Help for Billy by Heather T. Forbes, (07) Motivation, Notes

Post date: Jan 17, 2021 3:26:30 PM

Help for Billy by Heather T. Forbes

PART TWO: THE BEYOND CONSEQUENCES CLASSROOM

(07) Motivation

• • Sometimes even to live is an act of courage. -- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

  • Motivation is a force that initiates behavior geared toward the accomplishment of goals. Children are naturally motivated by an instinctual sense of curiosity. They are curious about the world and have an unbridled love for learning. Trauma robs a child of this sense of curiosity. When the world around is no longer safe, the sense of curiosity becomes locked down. The fear response causes the focus to be exclusively on survival and to seek out safety.

  • The arousal theory suggests that there is an internal thermometer that is perpetually activated to balance out levels of arousal. If arousal level decreases, then a person will look for excitement. When arousal level is too high, down time will be sought. If arousal level is high due to fear, a child will be ever seeking to bring arousal level down.

  • Traditional View - it has been believed that a student's level of motivation is influenced by several factors: (1) the need to have approval from others, (2) the desire to overcome challenges, (3) an interest in the subject matter, (4) the general desire to achieve, (5) self-confidence, and (6) persistence. For the student who enters the classroom relatively regulated and having an internal sense of “ I'm okay,” these factors hold true. A child who has not yet come to the level of feeling physically or emotionally safe in the classroom remains at the lower levels of the hierarchy of learning. Whether or not the subject being taught is of interest is irrelevant.

    • Typical external positive and negative motivators:

• • A child who has a history of being hurt and traumatized by those in charge will resist structure in order to ensure safety. He does not trust adults, and rightfully so; his history tells him not to. To adapt to this type of hierarchy in the classroom, the child must feel emotionally safe first. Developing a strong and loving relationship with the teacher and other adult leaders is critical to developing the ability to take one's place as a student with the teacher in charge.

  • New View - Children do not need to be bribed or threatened into learning. What they need is to be supported, guided, and scaffolded up within an environment that is conducive to feeling emotionally safe, developing relationships, and feeling respected.

    • Traditional techniques are barriers and hindrances to progression because they create fear. Any technique based on fear is only going to elevate more fear in a child who already lives in fear. When fear is part of the learning environment learning stops.

    • Motivation is about regulation. To think clearly and to sequentially rationalize that “If I behave, then I will have a prize from the treasure box” takes the work of the neocortex. When struggling and dysregulated, this part of the brain ceases to fire. The problem exists in the lower area of the brain. In the lower part of the brain, life happens in the next 15 seconds. Consequences are not relevant. Morals, ethics, and the difference between “right and wrong” have no bearing. The solution requires interactive regulation through relationship in order to calm the child down, create safety and to decrease anxiety. Switch from the strategy of getting students motivated with the promise of a reward or a threat of loss of a privilege, to the strategy that taps into the students’ neuro biological predisposition for relationship. Tap into the need for co-regulation. This approach helps the child shift out of fear and survival mode. Shift from a behavioral perspective to a relationship based regulatory perspective to interrupt a child’s negative spiral downward. Modify traditional techniques slightly and deliver them in the spirit of love and connection rather than in the framework of fear and control.

  • Create a Sense of Belonging - We are biologically designed to be in community. Physical health is dependent on the quality of our relationships. We all need to get along and feel like we are important to others. For students who sense that others think, “you are one of us,” safety is inherently created. Traditional classroom responses to negative behaviors do exactly the opposite. Traditional consequences of isolating and alienating say, “you are not one of us.” Past memories dictate how the present moment will be interpreted. Past family history is critical to understanding the present state of reactions in the classroom. Create a sense of belonging for all students by focusing on the class as a community. The class as the “ family” supports, understands, tolerates, validates, and loves each student’s individual differences. The entire class should exist for the needs of each student. When one student is dysregulated, the class stops to support this one student and everyone works to help the student feel safe. It is the coming together of everyone to support the needs of the one. Solidifiying safety, security, and acceptance at the beginning of the school year, ensures that academic learning reaches its highest potential over the span of the entire school year. Ways for students to feel like they truly belong to the classroom community:

    • Take time to talk to and acknowledge each student. When a student walks into the classroom, convey the message “Welcome. This class would not be the same without you here today!”

    • Recognize the students’ moods. Help to regulate the mood instead of ignoring or criticizing it.

    • Listen to the students (you don't have to agree-- just listen.)

    • Smile at the students and stay in a warm place in your heart, no matter their attitude or disposition.

  • Create a Classroom Designed for Regulation - For students to be motivated, they have to be regulated. The classroom should be set up to assist in keeping students regulated throughout the school day or class period.

    • Movement - Repetitive motor movement can be key in helping some students regulate. Patterned, rhythmic, and repetitive movements settle the brain and activate the vestibular system (the sensory system that responds to movement and our sense of balance.) Children often do things that demonstrate the exact solutions needed to help them. It is up to the adults to see the solutions being presented instead of seeing only the breaking of the rules:

      • Rocking. Rocking taps into the memory of being safe. Have a rocking chair in the classroom for the children to either rock on their own or offer to rock younger children.

      • Pacing. We naturally pace when we are anxious. It is a way for the body to regulate. The neocortex can absorb more information while the body’s moving compared to sitting still. Mark a pacing track in the back of the classroom with tape and allow students to pace even if you are presenting an academic question. A child will learn better when free to move instead of being forced to sit, which will create the feeling of being trapped.

      • Standing Exercise. As a class, incorporate exercises each student can do standing up at the desk. Brain gym movements can significantly increase students’ abilities to concentrate and focus.

      • Sitting Exercise. Fitness balls can be an excellent alternative to chairs for children who need to have their bodies moving while seated at their desks.

      • Movement through Space. Activities, such as spinning and Swinging, can help to regulate a child both physically and emotionally. Playground equipment, such as slides and merry-go-rounds, offer children a playful and fun way to re-regulate.

      • Bilateral Activities. Two sided, or bilateral, activities such as jumping rope, crawling, and riding a bike are excellent movements to help balance the body.

    • Sound. Music can be exceptionally calming and it has been shown to actually change a person's brain wave patterns.

    • Animals. Animals have a calming effect on human beings.

    • Breaks. Some children need to take frequent breaks and leave the classroom. granted, some children are streetwise and will attempt to overuse this luxury of leaving the classroom, even when already regulated. Boundaries and limitations will need to be in place for such a tool to be used effectively instead of abused.

    • Simplicity. Decrease wall and ceiling decorations. Soft music, walls painted in a soft warm color, and calming background sound helps children to remain calm.

    • Lighting. Consider changing and warming the lighting in the classroom Stress and anxiety can increase when working with intense lighting.

    • Food and Water. Keeping students regulated at the physical level is important to their ability to stay calm and focused, especially for children with experiences of neglect and not having enough food in the past. Their bodies can easily go into survival when they become hungry, which elicits the fear that they will never be fed again. Keeping snacks and water available is ideal for helping to keep students regulated.

    • Safety. When unable to maintain a semblance of safety, a child may become aggressive and violent. When at this point, safety should always become the number one concern, not punishment. Secluding a child who does not have a sufficient regulatory system to calm down by himself is counterproductive and should never be an option. A child will not be able to calm down on his own and it will be a traumatizing experience as the child sinks deeper into a fight or flight response. It's like leaving a crying baby in a crib and expecting the baby to calm down on his own. The baby will only cry louder until he gets to a point where he has to shut down in order to stop the dangerous level of stress hormones being excreted. He stops crying out of survival, not out of regulation. Instead, safety can be created by moving the child into a safe space with a trusting adult. If the adult is coming from a loving place, free of control and fear, the child will not have the need to attack. Adding a calm and loving presence decreases the need to attack. This is where safety mantras that have been practiced and rehearsed can be exceptionally effective in getting the child back to a place of rational thinking.

  • Develop Relationship. The most primary fears that every individual has: 1) I'm not enough. 2) I want to be loved. The teacher-student relationship addresses these fears. Children are developmentally programmed to need relationship in order to curb these two great fears. When a child goes through family experiences that failed to do this and conversely exacerbate these fears, the result is a person who lives and breathes every moment out of these fears. With this intensity of fear occupying the mind, there's little room for clear, focused, and complex thinking. As such, the teacher-student relationship is the key to awakening the student’s internal drive. To increase academic achievement increase relationship. The two are directly correlated. Children need to be provided patterned, repetitious, relational experiences. Be willing to be vulnerable. As a teacher, be willing to share some information about yourself (appropriate information) to show that you are human too and are willing to be exposed. It does not take a clinical degree in Psychology to be able to relate to a student. It simply takes attention, awareness, and the willingness to take an interest in the student's perspective. Enhancing the teacher-student relationship can be done in several small ways, many of which take very little extra time:

    • Leave a note on the student's desk.

    • Touch students more.

    • Give students understanding and empathy.

    • Listen to them; give them a voice.

    • Scaffold them up with the support and the resources they need.

    • Give each student personal attention (greetings, short talks, compliments, acknowledgements, smiles, friendly eye contact).

    • Express an attitude of “I care about you as a person.”

  • Involve Parental Support, Not Parental Fear. Rather than contacting parents as a threat, schools need to team up with parents to help regulate the child. When a child gets upset, the teacher can suggest that the child call mom or dad. Taking 2 or 3 minutes for the child to connect by phone can be just enough to help the child get back on track. For many students, a daily phone call to a parent as a proactive measure can be a powerful way to help them interrupt their stress patterns. Their system is not equipped to handle six hours in a school environment; the window of stress tolerance simply is not that large. Taking a break or two during these six hours gives the child a chance to re-regulate throughout the day before behavioral issues surface.

    • Allowing phone calls to the parent is a developmentally sensitive approach. When infants become toddlers, mobility increases but the regulatory system is not yet fully developed. During this stage of development, they will wander away from their parents to explore their surroundings. These early exploratory experiences are limited, as the toddler then runs back to the parent to reconnect. They run to explore and then run back to reconnect and re-regulate. This type of behavior is repetitive and gives the child a chance to be on his own to practice self-regulation, but then it immediately affords the chance to re-regulate back with the parent. Allowing phone calls recreates this type of coming and going. This gives the child a chance to be on his own at school for a couple of hours, then allows him to call or text a parent to get re-regulated, providing the necessary practice to later become fully able to self-regulate. Eventually, the child will not need this type of intermediate reconnection and will be able to make it through the whole school day.