Running Head: STUDENT CASE STUDY 1

Student Case Study

Matthew Langlois

Grand Valley State University

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Participant Information

The student that I observed is an eight year old male in the third grade and will be

referred to as Jake for his protection. He enjoys playing video games outside of school,

particularly the game “Fortnite” as many students also seem to enjoy. Jake has trouble focusing

in class and when engaging in conversation with adults for longer than a minute. He has not yet

been diagnosed with any attention deficit, but it seems likely that he will at some point.

I have gotten to know this student through teaching him in music class. He really seems

to enjoy the theoretical and vocal parts of the class even though he still has trouble engaging

from time to time. When he was assessed for knowledge on rhythm symbols, he able to answer

all the questions correctly. He often engages in class discussion and when asked to discuss

concepts with partners - turn-and-talk - he appears to have a deep interest and can talk at length

about musical topics.

I chose Jake because my cooperating teacher and I had to address some behavioral issues

early in the school year. He was using gun gestures and pointing them at his fellow classmates

and accompanying them with sound effects that seemed to clearly emulate the sound of a gun

firing. We created a behavioral plan for Jake that was similar to that of his homeroom teacher’s

plan. It seemed like a logical choice to pick him for the study since we were working with him

personally within the first two weeks.

Classroom Context

The music classroom is a room significantly larger than the average classroom with a

very high ceiling and two large windows displaying the outside parking lot and side lawn. There

is an adjoining office that is connected to another large room which is currently being used for

storage space. Half the room is set up so that there are three rows of chairs; two columns of five
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chairs with ample walking space in the middle. Jake typically sits in the center row in the middle

of the column. The chairs face the wall adjacent to the windows where there is a whiteboard and

a screen for the projector. The computer is to the left of the screen and a piano is to the right.

There are large cabinets that contain many classroom supplies. On the other half of the room

there is open space, often used for circle games, and the walls are lined with classroom

instruments: xylophones, drums, and boomwhackers to name a few. There is also a table at the

corner opposite the emergency exit where students are given permission to take a break if they

feel the need or are asked to by a teacher.

The class that Jake is in takes place at 10:25 am on Thursdays. Students are expected to

participate in all classroom activities and are graded on their participation. The teacher has also

set a social goal: “I will show respect to the teacher and others.” Both the cooperating teacher

and I have both referred back to this goal to redirect students and make them aware of the social

expectation. The cooperating teacher also stresses that the social goals tie into their academic

ones. For example, when is not participating or being negligent of tasks that they were assigned,

the teacher will say something along the lines of “Are you showing me respect by doing that?”.

Then she will engage them in a short discussion concerning how they should behave in music

class. She says that it is important to address behavior because it is difficult for the student to

succeed academically if they are engaged in activities that aren’t class oriented.

Honestly, it has been difficult to observe and implement strategies with Jake because I

was teaching a unit on rhythm with the class. I didn’t realize when I chose him that I would be

more involved with the third graders than other grades so my focus, admittedly, has not been as

close to him as I would have liked. However, this gave me an experience with behavior

management that is much more like the reality I’ll have as a teacher in service.
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Strategies

One strategy that I used was a material incentive with rewards. Emmer and Evertson say,

“When students are rewarded rather than punished, they are more likely to respond positively to

the teacher, thereby contributing to a mutually supportive pattern of interaction.” (p. 172) My

cooperating teacher has an award called “Musician of the Day” which is a small slip of paper

with a selected student’s name on it displaying that they followed the social goal and actively

participated in class. This also doubled as a recognition award. Unfortunately, this was not an

effective strategy in the case of this student. He seemed not to be motivated by the chance to

become musician of the day. My hope was that he would see the example that his fellow

classmates would be setting and try to better himself to show that he was capable of being

“Musician of the Day.” I even confronted him personally and challenged him to be attentive and

respectful to earn it, but he didn’t seem too interested in the prospect.

Another strategy that I used was redirection. “To avoid giving attention to inappropriate

behavior, it is best to redirect behavior by stating what should be done.” (Emmer & Evertson, p.

215) This seemed to often work, but only temporarily. As I mentioned before, his attention span

is quite short and he will often get off task with a couple minutes. If he was looking around the

room instead of up at me, I would calmly call his attention and say something along the lines of

“Look up here please.” If he was acting in a way that is against the social goal, I would call his

attention and tell him what he needed to do to fix his behavior.

A strategy that seems to work the best for relatively little effort is recognition of behavior

that is following the social goal. Not so much like the Musician of the Day but more in the

moment behavior. There was an instance where Jake was playing with the empty chair next to

him and my CT pointed out a positive behavior that those students were doing and immediately
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he corrected himself. He seemed like he really responded to that and I’ve tried implementing that

myself, but it seems more effective when my CT does it. We’ve had many strategies to deal with

behavior, but these are the most notable.

Jake’s homeroom teacher has a strategy that involves a 3-strike system. He has 3 strikes

for each day: strike 1 is a warning, strike 2 he loses recess time, strike 3 is calling home and

possibly talking with the principal. My CT and I talked personally with Jake at the beginning of

the year to talk about his behavior and we told him our expectations. In that, we also told him

that we would implement a similar system where we would have only 1 strike in our classroom

and we would just call home. Ever since that, we have had relatively few problems and his

behavior has seemed to improve immensely. We have had to call home twice and he does

sometimes has behavioral issues that seldomly reach major and in one instance escalating, but

for the most part he has shown much improvement.

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References

Emmer, E. T., & Evertson, C. M. (2017). Classroom management for middle and high school

teachers(10th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

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Field Notes

The class that Jake meets with us is on Wednesdays at 10:25 am.

September 28, 2018

● Leaning back in chair on two legs
● Inference: showing apprehension to singing a song
● Is asked “Why is beat and rhythm important?”
○ Answers “So we can stay together with the song”
● Speaking out of turn several times
● When the lyric “To-o-oes” comes up in the song “Hip-Hop Elves”, he makes a kicking
motion
○ That is not what is choreographed, though this song has choreography
● When CT raises hand for everyone to be quiet, he is turning and talking and does not see
her hand
● Stands on one leg with arms outstretched
● Makes motions like waves with his hands in song “Over the River” which is not
choreographed though song has some choreography

October 4, 2018
● Inference: makes a menacing face to a student, seemingly unprompted
● Facing back of the class when rest of students are facing forward
● Speaking out of turn
● Inference: He speaks out of turn because he has a short attention span and has difficulties
with patience

October 11, 2018

● Inference: He appears attentive and is for the most part focusing on the teacher by
looking up, not talking, and doing what he is asked at the beginning of class
● After 15 minutes he is turning around and talking to other students
● Engages in discussion for a turn and talk
● He looks at the sheet music for a new song and is able to focus solely on that
● He dabs unprompted
● When I go to the back of the room he follows me with his eyes and turns around in his
chair
○ I redirect him
● During a song, he spins around while singing though he was not asked to do so
○ Inference: he is likely distracting other students

October 25, 2018

● He starts singing a song before the track begins
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● He spins around during a song, again unprompted

● He turns around in his chair to call another student “Gay”
○ Inference: I’m not sure exactly what took place when this happened, but my CT
was able to help diffuse the situation by taking him out into the hallway. I believe
that was irritated by something a classmate said and reacted by harassing the other
student
● He is approved to rejoin class activity by the CT
● Class is asked “What is the significance of rhythm?”
○ He answers “rhythm helps you know what to do”
● When asked to write rhythms on a small whiteboard, he correctly identifies them
● When he is asked to write a half note, he writes a triplet rhythm
○ Inference: he know how to write a half note, but he wants to show off his
knowledge of music by writing out a rhythm that I did not cover i.e. triplets
■ Inference: He is seeking validation through music knowledge

November 1, 2018
● I inform him that he can receive a Musician of the Day award if he shows respect and is
attentive in class before class starts
● A student tells a joke and he laughs much longer than the rest of the class
● He marches in place and makes gun gestures at the ground during a song
○ I tell him that he cannot do that
● He makes blowing raspberry noises during instructional time
● He tips his chair back on two legs
● He turns around to face back row even though he is not prompted to do so
○ I ask him to face front and listen
● He flails his arms around
● He turns around and talks to another student
● Inference: He does not seem incentivized by the reward

November 8, 2018
● Tipping back in his chair on two legs
● He talks to students in the row in front of him
○ He says, “I’m level 20, Z___.”
○ Inference: He is hearing the students in front of him talk about Fortnite and he
wants to join the conversation by talking about his achievement on the video
game.
● Makes gun gesture at the ground
○ I remind him that it isn’t okay for him to do that by talking to him aside from the
rest of the class
● Slapping his stomach
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● Wears his shirt around his head exposing his stomach

● Waits for a fellow student to get out of his assigned seat before he sits down

November 15, 2018

● Sets his feet on the chair in front of him
○ There is no student in that chair but he is still not allowed
● He asks if he can use xylophone in the concert
○ Context: In the song “Over the River” for the holiday concert, a couple students
will be selected to play on drums and xylophone
○ I tell him that I will be looking for students who can keep a steady beat and can
make a good sound on the instruments
○ Inference: I want to select him to play an instrument for the concert in hopes that
he will rise to the responsibility. He also sounds decent on the instruments
● Tips on two legs of his chair
● He sings “Peppermint Candy Cane” with a voice that is not his true singing voice
○ Inference: he is trying to be funny for attention
● During “Hip-Hop Elves” instead of stepping side to side like is choreographed, he kicks
from side to side
○ He also instead of singing the correct words “It goes right to their feet.” he sings
“It goes right to their knees.” Audibly enough where you can hear it even with the
rest of the class singing
● Inference: This is a class period close to the holidays, so the students are less focused
than usual. My CT says this is a common occurrence and I believe Jake has fallen prey to
it as well.