Case Study: A Vocally Negative Student

The student I'm talking about will be called Mei for the purposes of this case study. Mei is a lovely child who through conversation shows that she has the potential to be a high academic achieving student. However, Mei has behavioral challenges that lead to great difficulties with learning new material and letting other students learn new material. Here is her case study. 

Mei is a 9 year old child. She regularly attends an after school elementary program for English meant for 2nd graders in Japan. Born in China, her parents are both Chinese, but they now live and work in Japan. Mei is one of two Chinese students in her class of 11 students. In Mei's morning school, she regularly is verbally negative about lessons calling them boring. When the teacher doesn't respond to that or other disruptive behaviors like chair rocking and playing with pencils, Mei becomes aggravated and tries to verbally assault other child. She often calls these students names or claims that these students were mean to her. Sometimes other students exclude her, but also Mei is oversensitive. She often sees conflict when the other student meant no offense.

During break times, Mei also plays too roughly with others. And during group activities, other group members are reluctant to work with her because of her negative attitude. Mei's social skills are also affecting these interactions since she seems unable to ask for help in a patient way. Instead, she expresses her frustration through hitting the table, saying something negative about the assignment, throwing school supplies, or saying something negative about someone else. 

As a result, Mei is beginning to fall behind in reading comprehension since a key component of the instruction is working with others to answer questions. In addition, she is not meeting the behavioral expectations of the class both due to issues with not getting enough attention at home, below average social skills, and potential cultural barriers due to her being Chinese. Mei's vocabulary is also behind her classmates because she regularly ignores instruction. And her ability to answer "why" and "how" questions is below average in comparison to her classmates since she isn't working well with others. Right now, Mei is still keeping up with her classmates but that will soon change if preventative action is not taken. 

This elementary program meets for two hours, and Mei doesn't arrive from her morning school early. So, the teacher in the after school elementary program has these two hours to make a difference. She can use some of the following intervention strategies using the RTI method. I have written the plan as if I were the teacher. 

Objectives for RTI:

Academic Objectives: 

• Mei can recognize and answer in full sentences "why" and "how" questions. 
• Mei can recognize vocabulary appropriate for her grade level.

Behavioral Objectives: 

• Mei can ask for help or help others in a patient, gentle manner without aggressive movements. 
• Mei can give at least two students compliments a day. 
• Mei can tell the teacher why she feels the need to verbally attack other students. 

RTI Plan: Let's Get to It!

1. Universal Screening

• All students prior to entering the after school elementary program are required to pass an English proficiency test. Mei actually advanced through the Grade 1: Elementary Program and has shown that she achieved proficiency in Grade 1 English Core Curriculum Standards Exam. This means she technically qualifies as a Tier 1 student in academics, but she may soon fall to Tier 2 since her behavior is now inhibiting her learning. 
• As far as behavior is concerned in her previous Grade 1: Elementary class, Mei had behavioral issues and was regularly sent out of class. Her parents were contacted and supportive of corrective action; however, Mei has remained behaviorally challenged. As a result, Mei qualifies for Tier 2 and possibly Tier 3 in behavioral expectations marking her as needing more intensive behavioral intervention.
• Methods used in universal screening are: Core Curriculum Standards Exam, Testing in Spring, Fall, and Winter Terms, and the recording of good/bad behavior in an online student database that will be used to fill out the behavioral portion of the report cards. These are pre-determined quantitative standards created and/or chosen by the school.

 2. Progress Monitoring

• All students including Mei will be monitored throughout activities for understanding of what is being taught. This can be done by asking quick questions like: "Do you know what the word nettle means?". This is done informally and quickly in both group discussion and individually. Since Mei is identified as being a student with potential issues with reading- I will make sure that every lesson I ask her a "why", "how" or vocabulary question during discussion or group work times. 
• At the end of reading activities, I will begin using emoji exit tickets. This will let me know whether most of the class understood the material and just Mei struggled. Or if there was a major issue in my instruction, and Mei as well as everyone else struggled with the new literature material. I will pay particular attention to Mei.
• I will keep Mei after class and spend 2 minutes talking to Mei about herself. She may pick the topic we talk about for those two tickets. I will then hand her an exit emoji ticket asking how she felt about each individual instruction today
• This assessment serves two purposes. First, it lets Mei develop a more personal connection with me. Secondly, it lets me know what Mei likes. This will allow me to design activities more likely to capture Mei's interest.
• In addition, I will set a kind goal for her for the next class such as telling one student what a good job he/she did. We will meet after class again and set a new "being kind" goal together.
• By setting a quantitative goal here, I'm hoping the student will learn good behavioral habits that will allow her to make a more positive connection with others. But this also serves as a quantitative behavioral assessment every day that I can use to monitor Mei's progress.
• I will have students write in journal for three minutes at the start of class before the class meeting. They may write whatever they desire in the journals, and I will respond to them. If I'm correct about Mei wanting to make a positive connection with me, I think she'll write regularly in the journal. This would serve as an informal daily behavior assessment not just for Mei but for all my students. 

3.  Data-Based Decision Making

• At the end of the week, I will report Mei's behavioral and academic progress during the weekly staff meeting. Prior to the meeting, I will see if Mei met her weekly academic and behavioral goals. 
• If Mei has met all/most of her goals, I will continue using those techniques and inform my coworkers of her progress. I will ask for suggestions from my coworkers about how to help Mei achieve her full potential.
• If  Mei has not achieved most of her goals, I will continue using the techniques I've chosen for the next two weeks. If there is still no sign of improvement, I will modify the techniques. In addition, I will ask for ways to modify my techniques at the weekly meetings.
• If Mei's behavior continues to worsen, I will notify administrators and discuss the issues with the parents after quantifying and writing a report of Mei's behavior. In addition, I will work with my headmistress about how to address Mei's issues. 
• Mei will be moved between Tiers 1, 2, and 3 based on the results of my formal and informal assessments as well as colleague recommendations.  

4.  Multi-Level Intervention System

• Using Universal Screening, Progress Monitoring, and Data-Based Decision Making, I will evaluate what tier Mei needs to be in as well as what level in the Tier she is occupying. For instance if she is in Tier 2, I would monitor how close she is to moving into Tier 1 or moving into Tier 3 if her behavior or academics worsens.
• As a Tier 2 student, Mei is a candidate for more individual instruction.  Because of the class time only being 2 hours, Mei can't be pulled out individually. But in a class of 11 students, there is a lot of group work. So, the teacher is able to ask many small group questions to the individual groups. This should serve a similar purpose to pulling the student into a smaller goup
• Mei will also be paired with higher-level more positive students. This should give her an example of students to look up to. The students chosen also must be patient because Mei will try to make them angry by verbally attacking them. 
• In addition, the teacher will make sure in the primary instruction to incorporate activities that Mei will enjoy. For instance, this poster project should be fairly successful with Mei since she loves drawing and coloring.  
• https://travelinginasia.company/2018/05/03/wild-swans-literature-project-teachnow-module-5-unit-2-activity-1/ 
• Furthermore using art to further elaborate upon reading comprehension questions should encourage deeper understanding by all learners. 
• During class meetings, we will talk about how to talk nicely to others and even do an activity where you have to say something nice to the student holding the treasure chest.  
• In addition providing Mei with specific positive praise might offset some of the negative interactions the teacher and her have. I can set a goal of giving Mei at least 5 specific pieces of praise a day.  
• Finally, I can meet with Mei at the end of the day to talk to her and ask about where she felt frustrated during the activity. 

Overall, Mei seems like the type of student who wants to have a positive relationship with the teacher, but she doesn't know how to. This is my RTI plan for Mei.  

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