Calvin's Patterns

Calvin doesn't value academics, partly because (as seen in other sections in the comics) he believes he can't succeed. He expects failure, and so instead of working on academic achievement, he acts out in class and decides not to try. However, we can still see him applying his creativity while avoiding schoolwork (such as his "creative" non-answers on tests). 

Fixed mindset: "I just don't test well." Here, testing isn't seen as something he can improve at, it's seen as an inherent trait that he lacks. Ms. Wormwood never reframes this, and so Calvin believes that his disinterest and failures in school can't be changed. This also leads to him not trying to improve, because improvement isn't seen as an option.

Learned helplessness: Calvin is deciding not to try on tests because he doesn't value them/think he can succeed. He checks out of schoolwork and decides to spend his time on other things instead. While he is interested in learning, his learned helplessness prevents him from seeing school as an opportunity to learn new things or gain useful skills.

Attribution theory: Calvin sees his failure as something outside of his control, not because he thinks he isn't smart, but because he thinks he isn't being educated with/tested on the right knowledge. Calvin is also quick to attribute his failures in the classroom to an ability he feels he lacks. He goes into tests believing he isn't a good test taker so when he gets his score back, he attributes that failure to being a bad test taker. 

Learned helplessness: Calvin's creativity is not valued by Ms. Wormwood, and is completely shut down. Because of this, it can create helplessness within studetns, which is likely why Calvin feels shut down by Ms. Wormwood. The more helpless a child feels they will place significantly less emphasis on the amount of effort exerted as a determinant of success and failure. This implies that since Calvin sees himself as less instrumental in determining outcomes, he would be less likely to view difficult circumstances as surmountable or in other words he will likely be less motivated to complete tasks due to his feelings of helpessness or due to being shut down. 

Expectancy-Value: When Calvin is told to "try harder" instead of his learning being supported in a way that works for him, he develops a situation-outcome view of school. In this situation, Calvins lack of attainment value, or in other words his personal importance of doing well on a task, is caused by Ms. Wormwood telling him to try harder, opposed to reassuring him that he is learning content that will be beneficial to him. Due to Ms. Wormwoods response, he also lacks utilitity value, or value that is determined by how well a task relates to current and future goals, because he doesnt feel that what he is learning will prepare him for his future goals. Lastly, he lacks intrinsic value, or the enjoyment the individual gets from performing the activity, likely caused because he is not learning things in a way that best support his learning.