Dear Mrs. Wormwood,

After a lot of research, here are some suggestions for how to deal with Calvin’s motivational issues.

Curriculum – Molly Sederberg

When trying to figure out the curriculum here are some suggestions we’ve come up with for you to follow. The most important thing to do that all of us found is to make the curriculum connect to his life or make it something in which he is interested. For example, when you are teaching, tell him how what he is learning is going to be applicable to his life. Another suggestion is to have variety in your class. Don’t make him do the same projects all the time, but rather allow for some variation, flexibility, and creation in the assignments you give so he has a choice and some control over his learning. One example of this would be to use a RAFT model for a project that allows students to pick the role, audience, format, and topic of their project. A final suggestion on how to modify curriculum is to make it less structured. Obviously, it needs some structure but allow for changes to be made when necessary and let Calvin take part in some of the decisions in regards to curriculum. For instance, if you are trying to decide between two units, ask Calvin which one he would rather do. Actually, all these suggestions could apply to any of your students.

All the motivation theories and patterns that we have studied show that these suggestions above will work and will motivate Calvin to learn for the following reasons. They will improve the goals he has for himself if he can learn what he wants to learn. They will stop him from finding outside factors to blame things on because he will be so interested in learning that he won’t even be able to find outside factors. They will also make him intrinsically motivated to do his work because whenever someone is interested and can make connections that matter to his or her life, that individual is only motivated to improve and learn more. Doing these things would make him feel like he has control over his own learning since he gets to pick a topic or how he does the project on that topic. Finally, these would make it more likely that you would keep his interest longer if you’ve already captured it to start off because once a person is interested in something they naturally want to learn or find out more about it. By making these changes, you will be able to improve Calvin’s motivation.

Instruction – Amanda Mueller

Our careful observation and dedicated research indicate that the instructional methods used in your classroom are not conducive to Calvin’s learning and understanding of the subject matter. A student such as Calvin, and all students in this age group, needs stimulating and engaging instruction to keep their focus. Interactive, hands-on, alternative instruction will really liven up the classroom and promote students to delve into material at an in-depth level. We have a couple of experts in the field that have dedicated some time and thought to how best to approach this new style of instruction in your classroom. One of the first things they have noticed is Calvin’s vocalization of his interests and your lack of response. We as a team believe that instruction would be much more effective if you as a teacher would listen and begin relating material to these topics found consistently in his daydreams. One way of implementing this would be to vary the methods of delivering instruction. Group work, one-on-one time with you, and full class instruction would be a start. For more specific examples, we have evidence from other cases like this that monitored discovery learning can go a great distance in allowing students to feel they have a choice. This allows them to feel the three most important feelings that bring them into a community of learners: belonging, competency, and autonomy (making choices). The other aspect of instruction that we have felt to be extremely useful in previous cases is embracing the idea that children, and adults, need the chance for both training and performance in order to fully understand and be able to use information presented to them. Guest speakers, field trips and hands-on activities are a few examples.

We have discovered that many of your instructional methods, and assessment methods, are performance goal-oriented, meaning that students are only learning the material in order to respond well on tests. It is our professional opinion that the overall dynamic of the classroom, as well grades, will improve dramatically if instruction teaches how to achieve mastery goals. This means that the students will be working towards complete understanding and implementation of the subject in their lives.

As a final thought on the instruction used in your classroom, we wanted to make you aware of the importance of catching students’ curiosity early. To be honest, we were not very interested in the lectures presented to the students either. In every teaching situation, the topic and delving into learning should be the “next big thing” to the students. They need to be able to “jump on the bandwagon” and feel that the classroom could not go on without them; they are an integral part of everything that happens in the classroom. Good luck!

Assessment- Charles Shober

Ms. Wormwood there are some solutions in terms of assessment that could be changed in order to properly assess Calvin’s Learning and be able to discover what he lacks in. For example assessing him before class begins for the year would help gear the learning for the rest of the year. Using the first as an open-ended kind of assessment like an essay or a short response such as what would you like to learn this year from this class?

Once a curriculum that is geared towards Calvin’s interests is established Traditional and Alternative assessment can be employ in a proper manner. In alternative assessments such as a project it is important to established things before it is assigned. Providing Calvin the ability to pick a subject that is geared towards his interests will give him motivation to work on the project and do a good job. A rubric and due dates for each section also needs to be established. With this Calvin will be able to get feedback before the final projects is finished and keep him responsible. This also will keep him on track and on task. With all of these assessments, all grades and comments should be reported to Calvin and his parents. This will help his parents guide his studying more while he is at home as well.

Classroom management - Jeff Ericson and Walker White

Ms. Wormwood, it seems that the way you manage your classroom could deal with some of Calvin’s problems. For example, in disciplining Calvin when he disrupts the class you sent him straight to the principal’s office. I feel that this strategy is ineffective because he will disrupt class again if he does not want to learn what you are teaching. He will disrupt class because he knows he will not have to stay in the classroom, he will be sent to the principal, and he will learn nothing.

Instead what you can do is keep Calvin in the classroom. If you can keep him in the classroom you have a better chance of getting Calvin motivated than if you send him to the principals. You can trigger is individual interest by extrinsic motivation, it would have the possibility of making his attitude in the classroom better, and you will have less outbursts. By capitalizing on his situational and individual interest, it will keep him occupied, instead of giving him time to complain about the class. He will find meaning in the work and see why he needs it in the future.

By stimulating his interest I feel it will also help motivate Calvin learn more independently. This in turn will lead to better behavior in class because he will want to learn what is going on in the classroom, and apply it to what he is interested in.

We noticed that Calvin was giving you some trouble with your classroom management. Now we have found a couple of reasons why this could be happening. First of all Calvin is not a self-motivated learner nor does he self regulate his learning. Your job as a teacher is supposed to educate Calvin and teach him to learn on his own. Now a couple of ways of doing this are to stop giving Calvin rewards when he is actually doing something right, instead teach him that doing these things is good for himself and that his education is important to his future. Calvin tends to be a more extrinsically motivated learner, therefore his motivation could be to better his future. If he could learn these techniques and actually find value in the different areas that you are teaching him he may become a better student and not disrupt the class as much. Now another big issue that we found was that if Calvin is going to self regulate himself then there must first be a positive learning environment. Every time that Calvin gets a little out of hand or begins asking question you either ignore him completely or send him to the principles office. This is in no way positive to Calvin’s learning and in no way reaches any types of goals that you may have set for Calvin. This leads us to our next question, which is where are Calvin’s goals? If you do not set more clear and obtainable goals how can he achieve his full potential? From everything that we have viewed you seem to find the material that you are teaching extremely boring. What we mean is that you do not show any enthusiasm for the subject matter that you are trying to teach. You cannot expect Calvin to get into the material if you are not going to be. We are in total agreement that Calvin needs to be more self motivated; however, he is not going to be able to do this himself he will need your help in getting him there. Then from that point, again it is up to you to help him become a more self regulated learner. As the teacher you need to set the scene for learning and from there let Calvin’s imagination do its work and help him on his way to better achievement within his own education.

One-on-one Interaction – Lisa Haldred

Ms. Wormwood, there are many factors that you may consider changing when you are talking to Calvin that may change his behavior. For example, giving him more responsibility in the classroom (allowing him to be in charge of some aspect of the class), may give him the motivation to be serious for a change. Also, not allowing his excuses to make you angry and working with him to solve his problems instead of automatically sending them to the principal every time might let him know that you are taking an interest in his learning. Perhaps the most important aspect you can change is how you treat him in front of the rest of the class. By ignoring his questions, you are telling him that his thoughts are not important. Also, by ridiculing him in front of his peers only makes him feel like more of a failure. These are not conducive to changing Calvin's motivational patterns.

If you change your classroom atmosphere in a way that promotes creativity, he may be more willing to work with you one-on-one. If you can accomplish this, you might be able to help Calvin outside of class in order to better understand how his mind works. This might allow you to find ways to make him intrinsically motivated. Also, changing the class so that it is geared more toward mastery learning might steer him away from acting as a class clown every time he is in front of the class. Giving him more choices in your class is a must, otherwise he feels that his imagination is being hampered and will continue on his current path.

If you can find more topics that interest Calvin, Ms. Wormwood, you may be able to get him to be motivated to do well in your class. If you work with him to set short-term goals, such as making sure he can complete one assignment, you may be able to work with him to set more long-term goals for him, such as what he will do in high school or beyond. If you can work with him on these short, or long-term goals, he may be able to carry these beyond your classroom. If you are willing to accept Calvin's “out of the box” ideas, he may start doing better in your class and may even become motivated to be a better student in the future. By allowing him to show his creativity, you will be helping to break the stereotype that everyone has of him: that he is a slacker. By giving him compliments in front of the class, as well as one-on-one, you might be able to change his habits.

Communication With Parents –Heather Dannettell

Communication with parents is key in regards to motivating Calvin. This is because parents help to connect home life with school and school with home life. One thing we have noticed is that Calvin’s parents seem uninvolved and somewhat clueless as to Calvin’s school work. One suggestion would be to send home a newsletter so that not only are Calvin’s parents are informed but so are the rest of the classes parents will also be informed. Within this newsletter you may write down some of the assignments that will be due, this way the parents can help motivate their students to self regulate their time.

You could also talk with parents at the beginning of the year about their involvement with their students schoolwork. Discuss having parents ask them questions about their assignments, not just before the assignment is due, but help them to reflect on the assignment. Explain to the parents that students need to be self regulated and in order to do this parents need to help their students by keeping them accountable.

Another suggestion would be to contact Calvin's parents on a weekly basis and discuss how he has improved. This will help keep them accountable as well. They will encourage Calvin to have good grades. He will then not have an excuse to blame his parents for not completing homework assignment, because they're involved. If Calvin's parents are involved he will start to see other options for future careers. This will motivate his schoolwork.

Communication with parents is key, but the real objective is parent involvement, stressing this will help Calvin become more motivated because his parents can help him to make a plan to complete projects, show him that he is doing well in school, and encourage him to continue in education, as well as lessen the excuses from outside sources.

We hope you will take our suggestions into consideration. Good luck!

Sincerely,

SUSIE