University of South Florida

Rachel Porter
Level Three Inquiry

Inquiry

2
Rationale

School Introduction
I intern at Maniscalco Elementary School. There is a total of 550 students and the race of
46.18% of students is caucasian while the other races in descending order include: Hispanic
(35.09%), African American (9.27%), Multi-racial (5.82%), Asian (3.45%) , and lastly Indian (.
18%) (Maniscalco 2016). The school offers an English for Speakers of Other Languages
program and many teachers on staff to provide individualized services. The school has one
assistant principal, a guidance counselor, a school psychologist, and a behavioral specialist on
site.
Description of Classroom
This year I have been placed in a Kindergarten classroom that is within a pod of four
classes. Each class is self-contained and my classroom and another share a wall so we can often
hear the next class singing or in the middle of a discussion. In the center of a pod is a room that
is used by the kindergarten assistant when she teaches Social Studies to each class throughout the
day. During Response To Intervention, students are split into their tiered groups and go to a
different teachers class to received individualized instruction to best meet their academic needs.
In my classroom we have fifteen students, seven female and eight male. Demographically my
classroom is 46% Caucasian, 20% Hispanic, 20% African American, and 13% of Mixed Decent.
Most of my students were born in the spring, so developmentally my class is still exhibiting the
behaviors of a five year old. Some older students are beginning to understand abstract concepts
but again that is the minority of the class. Within the class are two students that are Dual

Inquiry

Language Learners however they do not receive ESOL instruction because of how advance their
language acquisition is. We do have three students pulled out in the afternoons for speech but the
whole class is accustomed to this so it is no longer a distraction. My class is really wonderful at
working together and celebrating each others achievements.
Description of Focus Students
I have two students that I am will include in my inquiry, however it does apply to more
than these two in my class. Michael Darling (all names are pseudonyms) is a small statured five
year old boy, he came into the school year without the ability to write his name. Currently,
December 2016, he can identify one letter in the alphabet but cannot provide the sound of any of
the letters. Academically he is far behind and also is struggling to identify numbers, does not
count sequentially, and has begun to identify shapes. Behaviorally, he was diagnosed with
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in
October. Prior to this I have documentation of the student having violent outbursts and tantrums
in the middle of class. In order for this student to be successful in social situations and
academically we will need to implement strategies that will allow him to focus and stay calm for
a period of time.
My second student, Howie Kemp was also diagnosed with ODD and ADHD, but this was
prior to the school year. At first we attempted to implement only the behavior management
system that is used for the whole class but because of violent outbursts, my CT has met with his
mother and the behavior specialist to best help this students needs. This student is on level and is
beginning to read as the rest of the class, he also shows mastery of the concepts we are working

Inquiry

through in mathematics. Academically Howie is doing well, he does better if he enjoys the task
and is not distracted, but is a very bright student.
Statement of Wondering
My ultimate question is: How can I help students with emotional and behavioral
disorders overcome impulsive or violent outbursts to improve student engagement? My two
focus students cannot engage in lessons if they are overloaded with impulsive and aggressive
thoughts. These students also cannot be engaged if they spend their days in the principals office.
In the same way, the students who are injured as a result of these violent outbursts are also not
engaged in learning if they spend their time in the nurses office. This wondering is two-fold as I
am approaching it from a behavioral standpoint but I also hypothesize that my students will
improve academically when they learn calming and mindfulness strategies.
Literature
I have many articles and journals that I read, the first being three provided by the school.
These detailed specific behaviors: fights with other students, is easily angered, annoyed or upset,
and bothers other students who are trying to work, listen, etc. They give two goals for the
students behavior and then give objectives for the student to meet. Finally are 54, 88, and 127
interventions suggested for us to attempt. All in all these three were the most unhelpful strategies
for teachers who had already exhausted their own compilation of strategies. One such strategy is:
avoid seating the student near people with whom he may be tempted to converse with. This of
course contradicts with do not force the student to interact or remain in a group if he is likely to
become angry, annoyed, or upset. as Howie only talks to students who do not make him angry,
this narrows the options down to very few people that he can sit next to. If I am to ensure that

Inquiry

those around him will be patient with his behavior and ignore when he is talking while the
teacher is talking then only adults can sit next to this student. One strategy that was helpful was
giving the student a place in the classroom where he could calm down from his emotions.
Unfortunately since these were printed out for me at the Elementary School I am unsure of its
original source.
My next article is the Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training for Children with ADHD
and Mindful Parenting for their Parents. This article details a study in which children and parents
are given mindfulness training for eight consecutive weeks and then complete a follow up
assessment and interview eight weeks later. First there is a time where children and parents are
together for the training, then there is built in homework time, and following a short break
parents and children are separated and are trained. Generally parents saw a decrease in unwanted
behavior and an increase in executive function tasks. Teachers were also asked to complete the
assessment of the students behavior, unfortunately there was not a significant change during
school hours. This leads me to wonder if the parents saw improvement because they themselves
were a part of the training, and teachers were not. Students were given strategies to calm
themselves and focus on a task, and then could complete it after much practice. If teachers were
to be trained and complete like activities in the classroom, they might see such results.
Oord, S. V., Bgels, S. M., & Peijnenburg, D. (2011). The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training
for Children with ADHD and Mindful Parenting for their Parents. Journal of Child and Family
Studies, 21(1), 139-147. doi:10.1007/s10826-011-9457-0

The next article I read was a study on the validity of Executive Functioning (EF) deficits in
students with ADHD. This study included the largest known group of individuals with ADHD,

Inquiry

and as such were classified by type, including those who had ODD. There are several pages
detailing every aspect and result of the trial and the EF tasks. Ultimately, the study concluded
that the deficit found is independent of those with ODD and reading disorders. Meaning that
much of the decision making process and lack of processing of steps correlated to ADHD is in
fact not accurate. My students which have ADHD and ODD, may be in the percentile that
successfully completes more EF tasks with breaking fewer rules. This does not mean that there
isnt a deficit to be aware of, but rather that the deficit is not to blame and neither is the ODD.

R. Klorman , L.A. Hazel-Fernandez , S.E. Shaywitz , J.M. Fletcher , K.E. Marchione , J.M.
Holahan , & B.A. Shaywitz (1999). Executive functioning deficits in attention-deficit/
hyperactivity disorder are independent of oppositional defiant or reading disorder. Journal of the
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 38(9), 11481155.

Lastly this article not only defined ODD but also compared behaviors found in ODD
versus ADHD. It gave resources on different articles to read more about the disorders. It relays
the strengths of students with these disorders, as well as some of their difficulties. This article
shows different behaviors exhibited at different ages. It details the teaching implications and the
ways that we can help. My favorite quote is such, The child is not the problem. The problem is
the problem. It tells readers to separate the child from the behavior and talk as if it is its own
entity, temper and defiance are not ways to describe the child but rather an externalization of
the behavior. There are several accommodations and instructional strategies for educators to use.
I found this one most helpful because it was most realistic. This did not place blame on one
person, it also doesnt excuse the behavior. With the strategies included in this article the hope is
that students would not progress into Conduct Disorder.

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Denise, B. (n.d.). Oppositional Defiant Disorder [PDF]. Marquette: Northern Michigan

University. Retrieved from: https://www.nmu.edu/sites/DrupalAccreditation/files/UserFiles/
Files/Pre-Drupal/SiteSections/Section4/OppositionalDefiantDisorder.pdf

Methods and Procedures

I created an action plan to help keep myself on track and continue in my inquiry
throughout the semester. This action plan could be edited based on student needs and realistic
time expectations as the semester progressed. I have already implemented some suggested
strategies with success and some without improvement. I currently defer control meaning, the
clock says its time for us to, or The rule is. This makes it so that my students cannot
oppose me as it is an object or abstract concept that is guiding the day. I already use strategies
that deal with conflict resolution and social skills. This means that when one of my students is
angry we sit down and talk, I acknowledge the emotions, and the facts. Since my students are
looking for an emotional response I keep my emotions out of it. We discuss what the rules are
and ways to respond to peers and teachers. One such incident included kicking another student
who themselves kicked a plant. So we immediately discussed what the appropriate response
should be. My plan is to implement a calm down zone in the classroom where any student can go
to calm down and collect their emotions. This is mainly for the purpose of my students who have
violent and impulsive outbursts but can be used by all. Afterwards a visit to the calm down zone
I will document the students behavior. I will also check the students behavior color at the end of
the day. This data will tell me how many times a student uses the calm down zone, the number of
incidents, and the overall behavior of the day. This can be done with a simple checklist and chart.
Date

Strategy
Implemented

Research

Interview

Analyze and
Interpret Data

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8
01/17

Calm Down Zone

01/24

Nonverbal Cues

01/31

Warning w/o
Comments

02/07

Change Seating

02/14

Create Response
Journals

X
Two-Way Response
Communication

CT, Student
X

02/21

Student

02/28

Adjustments to Calm
Down Zone

03/7

Change Seating

03/21

Social Skills Tableau

03/28

CT, Kindergarten
Assistant
Conflict Resolution

Communication with CT, Student,

Peers
Kindergarten
Assistant

04/04

Change Seating

04/11

Communication with
Peers

04/18

CT, Kindergarten
Assistant

X
Student
X