Group 1

Dear Miss Wormwood, 

It has come to our attention that you are currently struggling to capture the motivation of one of your students, Calvin. As an educational psychology team, we have banded together to put forth an action plan that combines multiple motivational theories. It is our hope that this action plan will be beneficial to both you and your students. Listed below, you will find advice that showcases multiple points of view and theories that when combined will show a positive result in not only your students' motivation but their attention as well.

Instruction

Caitlyn Betz

In the case of Calvin, it is our belief that the best way to capture his motivation is to cater to information that he finds interesting. Calvin struggles with finding school related tasks intriguing, and the best way to access his learning is to push him in a direction that he finds fascinating. In the four phase model of interest it states that there are different levels of engagement; triggered situational, maintained situational, emerging individual, and well developed individual interest (Hidi & Renninger 2006). It is our goal that Calvin maintains his interest on a subject to reach the well developed individual interest stage. This task will not be easy, however by changing your instruction to include subjects that Calvin finds intriguing you will see incredible results. 

Though Calvin may seem like a student who doesn’t possess the ability to understand a subject matter, you will find that is not the case at all. You see, Calvin just needs a little extra push. When it comes to subjects that he finds interesting, such as superheroes, Calvin excels! For instance, relating your lesson on the Lewis and Clark expedition to superheros, or even bringing your students outside so they can become the explorers would greatly improve your classroom engagement. Many students find hands on learning to be the most beneficial for them (Ekwueme et. al., 2015), and in the case of Calvin this method would be best to reach him. This practice will also provide your other students with a fun, yet educational lesson that will hopefully give you the levels of classroom engagement you would like to see!

In addition, the problem that Calvin is facing has nothing to do with his intelligence, however it had much to do with an environment that doesn’t keep him engaged. By engaging his interests and relating lessons to topics that he finds interesting, we believe that you will see major results and improvements.

Classroom Management

Katelyn Filla

When managing the classroom, you need to be careful about what steps are being taken to make sure it has the students best interest in mind. Calvin may disrupt the classroom with some of his behaviors but excusing him from the classroom actually gives him what he wants. To help Calvin start to take in the classroom and learning environment more, some new tactics need to be introduced. To promote a positive growth environment here are some things to build relationships with your students. 

Praise in public, correcting in private is a huge one. School days are where kids get most of their social interaction and getting on the students in front of all their friends is embarrassing and it makes them more nervous to be around you as a teacher. When you praise them in public it helps boost their confidence in front of their friends and when you correct some things in a private conversation they are more likely to take it to heart because they respect you more. A private conversation about poor behavior with the teacher who constantly praises you is very hard to hear and students will make sure not to do it again as to not disappoint their teacher. 

Another task that will promote motivation to learn is rewarding improved scores. Making it a competition between your past self can be very beneficial. Giving students a piece of candy and saying “Good job, you did better on this spelling assignment than the last one. I am proud of you,” is huge to a growing student. It turns learning into a game to students, like trying to beat your high score at a level. When changing it from an in school task that has to be completed to a challenge makes it more appealing and students will be more inclined to focus on quality work.

Communication with Calvin's Parents

Arely Flores

Calvin’s parents should also be more active and involved with Calvin’s learning. Instead of sending him to the principal's office, you should meet with Calvin’s parents and talk to them about your concerns about his learning experience and how it’s affecting his grades. You and his parents should create a plan for Calvin at school and home. By doing this, there is structure, and Calvin has a choice in how he wants to learn the material. Doing this allows him to have goals that you and his parents can agree on and meet so that it’s based on improvement and not what he’s doing wrong or right; in other words, this gives him a chance to grow and learn from his mistakes. When it comes to creating an action plan it's important to have small and realistic goals that Calvin can accomplish per school semester.

Calvin’s parents need to be involved in his learning experience because learning influences, such as environments at home and not just school, also play a massive role in his motivation. Suppose there is enough support from both you and his parents. In that case, it can elevate his motivation and give him intrinsic motivation to do better at school and do the school work in class and outside of class. Both you and his parents should incorporate his interests in his learning and if he doesn’t want to learn, give him other options and try to understand how you can make it a better experience for his learning. Don’t be dismissive of his ideas, listen to his ideas as well.

One-on-oneOne-on-one-interactionOne-on-oneOne-on-one-interaction

OliverBeaudrow

Considering all the points presented, it is our hope that you take time and ponder the findings presented. We believe that these are the tools that would greatly benefit Calvin's learning. It is important to take time to learn what styles of educating gives your students an opportunity to grow and perform better on tasks. The advice presented will help your students learn how to find motivation in real life scenarios. By incorporating these motivational theories into your teaching methodology you will not only be benefiting your students, but also yourself.

Thank You,

Team One

References 

Ekwueme, C., Ekon, E., & Ezenwa-Nebife, D. (2015). The impact of hands-on-approach on student academic performance in basic science and mathematics. Higher Education Studies, 5(6). https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v5n6p47

Hidi, S., & Renninger, K. A. (2006). The Four-Phase Model of Interest Development. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 111–127. https://learningandexperienceblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/hidi_renninger06.pdf