Analysis of Calvin
Motivational Patterns
Calvin tends to be intrinsically motivated when it comes to his own personal interests, usually with topics that are not school related. On the other hand, he tends to be amotivated in school and with homework assignments.
Calvin is not self-determined or self-regulated in school. He has to be pushed in order to complete a lot of his school work:
Along with intrinsic motivation, Calvin does not demonstrate any of the extrinsic types of motivation mentioned on the Description page.
Calvin is not externally regulated, either. Stickers, good grades, and other external rewards do not make much difference on Calvin either. They actually seem to push him the other way:
Calvin does not feel guilt or shame when he receives bad grades or criticism, he is not pressured to perform well; his motivation is not introjected:
Calvin does not have identified motivation, either. Calvin does not find much importance in his assignments, tests, or school in general:
There are, however, some moments when we see that Calvin is motivated. Calvin becomes intrinsically motivated within school when he creates nonsense answers on his tests. He is intrinsically motivated to do the opposite of what is expected because he is interested in the reactions of the teachers who read his tests:
Outside school, Calvin is easily motivated to participate in activities that he is interested in and enjoys. He becomes very autonomous and chooses what he wants to play:
Why Calvin acts the way he does
Calvin is uninterested in school work. He does not find any enjoyment in the assignments or topics. The classroom environment is not conducive with Calvin's motivational patterns. It constricts his creativity and his autonomy. His extrinsic rewards are not rewards typically valued by other students. Instead, he finds value in the reactions of Ms. Wormwood.
Calvin lacks autonomy in the classroom because of Ms. Wormwood's chosen environment for teaching. If he was able to make choices in the classroom then some of his behavioral issues might dissapear. Calvin doesn't see the relevancy in what Ms. Wormwood teaches, therefore he lacks relatedness in the classroom. If she offered more group experiences for Calvin, his ability to be more confident and succeed would improve. Calvin's competency is hard to measure because he doesn't feel challenged by all things in the classroom. Calvin may be competent but he isn't able to relate to the subject matter.
Help for Ms. Wormwood
In order to help Ms. Wormwood, we will provide new approaches to help foster intrinsic motivation. When preparing a new lesson plan, Ms. Wormwood could ask the students for suggestions. This will help Calvin because it will provide a chance for him to add his interests in with the material, allows a sense of choice and autonomy, and creativity.
Ms. Wormwood needs to create an autonomy supportive environment. She can accomplish this by asking students for suggestions on lesson plans and by using supportive and less controlling language. She needs to relinquish some of the control of the classroom so that her students feel as if they have choices.
She can encourage intrinsic motivation by promoting his relatedness through an authentic relationship. In order to do this she can share interests with him and learn to find something she likes and respects in him. Some examples are his knowledge of dinosaurs, use of creativity, and amazing imagination.
Ms. Wormwood needs to use related rewards that will encourage Calvin's participation and competency in the classroom. For example, for completing specific reading assignments she will reward him with a book about dinosaurs. This will change his motivation from external to internal when he realizes the value of reading a good book. Ms. Wormwood should refer to our concept map of motivation types, in order to move Calvin from less autonomous with extrinsic motivation to highly autonomous with intrinsic motivation.