Mr. Zamarrón’s Lesson on “Knowing When a Rule Doesn’t Work and Knowing When to Change Strategies”

Preparing the and Carrying Out the Direct Instruction Lesson

Mr. Zamarrón prepared for the lesson by identifying 20 rules Todd followed strictly. He wrote each of these rules on a notecard. Ten of these rules would be unethical or unsafe to break (e.g., purchasing items instead of stealing them; walking on the sidewalk instead of the road). The remaining 10 rules related to academic or organizational tasks and would need to be broken in certain situations. On each card, Mr. Zamarrón wrote down a specific situation which may or may not necessitate breaking a rule. 

With 20 rules in mind, Mr. Zamarrón began his 1-1 direct instruction lesson. He reminded Todd that certain rules are important to follow all the time, but other rules can be broken in emergency or unusual situations. He told Todd that it’s sometimes difficult to determine what situations allow for rules to be broken, and that he could turn to his parents or teachers to know when it’s okay to break a rule.

Mr. Zamarrón then selected three cards with acceptable rules to break and two cards with rules that were unacceptable to break. First, he read the rule and then he read the situation. He explained why the rule should be broken or not, and why the specific situation would make breaking the rule acceptable or unacceptable. For example, on one card he wrote, “Only cross the street when the walk sign is on” as the rule, and shared the following situation: “I’m really excited to go home and play Mario Kart.” He explained that crossing the street when the walk sign is on is important for safety and would help keep Todd safe from cars. Excitement for playing Mario Kart was not an emergency situation, and only very extreme emergency situations would make crossing the street without a walk sign okay. 

Mr. Zamarrón then read a card with “Clean up my lunch tray after eating” as the rule, and “A friend has fallen and is bleeding” as the situation. He told Todd that cleaning up his tray is a rule designed to keep the cafeteria clean, but cleaning up his tray immediately after eating doesn’t keep him safe. He told Todd it’s more important to help his friend get to the nurse or for him to go to the office and ask for help than it is to clean up his tray. Finally, he reminded Todd that sometimes it’s hard to tell if a situation necessitates rule-breaking, and he should know it’s okay to break a rule if a teacher or parent tells him to. 

Next, Mr. Zamarrón and Todd read through 10 rule cards together. He helped Todd evaluate the purpose of the rule and the seriousness of the situation and consider if breaking the rule is appropriate. Finally, Todd read the remaining rule cards alone. He explained the purpose of the rule and why or why not the situation would make breaking the rule acceptable or unacceptable. Mr. Zamarrón provided immediate reinforcing and corrective feedback.

Recruiting Staff Support

After the lesson, Mr. Zamarrón scheduled a brief meeting with each of Todd’s teachers to train them to prompt and reinforce the targeted skills. He explained what Todd had been taught, and identified potential situations that might occur at school which would align with Todd’s target objectives. He also explained Todd’s reinforcement system and asked them to provide a token after the rule-breaking situation. For example, if there was a fire drill and the teachers asked Todd to stop working on an assignment, they would give him a token when he returned to his desk to complete the assignment if he had been able to successfully step away from his work when asked.