Christina Agena

December 9, 2015
ITE 312
Child Study
The child that I observed is a 1st grader at Barbers Point Elementary School (BPES).
Due to confidentiality purposes, I will refer to this student as Jacob. I observed Jacob over the
span of five days. November 2nd, November 9th, December 1st, and December 7th were all
normal instructional days. On November 10th, BPES had Data Teams, which required Jacob
and his class to rotate between three different classes with three different instructors during the
morning block. On December 4th, Jacob and his class attended a field trip to the aquarium.
After observing Jacob during these different educational settings, I would describe his behavior
as aggressive, excitable, and thoughtless. Jacob has displayed aggressive behavior through
pushing and shoving other classmates. I observed excitable behavior when he struggles to
settle down in time for instruction. And thoughtless behavior was seen through Jacobs
impulsiveness. I will address his behavior and how they may vary in the following areas:
teacher interactions, classmate interactions, safe environment, and child participation.
Gurian and Stevens states ten strategies that are essential for teaching boys effectively
(2010). One of those strategies includes providing a competitive learning environment. On
Tuesday, November 10th, my mentor teacher (MT) praised Jacob for being the only student that
followed her directions on an assignment. The class was given the instructions to answer the
questions on a worksheet and to color. Jacob was the only student that remembered to color
the pictures on his worksheet. A classmate suggested that my MT should award Jacob with a
Gotcha, and she agreed that giving Jacob a Gotcha Award was a good idea. A Gotcha is an
award that a student gets for doing something outstanding and praise worthy. By awarding
Jacob with a Gotcha, my MT created a competitive atmosphere that encouraged other students
to follow directions just like Jacob. The Gotcha award also encouraged Jacob to continue

displaying praise worthy behavior. Another way that I have been able to create a competitive
atmosphere and learning opportunity is through Jacobs behavior system. My MT was using the
same behavior system with Jacob as the rest of the class, but I have noticed that this system is
not effective with him. For behavior management, the entire class will begin on a green ticket.
If a student doesnt follow directions, breaks a classroom rule, or is disruptive, they will receive a
yellow ticket. After yellow tickets, there are orange, then red tickets. Orange and red tickets
require time outs with the students head on their table. Lastly, there are black tickets that
require parent contact. If a student is still on green at the end of the day, my MT will award
them with a sticker for their sticker chart. Once all spaces are filled on their chart, the student is
able to choose a toy from the treasure box. Since Jacob has impulsive, excitable and
sometimes aggressive behavior, he has received countless yellow tickets. Yellow tickets have
become such a routine for Jacob that they lost their value. After realizing that this system no
longer corrects Jacobs behavior, I asked my MT if I could begin implementing different rules for
Jacob. She agreed, so I began a new behavior system with Jacob. After getting yellow, if
Jacob displays appropriate classroom and school behavior for the remainder of the day, I will
move him back to green. This has slightly improved his behavior and has allowed him to be
more aware of his actions. With this new system, Jacob isnt competing with classmates, but he
is competing with himself. He is trying to defeat his bad behavior in order to win back his green.
Jacobs impulsive, excitable and aggressive behavior has not only affected his interactions with
teachers but also with the interactions he has with his classmates. In King and Gurians article
With Boys in Mind (2006), they state that boys tend to be much more impulsive and aggressive
than girls. A boys frontal lobe develops at a slower rate and is less active than a girls frontal
lobe (Rich, 2000). The frontal lobe in the brain is responsible for decision-making, resulting in
boys being more impulsive than girls. There are also neural and chemical factors that can
cause boys to be naturally aggressive (Gurian, 1996). On November 9th, Jacob had two
different incidences that displayed his aggressive and impulsive nature. After morning recess,

each class lines up and waits to be dismissed back to class. While lining up, Jacob pushed a
female classmate. I call him over to stand next to me until all classes were dismissed. I talked
with Jacob outside of class, away from the other students. I asked him what his reasons were
for pushing down his classmate. He said that she cut in front of him, which made him mad. I
asked him it is ever appropriate to push another classmate down. He responded by saying no.
I asked him if he could use his words instead of his hands next time, and he agreed. Lastly, I
asked him whether or not he should apologize to his classmate. Jacob said that he should
apologize to her, so he did. Later on that day, Jacob had another incident with a different
student. During clean up after free choice, Jacob ran across the room to another student who
was on a classroom laptop. Jacob forcefully shut the students laptop with her hands still in
between the keyboard and the screen. I called for Jacob but he refused while saying that this
classmate was only playing and not cleaning up. I removed Jacob from the situation. Right
after he left the student with the laptop, he ran to a student who was cleaning up Legos. Jacob
took the toy from another classmates hands and threw it in the box. This student began crying
because they spent the past 30 minutes building that toy out of Legos. I removed Jacob from
this situation to speak with him again. After conversing with him, I can conclude that he had
good intentions but poorly decided actions. Jacob said that his motives for these two incidents
were that my MT told everyone to clean up and he perceived that these students were not
following directions. With these two events, Jacob displayed impulsive, excitable, and
aggressive behavior that affected his interactions with classmates during free choice time.
Although I just mentioned two incidents that viewed free choice in a negative light, free choice is
actually a very essential strategy when teaching boys according to Gurian and Kathy. The more
that a boys body is active in learning the more engaged he would be (Gurian, Kathy, 2010).
Free choice is a block of time where the students are able to choose their activity; there are
many options for the students. For example, they can play with tubs filled with many
engineering focused manipulatives such as, Legos or Kinects. Free choice provides Jacob and

his classmates with a positive environment to learn and grow in a way that seems appealing to
them. During free choice is also a time where students can catch up with missing or incomplete
work. Many times, Jacob has incomplete work and needs help to complete them. When I am
there on Mondays and Tuesdays, he comes straight to me for assistance. There are also a few
instances when Jacob choses to do his homework with me during free choice. Helping boys
with their homework is an important aspect when teaching boys, which King and Gurian state in
their article With Boys in Mind (2006). Homework is a big factor for some boys grades because
they are not interested in homework. For instance on November 10th, Jacob asked for help on
his phonics and math homework. I willingly helped him because it was his choice to complete
his homework and it wasnt something that his parents or I forced him to do. I wanted to make
sure to encourage him for doing something that he doesnt normally enjoy doing. Something
else that my MT does to help with homework is to have parents sign planners every night. After
lunch everyday, students are required to write down their homework for the night. After they
finish writing their homework, they have to receive a parent signature stamp from my MT or
myself before entering free choice time. Having the parents sign their planners every night,
allows the parents to participate in their childs education and to have someone at home to
make sure that their homework gets completed.
Homework isnt something that keeps Jacob engaged, but things such as animals, and stories
with pictures do. Jacob really enjoys animals, even insects. There are many times when Jacob
gets into trouble for keeping cockroaches in his pencil case. On November 10th, Jacob pushes
a classmate out of the way to protect a cockroach. With Boys in Mind stresses the importance
of allowing boys to choose topics that appeal to them (2006). Jacob is very engaged during
assignments that deal with animals. On November 2nd, Jacob was asked to free write about
whether he would rather be a spider or a bee. He was very engaged during this assignment.
During other free writes, like writing about where they wanted to live, I found it a little difficult to
keep his attention on his assignment. Something else that keeps Jacob engaged is the use of

storybooks with pictures. During Library on Mondays, the librarian will read the class a book of
her choice. Since she is reading to a first grade class, she choses books with very appealing
illustrations. Ive noticed that while the librarian or my MT uses books with interesting
illustrations, Jacob is very engaged and displays appropriate classroom behavior. For example,
On November 10th, Jacob was able to sit attentively while the librarian reads to Jacob and his
class. But as soon as she begins discussion, Jacob picks up his slippers and begins to make
noise and act inappropriately. When teachers are able to use graphics during lessons, boys are
able to retain more information and are more attentive (Gurian and Stevens 2010).
Through research and observation, I can conclude that there are a lot of important aspects that
need to be accounted for when teaching boys. After intentionally observing Jacob, I can see
that his behavior is aggressive, impulsive and excitable. If I were Jacobs teacher, I would make
sure to constantly give him classroom responsibilities and jobs. Jacob seems to have a lot of
energy that needs to be focused on something positive rather than taken out in forms of
aggression towards his classmates. I would also change his behavior system. The system that
my MT is currently using is not effective when correcting Jacobs behavior. I would continue to
present a competitive learning experience with the behavior system that I have been
implementing with him. Allowing him the chance to move back on to green gives him enough
motivation to correct his behavior. Jacob also has more negative interactions with his peers
than positive. I would make sure to highlight Jacobs accomplishments to give his classmates a
positive lens to view him through. This will hopefully help him with his classmate interactions.
Lastly, to benefit all learners, especially boy learners, I would have more kinesthetic lessons.
Keeping the students bodies actively participating in a lesson helps students to retain
information better (Gurian and Stevens, 2010). It is important to remember that every student
has his or her own individual personalities. Some students have physiological and chemical
differences that make them more impulsive and aggressive than others (King and Gurian,

2006). As a teacher, I believe its important to keep in mind every factor that affects a students
behavior and participation my classroom.

References

Gurian, M., & Stevens, K. (2005). The minds of boys: Saving our sons from falling behind in
school and life. San Francisco: JosseyBass.

Rich, B. (Ed.). (2000). The Dana brain daybook. New York: The Charles A. Dana Foundation.

Stevens, K., & Gurian, M. (2010). 10 Essential Strategies for Teaching Boys Effectively. In
ASCD Express (4th ed., Vol. 6).

Stevens, K., & Gurian, M. (2006). With Boys in Mind/Teaching to the Minds of Boys. In Teaching
to Student Strengths (1st ed., Vol. 64, pp. 56-61).