Troublesome student

 

Student Profile

A girl named A in an IB school, grade 6 Maths. According to her data received from parents and previous teachers, she has never been able to do any Maths.

My Observations and concerns

1.     She sits very listless in the class.

2.     She generally does not attempt anything.

3.     If she does attempt anything, it is half a problem.

4.     If I call out to her she shrinks.

5.     If I move to her seat quietly, she just says “ma’am” in a tone that tell me “go away”.

6.     Outside the class she is very friendly. Whenever she sees me, she comes for a hug (very common in India for students to seek hugs. Times are changing now though and teachers are asked to be careful of physical proximity). Her hugs are very warm and she holds me for a long time before letting go.

I am extremely confused with her “inside negative and outside positive” approach. Plus, I can see just how dainty she is emotionally inside the class and am very gentle while approaching her. I don’t talk about maths outside the class for I do not wish our relation to be affected. But I am worried. She is in grade 6 and hasn’t learnt much.

Behaviour to modify

I use (Skinner, 1938) model “Through operant conditioning, an individual makes an association between a particular behavior and a consequence”.

The behaviour I would her to develop to reach there is - start attempting the work assigned as CW and HW – and not give up in the middle out of any reasons.

My planning and justifications

I notice her love for colours and that gives me an idea. She carries in her bag everyday a big box of colours and I saw her caressing it once and just checking the colour pens.  I have caught the behaviour that can lead me to bring her to Maths. I also notice her love for being on her own and that gives me a set of 2 reinforcers to work on her.

My consequence(s) for her: (My plan before the contract)

For her work she can use colourful pens. I will do away with the mandatory blue or black pens inks. And I will also do away with my own red pen. We let her choose the colours of her notebook. I will get the permission from the head of the school.

Keeping in mind that this may wear off its novelty after a time, I kept a schedule of variable reinforcements for her.

i.                   Use of colours for 1^st 2 weeks

ii.                 3^rd week, if she shows 80% progress, she can take a break in between the class and walk around or draw or dream….

iii.              5^th week, if she shows 80% progress, she gets half a lesson free to be on her own.

I thought of withdrawing my hugs, but then decided against it as that may collapse everything and that is not the goal at all!

This contingency reflects the Premack Principle of providing the opportunity to engage in a more-valued activity (experiments) as a reinforcer for engaging in a less-valued one (completing chapter questions).  (Schunk, page 92)

 I decide to use the “variable-ratio::variable-interval” (Khanacademy medicine. October 20, 2013) way as she is so emotionally volatile at the mention of Maths. I want to break her habit of ‘giving up without trying’ but I don’t want to lose my relationship with her. So I have to be watchful of the threshold of stimulus that I give to her. (Guthrie’s model, Schunk, pp 86-88)

 Our contingency contract

The behaviour I would like her to develop to reach there is - start attempting the work assigned as CW and HW.

This behaviour needs to be broken into several steps for her as it is too much to tackle straight away.

Week 1: Try 1 problem in class and 1 problem at home, minimum.

Week 2: try 2 problems in class and 2 problems at home, minimum.

Week 3: Sustain weeks 1 and 2

Week 4: Try 3 problems in class and 3 problems at home, minimum.

Week 5: Evaluate and assess our aims and findings.

Keeping in mind that this may wear off its novelty after a time, we also decide a schedule of variable reinforcements for her.

i.                   3^rd week, if she shows 80% progress, she can take a break in between the class and walk around or draw or dream….

ii.                 5^th week, if she shows 80% progress, she gets half a lesson free to be on her own.

iii.              The focus is ‘try’. She may not get the right answer and that is ok.

And hence her 3 reinforcers are:

i.                   Use of colours in the class

ii.                 Continued unconditional support outside the class

iii.              A chance to be on her own

The punishment for not trying a single problem is that her box of colours stays closed. She uses the mandatory blue and black and I use the red! It is up to her how to spend the 40 minutes in the classroom.

 Expected response (To be assessed by actual responses)

This is to watch out how the contract goes in order to evaluate with data in week 5.

She starts solving Math problems on her own in the class and at home.

 

References

i.                   Khanacademymedicine. (October 20, 2013). Operant conditioning: Positive-and-negative reinforcement and punishment. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut1zmfolM9E(6:58)

ii.                 Khanacademymedicine. (October 10, 2013). Operant conditioning: Schedules of reinforcement. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ofbt16AJgg (7:48)

iii.              McLeod, Saul. (2018). Skinner, Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from: https://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html

iv.              Schunk, D. H. (2012). Learning theories: An educational perspective (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.