Running head: A STUDY OF RICHARD

A Study of Richards Motivation in the Classroom Amy Tuckwiller University of New England

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Introduction Richard is a six-year old student who struggles with beginning and completing work in math class. Testing shows that he has strong math skills, but they are not observable during everyday math instruction and activities. His kindergarten teacher reports similar problems last year, though they were more severe and involved violence and bullying at times. These more severe behaviors are no longer a problem, but the lack of motivation to complete activities remains. Parents report similar problems at home. In an attempt to move Richard forward with his first grade work, he has been given a choice to work at his table (where he is often distracted), or at a more private area in the classroom. Sometimes, he makes the choice to move, but he still fails to complete work without direct supervision. We have also attempted a reward system for Richard. If he finishes the assigned tasks, he will get 5 minutes (or more depending on how fast he completes it) of a preferred activity such as math games or drawing. This also has not consistently worked. Ive also allowed breaks after a chunk of an assignment is completed, but this, too, had no effect on work completion. Richard is a very friendly boy, and often uses his time to talk to friends instead of working. Even though he is seated at a table with very studious children who tend to ignore Richard in order to finish their work, Richard will continue to try to start a conversation with them. Richard is very playful, and during math workshop stations, often plays with the items involved inappropriately in a way that has nothing to do with math. I am acquainted with a man that works at Richards daycare, and he has volunteered in my classroom this year. Richard is very fond of this man, and will follow directions and be very polite with him (as he is with me as well), but he still fails to complete work on his own with this man present. To put it simply, to

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watch Richard in the classroom, it appears that acceptance and connections with his peers and the adults at school, are far more important to him than completing his school work. Since Richard seems to have such a strong desire to bond with others, and find guidance, I have chosen to implement Social-Cognitive Theory. Richard could benefit from participating in groups with students that can demonstrate and verbalize effective thought processes and strong work habits that Richard can emulate. Also having adults in the room including myself to clearly model math thinking, staying focused on topics, and working on tasks to completion could benefit this student. I think there is also a possibility that Richard is not completing these tasks without direct supervision because of a lack of self-efficacy in math. Ames (1990) describes the importance of a students self-efficacy in specific tasks on achievement behaviors. This, too, is something that can be modeled by adults and other students through conversation, thinking aloud, and exhibiting behaviors that align with confidence and a positive attitude regarding new concepts. Expectancy-value theory also places an emphasis on how well students expect to be able to complete a task (Anderman & Anderman, 2010), so this planning with this theory in mind could benefit Richard as well. Observations Richard was assigned a partner with whom to play a math game that was designed to assist students in committing doubles addition facts to memory. This game involved one partner selecting a sum of a doubles fact, and the other partner striking two drums, one for each addend, the number of times that the sum suggested. Since students learn from observing and imitating other peoples (including other students) behaviors (Anderman & Anderman, 2010), Richard was not only given a partner that understood the game well, but was seated at a table with another pair who were playing the game correctly. Initially, Richard displayed confusion, and did

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not attempt to play the game. When I asked his partner to explain the game, Richard listened briefly, and then attempted to engage his partner in a conversation about a TV show. I revisited and instructed that they watch how the other pair at the table were playing, which they did. Richard then allowed his partner to show him the game step by step. By the time, Richard was able to play the game without guided instruction from his partner, it was nearly time to end that portion of the lesson, though I extended it by a few minutes since Richard had finally made the effort to learn to play, and had found some success. During math workshop, I had the opportunity to work with Richard one on one. He was given a whiteboard to draw and write fractions. According to Brophy (1987) and expectancy value motivational theory, students will only expend the effort if they feel that they are able to succeed. In order to illustrate this possibility for Richard, I started with questions and exercises I had seen Richard complete correctly on other occasions, and when he was able to complete the problems successfully I responded with specific praise as suggested by Anderman & Anderman (2010) regarding his efforts such as, Wow, you sure do a great job when youre trying your best! or I love how you listened so closely to the directions, and look! Youve got a great answer! I focused the praise mostly on the positive work habits I was noticing and related them to the good work he was producing in an attempt to raise self-efficacy and provide the attention that he craves as a reward for positive behaviors. Richard responded well in this lesson. He was able to accurately complete the tasks, and even comprehend the more advanced concept of equivalent fractions (2/4 = 1/2). Three times during the 10 minute lesson, Richard had to be reminded to stay on task and focus, instead of attempting to engage in conversation not-related to the topic, but he was compliant and returned to work after each request. He completed all given tasks, with only the three prompts mentioned.

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Richards performances on tests have been inconsistent. At times he performs very well, but other times he will not attempt to answer any of the questions, and when questioned about it, claims that they were too hard. Since capitalizing on his strengths, and pointing out all of the things he does well worked so well in the one on one lesson, I decided to try this again with the test on fractions. Students are always separated for tests, so I asked Richard to wait for me to begin, even after I had given directions to the whole class. In order to show Richard that he was very capable of the problems on the test, Richard was instructed to circle all of the problems on the test that he thought were very easy, and then put a star next to the items he thought would take some thinking. With 2 items remaining he was told to place a check mark by the problems he absolutely could not do. Richard stated that maybe he could do them; they were just a little harder than the others. Richard was then told to go through the test and complete the problems from easiest to most difficult. At this point, he stated that he was hungry and hadnt eaten breakfast that morning. I initially suspected that this was an avoidance behavior, and that the test would remain incomplete, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt, and he visited the counselor to get a snack. Upon returning, he completed his test with zero reminders to stay on task and 13 out of 14 correct. When studying perspective in science, the students were assigned to choose an object, and draw it at least 3 different perspectives. After presenting their pictures to the class, the other students then had the opportunity to guess what each object was. Banduras social cognitive theory posits that behavior is not only learned by trial and error, but by observing others and then modeling the behaviors of those that we relate to (1999). Since drawing is an area that Richard struggles a lot with, and has related feelings of incompetency about, during my example drawings of a stuffed frog, thought aloud as I drew each part. I expressed the shapes I saw, and

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the details I wanted to include. I intentionally made mistakes and addressed them as such, then erased them and tried again. I did not make perfect drawings, and made sure that the students were aware that this was okay. Richard was then assigned to shadow a student who was completing the drawings, and watch closely what he was doing. After a few minutes, I asked Richard if he knew what to do, and he stated that he did. Richard quickly chose a pattern block and drew it from 2 different perspectives. He then attempted to start a conversation with another student, but that student ignored him, and I brought this to Richards attention. We discussed that the student wasnt responding because they were busy doing their work just as Richard should be doing. He then finished his assignment. I made sure to have four good models present their pictures first for the whole class to learn from. I then allowed Richard to present his pictures before there were any negative models to learn from. He did a wonderful job. Effective Strategies Richard responds well to efforts that highlight his capabilities and successes. This is something that will need to be continued throughout his school career as a process for building his self-efficacy for specific tasks, and increasing his self-esteem in general. While I think this is important to keep in mind, when attempting to motivate Richard to complete specific tasks autonomously, employing the social-cognitive theory of motivation, and social learning work best. Richard thoroughly enjoys interacting with other people. He is exceptionally social, and learns behaviors quickly from others. It is imperative that Richard is paired with models that display positive behaviors and are confident in what they are doing. As Richard quickly learns and imitates these models, he also quickly learns and imitates negative behaviors of others. Richard does not respond well to extrinsic motivators and rewards. When offered, Richards only concern is whether or not he will receive the reward, and assignments simply

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become a means to an end, with very little knowledge gained. At times, offering reward can also frustrate him. With all of his focus on attaining the reward, struggling with a task can be even more difficult, since his attention is only focused on getting it done, instead of correcting whatever misconception or missing knowledge he has. It is recommended that teachers give Richard the option of working in a collaborative group or pair as often as possible, while keeping a close watch on who he is working with. Tomlinson (2001) recommends that there is a routine in place for getting help when the teacher is busy. This would be advantageous for Richard, since he tends to shut down and stop working if he doesnt understand an assignment or isnt quite sure how to proceed. Richard also responds well to mini lessons to redefine concepts he may have missed in a whole group lesson. Often there is just one simple piece of a lesson that Richard didnt quite understand (or attend to). A quick review of just the missing information is often satisfactory, and its even more effective if it comes from another student. Conclusion Completing this study on Richard has given me some insight into the necessity of pulling ideas from many different theories in an attempt to motivate students. Each theory has elements, some that crossover into other theories that can be beneficial to students. Its important to continue exploring different motivational techniques and methods to find what works best for each student. Each individual has different needs and strengths, and in order to effectively motivate students to learn, teachers need to understand their students by observing their behaviors, implementing various interventions, and reflecting on each to determine what works best.

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People are social creatures, and children are no exception. It is in our nature to interact and observe each other, and imitate the behaviors of others. Instead of putting all of our efforts into minimizing these behaviors, this study has reiterated the advantages of capitalizing on this human characteristic, and including more opportunities in the classroom for social learning. When possible negative outcomes of social learning and group collaboration are considered and controlled for, student achievement, self-efficacy, and motivation can increase dramatically. Thoroughly thought out groupings, activities, and models (both teacher and peer) can greatly assist in creating an educational environment that in which all students can access the curricula.

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References Ames, C., A. (1990, Spring). Motivation: What teachers need to know. Teachers College Record 91(3), 409 421. Anderman, E. M., & Anderman, L., H. (2010). Classroom Motivation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 2(1), 21-41. doi:10.1111/1467-839X.00024

Brophy, J. (1987, October). Synthesis of research on strategies for motivating students to learn. Educational Leadership, 49(2), 40-48. Tomlinson, C., A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.