Instruction: 

  Madam, although you still don't know who I am now, I have seen many times that you ask Calvin to answer questions. Since you don't have a divine perspective, you don't know what was going on in his mind at that time. Perhaps you don't really know much about Calvin outside of the classroom either. Although he can be a bit naughty, he is actually a very creative child. Like many six-year-old boys, he likes dinosaur fossils and declares that he wants to publish in academic journals and make a lot of money by selling them. He also likes aliens and space exploration, which are the topics that often come up when he is called on in class. And you often play the role of an alien invader (I'm sorry!) But why be so hostile? What if we tried changing the teaching method? That is to say, it's about changing the way of teaching. It seems that you usually use the term "lecture", which means you are on the stage, full of energy, giving speeches and guiding the audience, and from time to time, you would look at the students to see if they are listening. But, teacher! Times have changed! Not to mention that you are also dealing with a little boy who has lost his motivation to learn and feels a lack of belonging. 

  As a mediocre expert, I suggest you; Based on the expectancy theory and the interest theory, on the basis of the tiered teaching method, you try to build steps and inspire rather than indoctrinate. For example, when encountering a problem, say, "Captain Calvin, hello. In order to successfully enable our spaceship to evade the pursuit of aliens👽, we need to calculate these 10 questions. Five on the port side will charge and activate the power, and the same on the right side. Please choose your first task." This way, you can connect to his interests (the more interested he is, the more motivation he naturally has to learn), and at the same time enhance his sense of autonomy. Yes, the improvement of autonomy helps him continuously control his tasks, thereby breaking through learned helplessness (Teacher, I simply don't know how to do it), and even if he encounters something he doesn't know later, he won't be indifferent because he has learned to attribute the reasons to internal and controllable factors. For example, in exams, you know that he often makes up answers, hoping to get some scores for originality. This is actually somewhat creative. Based on the achievement theory, when his next exam is not ideal, you can guide him to see why his answers are not feasible. For example, asking the Pilgrims when they arrived at Plymouth, he fictionalized it as 1620, but why is it not feasible? Because it's impossible to go there, there are no ships to cross the sea. This guidance helps him know why the correct answer is correct. This can also help him set goals, that is, the pursuit of logic in learning.

Classroom Management:

Mrs. Wormwood,

I know teaching is an incredebly difficult career that requires patience, creativity and most of all passion. We work with many individuals, all with their own unique needs and personalities. That is why I have created a list of tips which I believe will help your classrom thrive! 

It is important to prioritize each student's basic psychological needs, and to ensure they are being met. Providing Calvin with a sense of autonomy and a sense of belonging, will make your classroom a "safe place" for Calvin and his peers. It is not about a power struggle, or about trying to compete on who has more authority and determination. This is is about creating a safe learning environment for everyone. Allowing students to have opportunities to choose will help build a sense of autonomy. For instance, in the classroom, we can do this by providing Calvin choices (and Calvin is a boy who has a strong sense of autonomy). We can begin by asking, "Should we do this arithmetic problem today or finish this reading instead?" Or, during classroom discussions, if he feels that he cannot answer a question, instead of immediately dismissing him, you can allow him to explain his train of thought.

Believing in your students allows them to beileve in themselves. A classroom where learning goals are clearly explained, and providing reasoning behind tasks, will allow students to grow in confidence. I believe that Clavin could be strugglying and simply giving up on a task when it feels like it is not meaningful to him. I know that if you target these specific goals, Clavin's maladaptive behavior will certainly reduce. Another reason Calvin can be struggling, is because he does not find specific subjects interesting. Creating opportunities in the classrioom so that students can feel part of the content will help immensely! In Calvin's case, it can be as simple as placing dino stickers on his assingments, or providing a creative writing assignment where he is free to write about all types of things.

In addition to what has already been discussed, I believe teaching self-regulated learning skills can create a positive classroom environment. Student's can be reminded of these skills with posters/graphics hung around the classroom. When Calvin becomes distracted in a lesson, he can look at these graphics and be reminded of skills he can learn for math, writing, time-management etc. Not only will this help Clavin learn new skills, but it will aslo create a mastery learning goal orientation. Providing an environment where students are not to compete, but to learn will help transition them to a learning orientation instead of a performance approach.

I know that these changes will create a safe classroom where students are ready and excited to learn. Thank you for all that you do with our students everyday, and thank you for being willing to take on this new approach to better your classroom!

Assessment 

Mrs, Wormwood,

While your efforts with Calvin thus far have been valiant, I believe it is time to consider changing your strategy, below I have some suggestions regarding assessment practices that may serve you well in attempting to reign Calvin in.

Firstly, when you are doing assessments on Calvin, make the assessment inherently allow for creativity or real world application. If you are doing a Writing assignment, allow the topic of writing to be flexible to allow Calvin to write about something he may be more interested in, such as dinosaurs. If doing a math test, make the assessment apply the math topic to real world scenarios than Calvin would likely have experience, like measuring how big something is. Broadly, there are endless possibilities on how to assess a topic, and making that topic engaging and interesting may take a bit more work, but will have a profound impact on keeping students invested and motivated.

Another key thing to consider is that learning is a process, and some students may get stuck at different points than others, and having the student take a test and be stuck with a score they may not be proud of may prevent a student from pursuing success. If you instead allow Calvin or other students to retake an assessment at any time on their own terms, making sure to include a detailed rubric and extensive constructive feedback, they will better be able to identify their misconceptions and subsequently have a clear path on how to improve and pursue achievement. 

Finally, always ensure that you are fostering an environment where failure is not scolded but used as its own teaching tool. Scolding failure often leads a student like Calvin to give up. In an Assessment, this can look like having the student do a reflection after the assessment. Making the student reflect on their performance can foster ideas on how to improve strategy in the future, such as when retaking the test. This can put the student in the cycle of planning for the future retake and having stronger strategies to use to complete the task as well as they and reflecting again via self regulation. Furthermore if you are actively encouraging using different strategies and interacting with the learning process. When returning assessments, shine the light on what Calvin did well as well as what he didnt. This way you may convey or reinforce a sense of confidence on what he is good at and keep his sense of self worth up. This conveys all of the expectations and feedback a student can use to maintain a grasp on where they are in the learning process.

Communication with Calvin's Parents: 

Calvin has a lot of curiosity about the world, which is very underutilized.

I would recommend making sure Calvin’s parents are updated on what Calvin is learning in school, so they can get involved in his learning. Calvin’s parents could make sure his learning is supplemented outside of school by getting him involved in programs that have to do with his interests. They could also tell you, Ms. Wormwood, about what Calvin is interested in, so you could adjust her lessons to be better engaging for, not just Calvin, but likely other students as well. It would also be beneficial to make sure Calvin has access to resources so he can find answers to his questions on his own. Even with assignments that he’s excited about, Calvin dedicates too much time to planning or researching and not enough time to actually completing the assignment, so I would suggest walking through some strategies for writing papers with the class and communicating with Calvin’s parents to make sure he’s spending an appropriate amount of time on different parts of his homework.

It would be beneficial to make sure Calvin is aware of his control over his learning. His parents tend to acknowledge this at home, but it's unclear if Calvin truly understands his capabilities as a student. It would likely be helpful to work with Calvin on setting realistic, achievable goals so he really gets a grasp of the consequences of his effort. He needs to be taught self-reflection and challenge assessment skills in order to learn how to set goals for himself. Calvin understands how to plan for assignments in theory, but, in addition to setting realistic goals, he needs assistance with time management. It would be beneficial to work with his parents to make sure assignments are being appropriately prioritized and tests are being appropriately prepared for.

Curriculum:

Ms. Wormwood, 

I know that creating lesson and unit plans that are engaging for all students is no small feat. However, for Calvin's case specifically, I have some information that I think might help you create a curriculum that feels more engaging, not just for Calvin, but for all of your students.

I want to suggest that you take a look at the following theory and consider how it could apply in your classroom. In educational psychology, Self-Determination Theory is the idea that students learn best when the following psychological needs are met: 

1. Need for Autonomy: students feel control over their education, and make some decisions for themselves. Giving students choice in the classroom is an incredibly valuable tool. I know you see Calvin as defiant, but he is also a student who feels as though he has no autonomy in your classroom. It is not always possible to give students a wide variety of options for every activity, but I want to encourage you to consider how you can fulfill your students' need for autonomy in small ways. Think back to the following scenario with Calvin:

You: "Calvin, can you tell us what Lewis and Clark did?"

Calvin: "No, but I can recite the secret superhero origin of each member of Captain Napalm's thermo-nuclear league of liberty."

I know it's easy to think that Calvin wants to disrespect you. However, in this scenario, he is showing you that he has an excellent capacity for learning when he is interested in the topic. Perhaps you could offer this prompt or followup question to your students instead: "Imagine that Lewis and Clark brought your favorite superhero with them on their expedition. Tell me, how could the superhero's powers help them on their adventure?" You could give students the option to write their response, share with the class, or draw a picture with a captions. This would benefit all of your students and encourage them to make deeper, personal connections to the topics at hand. 

2. Need for Competence: students feel capable and successful in your classroom. In order to satisfy your students' basic need for competence, tasks should be optimally challenging. This means adjusting your curriculum so that tasks are at a balance for your students: not too easy, and not too difficult. In any classroom, all of your students will learn at different paces. This means introducing differentiated instruction, or instruction where the level of difficulty can be adjusted, while maintaining the same learning outcomes. This does not mean assigning more work. Calvin is clearly a very intelligent student, who, as I said, demonstrates a great capacity for learning overall. I'd suggest that some of your content not only feels uninteresting to Calvin, but also too easy. Calvin is not being optimally challenged and is therefore disengaged. For example, instead of just math problems, ask students to create a real-world scenario using the concept, or write their own math problems and create the answer key. This allows students to make things as complex or as simple as they are able. This isn't necessary all of the time, but I believe it will be a very helpful tool for all of your students, including Calvin. By creating an environment that allows questions to be asked, as well as students to be vulnerable and comfortable to learn from each other, you are helping students reach a learning goal orientation. 

3. Need for Relatedness: students feel connected and cared for, and have a sense of belonging. It is clear to me that Calvin does not feel a sense of belonging in your classroom. This could be for a variety of reasons, all of which I want you to consider: Calvin is bullied by his peers, feels as though his intelligence is useless, and cannot express himself in your classroom without being punished. To improve Calvin's sense of relatedness, and potentially help your other students as well, I suggest you try to show genuine interest in Calvin's ideas. This might mean adjusting your curriculum to be allow students more autonomy, as I talked about, and therefore helping students feel cared for. You might try asking Calvin some follow up questions before dismissing him because it seems off-topic, or feels like disrespect. I'd also suggest some one-on-one check ins so that your students feel more connected to you: try to foster a genuine relationship with Calvin. In the same way, try to foster these relationships between your students. Perhaps sit Calvin next to someone who is intelligent in similar ways, or someone shares some similar interests. 

In summary, integrating your students' interests into your curriculum, assuring that tasks are optimally challenging, and helping students feel connected to you and each other are all great tools for addressing Calvin's behavior. Best of luck!

-sincerely

group 2