Calvin Analysis

• This is an example of an internal and controllable response. Calvin has little care about learning the material given to him, he has control over how he digests the material. He is choosing to not participate in the learning cycle.

• This shows Calvin giving himself the attribution of not testing well. Calvin has used this attribution to explain why he isn't doing well rather than studying or preparing for the test.

• Here, Calvin shows that he uses attributions to label his peers as well. He previously thought that his classmate being "smart" was why she understood class material, but in this comic, Calvin rethinks the attribution he gave his classmate once he sees her working in order to understand material.

Calvin embodies a fixed mindset and low self efficacy, due to this he has learned helplessness it is important for Mrs. Wormwood to foster a growth mindset within him and shifting his thinking patterns. 

Method to help:

• Attribution retraining 

She can be very intentional with the language she uses around Calvin and redirect him when he says he can't accomplish a task by adding in the word "yet". This could help him understand that just becuase he failed once, or can't do something right now, does not mean success and completion is not possible. Mrs. Wormwood should teaching him to attribute his failure to internal, unstable, and controllable causes like effort and strategy. She could also reframe failure as informational data so he can understand that it does not define him as a person. 

IN ACTION: 

Calvin has been struggling on his times tables in math. While taking a test he says he is just bad at multiplication and puts his head down on the table. Mrs. Wormwood should go over to Calvin and have a conversation with him. She needs to explain to him that they just started on the unit and he is capable of learning the material, it will just take some time and effort, and she will be there to support him through out the whole process. An example of this would be: "You havent been able to memorize your times tables yet, but you will get it with time and effort!" She should be framing each test and assignment in terms of personal progress and failures as opportunities to learn.

Mrs. Wormwood now needs to create Mastery Experiences for Calvin. 

• Mastery Experiences- experiences of success that build confidence and competence, usually small broken down steps over a big exam. 

IN ACTION:

Mrs. Wormwood sits down with Calvin and finds a times tables activity online that works with multiples of 10 that is doable for Calvin as he does not struggle as much with those as he does other numbers. He is able to match the equations with the correct answer and completes the worksheet. Slowing creating more experiences of success is key to helping Calvin.

Mrs. Wormwood lastly needs to debrief with Calvin.

• Celebrate small wins, intentional feedback, attribution retraining

IN ACTION:

Mrs. Wormwood should celebrate Calvin for working through the worksheet (praise the process, not that he finished it), talk to him about what steps he took and how he can apply that moving forward for harder sets of numbers. Looking back at the test she could use the areas he was stuggling with and continue with this worksheet method that breaks down the times tables into sets (1x, 2x, 3x...). After success in these Mastery Experiences, she can continue attribution retraining by reminding Calvin his success was internal due to his effort, and it could change over time! 

This process will start changing Calvin's fixed mindset into a growth one, he can become better at times tables becuase he is slowing working through problems and trying new ways to get to the right solutions. This will change the attributions he makes becuase he is experiencing success which will have a affect on his self efficacy, building his overall confidence in his ability to do math. The goal with this is for him to develop more of a growth mindset and a higher sense of self efficacy. It will allow him to be more willing to tackle future steps in the multiplcation process becuase he will have proven to himself that he could learn the prior hard step of times tables. 

(Shawn Spencer and the Power of Self-Efficacy: How Belief Fuels Success)

Examples

In the first of the following comic strips, Calvin states that he "just doesn't test well." This is an internal, uncontrollable, stable trait that he has attributed to himself. Mrs. Wormwood's behavior to berate Calvin on his poor performance and scold him for his answer does nothing to challenge his own beliefs about himself. Instead what she should do is have a review with the class to cover the questions that were missed. A failed test is more useful to her as the teacher than it is to Calvin as the student. She can also sit down with him one on one to find out why he came to the conclusions he did. She should show him support and encouragement, as well as reinforcing the idea that for the next test, she will help him study so he can be successful. 

In the second comic strip, Calvin has a separate issue with attributions. He attributes his failure to an uncontrollable external scenario, which is having too little time to finish his work. This is an example of learned helplessness. He didn't use the time that was allotted for him to finish his work, so he blames his mother for only giving him thirty extra minutes before bedtime to write his paper. The result is that he wrote a low-quality paper. One way Mrs. Wormwood could have helped Calvin was to teach the class about the importance of time management before assigning a paper. She could have shown them step by step how they could write the paper a little bit at a time each night until it was due, and by the end they would have a high-quality paper that would receive an A. She could remind them every day about how many days were left until the paper was due. She could have even given a few minutes at the end of the day for the students to work on their papers. This would allow her to check in with her students, answer questions, and provide support.