CM Index – School Climate – EDEL 414 – EDSE 415

EDEL 414 – Collaborative Final Exam Study Outline

For this exam you will be asked to work in groups of 4-6 (your choice of members). You will be allowed to bring with you 3 pages of notes in addition to this sheet, but other than these notes, this is a closed book exam. You will be given the entire 3 hour period to write the exam. Each group will submit one set of essay responses as a whole. Each member will receive the number of points achieved by that collaborative effort. The exam is worth 50 points, and will consist of the following 3 essay question concepts.

Essay Item #1

Given a situation in which a student violates (a relatively minor but obvious, i.e., level one) expectation/boundary/rule/part of our social contract, describe in detail how you would intervene in the situation.

An excellent response adequately addresses the following;

1. A brief prediction as to possible causes of the misbehavior.

2. An appropriate intervention

· A step-by-step description of your teacher intervention behavior.

· Some idea of what would you might have done in the past to set boundaries and promote clearly understood expectations.

· Some consideration of how the rest of the class might be effected by your intervention (e.g., social learning model implications)

· A good intervention would be defined by the following:

· Preserves the student’s dignity.

· Keeps the student responsible for his/her choices.

· Should result in long-term learning/behavioral change.

· Makes future occurrences of problem less likely.

Essay Item #2

Given the description of a student who has come to you with a substantive behavioral problem, describe how you would help the student take responsibility for solving their problem and provide the support and behavioral management necessary to liberate the student from their problem?

An excellent level response will include the following components:

1. An explanation/prediction of how this problem may have come into being.

· What are the likely existing long-standing conditions that might be promoting the behavior?

· What are the factors in your class that might be making the situation continue (or get worse)?

2. Your behavioral intervention

· The system of reinforcements that you use to modify behavior.

· The motivations will you supply.

· Strategies that would help you connect with the student.

· The way in which you will nurture the student’s positive behavior.

· You might explore the problem within the framework of the negative identity cycle discussed in class (i.e., extinction and shaping).

3. How you will help the student develop a more self-regulating approach to their behavior? (Glasser might be helpful here).

Essay item #3

Create a system for assessing the quality of your students’ collective and/or individual participation. You may choose between a formal or informal system (i.e., teacher-graded or used for student self-assessment), for either groups or individuals.

An excellent level response will include the following components:

1. A clear purpose for using your assessment system.

· What behavior is being defined by your rubric?

· How should it be used?

2. A sound scale/rubric.

· The contents of each level is inclusive of the last.

· Each level is distinct and included very concrete specific language.

· Rubric could obtain a reliable assessment of the quality of any and all possible performances.

3. An explanation of how you would use your rubric/scale.

· How would it help student understand how they did each day?

· How would it help you clarify your concept for “quality participation?”

· When and how are you going to incorporate it into your teaching?