This week was not really much of a week! There were three snow days and I got only two days of teaching in. The two days that I did teach were great though! On Wednesday, I officially took over my English 9 class and created a charter with my students. I feel the lesson went well and I got some great feedback on my ability to manage the class which I really appreciated. I think my greatest struggle right now is improving my diction and eliminating filler words such as so, like, uhm, and uh. My students were very helpful in getting me to eliminate these words from my diction, clapping every time I said “so.” It really was a great strategy. It forced me to slow my speech and really think about what I was going to say next. I feel happy that slowly I am improving. I think what I really want to focus on now, along with still improving my diction, is slowing down, make appropriate adaptations for my ELL students so that they are also getting something from my lessons, and creating forms of assessment that are fair and appropriately assess the academic abilities of my students. Also, I feel that I really need to focus on setting concrete expectations in my classes and following through with them. For instance, although I created a charter with my classes, I did not think to create a penalty for late assignments or a classroom policy having to do with redoing assignments. If i say no phones, and students are pulling out their phones, what are the repercussions? These are some things I need to consider still. All in all, I am loving my classes and my students! I have built positive relationships with my students and I make sure my students know that I care about their success and well being.

My first week as a student teacher was interesting. I got to learn so much in just five days of  teaching in a classroom than I had learned as a student in the Bachelor of Education program. It was a difficult week, trying to break into teaching 30 students and not have them look at me with bored faces. It was tough. But invaluable. We talk about how students are so diverse in terms of their ethnicity, racial backgrounds, experiences etc. But students are diverse learners as well. The challenge is to provide these students with and education that is meaningful for them! I think this was my greatest struggle this week. How do I make students interested in a subject like government? Some students were perfectly fine learning about government. Some were really bored. And I don’t blame them for feeling that way! But, I WANT my students to find something interesting about government. Even if it is something small. My class is so wonderful. They are so good to me and cooperative and I highly appreciate them for it. I just want to be able to do something meaningful for them. I started the week off by creating a class contract and it went great! Students were involved and motivated to be a part of something that will affect them. I got to know my students and my students got to know a little bit about me! It was great. When I started teaching government, however, I realized that I was trying to pack too much in. I was going so fast, students were finding it hard to keep up. Even though I was trying to relate the unit to them, I feel as though my point was not coming across to them. I was overworking myself every night to try and make the next lesson better and more interesting. However, I feel that because I was trying to pack in so much at once, I was losing my students. I was stressing so much about being the perfect teacher, that I was doing everything that was working against that aspiration. One thing I learned in this week though is that there is no such thing as a perfect teacher. However, there is a such thing as a teacher that strives for excellence. Mistakes will be made but that’s where lessons are learned. I want to aspire to this. I want to take calculated risks, go through trial and error, make mistakes, and LEARN and do better. I just want the best for my students. My goal is to guide my students and focus on the BIGGER ideas instead of the little details. My goal is to find ways to engage my class and feel motivated to do well. I feel as though I have developed a good relationship with my students. My students know that I care about them. The goal is get the students interested and relating the content and the bigger ideas to themselves. If the students are enjoying the content, they will be able to learn it.

The two inquiry reflection processes with my peer review partner were quite helpful in my inquiry research and I believe I also offered plenty of feedback that would help my partner further his inquiry. Andrew’s inquiry question was and is constantly evolving. He started off with one question and every time he posts a new a blog entry, he incorporates his experiences in his practicum school and what other literature says about motivating students into it. As a result, new questions emerged and keep emerging. I suggested that he keep incorporating his experiences into his blog but also to try some of the strategies he’s seen being implemented in other classes and that have been mentioned in existing literature. Once he’s tried some of these motivating strategies, he can see what worked for his students and what did not which would push his inquiry further into exploring which motivation strategies work better than others and what adaptations are necessary to make for students with different learning and social and emotional needs. During our review sessions, Andrew suggested the same idea to me which I definitely plan on doing as well as recording and reflecting on the strategies I implement in my classroom every week in the form of my blog.

It is important to acknowledge the reasons as to why students may not be motivated in their classroom. Teacher control in the classroom has constructed an environment, according to Simmons and Page, in which we no longer trust students and they do not trust themselves (Simmons and Page, 2010, 65). In this environment, students aren’t resisting learning; they are resisting the whole context in which they are taught (Simmons and Page, 2010, 65). Lack of human connection, care for students, mutual respect, bad learning habits, and an unsafe classroom environment demotivate students to contribute to their thoughts and believe in their competence and ability. Another factor that affects student motivation in the classroom is failure at initial examination. Encouragement becomes more difficult for both the instructor and student when a student performs poorly on initial examination (Dutta et al, 2008, 187). There are students who may not feel that school is important or who do not care about pursuing higher education after graduating. Why might this be? What strategies can be used to bring about intrinsic motivation in these students?

Existing literature on motivating students to learn suggests many different strategies that may not necessarily motivate the student but create a motivating environment instead, driving the learning of students. For instance, there is a huge emphasis on letting students take control of their learning and giving students the autonomy to make their own choices when it comes to their learning. According to Daniels, students feel motivated when they feel some sense of autonomy or control. Students feel connected to the class and the school and they feel they possess the skills necessary to meet the challenges of school (Daniels, 2010, 25). An example is allowing students to choose weights on various evaluation criteria which recognizes that different individuals have various strengths and weaknesses (Dutta et al, 2008, 187). By targeting the strengths and weaknesses of each student, teachers can figure out what assignments they could perform strongly on and weight them more and find out what assignments they might perform more weakly and weight them less. Students will get the opportunity to excel in what they are good which in turn will make them feel more confident in their abilities and motivate them to do better. Students look for clear and specific instruction from their teachers so that they know what they need to accomplish (autonomy), knowledge that their teachers care about them and are committed to the class (relatedness), and a belief that they can do what is being asked of them (competence) (Daniels, 2010, 25). Autonomy, relatedness, and competence are three aspects of learning that need to be fostered in a classroom in order to create an environment that encourages success. Davis and Forbes also suggest the importance of providing choice to students but also touch on the importance of acknowledging students every day, whether it by saying a simple “hi” or “what are you writing about?” (Davis and Forbes, 2016, 16). I think students who do not care about pursuing higher education or who have different interests outside of academics need to be acknowledged and cared for. Any student that does not care probably does so because the teacher does not show care for the interests of his or her students. Acknowledgement and care for students foster connections to the classroom, creating an interconnected space where having mutual respect for everybody is motivating and students want to do well (Davis and Forbes, 2016, 16). Accordingly, tapping into motivation meanings building an authentic culture of respect and celebrating individuality that makes us all humans, rather than working to tame it down in order to fit a prescribed mold (Davis and Forbes, 2016, 18). Building on positive motivations, such as interest in certain subjects, desire for recognition and praise, desire to avoid failure, desire for good grades, desire to please parents, and concern for the future are all strategies to motivate students in a classroom (Davis, 1985, 12). These findings lead me to understand the importance of Social and Emotional learning in intrinsically motivating students, even those who have fixed mindsets, an attitude and/or fear of failure, or who have career goals or interests that fall outside of the realm of academics. I plan to implement some of the social and emotional strategies during my practicum and I want to observe whether and which of these strategies work for my groups of students. Every week I will do a reflection on my blog, sharing my experiences, and recording what I have observed that has worked and not worked. I want to see whether there is a certain trend in terms of what groups of students certain strategies work for and do not work for.

References

Daniels, Erika. (2010). Creating Motivating Learning Environments: What We Can Learn fromResearchers and Students. The English Journal, 100 (1). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20787687.pdf

Davis, Andrea and Forbes, Leslie. (2016). Doing the Impossible: Motivating Middle School Students. Voices from the Middle 23 (4). Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=d1134a14-0dd8-4bcd-85b8-c5c3b7b74747%40sessionmgr4006&vid=1&hid=4212

Davis, Dale. (1985). Motivating Students in the Secondary School. American Secondary Education 14 (4). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stable/pdf/41063746.pdf

Dutta, Amitabh S., Ingram, Rhea W., Hogan, Patrick. (2008). Motivating Students to Continue Learning: A Case Study of Improving First Exam Disasters! International Journal of Learning 15 (8). Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f279817a-c32b-4238-8827-1d456c144aec%40sessionmgr120&vid=1&hid=128

Simmons, Amber M. and Page, Melissa. (2010). Motivating Students through Power and Choice. The English Journal 100 (1). Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20787693.pdf

How does a teacher motivate students to do well in academics, form good study habits and prevent irresponsible and demotivated students from falling through the cracks? My main question for inquiry has to do with just that: learning to find underlying causes of bad study habits and lack of motivation in students and encourage them to pursue academics. For the time that I spent at my practicum school for my short practicum, planning and teaching lessons as many times as I could throughout, I witnessed a few students in my Social Studies and English class not handing in assignments and standing at seven percent in the class. There mid term report cards cut off date is in one week and the students are now scrambling to pass the class by handing in all there missed work as soon as they can. I find it interesting that these students are only concerned with barely passing the class instead of excelling in the subject or even trying. They were not organized whatsoever and after scrambling to figure things out with the teacher, returned to their seats only to continue talking to their friends and going on their phone. Why is that the case? How can I as a teacher motivate these types of students in class?   I believe that in order to be a great teacher, that is able to inspire students to engage in inquiry, be curious about learning new things, and doing well in school, I need to learn ways to earn the trust of such students, find out what the underlying reasons behind lack of motivation and disorganization in students, and then motivate and make them feel comfortable with making mistakes so that they grow as individuals and in their academics.

School can often feel like a prison for those who have no interest in being there or intention to do well.

On a broader scale, I want to focus on learning more about how I can motivate irresponsible, unorganized, and demotivated students, but more specifically, I would like to focus more on learned helplessness and fixed mindsets in students who believe that they do not need to do well in school because they have decided they do not want to go to post secondary school or because they are too lazy and disorganized to care. There is lack of responsibility and appreciation for learning and that is something I really want to explore. Why do some students not care? Is it their age? Is it a fixed mindset that they have; that they will never do well and so are afraid to try. Is it because of the fear of failure? Is it because they have career goals that fall outside of the realm of academics? There are so many reasons why a student may not care about school. However, I will focus on how learned helplessness and fixed mindsets contribute to this kind of careless attitude towards school.

What can I learn from other sources? In McDevitt and Ormrod’s Child Development and Education, suggest that children who encounter a consistent string of failures become more pessimistic about their chances for future success. These children underestimate their ability, set goals they can easily accomplish, avoid challenges that might enhance their learning, and respond to failure in  ways that almost guarantee failure (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2016, p. 414). This might be a reason why students do not feel the need to care about school; they may just feel that they should set the lowest expectations for themselves so that they do not face failure and disappointment. They also discuss intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the advantages intrinsic motivation (motivation by factors within themselves or inherent in a task they are performing) has for students. Intrinsic motivated students are eager to learn classroom material, willingly tackle assigned tasks, use effective learning strategies, and achieve at high levels (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2016, p. 401). This literature makes me wonder how intrinsic motivation can be brought about in students who have inhabited learned helplessness and how developing a positive student-teacher relationship can affect a student’s willingness to learn and do well in class. In a different piece of literature focusing on the fundamentals of learning, Dumont, Istance, and Benavides mention the importance of emotion and motivation as gatekeepers of learning. Positive emotions encourage long term recall while negative emotions can disrupt the learning process in the brain. Positive emotions help students become aware of their motivation systems leading them to becoming more effective learners(Dumant, Istance, & Benavides, 2012, p. 4). There are so many factors that affect how well a student learns at school and why a student would not care to be in a classroom, take responsibility for their learning, and care to do well. All these pieces of literature suggest reasons why learned helplessness can develop in students and how it can be combated. However, I also want to consider students whose career goals or aspirations fall outside of the realm of academics. What about students who want to become an actor, or a musician, or who are interested in taking over their family business, or who pretty much only care for one subject and neglect other subjects. How does a teacher motivate those students to care about their education? Perhaps giving the student an extrinsic source of motivation would work better in these situations. Woolfolk and Perry in Child and Adolescent Development suggest that teacher quality, instructional practices, and zero tolerance approaches to school and classroom management are some factors that influence whether a student stays in school or drops out. So I wonder whether improving on these aspects would motivate students who do not care about academics to do better in their classes.

The dissemination of knowledge works in two directions: teacher to student and student to teacher. What can a teacher learn from his/her student that can help them motivate the student to take interest in what they are learning?

This significance of motivating students with learned helplessness and fixed mindsets does not only apply to a social studies classroom but can be applied to all academic areas where students do not feel the need to try and do well. In a classroom where there are students present who do not care for school and doing well, especially when their path in life is outside of studying academics, how would a teacher bring about curiosity, interest, passion, and engagement for a topic? This will be the main focus of my inquiry for the coming months.

References

McDevitt, T.M. & Ormrod, J.E. (2013). Child Development and Education (6^th ed.). New York, New York: Pearson.

Woolfolk, A. & Perry, N.E. (2012). Child and Adolescent Development (2^nd ed.).  New York, New York: Pearson.

Dumont, Hanna, Istance, David and Francisco Benavides. (2012). The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice. Practitioner Guide. OECD.