Middle School Case
Study
You are particularly frustrated with a seventh grade group
of students that appears to engage less and less with learning and more and
more with one of your highly amusing leaders of the class. Cherie is really funny, but does not show
good judgment in choosing appropriate times and ways to be funny. Yesterday she tripped Carmen as she passed
her desk on the way to get a chair for a guest in our class. The day before, Cherie made rude noises
throughout small group presentations.
Today Cherie jumped up while Tommy was reading a poem about a battle, a
poem that appeared engaging to the majority of the students; she started
pretending she was shooting a gun at other students. Several joined in the pretend battle and
disrupted the class to the point that Tommy could not finish reading the poem.
Using applied behavior analysis could be useful
here. Making an effort to praise or thank Cherie for correct group behavior,
this could help her stay on task more often, and become a positive example for
her classmates instead of a negative influence. This extinction is the hopeful
response. Once she understands that she is capable of receiving praise and doing well in class, this could be a way of increasing her self-efficacy and self-regulation.
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