Consequences
Adam, a student in Mr. Potter’s Grade 10 French class, is disruptive from time to time. He is also very bright.
One day Adam began talking very loudly to the other students, laughing and telling jokes. Mr. Potter chose to ignore Adam’s behaviour in the hope that he would stop on his own. Adam didn’t stop. Instead, his behaviour became more raucous. Still Mr. Potter ignored it. Soon Adam was making enough noise that Mr. Potter was afraid that students in the neighbouring classrooms would be disturbed. He verbally reprimanded Adam.
Adam was a bit quieter for the next few minutes. After that, however, he once again became loud and disruptive. Again Mr. Potter verbally reprimanded him. This time he also told Adam that if he continued with his disruptive behaviour he would have to go to the office. Adam’s behaviour became even more disruptive. Mr. Potter sent him to the office.
When Adam arrived at the office it was full of people—teachers getting their mail and making copies, volunteers signing in, students who were ill, students sent on errands, and other students who had been sent for disciplinary reasons. The school secretary told Adam to have a seat, which he did. He conversed with every person who entered the office, as well as those who were there when he arrived. Half an hour after his arrival, he was sent back to class.
He behaved quite well for the rest of the day, to Mr. Potter’s relief.
The next day, when students were given seatwork in Mr. Potter’s class, Adam once again became disruptive. He loudly told jokes to his classmates, laughed until tears were streaming down his face, and threw a paper airplane across the room. Mr. Potter reprimanded him and asked him to stop. When Adam didn’t comply, Mr. Potter sent him to the office again. Once more the office was bustling with activity.
Over the course of the next two weeks, Adam was sent to the office for disrupting class each day, always during seatwork assignments. Mr. Potter was perplexed. Even more perplexing was that within three school days other students were becoming disruptive as well, requiring that they too be sent to the office. Consider
the principles of behavioural learning theories while answering these questions:

1		What are the issues in this case?
2		Why did Adam continue to disrupt class despite the consequences?
3		What has Adam learned? What has Mr. Potter learned?
4		Why did the other students join Adam in his disruptive behaviour?
5		What could Mr. Potter have done differently? What could he do next?