Brianna Ceccolini

Student Teaching – Spring 2019

Child Study / Action Plan Paper
The topic I chose to research for this assignment was frustration and stress
management. I chose this topic because I noticed that many students become easily stressed
and frustrated while participating in lessons and completing assignments. I also noticed that
these students did not seem aware of any appropriate methods to handle these feelings. I
believe that this stress and frustration may be more present in schools today due to the
growing rigor in today’s curriculum, as well as the pressure placed on students to achieve high
scores on various standardized assessments. In addition, many of my students do not possess
the most ideal home environment, thus adding more emotional stress these students’ lives. At
only ten-years-old, my fifth grade students are not yet old enough to possess much control in
their lives. They are told what classes to take, what activities to participate in, and who they are
going to live with. Thus, students feel even more stressed and frustrated when decisions that
they do not agree with, such as living with a parent they do not get along with or participating
in band or chorus when they do not wish to, are made.
In order to gather data about my focus student, Josh, I conducted anecdotal
observations and recorded notes after each period I spent with him. Included in these periods
are math, math centers, social studies, writing, guided reading, STEM, physical education,
technology, and recess. I was also able to gain background knowledge from Josh’s STAR
assessments and Fountas and Pinnell assessments.
My focus student, Josh, was an eleven-year-old fifth grade boy. In regards to cognitive
ability, Josh experiences the most success in mathematics compared to English Language Arts
(ELA), social studies, and STEM. I believe that this stems from Josh’s struggle and strong dislike
toward most instances of reading and writing, which is more prevalent in ELA and social
studies. However, he can be more open to reading when it pertains to something he is
interested in, such as the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series. Josh requires a higher level of order
because he seems to become more distracted when there is less structure. Josh works best
when explicit instructions are repeatedly provided because he easily becomes distracted by
other factors, such as a classmate talking or the disorganization of his desk. Josh will eventually
accomplish the task at hand, but may need a bit more time in order to mentally prepare himself
for the task and refocus himself when he becomes distracted. This student thinks more about
the big picture rather than the small details, and prefers to express his ideas verbally or
physically. Josh uses language relatively well to express how he feels or what he is thinking, but
usually requires some prompting. I believe this is because he does not feel confident in his
thoughts or believes that how he feels is justified. This student shows curiosity if the topic at
hand piques his interest, such as lightning storms or the body systems. He also exhibits pleasure
in learning if he is understanding the topic or process at hand well, whereas if he is confused,
his pleasure in learning dramatically decreases. Some problem-solving strategies the child has
displayed us of are underlining or highlighting key pieces of information and what the question
he must answer, trial and error, and talking himself through the problem. Also, Josh responds

*A pseudonym was used in place of the focus student’s name to protect his identity*
positively to making music through singing, but by playing instruments. He also responds
negatively to making visual images. Josh’s imagination is easily triggered and often participates
in imaginative play with other classmates during recess.
In regards to the emotional dimensions, Josh frequently feels frustrated, tense, or
stressed and has difficulty handling these emotions. When he becomes frustrated, he is most
likely to react with anger rather than crying. When presented with a conflict, Josh is most likely
to become overwhelmed and frustrated with the situation, and think impulsive, negative
thoughts. These thoughts include statements like, “I can’t do this”, or, “There’s no way I’m
finishing this”. In other words, Josh often desires giving up and acting like he does not care
about the conflict at hand until he is prompted to persevere. Also, Josh handles responsibilities
better during the school day as opposed to when he is at home. This may be because he is
unable to get sufficient assistance with schoolwork at home. Thus, assigning something that
must be completed or finished at home immediately throws him into a stressed and frustrated
mindset. In addition, Josh has been in the midst of two major changes in his home life; his
family moving to a new trailer and his biological father coming back into his life. Due to these
events, Josh has been experiencing a great deal of stress that he cannot relieve in his home
environment. This stress is then brought to school and affects his attitude when presented with
tasks during the school day.
Josh also engages in an abundance of positive social interaction with his classmates. I
noticed that Josh tends to socialize with more boys than girls, which can be considered normal
for this age group. During recess, Josh usually participates in imaginative play or board games
with his classmates. Josh also displayed that he enjoys socializing with students in both his
general education class as well as the resource room class that joins during recess, physical
education, and STEM. Although Josh gets along well with everyone, he is still able to make
ethical decisions in terms of asking for adult assistance when necessary. Josh also shows
sensitivity to other living things, like when he discusses caring for his dogs. He is also able to
accept other people’s feelings and ideas as well as respect others’ possessions and classroom
equipment. Ultimately, Josh frequently partakes in positive social interaction with his
classmates.
Regarding the physical dimension, Josh has developed an average level of gross motor
skills but has underdeveloped fine motor skills. In physical education, Josh is able to maintain a
proper athletic stance and appears to have full control over his gross motor skills when
partaking in volleyball exercises with a partner. His developed gross motor skills are especially
evident when catching a ball thrown to him and controlling a ball that is out of control. He also
appears to have developmentally appropriate body and spatial awareness. This can be observe
when Josh knows to run a certain distance that will accurately position him to catch a ball. I
believe that Josh’s well developed gross motor skills allows him to thoroughly enjoy physical
activity. On the other hand, Josh experiences struggles when partaking in tasks that work fine
motor skills. For instance, Josh struggles to illustrate neat models to represent fractions in
math. Since his lack of fine motor skills leads to messy fraction models, Josh often becomes
confused and eventually frustrated and stressed. In addition, Josh’s lack of fine motor skills
causes typing on a keyboard to be more difficult and time-consuming. Although he is practicing

*A pseudonym was used in place of the focus student’s name to protect his identity*
keyboarding skills in his technology class, he will most likely still feel stressed when having to
type and draw numbers on a computer during the New York State ELA and Math Exams. In
terms of his diet, Josh usually does not bring a snack to school and consumes the school lunches
each day. These lunches routinely consist of hamburgers or cheeseburgers, spaghetti, chicken
nuggets and potatoes, French toast sticks, nachos, bagels, various vegetables, and juice or milk.
Josh also frequently complains that he feels tired and does not get enough hours of rest. I
believe that this lack of rest can also affect Josh’s levels of stress and frustration.
Based on my observations, Josh was more likely to experience stress and frustration
when presented with independent tasks in subject areas he struggled with. For instance, Josh
struggles with independent assignments in ELA, such as vocabulary assignments that
correspond to a text, because he lacks the motivation and focus to complete these tasks in the
allotted time. Josh then falls behind in class, which lowers his confidence level, and has to finish
the assignment during recess, which is causes him to lose one of the stress relieving periods of
the school day. Although Josh possess a beginning fifth grade reading level, his dislike for
reading and writing combined with his low confidence and motivation levels cause ELA
assignments to trigger stress and frustration. Josh also experienced a lot of stress and
frustration when working on a required science fair project. The students were required to
submit an idea to which they would receive feedback and begin researching important
information. However, when Josh received constructive feedback, he immediately resented the
assignment and struggled with it from then until it was done. Josh struggling with the
assignment and feedback paired with having to work on this entire assignment at home
sparked a lot of stress and frustration. I also noticed that Josh’s stress and frustration seems to
rise during math assessments compared to regular math class or centers. I believe the
combination of pressure from the independent assignment and his low confidence level caused
Josh to feel frustrated and stressed very easily during math exams. When speaking with Josh’s
teacher, Miss Duhamel, I asked questions such as, “What other factors do you believe
contribute to Josh’s stress and frustration?” and, “How is Josh’s frustration and stress normally
acknowledged and handled?” In addition to low confidence and, at times, low motivation, Miss
Duhamel believes that Josh’s lack of organization may also increase his stress and frustration.
Miss Duhamel pointed out that Josh’s desk, which has led him to losing time and focus when
everything falls out of his desk and on to the floor. His disorganization also leads to losing
important papers that he needs, which starts off the period in a negative way by being
unprepared. I also spoke with Josh’s mother briefly about his stress and frustration. She
informed me that Josh often stresses about schoolwork at home because he is anxious and
afraid of getting a question wrong. This may relate to Josh’s struggle with handling constructive
criticism.
After conducting some research regarding stress and frustration management in
children, I found three possible solutions that may help Josh. One solution was to provide Josh
with a stress ball, which he could use during the day whenever he feels stressed or frustrated.
According to Harkla, stress balls can have “an immediate calming effect on the brain” due to
the “proprioceptive input” felt when squeezing the ball and experiencing some level of
resistance. In addition, the resistance felt when squeezing a stress ball can also “strengthen fine
motor skills”, something that Josh can also benefit from (Harkla, 2019). Another solution was to

*A pseudonym was used in place of the focus student’s name to protect his identity*
provide Josh with a growth mindset chart in order to the negative thoughts he experiences
when feeling stressed or frustrated to more positive thoughts. According to Carissa Romero, a
growth mindset can be defined as, “the belief that intelligence can be developed”. In other
words, having a growth mindset means the student believes their intelligence may grow by
working hard, accepting help from resources when necessary, and using efficient tools and
strategies (Romero, 2015). Josh often experiences what is referred to as a fixed mindset
because, at times, he simply believes he is not intelligent and that nothing can change that
(Romero, 2015). I’m hoping that introducing Josh to having a growth mindset will help increase
his confidence in his abilities, as well as his motivation to work hard and try his best. The last
solution was to teach Josh how to perform a deep breathing exercise, called belly breathing, to
calm himself when he’s feeling stressed or frustrated. I felt as though this solution could be
helpful for Josh because it can be applied during both the school day, as well as when he is
home. Belly breathing consists of sitting or lying down comfortably, placing one hand on your
belly and the other on your chest, and repeatedly breathing deeply so that you can feel the
hand on your belly push out when you inhale and go in when you exhale (Healthwise Staff,
2018). According to Harvard Health Publishing, breathing exercises can help “slow the
heartbeat and lower or stabilize blood pressure”, which would help Josh calm down and
process the situation at hand, as well as how to best handle the situation (Harvard Medical
Publishing, 2018).
To help Josh to the best of my ability, I decided to apply all three of the strategies I had
researched. To incorporate using a stress ball, Josh was given two different stress balls, one that
resembled a hockey puck and the other in the shape of an apple. Josh was allowed to use these
at any point he felt stressed or frustrated during the school day. This included being able to use
the stress balls during independent assignments and exams. Josh felt very excited about having
access to the stress balls and used them as tools at appropriate times. For instance, Josh asked
to use one of his stress balls when speaking to the principal about a social conflict that had
occurred. To incorporate the growth mindset chart, I created one that included positive quotes
spoken by wrestlers from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). I chose to use WWE wrestlers
because Josh loves watching WWE and playing WWE games. The growth mindset chart
included three columns: one describing a negative feeling he might be experiencing, one with
the WWE wrestlers’ quotes, and one with pictures of the wrestlers. Although Josh appeared
excited when I presented him with the chart, he did not use it very much, thus making it
relatively ineffective. This result shows me that Josh may only be ready to try different coping
skills before moving forward and working on changing his attitude. To incorporate the belly
breathing, I taught Josh one-on-one the steps he must follow to correctly complete this deep
breathing exercise. We also decided on a hand signal that I could show him as a suggestion to
try the belly breathing when I notice he is stressed or frustrated. The belly breathing seemed to
be most effective when he was working in small groups with me or if he was working
independently and I approached him with the signal. However, Josh did not seem comfortable
using this strategy during whole class instruction, most likely because it may draw attention to
himself. Nevertheless, the instances when Josh did comfortably use belly breathing resulted in
him feeling calmer than he originally did. Therefore, the belly breathing was effective when
Josh chose to apply it.

*A pseudonym was used in place of the focus student’s name to protect his identity*
Harkla. (2019, March 8). Everything You Need to Know About Fidget Toys for Anxiety & ADHD.
Retrieved from https://harkla.co/blogs/special-needs/fidget-toys-adhd-anxiety#lowcost
Harvard Health Publishing. (2018, April 13). Relaxation techniques: Breath control helps quell
errant stress response. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-
mood/relaxation-techniques-breath-control-helps-quell-errant-stress-response
Healthwise Staff. (2018, June 28). Stress Management: Breathing Exercises for Relaxation.
Retrieved from https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/uz2255
Romero, C. (2015, July). What We Know About Growth Mindset from Scientific Research.
Retrieved from http://mindsetscholarsnetwork.org/wp-
content/uploads/2015/09/What-We-Know-About-Growth-Mindset.pdf

*A pseudonym was used in place of the focus student’s name to protect his identity*