Calvin's Motivational Patterns

In this comic, Calvin has no motivation to study because he views the facts he is learning in school as useless. Teaching methods that do not utilize self-regulation are just making students memorize facts, instead of applying knowledge to situations. This makes students not want to try and learn the concepts because they have no motivation to need to know the information long term. Students are more likely to engage in self-regulation when they find the things that are learning are meaningful. Calvin has the responsibility for learning and needs to activate motivational strategies to be a more effective learner. One strategy Calvin could utilize is rewarding himself after he completes his studying, which would ideally make him more motivated to study. In order for Calvin to become a self-regulated learner, he has to improve his motivational patterns.

In this comic Calvin is daydreaming which is a common occurrence in the classroom for students who are not self-regulated. Even as the teacher called his name multiple times he is not paying attention to hear it. Daydreaming is closely associated with not having the ability to regulate your emotions, which also applies to SRL. Daydreaming is a lack of focus during the performance phase, because it is the phase of self-regulation where the learning is supposed to be taking place.

How Calvin can Become a Self-Regulated Learner

In order for Calvin to become a self-regulated learner, he has to change how he views school. Not only that but some changes to his environment may also allow him to succeed and become a SRL. One example of a change that could be made is his teacher encouraging her students to make a plan before attempting a problem and also to reflect after completing the project. We talk about how Ms. Woodward can help Calvin be an SRL here. His mom could also help Calvin foster an SRL mindset by reminding him how school is important for his well-being and by instilling more time management skills within him. In the two comics above Calvin does not apply any phases of self-regulation. The first step to self-regulation is the forethought phase and in order for him to achieve that he could have studied more for the test on the top comic. Also, Calvin needs to be more aware of when the learning should take place in the performance phase, as in the second comic he was spacing out, therefore he was not self-regulated. Lastly, Calvin would be a more successful learner in the classroom and in life if he wore to perform self-reflection after he learns new information. If Calvin displayed these skills he would be able to be a self-regulated learner.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse