Marie O.

Jarra
EDUF 7130 Section 03F
Due: 6/18/2017
Module 12: Mr. Knight

MR. KNIGHT LOSES HIS COOL

1. ANALYSIS OF PROBLEM: The educational problem here is that Mr. Knight is

conditioning Jims disorderly conduct by continuing to yell at Jim, he is negatively reinforcing
Jims behavior.

A. Behavioral description of the problem. Mr. Knights 7th grade social studies class is a very
rambunctious group. The class often works on group assignment where students are allowed to
pick their own group. His students typically do really well with following his instructions, and
class rules all except for Jim. Mr. Knight has written up Jim so many times that he often has to
call his parents and let them know that Jim constantly disrupts the class. Just last week Mr.
Knight raised his voice at Jim to sit down and then on the same day to sit in his chair again after
Jim went to sit on Wandas desk to chatter with her during quiet reading time. Mr. Knight finds
himself loosing his cool more and more and raising his voice at Jim seems to be a daily task now
so he seeks advice from the school counselor on how to handle Jim.

B. Psychological analysis of the problem. Jim is constantly getting up from his seat and he is so
used to it now that he knows that Mr. Knight is going to raise his voice at him. Jim has negative
reinforcement, reinforcement that is stabilized by a negative action (Mr. Knight yelling). Jims
behavior is reinforced by Mr. Knights yelling, Mr. Knight in this case is the reinforcer. Mr.
Knight is a secondary reinforcer to Jims behavior because he gives life to actions such as
yelling continuously at Jim which then Jim associates that with his behavior. The
reinforcement of Jims behavior by Mr. Knight has caused Jim to continue his behavior every
class period. Jim is condition to his behavior. In order for Mr. Knight to help Jim with his
behavior Mr. Knight has to shape Jims behavior by introducing a different tactic and slowly
implement it to Jim until he is condition to the new behavior. Shaping Jims behavior will be a
gradual, progressive process, but one that can produce good positive behavior in Jim.

II. EXPLANATION OF CONCEPTS: Instrumental Conditioning is involves animals and

people behaving in a way that produces a specific behavior. Skinner once called it "trial and
success" learning. The five guidelines of contingency contracts are designed to aid teachers in
implementing a contract agreement between teacher, student and sometimes parents,
concerning the consequences of certain behavioral actions by the student or sometimes
both parties. The first step, implementing small realistic time increments for desired sitting
behavior, is designed to ease the student into removing the previous behavior by slowly
implementing the new behavior. The second step, establishing clear description of what is
acceptable behavior is important so that the student knows what the goal is, what the desired
end behavior is this way both parties are on the same page. The third step is, applying student-
valued reinforcements for desired behavior, like Skinners conditioning a positive reward for
the reinforcement that the student is interested in needs to be applied. The fourth step is
monitoring progressive shaping of desired behavior, the teacher and the student need to keep
track and maintain the progress of the behavior that both are aiming for, the teacher can make
sure that they are giving positive feedback, encouragement and acknowledge of the students
progress. The last step gradual transfer to self-monitoring of desired behavior, is to get to the
point where the student is self-monitoring and self rewarding of the desired behavior, at this
point the student is shaped in the new behavior and it comes naturally to them.

Ill. APPLICATION OF CONCEPTS:

A. General recommendation(s). I recommend that Mr. Knight use a contingency contract with
Jim and involve his parents in order to shape his behavior to a more positive one. Mr. Knight
should also display positive behavior himself, so that Jim can observe what acceptable behavior
looks like.

1. Small realistic time increments for desired sitting behavior

Mr. Knight will have a conversation with Jim and his parents about how important it is
for Jim to sit in his seat and complete his work. For this section Mr. Knight will place a
sand timer on Jims desk thats for 10 minutes. For the first week the timer will be for 10
minutes in the 50-minute class period. When all the sand drops for the first week Jim can
go sharpen his pencil, use the restroom, have talk time (talk time should coincide with the
rest of the classes talk time) and go to his in-class locker.
After the first week a 20-minute sand timer should be used, increasing it by 10 every
week until Jim is able to sit in his seat like the other students. Jim can be involved in this
by being in charge of turning the sand timer and keeping a log in his agenda.

2. Clear description of what is acceptable sitting behavior

Mr. Knight will meet with Jim at the end of the day on Fridays to go over Jims progress.
Mr. Knight will ask Jim how he feels that he has done and he will listen to Jims opinions
and concerns. Mr. Knight will acknowledge Jims progress and encourage him to keep up
the good work. Mr. Knight will then let Jim know what he expects from him for the next
week. He will then call Jims parents and discuss Jims positive behavior with them so
that when Jim gets home they can reinforce the positive behavior as well.

3. Student valued reinforcements for desired behavior.

Mr. Knight will sign off on Jims log in his agenda book at the end of each day when he
receives all his sitting points of the day. Jim will then have his parents sign off on the
agenda as well. When Jim gets all the points for the day his parents will give him extra 10
minutes of TV time that day after his homework. When he gets all the points at the end of
the week he will get to pick one family outdoor activity for that weekend.

4. Progressive shaping of desired sitting behavior.

 During class Mr. Knight can make sure that he is shaping Jims behavior by keeping a
close eye on Jim. During class when Jim completes his time increments Mr. Knight can
acknowledge it by giving Jim a thumps up, or a fist pump just to let Jim know that he is
doing a great job. When Mr. Knight signs off on Jims agenda book every day he can
send praises to Jim through there where Jim and his parents will read it. Mr. Knight can
also make sure that he sometimes uses Jim as an example to the class about good
behavior. Mr. Knight also needs to make sure that as Jims teacher he is not raising his
voice and that he is demonstrating positive behavior for Jim and the rest of his class. As
time goes Mr. Knight will have to do this less and less, he will eventually get to the point
were Jims behavior is just natural to him and he will not need as many reinforcements to
behave well.

5. Gradual transfer to self-monitoring of desired behavior

After some time when Jim is sitting in his seat like his classmates, Mr. Knight and Jim
can still meet maybe twice a month to discuss and maintain Jims progress. Mr. Knight
can show Jim how much his class work has improved and show him his improving
grades. When Jim sees his good grades and Mr. Knight continue to acknowledge his
good behavior Jim will learn to sit in his seat and concentrate on his work on his own. He
will get to the point where he is challenging himself and not pleasing his teacher or
parents.

Contract Between Jim/Mr. Knight/Parents of Jim/School Counselor

I _______________________will agree to this behavior contract with my teacher

____________________and my parents _______________________________. I will
follow all class rules and behavior expectations that are expected out of me. I will do my
best to meet my daily goals of ___5____points for following the timer and only getting
up during my assigned time periods based on my sand timer and my weekly goals of
___25____points to receive my rewards of __10 extra TV time daily at home and
__picking a family activity weekly at home. If I fail to meet my goals I understand that
the consequences are I will miss half of recess and no extra TV time or picking of the
family activity_.

By signing this contract all parties agree to the terms in the document and will following
accordingly.
The student, parent, teacher and guidance counselor will review the following contract.
_________________________________________
(Signature of Student Date

_________________________________________
(Signed Name of Parent) Date

_________________________________________
(Signed Name of Teacher) Date

________________________________________
(Signature of Counselor Date
IV. PERSONAL TRANSFER OF CONCEPTS: In order to get my 3-year-old niece to
cover her mouth and nose when she coughed our sneezed I came up with a keep your
own germs chart. She had pretty bad allergies so I knew she had to lean to cover her
mouth and noes. For the germ chart she was allowed to put some cutouts of icky germs
that we made together, on a poster basket every time she covered her mouth and noses
and then used hand sanitizer. At the end of the day I would ask her did you keep all your
germs today? She had to have at least 4 germs in her baskets (we started with just two the
first week) to get her reward, which was her daily gummy vitamin (she didnt know the
vitamin was good for her she just liked the taste). Soon enough about a month we didnt
have to use the germ basket because she was a pro at covering her mouth and nose when
she sneezed and then would go straight for the hand sanitizer.
 References

Contingency Contracting...a proactive intervention for the classroom Retrieved from:

http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ceed/publications/tipsheets/preschoolbehavior
/contcon.pdf

Ormrod, J. E. (2012). Introduction to cognitivist. Human learning. Person Education Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. 6th ed.

Rea, D. (2017). Class notes for learning theories and applications