Motvation Case Study Paper

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A Group Effort: A Motivational Case Study Kevin Gregory Texas State University
Dr. Nancy Langerock Ph.D. Fall 2013 Texas State University Round Rock Higher Education 10/9/2013
Do not copy duplicate or reproduce this material in any way without the authors consent.
2 Sam is a tenth grade male at Tippit High School in Austin, Texas. Tippit High School is a public school that has ninth to twelfth graders on the campus. At this school, Sam is known as the sophomore grade class clown. He is one of the first students to arrive at school every morning. Long after the school day has ended, Sam can often be found fooling around with classmates while playing baseball or soccer on the school grounds. Sam is on both the baseball and soccer teams at school. For the most part, Sam seems to enjoy school and is popular with his peers. However, he occasionally gets into trouble for some of the pranks he pulls. Sam is a likeable student. Although, despite his likeability, he has frustrated many of his teachers. He is a C/B student who is not reaching his full potential. Many of his teachers think that Sam could easily be earning As. This is because of his scores on standardized aptitude tests. Sams results on these tests show him to be capable of achieving considerably beyond most of his classmates. Occasionally, Sam shows his unusual aptitude in class. When Sam puts his mind to it and pays attention in class, he is frequently the only student who can answer difficult questions. Sams potential is also evident when he becomes seriously involved in a project. He had a prize winning model of the photosynthesis cycle that he presented to his science teacher after several weeks of intense effort. Unfortunately, more often than not, Sam shows little interest in school work. He is quite satisfied with a grade that requires little effort for him to achieve so threats of bad grades have no effect on him. He usually finishes his work, but never does more than the minimum. He makes it a rule never to study for a test because he knows that he can pass most tests by simply paying marginal attention in class. This is because Sam knows that he is smart, but he is not inclined to show off. He is not interested in gaining his peers respect by demonstrating academic excellence. Sam would much rather exhibit his athletic skills on the playing field. Also, he is not
3 at all interested in gaining his teachers respect. He is motivated to stay out of trouble, at least most of the time. Sam is very adept at doing whatever is required to keep the teachers off his back. Based on conversation Sams teachers have had with him, they found out that at home, Sam spends hour upon hour working on his computer playing intellectually demanding games. He is a self-declared Trekie with an avid interest in science. He reads every book he can find on space, and often he surprised his science teacher with comments that demonstrated sophisticated understanding, usually on topics that are not part of the science curriculum. Despite his love for science, Sams performances on topics that are covered in his science class are typical of his performance in all of his other courses. He does exactly what he needs to do without getting into trouble. Another one of Sams great loves are science-fiction novels. He has even written a short novel himself. He has some talent for writing, but it has never been evident in any school assignment. Sam sees no reason to push himself on school-related work. He enjoys intellectual challenges, but on his own terms. If his current interests happen to coincide with course requirements, he excels. More typically, his intellectual life is outside of the classroom and his life in the classroom is not intellectual. Sams world history teacher, Mr. Green, is determined to bring out the best in Sam in his class. He wants to motivate Sam in a way that will unleash all of the raw potential that he has. Mr. Green knows that Sam loves science and that if he is not interested in the course work, he will give minimal effort. Because Mr. Green has Sam in his world history class, he knows motivating Sam to participate with his full ability will be a tough thing to do. However, Mr. Green knows that in Sams time outside of the classroom, he created his own short science-
4 oifiction novel. This shows that Sam can do careful and thorough work which indicates high motivation (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2013). Mr. Green knows that Sam excels outside of the classroom with educational material. This could mean that Sam shows individualism characteristics because Sams pursuit of outside materials shows independence, assertiveness, self-reliance, and an eagerness to pursue individual assignments and tasks (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2013). Completing outside readings, playing intellectually challenging games, and producing top level school work on subjects that interest him show that Sam is a young man who is motivated to learn. The field of psychology recognizes motivation as a relative constant (Lavoie 2007). Therefore, if Sam is motivated to learn, he is motivated to learn all the time (Lavoie 2007). Piaget also believes this. He concluded that all children are active and motivated learners (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2013). Based on this information, Mr. Greens job then turns to finding a way to get Sam to use his existing motivation in his world history class. For this large task, Mr. Green can try to reach out to Sams parents. Cecilia Sin-Sze Cheung and Eva M. Pomerantz (2012) found that the more involved parents were in childrens learning, the more motivated children were to do well in school for parent-oriented reasons, which contributed to self-regulated learning and grades. Overall, the two authors found that parent involvement with their childrens lives in school had a positive effect on their childrens grades (Cheung & Pomerantz, 2012). For Mr. Green, nobody can help him know more about Sam than Sams own parents. Interacting and developing a relationship with Sams parents could help Mr. Green move Sam out of the B/C grade range to the grades that he knows Sam is capable of achieving.
5 Mr. Green could also reach out to other important adult figures in Sams life, such as his coaches at school. Impression motivation is the concern of a person about what others think of them, and how they can attempt to regulate how others perceive them. In a study on the measure of impression motivation in team-sport athletes, Simon Mark Payne, Joanne Hudson, Sally Akehurst, and Nikos Ntoumanis (2013) found that athletes in team sports strive for four distinct interpersonal objectives: self-development, social identity development, avoidance of negative outcomes, and avoidance of damaging impressions. Sam has shown all four of these interpersonal objectives at school and at home. He is also a two team-sport athlete at his school. Coaches, along with parents and teachers, have a very significant effect on the motivation of children (Lavoie 2007). Therefore, Mr. Green could also speak with Sams coaches about how to get the most out of him. It is important for Mr. Green to seek all the help he can get from the important figures in Sams life because a group of people working towards the same goal can really make the difference for a student. Andrew J. Martin and Martin Dowson (2010) also write about using programs and activities to help students become more motivated in school. These authors state that in order for students to become motivated in school, it has to be a group effort for everyone involved with the student at school. They argue that helping students become motivated needs to take place with student-level action (universal programs and intervention, targeted programs for at-risk populations, extracurricular activity, cooperative learning, and mentoring), teacher- and classroom-level action (connective instruction, professional development, teacher retention, teacher training, and classroom composition), and school-level action (school as community and effective leadership) (Martin & Dawson, 2010). Mr. Green needs to make helping Sams motivation a group effort at school and in the home.
6 Michael F. Hock, Donald D. Deshler, and Jean B. Schumaker (2011) acknowledge the challenges that Mr. Green, counselors, coaches, parents, and other teachers face when handling students that have lost the desire to engage in learning in a meaningful way. Sam still has that desire, and he shows it sometimes in class. However, most of the time, that desire to learn is only seen in Sam when he is not in class. These authors write about a Possible Selves Program that was developed to nurture academic and personal motivation in elementary through postsecondary students (Hock et al., 2011). The program has activities that guide students through the process of thinking about their hopes, expectations, and fears for the future (Hock et al., 2011). Also, the program has activities that help students identify short and long-term goals that they value and to develop and pursue action plans that lead to goal attainment (Hock et al., 2011). Studies conducted with this program show that it has a positive effect on students in terms of academic performance, diversity of career choice, retention rates, and graduation rates (Hock et al., 2011). Mr. Green could identify some of these activities to use with Sam. This could help the two connect on a different level because it shows Sam that Mr. Green is interested in his well-being. It is very important for Mr. Green to connect with Sam on a one-on-one level. It would be easy to motivate Sam if he was interested in obtaining the best grades that he possibly could because all Mr. Green would have to do is tell Sam he can get an A by completing certain tasks. However, Sam has proven that he only cares about getting by on the bare minimum. Jere Brophy (1999) writes that a preexisting interest in a topic can lead to deeper processing and better retention of new information about the topic. This could explain why Sam was able to produce an award winning model to his science teacher. Sam was able to put his potential to full use on the project because he was interested in what he was doing. However, Mr. Green does not
7 have Sam for science. Brophy (1999) writes about creating motivation to engage in domainspecific learning activities. So while Sam may not be interested in history to begin with, Mr. Green must find ways to help Sam somehow connect to the history specific learning that will be taking place in his classroom. Brophy (1999) also writes that this can be done by focusing the content of the course that is at least potentially relevant to students and applicable to their lives outside of school. Getting to know Sam as an individual could help Mr. Green relate the information in class to him in a better way. Connecting with Sam could help Mr. Green make the assignments in class more suitable to Sam. Elisabeth Akioka and Linda Gilmore (2013) used a repeated measures design that, with randomly assigned intervention and control groups and multiple sources of information on participants, was used to examine whether changing the method of delivery of a school's homework program in order to better meet the students needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence would lead to more positive student attitudes toward homework, and whether there would also be a positive change in overall motivation. The results the two Australian women got back from their research concluded that this showed a positive effect on the quality of motivation (Akioka & Gilmore, 2013). In order to get the most out of Sam, Mr. Green could possibly change the assignments in class in a way that would suit Sam. What Mr. Green should do first is seek the help of Sams parents. Nobody would know Sam better than his own parents. Mr. Green will call Sams parents and set up a parent-teacher meeting. However, when setting up the meeting, Mr. Green will make it very clear that he is not calling the meeting because Sam is doing something wrong. Mr. Green will acknowledge Sams ability while setting up the meeting with his parents and he will clearly state that he is only holding the meeting to help Sam achieve his full potential. This way, the parents will not go into
8 the meeting with Mr. Green feeling defensive about their son. They will instead go into the meeting knowing that Mr. Green has Sams interest at heart and that he merely wants help in order to get the most out of their son. He will use an idea from Burrhus Fredrick Skinner to make clear to Sams parents why he wishes to help Sam. B.F. Skinner believed that students learn without teaching (Palmer, 2009). This can be seen by Sams excellent grades on state exams and by his actions outside of school in his alone time. However, despite Sams ability to learn without teaching, B.F. Skinner also claims that it is the teacher who arranges conditions under which students learn more rapidly and effectively (Palmer, 2009). These ideas will help show Sams parents that Mr. Green and his fellow teachers at school are necessary tools to help Sam reach his full potential. This, along with Mr. Green showing that he cares about Sam, will get Sams parents on board with Mr. Greens efforts to motivate Sam to use his full abilities in all of his classes. Once the meeting is set, Mr. Green will go and speak with Sams coaches before the set date of the meeting. He has already spoken with his other teachers at the school which is why he knows so much about Sam in the first place. Schools are a community. Teachers and students are united in their efforts at school which makes them tied together as one. In order to get the most out of the community, Mr. Green must work and correlate with all of the other staff members within the community to help the students achieve success. Sports are obviously very important to Sam. Sam has shown that he cares about sports and that he cares what people think of him while he is on the field. Therefore, Mr. Green will go and talk to Sams coaches to find out how they get Sam to show up and give his best every day. In sports, just like in school, the student athletes are each motivated in their own individual way. Some athletes respond to yelling, some respond to group praise, and some respond to individual praise. Each child is different and it
9 takes a good instructor to know what each individual needs. So Mr. Green will discuss with the coaches how each of them approaches Sam in order to get the most out of him every day. After speaking with the teachers and coaches about Sam, Mr. Green has a better feel for his student. He is now ready for the meeting with the parents. It is important to get these outside sources of information for Sam before the parents arrive for the meeting because it allows Mr. Green to put everything on the table for Sams parents to take in. This will allow them to contribute more to the discussion on how to help Sam achieve what he is capable of because they will know all of the variables in his school life and what his teachers see. Often times, a child will not tell his or her parents everything that happens at school. Because Sam likes to avoid trouble, Mr. Green can understand how Sams parents may not know about Sams lack of full potential in the classroom. When Sams parents arrive for the meeting, Mr. Green reemphasizes all of the positive attributes he has seen in Sam. Mr. Green will open up with this positive feedback on Sam and continue to go back to it throughout the meeting to ensure Sams parents that they are there only because Mr. Green sees the potential Sam has and he wants to get that out of him. Mr. Green tells Sams parents that Sam usually only applies himself at school when he is very interested in the subject that is being taught. However, when he does apply himself, Sam proves to be a very capable student. He will also state that this concerns him because Sam has proven to be interested in science type curriculum, and not world history. Mr. Green will ask Sams parents ideas on how to get the most out of Sam. Also, he will ask questions about Sams interests outside of school. Once Mr. Green finds out more about what Sam likes to do outside of school, he will be able to find better ways to connect the information in history class to Sams life.
10 Knowing a students background and interests can help a teacher get the students more interested in the content that is being taught. After the meeting, Mr. Green will have a one-on-one conversation with Sam. Mr. Green called the meeting with the parents first so he can go into the more personal meeting with Sam really knowing who he is as an individual. This will show Sam that Mr. Green has taken the time to get to know him and that he is genuinely interested in Sam. Teachers proving to students that they have a genuine interest in them can go a long way in a students mind. Also in this personal meeting, Mr. Green will stress the good qualities that Sam has shown. He will make it very clear, just as he did with Sams parents, that he sees good qualities in Sam and that he just wants to learn how to make Sam give his full effort in class. This will show Sam that Mr. Green has an interest in him as an individual, and not just one of his many students. Lavoie (2007) writes that teachers and parents can use interest to foster a childs motivation and build relationships. This meeting with Sam will help Mr. Green foster a relationship with Sam. The meeting will also allow Mr. Green to acquire more tools to use in helping Sam connect with the content on a more personal level as well. To get to know Sam more and get him to start thinking about the bigger picture, Mr. Green will ask Sam about his future plans and ambitions. Sam will be able to supply a genuine answer to these questions because according to famous stage theorist Erik Erikson, as adolescents, youngsters reflect on their identities as individuals with defined interests and goals for the future (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2013). This will allow Mr. Green to see were Sams head is and it will also help in knowing what interests Sam. After meeting with Sams coaches, parents, and Sam himself, Mr. Green is ready to develop certain assignments and activities that can motivate Sam to use his full potential in a world history class. Mr. Green knows that Sam is not that interested in history at this point in
11 time in his high school career. He also knows that Sam is a student who likes working by himself at home on projects of his choice, as proven by his science-fiction novel that he wrote. Therefore, in the next class, Mr. Green assigned the entire class a project. The assignment is to go home and research any historical figure or event of their choice in the time period that they were covering in class, and write an editorial on it. Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky believed that instructors should provide opportunities for children to engage in authentic activities (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2013). This assignment is an authentic activity because it represents a situation similar to those that children will eventually encounter in the adult world. This will allow Sam to work alone and investigate history that he can connect with. Childhood self-esteem, motivation, and resilience are not constructed through major colossal victories and accomplishments, but rather, a childs self-concept is enhanced or diminished by small, seemingly insignificant day-to-day events and interactions (Lavoie, 2007). The assignment Mr. Green gave Sam may seem like a small and insignificant step towards having Sam become motivated to use his full potential in Mr. Greens world history class. However, Mr. Greens assignment could spark Sams interest in a subject that he previously did not enjoy. It only takes one spark to lead a student down a more motivated and positive path.
12 References Akioka, Elisabeth., Gilmore, Linda. (2013). An intervention to improve motivation for homework, pp. 34-48. Australian Journal of Guidance Counseling, Jun2013, Vol. 23 Issue 1, pp34-48, 15p, 9 Charts; DOI: 10.1017/jgc.2013.2. Retrieved 9/4/2013 from Education Source database. Brophy, J. (1999). Toward a model of the value of aspects of motivation in education: Developing appreciation for particular learning domains and activities, Educational Psychologist, 34(2), 75-85. Cheung, Cecilia Sin-Sze., Pomerantz, Eva M. (2012). Why does parents involvement enhance childrens achievement? The role of parent-oriented motivation, p820-832. Journal of Educational Psychology, Aug2012, Vol. 104 Issue 3, pp820-832. Retrieved 9/4/2013 from Education Source database.
Hock, Michael F., Deshler, Donald D., Shumaker, Jean B. (2011). Enhancing student motivation through the pursuit of possible selves, pp 197-213. Journal of Education Research, Vol. 5 Issue 3/4, p197-213, 17p. Retrieved 9/7/2013 from Education Source database. Lavoie, Richard. (2007). The child motivated by praise. The Motivation Breakthrough (pp117141). New York: Simon & Schuster. Martin, Andrew J., Dowson, Martin. (2010). Interpersonal relationships, motivation, and achievement: Yields for theory. Retrieved 9/4/2013 from Education Source database. McDevitt, Teresa M., Ormrod, Jeanne Ellis. (2013). Cognitive development: Piaget and vygotsky. Child Development and Education (pp194-236). Boston: Pearson. Palmer, Joy A. (2009). Burrhus fredrick skinner 1904-90. Fifty Modern Thinkers on Education: From Piaget to the Present (pp58-63). New York: Routledge.
13 Payne, Simon Mark,. Hudson, Joanne., Akehurst, Sally., Ntoumanis, Nikos. (2013). Development and initial validation of the impression motivation in sport questionnaire, pp281-298. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, Jun2013, Vol. 35 Issue 3, p281-298, 18p, 1 Diagram, 6 Charts. Retrieved 9/7/2013 from Education Source database.
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