Elizabeth Bails

12/2/2014
TED 5150

Case Study
1. Description of Student:
Marcus is a 7-year-old boy in the 2nd grade. He lives with his dad,
his dads fianc, his grandma, and his grandpa. Marcus mother does
not have custody of him due to multiple incidences of neglect at a very
young age. Before Marcus was in school, his mother would leave him
alone for multiple hours at a time, when he was only three or four. One
day Marcus decided to walk by himself to his dads house, which was
about 1 mile away. Marcus was very violent in kindergarten and would
yell and throw objects. Marcus has not shown any violence in 2nd grade,
but still yells at times. Marcus has been diagnosed with ADD. His dad
has decided not to put him on medication.
Marcus strengths include that he is very smart and when he is
focused he completes his work successfully. Marcus is also creative and
has a very imaginative mind. He also cares about how he does in
school. If he has a bad day and has a note sent home, it really affects
him and he usually tries his best the next day. He is very receptive to
positive feedback. On the other hand, Marcus needs an environment
that is not so distracting to him. When he is at a table instead of his
desk that he has things in he can play with, he does much better.

Marcus tends to second guess himself and sometimes resorts to

playing with objects when he is stuck on a part of his work.
My concerns about Marcus are that he may be missing out on
some of his opportunities to learn when he is distracted or when he is
in the hallway due to his behavior.
2. Case Study Framework:
Student: Marcus

Dates: 11/5/2014, 11/12/2014,

11/19/2015
Teacher: Mrs. Smith
Observation
Date & Time

Interpretati
on

Hypothesis

Wednesday
November
5, 2014 at
12:30
Marcus spoke
out of turn
while I was
reading a
chapter in
their Fudgea-Mania book
by Judy
Blume to the
class.

Perhaps
Marcus forgot
to raise his
hand before
speaking out.
Marcus may
have been
too excited
about what
he was going
to say that he
felt it could
not wait.

If I remind
the class
before I begin
reading that I
will take
questions
after reading
as well as
allow
students to
go to the
bathroom
and get
drinks, then I
will hope to
get fewer
interruptions.

Curricular
Decision/
Strategy
Since the
students
have been in
school for
about 3 or 4
months, I will
ask the
student to
clip down and
move from
the carpet
back to their
desk if they
speak out
during
reading time.
I will do this
because I do
not want to
single Marcus
out and this
reminder is
helpful to his

Reflection/
Result
I began
reminding the
class about
interruptions
before I
began
reading every
day. This did
help to lower
the amount
of
interruptions
by Marcus,
but they still
persisted
every once in
a while. The
system of
having him
clip down and
move back to
his desk
worked very

Wednesday
November
12, 2014 at
1:00
Marcus was
playing with
the 5 erasers
he had
stacked onto
his pencil
instead of
doing the
worksheet
that our
group was
discussing
and
completing.

Perhaps
Marcus is
bored with
the
assignment
or he is
having a hard
time with it,
so he may
use the
erasers as a
way to avoid
his work.

If I do not
allow Marcus
to take extra
objects with
him when
doing his
work, then he
may focus
more on his
work and
complete it
on time.

classmates as well. If
well.
Marcus was
on a lower
color such as
orange or
red, the
following day
he would try
his best to
get on green,
blue, or
purple.
The next time My decision
I took Marcus of having
and some of
Marcus leave
his
the objects in
classmates to the classroom
work in the
was a start,
hall on an
but he still
assignment, I found the
told Marcus
leaves in the
to please
hallway to
keep his
play with. I
erasers and
asked him
the other
multiple
objects he
times to put
had in his
the leaves
hands in the
down and he
classroom.
did every
He was not
time, but he
very happy,
seems to
but he put his forget and do
objects away it again. I do
in his desk.
not want to
When he was take
out in the
everything
hallway, he
away from
found leaves
Marcus,
to play with a because it
crumple
does not

instead of
play with his
erasers.

Wednesday
November
19, 2014 at
1:30
Marcus
persisted to
play with the
objects on
the table that
we were
going to use
to measure
the mass of a
bouncy ball, a
penny, and a
plastic cup.

Perhaps
Marcus
focuses
better when
he is doing
something
physically
and moving
his hands.
Perhaps
Marcus is
distracted by
the new
objects and
wants to
explore them.

If I tell the
students that
they will have
to clip down if
they are not
following
directions,
then Marcus
may stop
playing with
the objects.

I told the
students that
if they could
not follow the
directions
that they
would have
to clip down
when we got
back to the
classroom.
Many of the
students
turned their
behavior
around, but
Marcus and a
few others
still persisted
to play with
the objects
and not
follow
directions.

teach him to
be
responsible
for his own
actions, but I
also do not
want him to
be so
distracted
that he
cannot finish
his work.
After that did
not work, I
took away
the objects so
that we could
continue our
discussion
about matter
before we
started our
experiment.
Marcus
shouted out
No, dont
take it away,
Ill stop. But
I had already
warned the
students over
5 times, so I
took it away.
Marcus still
found
something to
do and was
distracting
the other
students from

listening to
our
discussion.
Next time I
will pull
Marcus aside
before our
lesson and let
him know
exactly what I
expect from
him.

3.
The Case Study Framework (CSF) is a very helpful tool when
documenting strategies that I have tried with a student. It helps to see what
worked well and what did not. Also, even if something worked well, that may
not always be the case. As I teacher I would like to this for some of my
students that are struggling, so that I can have a documented copy of what I
have done in the past. Also, or a student that may have behaviors or
outbursts, I can use a chart that is similar to this. It talks about the
antecedent, behavior, consequence, and the result or reflection.
I still have a few questions about Marcus growth and development. I
am curious if Marcus has ever had counseling after the neglect from his
mother. I wonder if this would be helpful to Marcus to be able to have
someone to talk about his feelings to. Also, his behaviors seems to be

attention seeking behaviors and possibly if he felt that he had more positive
attention, the behaviors may become extinct.
I have learned that Marcus is a very active learner and thrives on
attention.