Running Head: ADDRESSING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS

Addressing Problem Behaviors:

How One Student Can Change an Entire Classrooms Dynamic
Haley Gillman
Azusa Pacific University
January 10, 2015

ADDRESSING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS

Abstract
This action research project was generated for myself as a starting point on gathering
information based on student behavior in the classroom and different strategies that can
be used to manage it. As a long-term substitute teacher I found myself frustrated trying to
figure out a way to deal with the challenges of more than one student with behavior
issues and found myself struggling to get control during instruction times throughout the
day. The observations of student behavior will take place over the course of 2 weeks, in
which I will develop a functional behavior analysis (FBA) in order to develop different
strategies that I can use during my time in the classroom to minimize the disruptive
behaviors of one particular student whose demeanor has the largest impact on the rest of
the students.

ADDRESSING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS

Introduction
Over the past two years I have substitute taught in a wide variety of classroom
settings and the one challenge I always seem to be faced with is how to implement my
own classroom management strategies for one day with a classroom of students that has a
regular teacher with his/her own management style. In the case of a long-term subbing
position that I took very last minute, I was full aware of one particular student that had
been a challenge to the regular teacher from the beginning of school as I have a common
denominator in the class (my daughter). This is a transitional kindergarten class at a small
charter school. The student to teacher ratio is 20:1 and all students are 4-5 years old.
Some students had attended preschool during the previous school year and some did not.
The social and academic levels of the overall classroom population were quite varied at
the start of the school year.
Prior to the regular teachers maternity leave, she and administration attempted to
get a handle on the problems that she had been facing with Molly1 during the first month
of school. A student success team (SST) meeting took place and strategies were put into
place. The problem, as I saw it, was that the strategies were not practiced on a regular
daily basis with the long-term sub after the regular classroom teacher left. Prior to my
arrival and after many conversations with the regular teacher and the first long-term sub,
I suspected that the sub was not cut out to deal with matters such as this. Long story
short, among other reasons, that sub did not work out and I was assigned the position for
the following 6 weeks.
The main behaviors of concern of Molly were hitting, kicking, and negative
physical behavior toward other students. Other behaviors occur, but are perceived to be a

ADDRESSING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS

consequence of one of the three initial behaviors. My goal is implement a functional

behavior analysis (FBA) in order to develop a way to drastically decrease the three main
behaviors, attempt to address why they occur, and what triggers them.
Problem Statement: Can an FBA help to identify and track the problem of one students
behaviors in the classroom in order to carry out a behavior intervention plan (BIP)?

Implementation
Finding ways to implement acceptable behavior with this student was a struggle
for me in the beginning. During an SST meeting, we discussed using a reinforcement
chart of tally marks with a happy and sad face. One consequence that Molly was not
particularly fond of was losing her recess. The agreement was, if Molly had more happy
face tally marks than sad face tally marks, she was able to attend recess, but if the sad
face side had more tally marks, she was to spend recess in the office. In order to receive a
point on the happy face side of the chart, Molly had to remain on task with her hands to
herself throughout the daily activities. These actions included:

Keeping control of her hands and feet while seated at carpet time

Not placing her hands on students during transition times

Working in her own space during center time

Playing nicely and fairly with other students during may-do activities

These behaviors had to be tracked very regularly throughout the day in order to be
effective. Within the first week, the biggest struggle I faced was implementing something
that actually worked. While the tally mark system seemed appealing, it wasnt proving to
be effective along side having to monitor 19 other students and I felt my time was not
being spent effectively. In addition, I had a lot of work to do with the entire class. At the

ADDRESSING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS

beginning of the school year, until Mollys behavior was addressed with administration,
her classmates became confident that if they tattled on Molly, she would be the one
punished. I discovered early on that Molly was the target of many students complaints
and they used her as a scapegoat.
As I began to look at the big picture and started conducting my research I came
across several references, which helped guide me in my action plan. I began to consider
whether this issue was a bullying problem. Since bullying occurs when another child or
children are deliberately mean to someone else several times, weeks, or months at a time.
Bullying can be verbalname calling, teasing, threats, or physicalhitting, pushing,
kicking and although this group of students is young, it definitely stood out to me as a
form of bullying (Drecktrah and Blaskowski, 2007). Unfortunately, many of the students
were unaware of what the term bullying was. As an attempt the get the entire class on
the same page, we had a mini lesson on bullying and friendship in which I was delighted
to see the enthusiasm of this kids during our group discussion, including Molly.
An additional bit of information that I found to be related was:
Appropriate academic, social, and behavioral skills allow students to become part
of the class, the school, and the community. Unfortunately, for reasons both inside
and outside the classroom, the behavior of some students may interfere with their
learning and socialization as well as that of their classmates. Therefore, you may
need to have a comprehensive and balanced classroom management plan. (Salend,
2004, p. 277)
After reading and getting an idea of how others handle similar behaviors, I decided that a
Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) for Molly would in fact be the best way to

ADDRESSING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS

address her behavior issues. Due to the fact that my time was limited, I chose to address
some of the key points that one would address during an FBA, work on my classroom
management strategies, and attempt to establishing an open communication with Molly.
In order to prepare myself, here is what I did:

Attend an SST to get parent and administration feedback.

Pinpoint the problematic behaviors and what is causing them.

Observe and record the behavior.

Perform and Antecedent-Behavior-Consequences (ABC) Analysis

Once the SST took place, I knew that I had full support from school
administration and Mollys parents to begin my action plan. The following are strategies
that I used throughout the day:

Each morning, we talked about how she should conduct herself around the
other students and in the classroom.

As a class, recite the classroom rules daily and be sure to emphasize them
regularly.

Position myself in the classroom so that all students were aware of who I was
keeping an eye on.

Frequent reminders to Molly that her actions determined whether she got
recesses or not

During group time in the afternoons, I pulled students that were off task to sit
near me and away from other distractions.

Enforce negative and positive behavior of all students using the classroom
behavior chart.

ADDRESSING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS

Results
The results of the action research were not at all what I anticipated. In the
beginning I felt that she may need to be tested for special education eligibility, but after
working with her for 1-2 weeks I concluded that she seemed to have security related
issues, which were causing her behavior outbreaks. While the initial problem of hitting,
kicking, and negative physical behavior toward other students were not completely
phased out, they were drastically reduced and Mollys behavior in the classroom and on
the playground is definitely still a concern that will continue to be addressed.
The following is a functional behavior assessment that I did for Molly in order to
organize observations while collecting baseline data. All of the following information
was collected during the second week that I was subbing in the classroom (November 37, 2014):
Table 1: Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC Analysis)
Antecedents of the Behavior:
Student does not receive direct
attention from teacher.

Behavior:
Hitting, kicking, negative
physical behavior toward other
students

Consequences of the Behavior:

Other student tattles on her and
Molly receives attention.

My next step was to observe inappropriate behavior occurrences in which this student
was practicing. The decision to observe inappropriate behavior in general over strictly
hitting and/or kicking was due to the fact that based on school policy if a student hits or
kicks another student they are to be reported to the office. Based on the past history of
this Mollys behavior, other forms of being physical were taking place that were not
requiring her to be sent to the office and those actions also needed to be recorded. In
order to get initial observation data, I used a scatterplot chart to record single events that
were occurring throughout class time.

ADDRESSING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS

Table 2: Scatterplot Chart

REACH
Nov. 3-7, 2014

ADDRESSING PROBLEM BEHAVIORS

After analyzing the behavior and frequency of its occurrence I was able to come
up with this hypothesis statement: When not receiving direct attention from the teacher,
Molly hits, kicks, and becomes physical with her peers in order to receive attention from
the teacher. As seen in Table 2, the occurrence of office visits for the week recorded was
four times in one week. The frequency of office visits over the course of the first four
weeks that I subbed in this class was five. In accordance with the administrator of
disciple, I was attempting to reduce the number of office visits by half. The following
table will show the change in occurrence of office visits from the week of baseline data to
the last week that I was teaching this class.
Table 3:

# of Office Visits

Frequency

5
4
3
2

# of Office Visits

1
0
1

Week

The purpose of using the chart in Table 3 for occurrence of office visits rather than
frequency of behavior is due to the fact that the initial behavior of hitting, kicking, and/or
becoming physical with other students resulted in this students office visits.
The results of this study were positive for me as the work I put forth shows
obvious results in the initial behavior that we were attempting to change. In comparison
the baseline data collected during week two of my subbing assignment, I was able to get

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the number of office visits reduced by more than 50% of the time. To my surprise, while
the physical behavior changed, there were other behaviors picked up over the course of
these six weeks, such as verbal an other non-physical actions that still resulted in
aggravation of peers.
Conclusion
The outcome of this action research has lead me to conclude that with persistence,
diligence, patience, and the right team behaviors can be changed. I also learned that the
behavior being changed might not always result in the changes that you have planned.
Looking back at the problem statement, Can an FBA help to identify and track the
problem of one students behaviors in the classroom in order to carry out a behavior
intervention plan (BIP)? I have determined that an FBA is a good starting point. By
identifying the negative behaviors of Molly and being able to chart them I was able to
focus on her behavior weaknesses, frequencies, and occurrence times in order to come up
with strategies to help eliminate them. Since initially tracking the frequency of her
behavior compared to the last week of my subbing assignment, Mollys hitting, kicking,
and negative physical behavior toward other students was drastically minimized.
The drawback I found in this action research is that it can take more than one
FBA and BIP to get behavior results you are aiming for. Unfortunately, while Mollys
initial behavior was decreased, she obtained other behaviors to replace them. Her
physical behaviors turned into kissing, inappropriate verbal language (calling people
stupid), and wrapping her arms around other students, not wanting to let go. During the
last two weeks of school I made a discovery; Molly appeared to have security issues.
Over the course of the 6 weeks that I was in the classroom, Molly and I developed a

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relationship and she really opened up to me, but there was still defiance in her. I began to
consider that her insecurities seemed to come from lack of friendship with the other
students. When she was feeling uncomfortable in her social setting, she turned to an adult
for comfort and if she didnt receive the attention she was seeking at that particular
moment she lashed out. During several incidences I found Molly climbing into my lap or
grabbing onto me when she appeared to be uncomfortable around her peers.
I feel that the biggest drawback for me during this study was lack of time. Due to
the fact that I was in this classroom on a last minute assignment, not only was I trying to
get a handle on this particular obstacle, but also I was learning the ropes of the classroom,
the other students, and lesson planning. In a case such as this, I think that an FBA is a
good start and can be used on just about anyone in an attempt to identify behaviors that
need to be changed. In conjunction with an FBA, a BIP is beneficial so that there is an
actual plan to work on making those changes. The recommendation that I would make
under this particular circumstance would be to have a member of the SST come in to
analyze the behavior of the student throughout different times of the day. As a teacher,
trying to collect data while teaching the class, I feel that the data collected may be
skewed in comparison to what may be collected by a person strictly there to get data.
Additionally, under this particular circumstance, I think that conducting an additional BIP
in order to eliminate the secondary set of issues would be a good idea.
I would definitely practice this plan again on any student that I see fit. Due to the
fact that I gained positive results from this action research and conducted a similar
activity on myself and got positive results, I feel that it really does work. While it is clear
that a first time attempt does not necessarily completely eliminate the negative behaviors,

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this action research proved to reduce the issues that initially took place in this classroom,
which is a step forward.
General Comments
While conducting this research I learned that consistency is the fundamental part
of trying to change a behavior. In the past, I conducted an FBA and BIP on myself. The
self-motivation is what pushed me through, but when attempting to change the behavior
of a child its a lot different. I found myself reflecting on my credentialing courses and
the things I was taught about handling a situation such as this. Thank goodness it clicked
quickly that I needed to establish a relationship with this child otherwise she would never
trust me and I would get nowhere.
Once I was able to establish that relationship with Molly the trust factor changed
and she opened up to me. While this made things easier, the situation was still
complicated. My ah ha moment for this action research is that I was able to make
productive progress with Molly in the time that I was in the classroom, but unfortunately
I sense there is something deeper causing her outbursts in behavior and the staff at the
school still has a long road ahead of them to get a handle on the situation.

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References
Drecktrah, M. & Blaskowski L. (2007). Bullying: The problem and how to deal with it.
Earlychildhood News.
http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID
=221
Salend, S. (2004). Creating a classroom environment that promotes positive behavior. In
Creating inclusive classrooms: Effective and reflective practices for all students
(276-320). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

The name of this student has been changed to protect the identity of the child.