A Study of Harry

Motivation of a First Grade Boy

Amy Cattabriga

University of New England EDU-610

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610 Introduction Harry is a six-year-old, first grade boy who has been diagnosed with Attention Defecit Disorder (ADHD), Mood Disorder, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As a toddler Harry was allegedly abused by both a relative and his mother's boyfriend, an act his mother denies. Due to these accusations, he has been in the care of his paternal grandparents since June 2010. He sees his father regularly and his mother once a week in a supervised setting. As a result, of the abuse Harry exhibits highly sexualized and aggressive behaviors in the classroom. Harry is a very affectionate, loving child. He often has hugs for his classroom teachers and other staff members whom he has grown close with. He also likes to hug his classmates as a way of expressing affection or congratulations. This is, of course, frowned upon and Harry is being encouraged to express his feelings in other, more appropriate ways, such as with a high five and a smile. Harry enjoys helping in the classroom and is quick to volunteer for a job even before a teacher asks for help. He will also attempt to help his classmates whenever he can although his timing is not always apt. He has also become quite adept at verbalizing his feelings, particularly when he is feeling upset or anxious. In May 2011, towards the end of Kindergarten Harry was administered subtests from the WIAT-III tests of academic achievement by the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program. Harry's performances on tests of early academic skills met or exceeded grade based expectations. His early reading skills, including letter recognition and the ability to recognize beginning and ending sounds of words were in the Above

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610 Average range for his age. His early math skills on tests of simple counting and calculations and his early spelling skills were Average for his age.

WIAT-III Subtest
Early Reading Skills Numerical Operations Math Problem Solving Spelling

Achieved Standard Score

115 103 111 102

Predicted Standard Score

104 108 109 108

Percentile
84th 58th 77th 55th

Age/Grade Equivalent
6:8/1.4 6:0/K.9 6:4/1.4 5:8/K.7

Harry's scores on the WIAT-III from Kindergarten, May 2011.

Harry's academic performance in his first grade classroom is not entirely consistent with his test scores. While he scored advanced on many of the subtests his current efforts are average for his age at best. For terms one and two he received a grade of "Progressing Towards Proficiency" in Reading/Literature, Writing/Composition, Oral Language and Mathematics. In Science and Social Studies he earned "Demonstrates Proficiency" for both terms. While there is little to no change in Harry's grades from Term 1 to Term 2, he has shown marked academic improvement. Upon entering the first grade, in September of 2011, his DRA level was that of a 3. The benchmark for the second term for first graders is between the levels of 10 12; Harry read at a level 8. He is having difficulty recognizing sight words, more so than he had at the beginning of the school year, and with the ending sounds of words. Part of his difficulty may stem from his behavior. When he perceives a task to be difficult he will often refuse to make an attempt. He has difficulty bringing himself

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610 back to task and often requires one to one assistance to complete assignments. In addition to this, his family reports that while they regularly read to Harry at home he rarely participates, instead choosing to listen to and, in his words, "enjoy the story". His family reports that he is calm and relaxed at home, and very attentive. He completes his homework without a fight, and requires little to no assistance. Someone does sit at the table with him while he works however, ready to provide help should he ask for it. Harry's behavior is fairly constant throughout the course of the day. He shifts from being attentive and on task to calling out and being disruptive at the same frequency for academic and specialist periods. In accordance with his behavior plan, he earns a tally mark for every ten minutes that he does not need to be reminded more than three times to demonstrate self-control or attend to the task at hand. When he earns a specific number of tallies for the morning and the afternoon he receives a few minutes of downtime with a pre-approved activity of his choice, often looking at a book or a magazine. He only earns tallies during academic periods. There is currently no accountability within the behavior plan for his actions during specials, lunch, recess or the periods between the beginning and end of academics and buses. Transitions between classes, like other unstructured periods of time, can be difficult for Harry. As per his behavior plan Harry takes a walk with one of the classroom teachers during the transition from specials back to the regular classroom to help him regulate his "engine" and prevent this unstructured time from affecting the rest of his day.

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610 Along with transitions, Harry has a difficult time with change, even when given advance notice. Changes to the classroom schedule may elevate his behaviors temporarily but never to the point where he cannot be brought back to task. Changes with staff however can negatively affect Harry's behavior. When one or more of his teachers are out he will engage in his typical disruptive behaviors (making noise, throwing pencils, etc.) at a greater frequency and will refuse to complete any of his work or participate in any of the sensory activities designed to help him cope with such times. On one occasion, early in the school year, when the classroom teacher was out for the day Harry hid under a table and refused to come out until the classroom paraprofessional returned to the room. Harry displays behaviors that are more aggressive when his classroom teachers are not in as well, inappropriately touching his peers or making verbal threats against him. The triggers for Harry's behavior are varied and may not always be clear to those around him. In the classroom, events such as having difficulty with an assignment or having to go back and fix an incorrect or messy response can be a trigger. Unexpected contact, such as someone brushing against him as they walk by can also set off his behaviors. Harry has a difficult time letting go of incidents that happen before or after school. An incident at daycare, which he attended for the first half of the school year, or a comment made by someone on the bus may affect his behavior hours or days after it initially occurs. His weekly visits with his mother can also negatively affect his behavior, as she will make inappropriate comments about his abuse or bring along the boyfriend that allegedly hurt Harry. The morning after a visit Harry'ss behaviors may

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610 escalate rapidly though he will on occasion become moody and withdrawn. The addition of a neutral party at these visits has helped in the past few weeks. Harry has come to look forward to them and speaks more favorably of his mother and their relationship.

Observations

Independent Work:
For the majority of the academic year Harry has a hard time completing his work independently. He often complains about assignments, proclaiming them to be "too hard" before even hearing the directions. He will continue to make a fuss for the duration of the lesson, playing with his nametag, marble jar and anything else within his reach. He insists that he cannot complete the work without the assistance of a teacher. Alternatively, Harry will announce that a lesson is "boring" or call out "not this again!" when previously discussed material is being reviewed. Even when Harry completes his work independently he has a tendency to be disruptive, fidgeting with materials or humming and making other noises. Recently Harry has begun to take great pride in the work he completes independently, taking his time on assignments and checking his work before showing it to a teacher.

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610

Partner Work:
The first grade curriculum frequently utilizes partner work for Math and English/Language Arts. While Harry has vocalized his enjoyment of working in pairs his behavior during such times quite often depends on who he is assigned to work with. There are very few students in the classroom who Harry consistently works well with. He is often impatient with his peers, calling them names or behaving disruptively when he deems that they are working too slowly. His impulsivity makes taking turns difficult and he dislikes losing. Harry has a history of cheating at academic games so that he may come out ahead of his partner.

Working One-to-One:
Harry craves attention, as demonstrated by his disruptive behaviors. As such, he does some of his best work when working one on one with an adult. It does not seem to matter if he is working with one of his regular classroom teachers or a classroom volunteer; Harry simply enjoys the attention. Harry will easily get off task when working alone with an adult, going off on tangential conversations, and it is often difficult to guide him back to the assigned task. He frequently looks for validation, pausing after every question to ask if he has answered it correctly. He does not always respond well to hearing that an answer needs revision or that his work is sloppy and must be redone. He also does not like it when an adult tries to talk him through a difficult question, seemingly preferring to be incorrect, or "dumb" as he will sometimes put it, than receive help.

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610

Working Whole Group:

While Harry is typically attentive during whole group lessons, both on the rug and seated at tables, he is also disruptive. He is an active participant during lessons but often forgets to raise his hand and wait to be called on. Harry has a hard time sitting for lessons and fidgets with his shoelaces or his sleeves. These behaviors are generally not disruptive to the class they are typically ignored so long as Harry can demonstrate that he is paying attention, which he often is. Harry has tried to use a variety of "fidgets" (small sensory objects such as a ball) but any help they provided him was temporary. Occasionally Harry's behaviors are disruptive enough that the needs to be removed from the group. When seated on the rug he will slide off of his place on the bench so that his feet touch his peers seated near him on the floor or spread his arms so that he is touching students on either side of him. Harry will also attempt to engage his peers in conversation during lessons, with varied success. Effective Strategies To help Harry succeed for the remainder of his time in the first grade as well as the rest of his academic career I will employ the Self-Determination Theory. Harry's behavior in the classroom, coupled with his history abuse suggests that he needs a greater sense of autonomy, competence and relatedness. His current choices within the classroom imply that he is not sure how to achieve such things. The easiest of these to address is his need for relatedness. Given that Harry is extremely social, but inappropriate with his classmates it would be advisable to assign

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610 him a buddy within the classroom. Model peers, who are not easily swayed by silliness, will give Harry a reference for good classroom behavior and peer relationships. By surrounding him with students who will not feed into his silliness will also be beneficial for Harry as he tends to play for an audience. If successful, Harry will learn over time that he does not need to be overly silly to gain his peers attention and their friendship. Having a buddy would help Harry academically as well. He likes to receive constant reassurance that he is doing his work correctly but in a classroom with twentytwo other students this is not always feasible. Setting up a system where Harry (and the other students) can "check in" with each other and be sure that they are on the right track with their work. Assisting classmates with class work will help Harry and all of his students to build and strengthen the basic academic skills they need to succeed in and out of the first grade. As his self confidence in the classroom grows Harry may come to realize that he is competent and does not need the constant reassurance that his work is being completed correctly. Learning to explain things and seeing that other students make mistakes and errors in their work will also help Harry come to terms with the idea that he cannot do everything perfectly all of the time. Harry often expresses a desire for more autonomy within the classroom. Students are allowed to choose the order in which they complete their assignments during Math and English/Language Arts centers. However, Harry's choices are not always appropriate. He will join tables where students he knows he does not work with well are already seated and will occasionally refuse to work when the activity he wishes to complete is not available. As his needs in the areas of relatedness and competency

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610 are being addressed his need for autonomy should be addressed as well. Knowing that he has someone to check in with and work with may help Harry make better choices about where he sits and who he sits with. In addition, knowing that he has the basic skills with which to complete the assigned work and being confident enough to work independently will make Harry less hesitant about completing the activities assigned and therefore less likely to fight about having to work at certain centers. I would suggest that Harry's future teachers continue with this program, but to also prepare to adjust and add to it, as Harry does tend to adapt and learn quickly. They must also be prepared in the event that Harry's behavior suddenly backslides, as it will occasionally do after a long break from school or an incident at home. It would also be beneficial for his future teachers to retain the walks Harry takes to regulate his internal engine if at all possible. During these periods, Harry is more likely to speak candidly about his feelings (both about school and his home life) and having that insight is extremely helpful when working with Harry to regulate his behavior. There are a variety of motivational theories and strategies that could help Harry attain academic success. Many of them would not be effective until he comes to terms with his abusive past however. For example, the Attribution Theory would be useless to Harry right now as he, and his family, tend to place the blame for all of his problems on his past abuse. While the abuse is certainly a factor in Harry's difficulties it is not everything. Harry must learn to take responsibility for his own actions and allow those actions to be his motivating factor rather than what has happened to him in the past. Similarly, the Goal Orientation Theory would not work for Harry. Currently many of his

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610 goals in the classroom are avoidance goals he wishes to avoid appearing dumb and puts just enough effort into tasks to avoid having to re-do them. Until he learns to regularly take pride in his work and his abilities Harry will continue to make such avoidance goals which will not be beneficial to his continued academic and behavioral growth. Conclusion The idea of motivating students is a daunting one. The theories behind motivation are vast and overwhelming. However, in writing this case study I found that the majority of arrangements that can be put in place to help Harry succeed will also benefit his classmates. While all students have different strengths and learn at different rates the underlying motivation behind their academic success can be universal. At this age they all have a desire to learn and to demonstrate what they know. They simply need the correct channels in which to do so. Much like with differentiated instruction you do not need to have a separate plan of action for every student. What works for one student will help all of them with a certain degree of adjustment. All of the strategies and theories we have discussed are important in the classroom. To say that one is more important to all of the students of a given classroom than any of the others is difficult. A theory or strategy may motivate a student to a certain degree but that does not necessarily mean that it is an important motivating factor in that student's academic life. In addition, what works for one classroom this year may be detrimental to student success the following school year. Motivation, like all things academic, must be a fluid, ever changing presence in the

Amy Cattabriga A Study of Harry: Motivation of a First Grade Boy EDU-610 classroom. It must grow and shift as the students do if it is to make a difference in their lives. If it remains stagnant, so will our students, never to achieve the academic and social greatness that they so deserve.