Curriculum-Naomi

To begin with, you should make a few changes to what you teach in your curriculum as well as how you teach your curriculum. You should focus on content that will encourage Calvin to be more motivated to learn. One way you could do this is to involve the whole class in activities. Also, since Calvin is not intrinsically motivated in your tests, allow him to choose how he shows his knowledge. It is also crucial to take into account the different motivations that your student Calvin has. As you know, he does not do well with your curriculum nor does he see the point of the subject that you are teaching, which evidently leads to him not wanting to put effort into his work. In order to ensure your student puts more effort in his school work, you should provide options for him to choose from or different topics for projects to increase his value of the subject. Furthermore, it is also important to begin teaching as normal but also listen to your students about how they learn best. You need to provide them with enough structure but also provide them with feedback to make them more effective learners. Within your lessons, you should cover content that your students are actually ready for. Not only should students be receiving feedback from you as well as reflecting on their learning but you also need to allow students to put their input on how you are doing as you teach. Regulating your students is the most important thing to consider when trying to incorporate self-regulation in your classroom. Ms. Wormwood, another consideration that you should incorporate in your classroom is fostering more positive teaching strategies. You often fail to motivate Calvin to try and master the subject that you teach. In fact, with Calvin you are creating a Performance Avoid Learner, which is that he avoids trying because he is afraid that you will embarrass him in front of your other students. With that being said, work on avoiding activities in the classroom where your students may not even want to try in fear that they will fail. It is also highly important to try to catch and maintain Calvin’s interest. You can do this by focusing on content that is related to him and his life outside of school. Include content that he is interested and wants to learn about while also making sure that your lessons are still educational. You can also take input from your students at the beginning of the year based on what they are interested in learning throughout your course. This will allow you to be able to compare your curriculum with what interests the students have so you can focus on improving that student engagement and participation. Although there will be content that you teach that your students may not like or are not interested in, you can still make it engaging for them by relating your curriculum to the interests that they shared with you. Changing a few things in your curriculum can certainly help Calvin become a better student in your class and that is what the big goal is, to help Calvin improve as a student. 

Instruction-Poulette

In order to teach better, there are some methods you could implement to intrigue, motivate, maintain, and grow the children's love and abilities to learn. Starting off with incorporating these following methods and models of teaching; group-work, projects, self-chosen assignments, and reflection time. 

By allowing the children to have authority over their learning, you are allowing them to learn to the best of their ability. No one knows them better than themselves. Giving them a variety of homework and assignment options to choose from allows them to feel in control and choose activities that will let them to learn and have fun making them more likely to dive deeper into each lesson. By them having fun, they are more likely to participate and want to grow as learners. Obviously fun is not the only goal, the children should also get tons of feedback from different sources. You as the teacher should be meeting with them regularly to discuss what they could be doing better and how you can be supporting them better. Not only should they get feedback from you as the teacher, you should allow them to get different perspectives from their peers. You should also get the parents of the kids as involved as possible. By having all three groups of people providing feedback to Calvin as needed, he will be more likely to ask questions, and delve deeper into his overall learning.

By implementing all of these strategies and allowing the focus to shift from competitiveness among peers to individual growth driven, you will be fostering a learning environment Calvin and all the other children will be excited to be a part of.

Assessment-Maria 

In order to assess Calvin effectively, it is recommended to conduct a range of assessments that extend beyond normal tests. It is recommended that these assessments align with Calvin's interests and objectives. We advocate for incorporating more open-ended evaluation methods that can stimulate Calvin's curiosity and engagement. Such assessments could involve tasks where Calvin applies his understanding of concepts in the context of his personal preferences. Calvin's vivid imagination and creativity could be assessed using tools that evaluate creative thinking. To enhance Calvin's motivation and effort in assessments, it is crucial to provide him with greater creativity. He appears to be positively influenced when topics of personal interest are integrated into the testing process. Therefore, we suggest exploring ways to connect assessments with his individual interests, thereby fostering a positive outcome because Calvin can connect to the assessment personally.  He seems to not be able to focus on his assignments at hand. I think giving him sentence stems for starting papers or projects will give him a nice push towards topics and ideas. These assessments would explore his ability to generate unique ideas, problem-solving skills, and his willingness to think outside the box. Calvin also seems to struggle with self-regulation with assessments outside of the classroom. He seems to not be able to get those assessments (projects) done outside of the classroom. Helping Calvin with self-regulation can include giving him class time to begin the projects and send them home to get completed. 

Furthermore, when assessing Calvin's performance, it is recommended that you offer constructive feedback with an emphasis on positive reinforcement. It is important to shift the evaluation from a common right-and-wrong approach to one that embraces growth and progress. While grading his assessments, documenting his growth and progress alongside the overall grade will enable Calvin to recognize the impact of his efforts on his learning outcomes. In one of the comics, Calvin is seen being upset for not getting a smiley face on his test while another peer did. I think you can have Calvin's growth alongside the overall grade with a smiley face if he improves to build a reward system. This shift in perspective can empower Calvin to take ownership of his learning journey and motivate him to invest more in academics. When projects are personally relevant and engaging, his mindset is more likely to transition from a fixed mindset to a growth-oriented one. By understanding that he plays a role in shaping his educational progress, Calvin may become more dedicated to his academics and maybe make his learning experiences more compelling and relevant because Calvin constantly wonders why academics are important. 

Classroom Management-Magie

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One-on-One Interactions-Jacinda 

There are many interactions that you have with students. Looking at Calvin specifically, it seems like there are a lot area for improvement. Firstly, there should be clear expectations set for Calvin himself. He should understand everyday when he walks into the classroom, what is expected of him. There needs to be consistency and no room for a chaotic learning environment. This not only applies to his behavior, but his academic performance as well. If the outcomes and expectations are communicated clearly to Calvin, then we may see great improvement in this area. Although your curriculum might be very informative and interesting to you, it is clearly not to Calvin. We are not suggesting that you change your entire curriculum, but rather you speak with Calvin directly, and acquire more information on what his interests are. Calvin seems to be very interested in snowmen. If you are able to interact one-on-one, I am sure he can share a great deal about his interests. 

In regards to test, you may want to set-up times with Calvin and go through things that he has done wrong, individually. That way Calvin is able to understand what he needs to do better, and you can give him individual attention. We understand that this can be time consuming, but this could be implemented during class when the students are busy completing other activities. Pleas only provide either positive and constructive feedback. Anything negative can severely effect the motivation of Calvin even more so than it already has. Currently, your instruction does not interest a wide-range of students and that must be fixed. We understand that it is hard to appeal to every student, but there are ways you can work with a student to interest them in learning. You should not compare students, and should emphasize the importance of learning from our mistakes. I recommend incorporating fun, informational activities that accommodate a wide range of interests. 

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In relation to communicating with Calvin's parents, we recommend starting to build more of a relationship with them through continuous conversations and keeping them in the loop of the on-goings of the classroom. This can look like sending weekly emails or newsletters about Calvin specifically or general ones of what is expected to happen throughout the week as well as a recap of what happened previously. This allows for the parents to gain more of an insight as to how Calvin views schooling and gives them an opportunity to recognize his efforts outside of the classroom as well. This can be seen a lot through the Expectancy Theory and Self-Regulation Theory, as both have a key aspect in self-confidence with subjects. As Calvin receives more positive feedback both in and outside of school in relation to his school work, he will start to build his self-confidence which can correlate to more effort being put into class. 

You can also use this relationship built to learn more about Calvin as a student. Being able to see what Calvin is interested in outside of the classroom can help you connect the lessons you teach to things Calvin is already interested about. This will give him the chance to engage and connect more willingly inside the classroom. This connects very well to Goal Theory and Interest Theory as using something Calvin is already interested in will enable him to connect better than forcing him to continue learning something he is not interested in. 

With all this, it is often said that it can take a village to raise a child, and this is best seen through your relationship with his parents. As you and his parents become more connected, you and his parents can make adjustments that will help Calvin succeed within both his academic career and his personal life.

With everything said ......

With best wishes,

Naomi, Poulette, Maria, Maggie, Jacinda, Jaws