Case Report: Interaction and Reactions

from Reports from the Classroom: Cases for Reflection, by Sarah H. Huyvaert, p. 115

Background

As a beginning third-grade teacher, I knew very few of the staff, parents, or students in the small elementary school. However, one of my closest friends, Jill, was the part-time special education teacher at the school. Before the school year started, Jill gave me a list of the children who would be in my class who had special needs. These children would be receiving assistance from Jill throughout the year.

Jill told me about one child, Joe, who had some behavior problems in last year’s classroom but who had made remarkable progress during the last months of the school year and probably would not need much, if any, special education monitoring. The only suggestion that Jill gave me was that I should set up a behavior modification program similar to the one used by last year’s teacher, since it had been so successful. I agreed to post a sheet of paper on Joe’s desk and mark it each time he disrupted the class. There were to be specific consequences for each mark and his parents were to be notified if he received more than two marks during one day. If he went one week without a certain number of marks, he was to receive a reward. I began the program the first day of school, and at the end of the second week I called Joe’s parents to discuss my expectations for classroom behavior. I encouraged them to support the program at home, and they agreed.

Throughout the first month of school, Joe often called out during lessons, interrupted other students during independent work, was physically very active, and generally appeared distracted and disinterested in school. By the end of the month, I could see that this program was not working, even though I was following it diligently. Joe was getting at least two marks every day and not a week went by without a conversation with his parents. The parents seemed supportive at the beginning of the program, but I found out, through my conversations with Joe, that his parents were not keeping their promise to reinforce consequences of poor behavior in school.

This struggle when on for several months, and during this time I kept Jill informed about the lack of progress, letting her know that things were not working out. She kept telling me that Joe needed time to adjust to a new teacher and “get back into the swing of things” at school.

As I got to know Joe and his family, and became more familiar with his background, I discovered that he was one of the oldest students in my class, because he had repeated his kindergarten year. His grades indicated that he was an average student. He had never been formally tested for any disability, such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). His family had recently encountered several crises, including the onset and treatment of his mother’s breast cancer and the pregnancy of his unmarried teenage sister. I also learned

from the teacher who had Joe’s brother in class that she was battling with Joe’s parents over a curriculum issue.

As the months went on, I tried using some other management techniques with Joe. These techniques had worked when I was a substitute teacher, but nothing seemed to work with Joe. His grades worsened and his parents became disillusioned with the apparent lack of progress. Not only did they voice their concerns to me but also to Jill. As the year wore on, I was becoming more and more discouraged.

Incident

In the beginning of November, I walked into the teachers’ lounge one afternoon on a break period. Jill, the principal, and the music teacher were all seated at the same table. I stopped to ask Jill if we could meet to discuss Joe’s situation. Instead of setting up a time when we could meet, Jill began to ask questions about Joe’s behavior problems right then and there. I told her that I had been trying some different techniques, such as withholding recess time, because I wasn’t seeing any progress in using the program she had suggested. She informed me, very bluntly, that Joe had done very well last year under the program and she couldn’t understand why the program that was used by last year’s teacher wasn’t working with him now. She also told me, in a very loud voice, that the punishment system I was using right now would not work with Joe because he was a very sensitive child. She finally agreed to observe Joe in the classroom. However, even though she had her appointment book with her, she left to go to her next obligation without setting up a definite time to observe Joe.

I was deeply hurt by Jill’s actions in the teachers’ lounge. First, I was embarrassed because I felt she criticized my teaching in front of the principal and a colleague. I was offended because she had shown what I felt was a lack of professionalism in choosing to discuss this in front of other parties. I also was more discouraged that before because she did not offer me any alternatives to the discipline procedures that I had already tried, and I felt that she had implied that I was part of Joe’s problem. Finally, I was hurt because I expected more empathy from her as a friend.

Discussion

At wit’s end with this situation, one day I decided to read through Joe’s complete school records. I was amazed to find that the remarks of the kindergarten and first-grade teachers about Joe’s behavior—including his inability to attend and his consistent interruption of classroom activities—matched my observations exactly. I also observed Joe in music and art classes, and found that the other teachers had similar problems with Joe’s lack of attention in the classroom. As a result of these discoveries, I began to realize that it was not my classroom management strategies that were inadequate, but rather the problem stemmed from the fact that Joe had some kind of attention problem and I simply did not have the skills or knowledge that were necessary to help him.

After a confrontation with Joe’s parents, the situation came to a head. I knew I had to do something. Because Jill never did come in to observe me, I chose to go to the principal for advice. He was very supportive. He observed Joe during class, and afterwards

offered the simple suggestion that I change his seat placement to the front of the room. I did so. This, combined with the modified version of the original program for behavior management and an increased confidence on my part, led to Joe making remarkable strides in his ability to stay on task during the last three or four months of school.

The principal had Jill read Joe’s school records and Jill agreed that his past history was significant enough to indicate that he had a problem with attention in the classroom. She then arranged for him to be tested and it was determined that Joe did indeed have Attention Deficit Disorder. She also agreed that his problems were not a result of my lack of classroom management skills. However, Jill and I remained fairly distant as colleagues for the remainder of the school year.

Questions

1. Should a regular classroom teacher always review the permanent records of children with special needs prior to the beginning of a school year?
2. Should a teacher begin the year by following the exact programs and systems used successfully by a child’s previous teacher or special education teacher?
3. Was I wrong to take so much personal offense at the incident with Jill in the teachers’ lounge?
4. When I observed Joe in music class, I noticed the same behaviors that he exhibited in my classroom. The music teacher was in the lounge when the incident with Jill occurred and yet she said nothing when Jill implied that Joe’s poor behavior was all my fault. Should the music teacher have said something, especially since the principal was there, or was she right to stay out of it?
5. What should I do to improve my working relationship with Jill? I don’t want to confront her, but I also don’t want to apologize. I don’t think I did anything wrong, but I think Jill did do something wrong, and I think it’s important that she knows how I felt.

Concluding Questions and Activities

1. The teacher says that she was hurt and embarrassed by Jill’s actions in the teachers’ lounge. Do you think this is a normal reaction or do you think the teacher was overreacting?
2. With fellow students, role-play the incident in the teachers’ lounge. Afterwards, each player should describe how he or she (or his or her character) felt toward each of the players as a result of the incident.
3. The teacher waited until after she was “at wit’s end” to read Joe’s school records. Why do you think she waited so long? If she had read the records earlier, do you think her reactions to either Joe or Jill would have changed? Defend your response.
4. How do you think Jill felt when she found out that the teacher had gone to the principal for advice? Do you think the teacher was justified in her actions?
5. More and more emphasis is being placed on teachers working as teams. Why wasn’t the teach approach more successful in meeting Joe’s needs? Pretend that you are the teacher in this case and the principal tells both you and Jill to come up with a plan for working together. The plan must include the purpose for your

teaming, a description of the roles each of you will play, and a way that he (the principal) can monitor your success. What sources (people) and resources (including books and articles) would you use when developing you plan? Explain what you would expect to gain from each source. Also, provide an annotation for each resource that is included. (The key here is not to develop the plan, but rather to develop a list of sources and resources.)