Team 1 Letter

When you are instructing your class, promote student autonomy and curiosity by encouraging questioning and providing choice during the lesson. In the topic of autonomy, it is important to modify the distribution of authority to meet student’s needs. It can be very useful to give students some say over things like the timeframe in which assignments are completed or if they work in groups. Start promoting goal setting and strategic planning into your lessons by asking students to plan out their work before they start. They can also self-monitor their own work by asking your students how much time they want to spend working on something in class. Check in and reevaluate the time they need or want. Overall, it’s giving students more choice to improve engagement and motivation. Calvin might be more motivated if he is given room to be autonomous in the classroom.

Another thing you can do is be very specific with language; make sure never to imply that Calvin failed because of something uncontrollable, like him “not being a math person." You should encourage a growth mindset with specific language and use words like "yet." You should provide consistent support and encourage his intelligence. Connect your content to real world examples and continueally keep students updated on new information so they understand the relavance of instruction. Also, give students background information to get the students interested in the content that they are learning. Most importantly, highlight important themes to spark interest. These larger themes and relavant instruction will help students to find meaning in instruction and sparking interest. If Calvin has that interest and curiosity, he will be more motivated to participate and interact in class.

To assess Calvin’s learning, a progress portfolio would be beneficial. This will allow him to see his development throughout his time as your student, and the two of you will be able to come together and discuss areas of improvement. This pushes Calvin to recognize his own faults and will encourage competence and a growth mindset. On top of this, when creating an assignment to display cumulative success, allow Calvin to choose. This can be done through the choice of a test, creative project, or essay. This pushes him to be responsible for his own learning, meaning that he will learn that his success is based on his own efforts. Finally, when grading, please ensure to not be overly critical. “Bad grades” should not be treated as a failure, but instead a mistake that can be remedied through intentional work. Explain why he received the grade that he did and stray away from comparing his successes or failures to any other students. It would also be beneficial to allow space for Calvin to make up for some bad grades through the ability to redo an assignment or two. This will display that progress is not stagnant, and sometimes in order to succeed we must try again and again.

I would recommend changing the strategy that you use to address Calvin's misbehavior during class time. Instead of berating Calvin when he is off task, I would recommend calmly redirecting his attention. An agressive approach to dealing with "bad behavior" might only make the problem worse. Yelling at a student in front of their classmates is never the right answer.

I would recommend finding ways to differentiate how assignments are completed so that each student, including Calvin, can be more productive and engaged. You could find ways to give the students some say in decision making with the timeline in which they complete assignments, or the grouping arrangements that they could use to complete them. Utilizing planning sheets are also a great way for students, even the troublemakers, to set realistic and mastery-centered goals.

Lastly, take an interest in Calvin's interests. If he is able to connect the class content to his own interests, he is far more likely to engage! And when he asks questions about why he has to do an assignment, seemingly "pointless" questions, or what the point of the teaching is, I encourage you to answer these questions instead of dismissing him!

In order to help with Calvin's motivation, I also recomend reaching out to his parents and giving them a few suggestions that can do at home.  My first suggestion for his parents is to talk to Calvin with kindness to understand why he is feeling unmotivated. I also recomend to promote postive self talk and a growth mindset in their home. Calvin's parents should work with Calvin and set attainable goals that will allow him to grow and push him towards sucess. They should also check in on him regularly to see how he is progressing in his goals and see where he needs assistance. I suggest that the parents celebrate even the little successes to help Calvin belive in himself. His parents also need to make it clear to Calvin that they are his safe space. 

To help build interest, Calvin's parents should answer any questions that he has about the content that he is learning in school to the best of their ablity. They should also listen to his interests outside of school and connect them to the content that he is learning to foster more interest. Calvins parents should promote self agency and give Calvin autonomy and let him advocate for himself. A few examples that his parents could implment is letting him choose if he wants to do his homework by himself or if he would like his parents support and set a timer when he is doing his homework so he can monitor his own time and progress. My final suggestion to give to Calvin's parents is have them reflect with Calvin on how the week at school went. They should praise Calvin on his successes and offer support where he needs it.  (Justice)