Ni Observed a Fourth Grade Classroom During

NI observed a fourth grade classroom during a science lesson. Bob is an intelligent ten-year-old child, but he has a difficult time paying attention to his teacher. He likes to get a lot of attention and when he gets bored he turns his focus to other destructive matters, such as throwing pencils up into the ceiling. Throwing pencils at the ceiling has gotten him in trouble many times. The teacher told me that once he was kicked out of the classroom for it. From the general disruption of the class, I can see why. Bob is the "class clown." He likes to get the other children involved in the disruption of the class along with him. In the 45 minute class time, the teacher did not get much done due the need to punish Bob. This included sending him to the principal's office and then a good amount of time (10-15 minutes) to get the class calmed down.

When Bob becomes uninterested he stops paying attention to instruction completely. When he is bored, he needs to find another activity to fill the void and that activity will be something that distracts the teacher and his classmates. From my observations and information, I believe Bob's behavior problems are the result of a lack of attention and disinterest from the people in his life as well as a general sense of laziness and intimidation for tasks that seem difficult. The teacher told me that Bob comes to school with an unclean appearance (dirty clothes, messy hair, looking like he has not bathed ) and without the proper tools to actively complete his assignments . For example, he comes to school without any pencils or paper and his backpack is a mess. The teacher tells me that Bob's behavior problems decreased as she had time to give him one on one attention and break down his tasks into smaller assignments while giving him encouragement. She also told me that Bob is in line with for an interview with the school psychiatrist and for an evaluation.

Reflections

I reviewed some materials on dealing with behavior problems in the classroom. The key to identifying and dealing with any behavioral problem in the classroom involves identifying the specifics of a problem behavior and also the conditions that then prompt and reinforce it ("Reducing behavior problems," 2011). This then will aid the teacher in preparation for a possible behavior intervention with Bob.

Dr. Kitt Richert maintains that it is necessary to center in on one or two particular behaviors to concentrate the intervention upon (Richert, 2012). One of the first things that will be done before any intervention will be a Functional Behavioral Assessment. This is a process that looks at the behaviors in terms

of what the effect is upon the individual child, rather than upon the other children ("Problem behaviors in," 2002, 1). It appears that the teacher is well on her way with the rapport she has with Bob, though he gets out of hand at time.