Action Research Project

Positive Behavior Implementation in the Classroom

Melissa Cotant
EDUC 526 Capstone Experience in Digital Teaching and Learning
Matthew Hixson
Azusa Pacific University, Murrieta Regional Center
May 26, 2015

Abstract

This Action Research Project focuses on holding my most disruptive student

accountable for his behavior. For the most part, most of my students are well behaved.
However, I have one student who always wants to be the center of attention and
constantly disrupts my class during teaching and learning. I had my disruptive student
sign a behavior contract and explained the consequences for not following through. I
held him accountable by keeping a tally of his positive and negative behavior. My
purpose was to discover whether holding him accountable would change his negative
behavior into positive behavior.

Section One: Introduction

Classroom management is the most important factor in student achievement.
This is where teachers create and maintain appropriate behavior in the classroom
where instruction and learning can take place. From the first day of school, I put my
vision of good classroom management into practice. I began by effectively teaching
procedures and routines and by building positive relationships with my students. By
building relationships with my students, it allowed me to gain their respect. In order to
effectively manage my classroom, I spent the first two weeks of the school year
teaching my students how to follow procedures and routines.
However, there was one student who constantly wanted to be the center of
attention and disrupt my class during instruction. I moved him around the classroom
thinking that the other students were causing him to be disruptive. I then realized that it
was not the other students, but my disruptive student was the one who continued to
disrupt my class. He was very loquacious, spoke without raising his hand, and was
constantly up out of his seat without permission. Finally, as a last resort, I had to move
him into a single desk in the front of the classroom where I could keep a better eye on
him. As a result of the new seating arrangement, his behavior began to improve.
Nevertheless, after a short amount of time, the disruptive behavior began all over
again. My disruptive student was speaking out of turn without raising his hand and he
was getting up out of his seat without permission. His poor behavior affected my
teaching and my students learning. One day before Thanksgiving break, he was at his
worst and my day ended horribly. I did not know what else to do to manage his
behavior. Even the consequences for his actions did not make a difference on his

behavior. I then returned to school with a positive attitude and I decided to reward him
with a treat at the end of the day if he would behave. I am happy to report that during
the three weeks before we went on Christmas break, his behavior improved
significantly.
After returning from Christmas break, his behavior was manageable for a short
while. I finally contacted his aunt who is his legal guardian and she occasionally
dropped in and sat in the classroom with him. Suddenly, his aunt stopped coming by the
classroom and then his inadequate behavior began to affect my teaching again. His
actions also affected the way my students learned. It was crucial for me to find a
solution to this intolerable behavior. My goal in this project is to answer the essential
question, How can I support students who tend to continuously struggle with disruptive
behaviors?
Section Two: Implementation
My plan was to implement a behavior plan where my most challenging student
would produce positive behavior consistently. First, I had my most challenging student
sign a behavior contract. I explained to him the consequences for not following through
on the contract. Next, I kept him accountable by keeping a tally of his positive and
negative behavior. When he was showing inappropriate behavior, I quietly reminded him
of the contract he had signed. I also informed his aunt of the contract he had signed so
she would be aware of the agreement we came to regarding his behavior.
The first few days of implementing this new strategy, I had to remind my
challenging student constantly of the contract he had signed because of his poor
behavior. One obstacle I encountered was having to take the time to tally up his

behavior. Every day, I had to document how often he got up out of his seat without
raising his hand, how many times he talked without raising his hand, how many times
he raised his hand to speak, and how many times he raised his hand to get up out of his
seat. It was very time consuming and it seemed to be a waste of my time. However, I
knew that I had to be consistent with this new plan in order for it to be effective. I placed
the chart where he could visually see it in order for him to keep track of his progress. At
the end of the day, He counted how many positives he had and how many negatives he
had. He knew that if he had received more positives than negatives, he would be
rewarded with a treat.
Section Three: Results
The first few days of implementing this new strategy, I did not see much of an
effect on my students behavior. I felt as though my plan was unsuccessful because I
wanted his behavior to change overnight. As the days proceeded, my students behavior
began to improve gradually. He started raising his hand to speak and to get up out of his
seat. There were some occasions when he would get up out of his seat without raising
his hand and then he would quickly remember by raising his hand as he was up out of
his seat. He would also begin speaking and he would instantly remember that he forgot
to raise his hand. There were some instances when he would remember and he would
stop talking and quickly raise his hand. I would try not to laugh because I knew that he
had forgotten and then he would try to fix his error. After two months of keeping track of
his behavior, I am ecstatic to report that my most challenging student has consistently
had more good days than bad ones over a two-month period.

Week 1

My goal was to have my student have a total of more positives than negatives in
one day. On day one and two, he was not successful. On days 3, 4, and 5, he was
successful.

Week 2

My goal again was to have my student have a total of more positives than
negatives in one day. On days one and two, my student was successful. On day three,
my student was not successful. On day four, my student was successful. However, on
day five, my student was not successful.

Week 3

On week three, my student was successful every single day. I had to stay
consistent with consequences and rewards. His behavior finally began to improve.

Week 4

On week four, again my student was successful every single day. I realized that if
I did not stay on top of his behavior, he would go back to displaying poor behavior.

Week 5

On week five, my student was successful on day one. On day two, he was not
successful. On days three, four, and five, he was successful. My student showed
success four out of the five days this week. I am still continuing to chart his behavior on
a daily basis. However, I did display the graphs, but I realized that consistency is the
key. My student is still continuing to show success on his behavior.
Section Four: Conclusions
In concluding this study, I found how time consuming it was to manage the
behavior of my most disruptive student alone. I had to write out his chart every day and
it took time away from my teaching. In the future, if I have another disruptive student, I
would definitely use this strategy again. However, if I were to do this again, I would
create one chart and make additional copies. I really benefited from this plan because it

forced me to be consistent and to monitor my students behavior daily. I believe that this
behavior plan was successful in changing the behavior of my most disruptive student,
but it took a great deal of time, effort, and patience.
Section Five: General Comments
The best part of this project was seeing the changed behavior in my most
disruptive student. I learned that even the worst behavior could be transformed into
respectable behavior. I also learned that if I had given up on this student, the outcome
would not have been the same. Likewise, consistency was the key to this project. If I
had not been consistent, the end result would have been devastating to me as a
teacher and to the rest of my class because no instruction and learning would have
taken place. This study showed me that everything is a process and through this
process, there was success.