Case Study – Jayden Nahinu Medrano-Santiago 1

Student Case Study

Heaven Medrano-Santiago

EDSE 430

10 April 2019

Kumu Ikeda
Case Study – Jayden Nahinu Medrano-Santiago 2

Introduction

This semester I was placed at Nanakuli High and Intermediate School and I am

placed with Mrs. Yasuda who teaches AVID, which stands for Advancement Via

Individual Determination. I go into this placement twice a week and work with grades 7

through 9. Before going into this school, I was a little nervous because I really did not

know what to expect. But the more I went in, the more I got excited to go because I had

built relationships with a lot of the students in a short amount of time. I looked forward to

it every time and even until this day I still do. One of the students that I have built a

relationship with is Jayden Nahinu (pseudonym) and he is the student that I have been

studying for quite some time.

Jayden Nahinu is a 7th grader at Nanakuli High and Intermediate School. He is a

13-year-old male and is Hawaiian. Jayden is actually a student that I have been keeping

my eye on since the first day I started. Although Jayden was a little forced by my mentor

teacher, Mrs. Yasuda, to engage with me, Jayden was able to open up very comfortably.

Jayden was one of the first students that I interacted with in this class period. Over the

course of 3-4 months in this classroom, I was able to build a relationship with Jayden and

he was able to trust me in being the teacher that he can go to without any complications. I

am able to get Jayden to sit down and get his work done in full without him complaining.

I just really have to guide him throughout the assignment in order for him to do it.

Interview as a Baseline for Conflict

It was a little bit of a struggle to get an interview with Jayden for two reasons.

Within the first two class meetings after spring break, Jayden was really acting out and

eventually got kicked out of the classroom for these outbursts. Another reason was that
Case Study – Jayden Nahinu Medrano-Santiago 3

what was taught in class took longer than it needed to be, so there was never really any

free time to sit down with Jayden and interview him. But eventually my mentor teacher

and I were able to get Jayden to come in for after school study hall and I was able to

interview him. Along with interviewing Jayden himself, I would ask my mentor teacher

questions along with Jayden’s caseworker since he is a special education (SPED) student.

Jayden was born and raised in Nanakuli and has a big family. There are his

parents and 9 siblings, 3 of them from the mom since his parents split when he was in the

1st grade. So he has a pretty big load on his shoulders, such as going from one parent’s

house to the other, having the responsibility of taking care of his younger siblings, and

sometimes he will even cook dinner for the family. So it is almost like he has a parent

role as well. His dad lives in Nanakuli and his mom lives in Waianae so he travels and

usually when with his dad for the week, he is on his best behavior. When he is with his

mom, not so much. And I am sure it is because of the fact that he has such a big

responsibility at his mom’s house.

While sitting down with Jayden and interviewing him, I asked him a few things

that involved his strengths and areas of improvement, as well as what are some things we

can do as teachers to make his learning easier and more entertaining in order for him to

understand the content better. Jayden believes that his strengths are in Reading because

he has a high grade in that class. Jayden likes reading books that have a lot of pictures or

books that have small chapters in them. Anything more than that, Jayden will lose interest

in it. Something Jayden believes that he can improve on in the classroom would be

listening in class and speaking less, speaking more about what is being taught in class. A

specific class that Jayden would like to improve on would be Math because he has a D in
Case Study – Jayden Nahinu Medrano-Santiago 4

that class. Although Jayden is good with numbers, he just has a hard time listening in that

class. When asked what are some things that I or any other teacher could do to make

learning more easier and better for Jayden in order for him to understand things more

better, Jayden said that he would like to have more stuff to do on the computers/laptops

to understand the content better and said that it keeps him focused. So overall, Jayden’s

biggest area of improvement is to just getting him to listen and speaking less about things

that are not relevant to the content being taught.

Methodology and Intervention as Narrative:

An intervention that has helped Jayden stay on task has been something that we

have been working on since I first went in at the beginning of the semester, and it is

simply just sitting next to him and guiding him in the assignment and helping him think

about his answers thoroughly. This is because he has always had difficulties with

processing his thoughts thoroughly. That and Jayden would act out a lot when a teacher is

not giving him any attention. Mrs. Yasuda and I also noticed over the course of the past

three to four months, that when he is at his mom’s house for the week, he tends to act out

more than usual. When he is with his dad for the week, he is on his best behavior and has

a good work ethic. So when it comes to him being at his mom’s for the week, I have to

ask him whose house he is at this week. If it is with his mom, I really have to just sit

Jayden down and have him do all the work that is needed. It is a lot more tougher than

when he is with his mom, but we try.

A great example of sitting next to him and guiding him through all his work was

just recently during study hall. There was a worksheet that he was unfortunately not able

to do, due to it having to log into their Infinite Campus accounts and he did not have any
Case Study – Jayden Nahinu Medrano-Santiago 5

of the information for that. So a lot of the period time was spent trying to get that sorted

out. By the time that Jayden and Mrs. Yasuda was able to retrieve his Infinite Campus

information, there were only 5 minutes left of class. So he had to come in for after school

study hall. Just so happens, I stayed for after school study hall and worked with him

through the work sheet. It was a GPA calculations worksheet for quarter 3. I guided him

through calculating his GPA as well as completing the reflection portion of this

worksheet. I made sure that he did the required 2 sentences minimum and made sure that

the information was accurate and made sense. When I turned it in for him to Mrs.

Yasuda, she and I were both shocked because he actually finished the whole thing and

put some effort into it. Even though we have been sitting with him throughout the whole

semester to get all his work in, he never gave the full effort. It was either partial or none

at all. Recently it has been barely anything so we were both surprised when he finished

this GPA worksheet with the full effort.

Interpretation/Analysis of Data

Based off the data from working on this intervention with Jayden, I believe that it

has been pretty effective for the most part. Some days Jayden is not in the best mood and

as much as we can tell him to leave that attitude at the door, it just does not work. Again,

this could be in result of him being at his mom’s house and the big responsibilities he has

there. There is also the possibility that it is not a healthy environment for him and his

mom does not hold him accountable like how his dad would. But overall, if I am just able

to sit with him and get him to concentrate, he will get the work done. Some days, it is half

work but other days it is full concentration and effort. It really just depends on his

situation. Also, because he tends to get distracted so easily, it is important that I sit next
Case Study – Jayden Nahinu Medrano-Santiago 6

to Jayden to make sure he does not get side tracked. If he does get side-tracked, I am

quick to get his attention back onto either the classwork or if Mrs. Yasuda is talking to

the class.

Resolution

After working with Jayden and really learning more about him, I realized that this

is not the only time I will encounter a student like him. There will always be a student in

SPED or has behavioral issues. This is not going to be the only time. And I also realized

that not every student will have the same intervention as I had with Jayden. I realized that

as a teacher, I have to be flexible and take in consideration of what is going on at home.

There is always a reason as to why someone acts the way they do. It is never just because

they want to. With every student, I should always be able to create a bond so that they

can trust me and confide in me if needed. I never want them to shy away from me, act out

in the classroom, and get reprimanded for it in the wrong way without me knowing of

what is really going on with their home life.

For future classrooms, if I come across a student like Jayden, I think ice-breakers

may be a good strategy to start building relationships. An icebreaker that I really like is a

literacy strategy called writing roulette. This is where you have a group of 4 people (or

more if needed). The teacher gives them a prompt and they write on their own papers

based on that prompt. They write for a minute (timed by the teacher) and switch papers

with the people they are grouped with. This goes on until the teacher stops the rotation. I

feel like this may be a good ice breaker because it really opens up their creativity and it

helps open them up to not only me, but their peers as well.
Case Study – Jayden Nahinu Medrano-Santiago 7

I think another strategy that will help build relationships with my students, would

be journaling. This strategy really goes in hand with my personal teaching pedagogy. By

allowing students to just write out how they feel and be creative with their writing, really

helps with building relationships. Especially if I give them the options of if they want me

to read it or not. I would tell if they either have the corner of the page folded down or

have their journals faced down if they want me to read it.

By implementing these strategies in the classroom, I believe this can be the basis

of building a relationship with my students. Along with that, I can do simple things like

just saying hi to them or asking how their day/weekend was. Sometimes it is more than

just a simple action for them, sometimes it may mean a lot. It also shows that you know

they are present and that you are aware of them being there.

Appendix

List of questions used to interview Jayden:

- What do you think your strengths are in school? What do you feel like you do best in?

- What do you think you could improve on in the class? In school? What could you do

better?

- Is there anything I could do or your other teachers could do to make learning more

easier or better for you? That way you can understand things more?

- Do you think more stuff on the computer or laptops would help keep you focused in

class? Would that make learning more interesting?

[Quick background information questions]

- Are you with your mom or dad this week?

- How many siblings do you have all together?