deeply involved with all of the schools family (Giovanni attends a
Charter school that is 98% students of Mexican ethnicity and has a fairly tight knit community)
has described him as a very confused boy because of his family situation. By her account,
the school social workers account, and that of Giovannis father, he prefers to spend time with
his dad and dislikes being with his mother who is very protective and controlling.
According to the Family Coordinator and the school social worker the mother frequently
badmouths Giovannis father directly to him and his brother. She is very bitter at his fathers
leaving her for another woman who is now Giovannis stepmother. The mother has tussled with
the school social worker in the past for his recommendation to the state that the father be
provided custody of the boys on weekends. According to those involved with Giovanni at his
school both his parents do seem genuinely interested and caring of Giovannis well-being and
development and in tending to his success in school. Nevertheless, this dynamic that exist
between the two of them may be a cause of confusion in Giovannis young mind.
Further information about Giovanni, he is a bi-lingual student of Mexican heritage but

born in the United States. His home language in Spanish and his parents do not speak English,
but his interpersonal communication skills in English are quite strong; above average when
compared to his peers who are of similar linguistic situations. He interacts with his older
brother primarily in English and while he has not yet tested out of ESL services it would be
easy for him to be mistaken as a native English speaker by someone who only interacted with
him verbally.
To his teachers, his father has described him as emotionally up and down. His mother
frequently describes him as defiant and disrespectful of her, and that behavior has been
exhibited at parent-teacher conferences and on the bus to school soccer games that his mother
has ridden on.
Piagets Theory
Piagets theory raises an interesting question. I have tried to analyze Giovannis
placement in Piagets theories through the key features of the concrete operational stage:
conservation, reversing operations, semiotic function, and decentering. The aspect I have the
most questions about for placing Giovanni in is decentering, where I think he shows signs of
still being preoperational.
For conservation, I did not run the water cup test on Giovanni or anything so direct. But
as a typically developing fourth grader I believe the concept that the amount of something
remains the same even if its arrangement or appearance is altered is well within his grasp.
When learning fractions and whole numbers, he struggled a little bit to grasp the concept
of equivalent fractions and had some incorrect answers on a test about them. Specifically, a
problem where the student is shown a circle that is divided into three parts and 1/3 of the shape
is shaded (see figure 1 below). The student then has to choose out of four other circles that are
divided and shaded differently which one represents the equivalent fraction. The correct
answer is one that is dived into six (see figure 2 below) and two of them are shaded (see figure
2 below). Giovanni chose the circle that was 1/8 shaded (figure 3 below).
Nevertheless, there was another similar problem on the test involving squares that

Giovanni answered correctly, and I am not sure that lacking conservation is the likely reason
that he answered this problem the way he did. Furthermore, unlike the water test, this is a two
dimensional assessment. Also, Giovanni has correctly formed equivalent fractions with 3dimensional plastic pie pieces during math activities before in small groups with a teacher,
which also happens to be a format that is friendlier to his interpersonal learning nature.

(Figure 1)

(Figure 2)

(Figure 3)

Foroperation,analyzingthispointspecificallyIagainfoundmyselfrelyingonmath.
DecidingwhetherornotIwaseverwatchingGiovannireverseanyoperationsmentallyIfound
tobeachallengingthingtopinpoint.However,Ibelievethattheconceptrelateseasyenough
tomathematicsandtherelationshipbetweenmultiplicationanddivision.AtGiovannisschool
studentslearnthemultiplicationtablesingradethreeandthenlearndivisionandlongdivision
ingradefour.Hehastransitionedwellintodivisionandnotstruggledtograspit.Everydayhis
classtakesatwominutetimedtestof50factproblems.Beginningwithmultiplication03and
workingtheirwayupthrough12eachtimetheypassatestwith45ormoreright.Upon
finishingthemultiplication12stesttheymoveontodivisionandthenredothetests
algebraicallywheretheanswersareprovidedandoneoftheproductsismissingandneedsto
befilledinbythestudent.Hehasadvancedthroughthesestestsatapaceslightlyabovethe
classaverage.
Semioticfunctionispresentintypicallydevelopingfourthgraders.Anexampleof
Giovannidemonstratingitiswhenhecompletedtasksofdrawingobtuse,acute,andright
trianglesontheactiveboardattheteachersverbalprompting.
DecenteringistheconceptwhereIdebateonwhethertoplaceGiovanniinconcrete
operationalorpreoperational.Giovannihasfrequentbehaviorproblemsinschool,notextreme
onesbutconsistentones.Histeachersandmembersofthebehaviorteamhavefrequently

talkedtohimaboutmakingbetterchoices,thisisoneareainwhichhedoesnotseemto
considerdifferentaspectsofsituationsverywell,especiallytheperspectivesofothers.When
pressedtoconsiderdifferentaspectsofasituation,especiallyoneswherehehasmadetrouble
itisnormallyforGiovannitorespondwithIdontknowmuchtothefrustrationofhis
teachersandmentorsatschool.Forexample,whencausingtroubleinasmallgroupmath
lessonGiovanniwastakenasidebyhisteacherandaskedifheifheunderstoodhowhis
actionshadaffectedhisclassmateslearninghisonlyanswerwasIdontknow.Thisresponse
istypicalforGiovannianditisnormallytakenasasmugresponsebytheadult,butithasbeen
happeningsoconsistentlythroughouttheyearthathisteachersaregenuinelystartingto
questionwhetherornothelackstheabilitytoconsiderdifferentaspectsofthesesituations.
Furthermore,whenGiovannigetsintroublehepredictablyresortstolyingasanattempt
togetoutofit.Whendoingsohislyingfrequentlycomesoffaschildishandridiculoustothe
adultsthataretendingtothesituation.AnexampleofthistookplacelateinOctoberwhen
Giovannihadnotdonehishomework.WhenaskedwhyGiovannisaidthathisPEteacherand
soccercoachhadtoldhimnottodoitbecausehehadsoccerpractice.Firstly,itisaridiculous
liebecausetheteachersknowfullywellthatthePEteacherwouldneverdothat;anditisodd
thatGiovanniwouldnotrealizethattheteacherswouldknowthathavingspentfouryearsat
theschoolwiththatPEinstructor.Secondly,itisofcourseeasilyverifiablebytheteachersthat
thePEteacherdidnotsaythatbecausetheycancommunicatewithhimthemselves.When
GiovanniwasaskedduringthisoccurrenceifherealizedthatthePEcouldeasilybeasked
aboutthisandwouldnotbehappyifandwhenhislyingwasuncoveredGiovannirespondedI
dontknow.
EriksonsTheory
Giovanniisintheindustryvs.inferioritystageofEriksonstheory.Giovannihasvery
specificstrengthsandweaknessesinschoolinthemodalities.Heisaninterpersonallearner
andexcelsthroughconversationandsharingideasthathehasverbally,helikestoask
questionsanddemonstrateacquiredknowledgeorally.Whenheisaskedtoperformataskthat
involvesusingapencilandpaperhefrequentlyshutsdownandresortstoshaminghimselfand

feigninghelplessness.Thiscomesoffassomewhatofatactictoavoiddoingwork,butatthe
sametimehegenuinelystruggleswithpapertaskseitherwishesforsomeonetointeractwith
himindoing,toaccommodatehisinterpersonallearningnature,orheshutsdownandputs
himselfdownandsaysItstoohardorIcantdothis,Imnotsmartenough.
Thathecompareshimselftohispeersisevident,anditdemonstratesthatheis
experiencingguiltandshameathisperceptionofnotbeingabletoperformaswellashispeers
atnewtasks.Hereferencesotherstudentsandcomparesthemtohimself.Forexamplesaying,
OfcourseCeliacandoit,shessmartafteranotherstudentcompletedaworksheet
assignmentthatGiovannihadonlyjustbegunon.
Kohlbergs Theory
Giovanni is in stage 2 rewards/exchange orientation - of the preconventional level of
Kohlbergs theory of moral development. At Giovannis school students have the chance to
earn small rewards. They earn honor code tickets from teachers for positive acts that are later
turned into a raffle for toys at a monthly school assembly. Students can earn marbles
collectively as a class and get a small party or reward upon emptying the class marble jar. In
Giovannis classroom students sit in groups at 6 different tables and the tables have running
point totals that they earn for being the first table on task when transitioning and other
positive acts. At the end of the month the members of the table with the most points each earn a
small prize bag.
Giovanni is extremely motivated by these small prizes, especially the table points. Each
table has a laminated sign that keeps their points next to the dry erase board at the front of the
room that is always in the students field of vision. In both October and November Giovannis
table won the table points contest and it was mostly out of Giovannis initiative and coaching
of his tablemates. The student seating is rearranged at the beginning of every month and
Giovanni has been the only student to repeat table point victories.
The students at their tables keep their notebooks, folders, and binders in crates that sit
next to the table. Each month every table elects a crate manager who is in charge of getting

the appropriate subject materials out for each member of their table at the appropriate time. A
big thing that the students earn points for is making the quickest transition from one subject to
another and being the first table to have their materials out and to be sitting SLANT (an
acronym that is code for sitting up straight and being attentive) and ready to learn.
Giovanni always insists on being the crate manager at his table and is furious about
getting his table to be the first to be ready. He is a diminutive and speedy child and his very
quick about getting the materials out, he always makes sure the crate is near him for when the
transitions come and maintains organization of materials in the crate well so that he can grab
everyones same-subject notebooks and folders at the same time and bring them all out with
one fell swoop. When transition involves moving back to their tables from other areas of the
classroom where students have moved about Giovanni always calls for his classmates to hurry
with expressions such as Come on Ariel!
Giovannis love of small rewards extends to the point where he will often refuse to do a
task unless he is guaranteed a reward for its completion. One of his teachers will reward
students with mint candies for positive acts, he always asks this teacher Can I get a mint if I
finish? when starting a new assignment in that class.
Giovannis need for rewards is something his mother has complained about during
parent-teacher conferences and asked for advice about. She says she is frustrated that Giovanni
will often refuse to do his homework when he is told to and will always ask what are you
going to give me if I do it? This takes place in the general context of Giovanni having a
relationship with his mother where she frequently feels disrespected by him and has told his
teachers as much. Giovannis soccer coach (and PE teacher) as well as behavior specialists and
the school social worker have all intervened with him during his elementary school years to try
and get him to respect his mother more, all to no avail.
Giovanni plays on the school soccer team and parents will often ride the school bus with
the student players to the games. On one of these occasions Giovanni dropped an apple on the
bus floor while sitting next to his mother and she told him not to eat it. Giovanni then gave her
a sarcastic and snarky wide-eyed look and stuck his tongue out at her and licked the apple in an

act of open defiance and disrespect.

This was not the first instance of its type and the PE coach had talked to Giovanni about
showing his mother respect but not seen any change in behavior. After this specific instance the
coach told Giovanni that if he witnessed him disrespect his mother one more time he would no
longer allow him to play on the team. His behavior on the team bus finally altered following
this threat. That interventions and appeals to respect his mother more did not work with
Giovanni until they involved the threat of taking away something he liked indicates that he
bases his moral decisions on reward-punishment calculations.
Maslows Theory
Maslow speaks of two different kinds of needs, deficiency and being. Deficiency needs
are ones that need to be met before a complete positive sense of self can be attained. The
deficiency needs are four: survival, safety, belonging, self-esteem.
Survival does not appear to be a need for Giovanni. He is amongst the 95% at his school
on free and reduced lunch. Nevertheless, there is no evidence to suggest that Giovannis
survival needs are not well taken care of. He arrives to school in good hygiene and frequently
wears clothes and shoes that appear to be new. There is no history of abuse in his family.
Despite that he is on free and reduced lunch there is some evidence that his family is better off
economically than some of his peers at school. For example, he speaks of frequent visits to
valley fair and the amusement park at the Mall of America and he will go with his mother on a
vacation to California over the winter break that will include a trip to Disney Land. His family
also has active health insurance for him and has filed the information for it with the school.
Physical safety does not appear to be an issue. He appears to be in sound physical health
and his participation in organized sports assures that the gets a good amount of physical
activity. Again, he comes to school appearing well groomed and in good hygiene, which
suggests quality care is taking place at home. There is no history of physical abuse in his
family. While his parents are divorced and have a broken relationship between themselves all
evidence according to his teachers new and past and the school social worker are that both
parents are supportive of his health and well-being, actively involved and interested in his

school and recreational life, and caring for him regularly with shared custody.
The strained relationship between his parents may threaten his emotional safety to some
degree and create that as a need for him. According to the schools student and family
coordinator and the school social worker his mother and father do not communicate with each
other. According to the family coordinator the mother frequently speaks negatively to Giovanni
about his father. This is a conundrum for Giovanni because by his own account and that of the
school social worker and the father Giovanni prefers to be with his father.
This might explain the root of some of the aforementioned disrespect he shows towards
his mother. The family coordinator has been involved in Giovannis family affairs dating back
10 years since before his parents were divorced and Giovanni was even born when his older
brother began attending kindergarten at the school. She says that this dynamic in the family has
made Giovanni into a generally confused boy, experiencing a dichotomy between his
personal preferences in his family situation and the messages communicated to him by his
mother. All of which refer to adult affairs that are beyond the abilities of a 9-year old to fully
comprehend.
Teachers have seen instances in school that point to possible emotional instability with
Giovanni. He has had three different instances in the school year where he has cried, each time
he was not able to articulate well the reason for it.
Belonging may be affected by Giovannis family situation, he may not know which
household he does, or should, or wants to, belong in. But aside from that belonging may be a
strength for him. There is a very positive community atmosphere at his school. Because his
school is 98% students of Mexican heritage the school is able to cater to that in numerous ways
with both in-school and out-of-school events and strategies that increase the feeling of
community at the school and amongst its families. Giovanni also gets a sense of belonging
from his participation in the school soccer team. He enjoys very much wearing his soccer
jersey on game days and his very good friends with other members of the team and gets along
very well with the team coach and school PE teacher. Also, just generally Giovanni is good at
making friends and has plenty at school.

SelfesteemmaybeaneedforGiovanni.Thisisevidencedbythefactthatheisabully
attimes,hepointsoutotherstudentsdeficienciesinabluntwaythatishurtfultothem
sometimes.Thismayindicatealowselfesteem,itwasmentionedearlierwhendiscussing
Eriksonthatheexpressesfeelingsofinferiorityinrelationtoschoolwork.Sometimeshedefies
teachersinordertoseekapprovaloradmirationofpeers.Thecultureofhisschoolputsahigh
stressonhavingstraight,orderly,andquietlinesinthehalls.Giovanniwillfrequentlytestthe
systembywalkingtothesideandmovingaboutthefrontandback.Thisbotherssomeofhis
classmates,butitusuallygarnerslaughterfromtwoofhisclosestfriendswhowillfrequently
tryanddothesamething.Thismayindicatethatheisseekingapprovalfromalphamembers
ofhispeergroupasaconsequenceoflowselfesteem.
MaslowsbeingneedsarefairlydifficulttoassesforGiovanni.Itappearsheisaways
awayfromselfactualizationand,asthetheorygoes,mayhavetohavesomeofhisdeficiency
needsmetbeforehecanreachit.Therearesignsthathetakesprideinintellectualachievement
whengivenopportunitiesthatcatertohislearningstyle.Butoverallhehasexpressedageneral
impressionofhimselfasnotbeingsmartandfrequentlybelievesheisnotcapableofdoing
certaintasksthatmostofhisclassmatesareableto.
General Intelligence
General intelligence, special needs, and gifted placements are areas where Giovanni is
best described as typical. He does not qualify for special education placement. At a parent
teacher conference this year his mother said that she had him tested by a psychologist for
Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, but he was not diagnosed with it. This test was done at
the mothers own volition for concern of some behavior problems he was experiencing at the
time. A teacher or school official did not recommend it and no teacher has ever referred
Giovanni for special education evaluation.
Both of his parents, his teachers, and any adult who interacts with him on a regular basis
will comment that Giovanni is a smart boy. In class he has his moments where he shines
above others. What is noticeable is that these moments occur when the format of learning
going on caters to his learning style. He is an interpersonal learner and he can often shine

during whole group instruction, class discussion, and guided practice because these situations
typically have the element of verbal interaction along with them. As has been mentioned
before, he struggles when given an independent task to do that is performed through the pencil
and paper medium. During these tasks he often craves to have someone next to him to interact
with. It is commonly found by the teachers that he will plead during independent tasks that he
doesnt get it or needs help. When help arrives in the form of a teacher or aid it is usually
found that only a little verbal prompting is needed to get him rolling on the assignment.
Frequently it can be something as simple as just reading the directions or problem aloud to him
that will get him working on the assignment. Problems arise for him and class when the
instructors are occupied tending to the needs of other students. If time cannot be made to tend
to Giovanni it may be that he will shut down on the assignment altogether and put forth no
effort in trying to complete it.
His teachers do address multiple intelligences and Giovannis interpersonal learning style
is addressed directly in his classrooms. Both whole group and small group discussions take
place daily. Math and reading blocs are frequently broken into four 15-minute rotations
where students are put in small groups, two of these rotations usually have a teacher which
affords the opportunity for students to have meaningful academic verbal interactions with their
teachers.
The school itself prioritizes having two teachers per classroom, which allows for
interpersonal interactions between instructors and all students. Also, the school has roaming
behavioral specialists and one of them will visit Giovanni regularly at strategic times when
independent work is taking place to feed his need for interaction during those times.
If there is a criticism to be made of the classroom cultures willingness to cater to
Giovannis learning style it may be that the instructors too frequently rely on pencil and paper
tasks for independent work. All class lessons at this school are structured by a model-guided
practice-independent practice format. To the students this is communicated as I do-We do-You
do, and its format is part of their daily expectations. Usually the independent task involves
pencil and paper individual work in the form of worksheets, writing, or reading followed by
writing, graphic organizers, or worksheets. It is common that Giovanni will struggle during the

independent practice phase of lessons after shining during the guided practice. Again, it
normally is the case that the task before him is well within his range of ability.
Behavior Management and Motivation
When discussing Kohlberg we stated that Giovanni heavily motivated by small material
rewards. Similarly, it can be said that his behavior is most easily managed through small
rewards also. He is very reactive to the table point, honor code tickets, marbles, and mints that
his teachers give out daily as small rewards. These are extrinsic rewards which suggests that
Skinners behavioral approach to motivation is effective for Giovanni.
It was mentioned before that Giovanni also has spells of sadness and frustration at school
that he does not communicate or identify the root cause of well. As a result of this Giovanni
has also been allowed to have a stuff animal that he can keep in his cubby and take out when he
is feeling angry or sad. He will use it frequently and likes it very much. He named the stuff
animal Jake and frequently hugs him when he is feeling sad or anxious. The stuffed animal
can also be used as a puppet and he will sometimes use it to interact with while doing an
assignment and ask him questions like What do you think we should write here Jake? Its too
cute.