Team 4 Letter

Responsibilities:

Micah- self regulation- Curriculum 

Alex- expectancy theory- one and one interaction 

Kaylee- self determination- instruction 

Maria- goal theory- assessment 

Jojo- interest theory- classroom management 

Dear Ms. Wormwood,

As collective researchers we've chosen to write to you with concerns about your student Calvin. While we understand teaching in this day in age can be very difficult and trying, we believe you are not using all your resources to connect with your student. 

Below you will find our critiques and possible solutions on your curriculum, instruction, assessments, classroom management, and your one-on-one interaction. 

Curriculum

Instruction

When it comes to instruction, we’ve noticed that some of Calvin's interests, like dinosaurs for example, are not in the curriculum. He becomes uninterested in learning when there is no relation to things he is interested in outside of the classroom. There are multiple ways to foster interest with instruction. You can strive to make the content fresh and new or talk about why the content is relevant today. You can make sure to ask about the students’ perspectives so they can apply their own cultures and identities. Doing activities that get students directly involved and active should help increase interest as well.

To add to that, expressing the value of topics and how it can tie in to students’ lives outside the classroom can help with expectancy beliefs. It is very beneficial to set clear expectations at the beginning of a unit and show what the end goal looks like. Calvin would then understand what success looks like and may be willing to participate more, especially if he can relate it to his own life. If students don’t understand the value of their assignments, they will most likely become lazy and not do their hardest work.

As far as Calvin’s self-regulation, there is a lot that can help. To start, having him write down his goals for the day on a worksheet along with his classmates, can help clear mental overload and create personal accountability. Having students start with goal setting is a perfect representation of the forethought phase which then progresses to the performance phase. In the performance phase, you can grow students’ self-control and self-observation. Finally, in the self-reflection phase, students like Calvin might experience self-satisfaction and if not, it will motivate them to do better next time.

Calvin has developed self-handicaping techniques because your classroom seems to be more performance oriented instead of mastery oriented. In order to foster mastery goals in relation to instruction, you can recognize and praise student achievement privately, and try to have multiple different grouping arrangements. Again, express the purpose of the activities and emphasize self-improvement and participation instead of the final grade result.

Last but most certainly not least, we believe your instruction could foster more self-determination in Calvin. As I stated before, have a clear agenda and classroom goals every single day. Provide opportunities for students to talk while you listen and ask questions. This makes the students feel really valued and supported. Stray away from controlling language, instead use informational language. For example, instead of saying, "You must finish this math worksheet right now, or you aren't going to have recess" say: “We need to complete this worksheet by 10:00 a.m. so that we have all the data ready for our science experiment at recess time."

Assessments

When creating and assigning assessments, it is essential that they are purposeful. To make assessments purposeful to Calvin, let him know why it is relevant to his life. This can be done by relating the assessments to his interest or explaining to Calvin how he can apply what he is learning to his life. It is also helpful to provide Calvin with a variety of assessments that challenge him. 

Instead of giving tests, have Calvin work on projects that allow him to apply knowledge to meaningful activities. You can provide him with different options such as creating a video or comic strips, depending on the subject. Focus more on the process of  the assessment rather than the grade of the assignment. Calvin is constantly comparing his grades to his peers, so it is important to avoid this. It can be avoided by providing Calvin with constructive feedback and opportunities for growth. The mastery-based learning/ grading can be helpful when assessing student learning. It focuses on what the student understands rather than giving them a final grade. Learning is not linear, so it provides Calvin with lots of opportunities for working towards mastery without having to compare his grade with his peers.

Since Calvin struggles with managing his time, it can be helpful to break down the assessments and provide checkpoints. By providing checkpoints, it ensures that Calvin is starting the projects before they are due. It will also help Calvin if there are rubrics and instructions that help him know what the expectations are for the assessments.

One on One Interaction

Looking at one-on-one interaction, it is important for Mrs. Wormwood to take the time to get to know Calvin. Within most of our theories, building strong relationships with students is key. It is not only being interested in their lives but remembering things about them and tying it to how you make connections for them. Within the self-determination theory specifically, this looks like being up to date with students' lives outside of school, knowing their activities and hobbies. With Calvin this would look like knowing he likes dinosaurs, and how outside of school he loves to do experiments and engage with science. This effort to develop relationships fosters a sense of belonging within Calvin which relates to interest theory. The reason this theory advocates for this is because once a student feels like they belong, it deepens their inner drive to persist and engage with various aspects of the academic environment.  

When it comes time to evaluate students and provide feedback, within goal theory, Mrs. Wormwood should talk to Calvin in private and change the focus from the negatives to positives. Looking at the comic at the end of the letter, Mrs. Wormwood’s approach is very counterproductive, and as a result we see Calvin display a fixed mindset, saying, I just do not test well. This looks at how impactful the messages we send as teachers affect students. This idea is part of the expectancy theory as well as self-determination. Because Mrs. Wormwood is so harsh, Calvin believes he is incapable, and this will trickle into future tests he takes. His belief in himself as a result will lower, and this will impact his effort and academic achievement. It is important moving forward that she starts finding ways to give him affirmations and praise, and constructive feedback. That is genuine. It is okay to be disappointed in his performance, but it needs to be framed in a way that is productive and encourages Calvin to use this failure as input to know how to engage with material and do better in the future. She could have said this will foster a growth mindset in Calvin and change his, “I don't do well on tests,” to “I didn't do well this time but with changing my study strategy and putting more time into my work I will do better next time.” She should take the time to set goals with Calvin so he can build that intrinsic responsibility and ownership of his outcomes (Self-regulation theory). Also, break down this overwhelming process into manageable steps (Goal theory). Mrs. Wormwood needs to focus solely on Calvin and his capabilities, without comparing him to his peers. 

Classroom Management