Instruction:

When it comes to helping Calvin, there is a specific way that subject matter that should be taught in the classroom. The subject matter needs to be taught in a way that appeals to Calvin's interest. According to the interest theory, there are several stages of interest and it starts with triggered situational interest. Calvin is really intrigued by dinosaurs, space, anthropology, etc. So, when it comes to getting Calvin interested with the content and subject matter, you need to spark his attention through surprising information, personal relevance, and intensity. Once you have sparked his interest through making connections to the things that Calvin finds exciting, it is important to maintain this interest. The interest theory says, "Interest is held and maintained through meaningful tasks and personal involvement". The method and model to use when teaching Calvin and finding his interest would be inquiry based learning. When you are choosing assessments to assign, make sure that he feels as though it has importance and personal relevance. Calvin does not believe in simply regurgitating information that he has no connection with. He loses motivation when it comes to these types of assignments as he does not believe that learning has occurred. When you give him assignments, try your best to touch on Calvin's preexisting interests and spark new interests through his preexisting ones. By teaching subject matters through the lens of interest theory Calvin will be more engaged in the classroom.

Similarly, Calvin lacks confidence in the classroom, therefore, the subject matter needs to help build his confidence. There are several theories that explain why Calvin is feeling that way and the way that subject matter should be taught in a classroom. The expectancy theories and self-regualtion theories explain how Calvin thinks and how his environment affects his thoughts. Calvin needs to develop the idea of grit. In order to help him get more gritty and be more engaged in subject matter, you need to have Calvin develop long term goals. When subject matter is presented, make sure that the content follows his long term goals in order to help him develop more resilience. The method and model of teaching that should be implemented would personalized learning. Calvin will have his set of long term goals and all teaching and modeling should help him obtain these goals. Also, building in reflection time to the subject matter will help him stay on task and care more about the content. In order to build confidence, Calvin needs to feel that his opinion is valid and safe in the classroom. Personalized teaching will help him obtain these goals.

Likewise, when giving instruction, it is important that your language is positive and informational. Often times, Calvin feels pressured to perform and act a certain way, but he needs more freedom to think and challenge himself on his own. Also, make sure that you are informing him of why the assignment is important and how it connects to his life. This idea falls under the self-determination theory as well as achievement goal theory. Calvin struggles to build relationships with his peers. The self-determination theory talks about the benefits of peer help. Not only does Calvin not get along with his peers, he struggles with self-handicaping. He would rather not try and put any effort into teh subject matters to avoid making himself look dumb. When choosing subject matters and assignments, make sure that Calvin is able to work with his peers and monitor their interaction to make sure they are beneficial and effective. You need to make sure that your classroom fosters a postive and welcoming environment and uses a combination of one-on-one, group work, games, etc. This will help Calvin build confidence in abilities and lead to stronger overall motivation.

Overall, the subject matter covered in your classroom needs to be tailored to meet the interests of Calvin. The subject matter needs to be directed at helping him achieve his goals and building stronger peer relationships.

Assessment:

In order for Calvin to succeed in the classroom, he needs to feel both comfortable as well as in a sense in control of his own learning journey. Assessment can be both helpful, but also detrimental if not done right. In terms of self regulation, Calvin will be able to keep himself accountable as long as he sets himself up for that. This means that he will maintain self control by setting goals and planning his time management beforehand. Although as a teacher you should help him create those goals, in no way should these goals be already set for him. This should be a team process and effort, a balance with both guidance and support. These goals will help Calvin understand his outcome expectations and tailor the experience to his own wants and goals, in a sense. A big part of this is also making sure that the physical environment works for Calvin. He should feel comfortable and safe in the space that he is in. This means that the students around him and the teacher aren’t making him feel belittled or ridiculed. This type of behavior would cause him to lose interest in setting goals and pursuing the task. This could even mean that the environment can include features that appeal to the interests of students. For Calvin, this could mean dinosaur decorations, and other decorations that appeal to the variety of students in the class.

During the assessment, Calvin could definitely have trouble staying on task. Assessment should be a tool for both the teacher and student to learn how they can progress and how instruction can be tailored, not a scary unexpected collection of questions. Calvin also gets bored very easily. Because of this, he should have the option to take breaks and have time to reflect upon his work to see how he is doing and whether or not he is actually trying. If he rushes through his work because he is tired and doesn’t have an opportunity to have those distraction times, then his work will not reflect his knowledge and skills. Another option is making assessments shorter so that he does not need to keep himself on task for too long for one activity. Assessments can also be any sorts of projects, activities, tasks. They do not have to be written and ordinary. These assessments can be tailored to Calvin’s interests even if the premise is still the content that needs to be assessed.

After the assessment is almost as equally important as the assessment itself. Calvin needs to reflect upon his work and as a teacher, it is important to be clear about what he did well and what he has room to improve on. This shouldn’t be done in the form of scolding or telling him what he did wrong, but rather having him look back on his goals he had set and reflect upon how he thinks he did in terms of his own expectations. This will push him to continue to try next time he has a chance to be assessed.

Classroom Management:

Teachers have 20-25+ kids in each of their classrooms. Although it might seem easier to ignore that one problematic child in the room, they still need to be learning. Calvin is that one child in your classroom that always seems to be pushing for more and more attention. It seems like he has so many ideas that it makes it hard to control how he communicates it.

One way to make sure Calvin doesn't disrupt the class create a secret goal for Calvin that only you two know about. Goal setting is a great way for the child to take control of their own actions in the classroom. One goal you could set for him is that if he can stay focused for a certain period of time during class, without causing a disruption, then he can create or draw his creations and share them with the class. He has such a great imagination that you want to persuade him to work hard so that he can share his great creativity with the class.

This is just an example of a goal you could use. But it should be created between the two of you so that Calvin understands what he is working towards and you understand what Calvins interests are!

Although it's important to let Calvin work towards something he is interested in, eventually, you're going to want to move away from extrinsic motivation and more towards intrinsic motivation. It's important to let Calvin feel proud of himself for taking responsibility of his classwork and actions in class. But, it's not a bad way to start off with a little extrinsic motivation to show him that you are willing to meet him halfway to creating a calmer classroom.

One-on-one Interaction:

As a teacher, we all need to get to know our students. Your one-on-one interaction with Calvin is where you can learn the most about him. Making him feel comfortable in the classroom will allow him to not only want to learn more, but your relationship with Calvin will thrive because of it.

Using the Self-Regulation Theory, students need to feel comfortable, supported, independent, and confident. You can do this by just talking to Calvin personally and getting to know him as a person. Ask him how he’s doing, what he likes, and just communicating with him so he feels like you really care about him. Setting manageable and realistic goals is a major thing for kids to have something to look forward to and see an end accomplishment. You could help Calvin do this by asking him where he wants to go and what he wants to do in the future. This could help you set goals that are in his interest so he’s satisfied. Once you get to know Calvin and what he likes you can use that to his and your advantage. Intertwine it into the curriculum so he is more motivated to learn about something he likes, this starts to go into self-interest theory as well because Calvin works hard when he is interested in the topic. Also, being able to help Calvin with his strengths and weaknesses. Talk to him about his assignments and let him know what he is doing well in and what areas he needs to work on. This gives him confidence in himself so he knows there are areas when he is really achieving in. Also, don’t just ignore his weaknesses after that, instead help him work on it so later they can turn into strengths.

Another thing to work on is related to Achievement Goal Theory. Let the students know it is ok to mess up and not be right. This allows for room for growth because not everything is perfect. Talking about this can help the kids have a growth mindset. Calvin needs to understand that failing just means they can get better and learn more to be where they want to be. It’s not the end of the world to fail, in fact it is necessary to get better. Let Calvin know that his effort means something and it is great that he is trying his best when he puts in the time to do the work. This can help him get gritty because he will want to work hard even if the task is difficult. If he fails, he knows can bounce back and it won’t set him back. Look at what Calvin is doing right instead of what he is doing wrong, let Calvin know so he can continue to do what you expect of him while praising him. The more Calvin hears about what he is doing wrong, he consistently feels like he is failing and that is how he adopted learned helplessness. Learned helplessness leads to students thinking they just can’t do something because they aren’t good at it, this gets into Expectancy Theory. To break this mindset, that is when you use a couple of the above examples I suggested such as giving him praise and letting him know failure it okay. Once Calvin understands it is okay to fail and that is how you learn, then he can start getting into that growth mindset.

Last but not least, help Calvin connect the content to the real world. Help him understand that the information is meaningful and it’s something he can actually use. This can help him see the importance the information has and can motivate him to do well.

The more you talk to Calvin and get to know him, you teach him how to build relationships without purposefully meaning to and help him feel safe and confident so he can be successful and a student and citizen.

Communication with Calvin's Parents:

In education the parents are a huge impact on a child’s success in learning. This is one of the reasons why you should really try to involve them in and out of the classroom, and make sure that you keep in communication about what to do for Calvin, how he had been acting in class, what you think some course of action is for him and things like that. You have to also make sure that you’re asking his parents what his interests are or what he does that makes him want to learn at home.

For all of the self learning theories (Interest Theory, Expectancy Theory, Self-Determination Theory, Achievement Goal Theory and Self Regulation Theory), they all talk about how interest is one of the most important influences on learning. In order to help you keep Calvin’s interest in class you can ask his parents to help you at home. One activity you can ask them to do is have him watch a fun documentary, that you provide them, on the subject that you will be teaching. This will allow Calvin the chance to look at the subject outside of his school setting giving him the chance to be excited to be watching it, so when he comes to class he will have already seen a fun documentary on it and be excited to learn more about it in you class. Another way you can help keep his interest is by asking Calvin’s parents what interests him outside of school. They will most likely be happy to share, and when they do take this information and try to incorporate this into your lesson plan. For example if Calvin is interested in the newest superhero movie that just came out, take some time to try and figure out how to include this into your classroom, this could be a variety of things, one possibility could be making some problems on a worksheet have the names of these superheroes and a situation they could be in, compared to random names of kids doing random assignments. In order to help Calvin as best as you can, make sure to communicate with his parents. They will have the best knowledge on what interests Calvin what his feelings towards school and the subjects being taught are.

Hopefully the ideas presented in this letter will help you be a more effective educator when it comes to Calvin and help guide his learning to be more successful.

Sincerely,

Group 5