!

Katherine Schwigan!

EDU 615!

Case Study in Motivation!

!
!
!

!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

!
Introduction!

!
Jay is a 12-year-old male who comes from a middle class family. He experiences high
anxiety and expresses multiple somatic complaints, requesting to see the school nurse
frequently. He has a history of frequent absenteeism. On average he missed 20 days of
school, each year, over the past 5 years. All of his classroom teachers noted a high
level of anxiety and an intolerance to loud noises. His school records did not indicate
any acts of aggression or misbehaviors. However, there was a pattern of needing to
leave school due to illness, or not attending for extended periods identified in the
anecdotal notes given by each classroom teacher beginning in Kindergarten. His
academic records show a decrease in performance, falling in the low to average range
for all subject areas.!

!
During the first school trimester Jay attended, he would ask to go to the restroom. Upon
returning to the classroom he would ask to see the school nurse claiming he vomited.
While seeing the nurse he would begin crying hysterically demanding to talk with his
mother. The parent, most always, gave in to his pleas to go home. !

!
Jay is currently monitored under a 504 plan and qualifies for Title I tutoring services,
which he refuses to attend. Due to continuing issues with absenteeism and a further
decline in academic performance, I requested a 504 meeting with the parents and
guidance counselor. Mom was the only parent in attendance.!

!
Mom expressed frustration with the situation and admitted that she and the father are
trying do a better job at getting Jay to attend school. She noted Jay is very manipulative
and displays angry outbursts, especially when they insist that he go to school. She
noted that these issues did not begin until grade 4, but the school records indicated he
had issues with attendance every year since Kindergarten. !

!
When the topic of work completion and Jays decrease in academic progress was
addressed, Mom expressed concern. She found Jay to be very secretive about makeup and homework, either insisting he did not have any, or claiming he completed it in his
room, or at school. I explained that Jay would frequently tell me that he left work at
home and he was missing several assignments. !

!
Mom insisted that Jay could perform much better academically, but is making the choice
not to put in his best effort. In addition, she supported him not attending Title I services
as she felt this was contributing to his anxiety, and that he could do the work, but was
choosing not to and would rather he get the support from home.!

!
Jay had been receiving counseling to address issues of anxiety and avoidance of
school, but Mom indicated the counseling was discontinued upon Jays request. She
stated that the counselor gave Jay coping strategies for his anxieties and she
encourages him to use them. She feels this has helped at home and coaches him to
use them at school as well. The school counselor suggested that Jay be evaluated for

Special Education services because of this anxiety in relation to school attendance, but
Mom refused.!

!
The meeting with Mom revealed that the parents are easily persuaded by Jay and this
contributes to his avoidance issues. Although Mom, when discussing Jays issues,
presented an authoritarian tone, her actions were more indicative of being permissive,
not setting clear rules or boundaries (Anderman, 2010 pg. 117). Mom explained that
the counselor suggested that they take a stronger stance with Jay when he tries to
convince them he cannot attend school, or needs to leave school due to illness. She
said that all family members, dad and older sister, are supporting each other in helping
Jay improve his attendance. !

!
As part of the 504 plan Mom agreed to the following:!
1. Get Jay to school even if late.!
2. Maintain routine for completing all homework.!
3. Monitor his homework routine.!
4. Communicate with teacher about work completion during extended absences.!
5. Call the office for help with getting Jay to school.!

!
Observations!

!
Jay has difficulty interacting with students in the classroom. He becomes quite
defensive when students question him about missing school. Jay appears to lack a

sense of belonging to his school environment. He rarely interacts with other students
during homeroom time and does not participate in any extracurricular activities. This is a
factor that may be contributing to his school anxiety as research indicates that how a
student views their level of belonging can be associated with other psychological issues
(Anderman, pg. 226). !
Jay does have a positive relationship with one other student in and outside the
classroom. This particular student has a high work ethic and is a good influence on Jay.
Because working with this student can have a positive influence on both motivation and
achievement (Anderman, 2010), and increase his sense of belonging, I initially placed
them together during partner and group work.!

!
Jay does not appear to value learning in most situations, rather his goal is to get the job
done. There are definite gaps in his learning because of his history of absenteeism. For
two consecutive years, he missed a chunk of time when fractions were presented. He
displays feelings of frustration and helplessness with the content; and even with
attempted interventions he will shake his head and declare he just cant do fractions.!

!
Jay exhibits avoidance behaviors in most learning situations. Anderman identified that
students display avoidance behaviors when they are attempting to avert an unpleasant
learning situation (Anderman, pg. 195). More specifically, Jays avoidance behaviors
appear to be self-handicapping as he is concerned how other students view his
performance in the classroom. Some behaviors that I have observed during
independent work time that support self-handicapping avoidance strategies from Jay

are: distracting other students from completing their work, putting off doing his
classwork, or avoiding work altogether (Midgley et al. (2000).!

!
During Literature Discussion group time Jay was frequently off task and when
questioned about the assigned reading it was obvious that he was not prepared. He
often engaged others in off task behaviors and it was necessary for me to redirect the
whole group. !

!
Jay scored in the 10th percentile for Reading on his NWEA fall test and identified as
needing intervention on his DRA reading fluency test. It appeared that Jay was
presenting these task avoidance behaviors due to his low performance ability. I sat with
the group and explained my concerns about their lack of engagement and
understanding of the assigned reading. After the students acknowledged that not
everyone was prepared, they agreed that taking turns reading aloud would help to keep
them on task. Knowing that Jay would resist this because of poor fluency, I suggested
that not all students be required to read aloud, but all students be required to listen and
participate during discussions. I explained that I would be assessing their
comprehension of the assigned reading by asking each person in the group a specific
question over the reading. I spoke with Jay privately and we agreed that he would have
my question prior to the reading. I felt this approach would motivate Jay to focus on
mastering the given task and would support deep cognitive strategies (Anderman, pg.
200). This approach also supports the research that teachers need to recognize a
students individual norms, and a goal for assisting a student that struggles as a learner

should be to accelerate the students skills and understanding as rapidly as possible for
that learner, still ensuring genuine understanding and meaningful application of
skills (Tomlinson, 1999, pg. 13). As a result, Jays responses during discussion time
became more meaningful and I observed a decrease in off task behavior.!

!
When given a group assignment in science to build a model to demonstrate thermal
energy, Jay was engaged, confident, and took on a leadership role. When visiting the
group to question their strategy, Jay was eager to explain their rational for selecting their
materials and how it supported the groups hypothesis. Off task behavior was minimal
and his group met all given timelines. Jays enthusiasm for the assignment and
willingness to be a leader demonstrated he was intrinsically motivated. A student is
intrinsically motivated when the student wants to learn for the sake of learning
(Anderman, pg. 4).!

!
During math, to assess students understanding of a concept following instruction I
assign problems for students to complete on white boards. They will hold their white
boards up and I will give them the thumbs up sign if they are correct, or told to try
again if they make an error. Jay will avoid showing his work by pretending to be working
on the problem, or he will show just the answer because he has copied off another
students board. Research shows that increased cheating is associated with
performance and extrinsic goals and goal structures (Anderman, 2010 pg. 87). Jay
knows that once students have demonstrated their understanding of the concept, they
are given the homework assignment. Since Jays goal is to receive the work and avoid

homework, he is motivated to cheat. In addition, because of Jays low self-efficacy

toward math, this could lead to failure-related anxiety; to avoid such anxiety, students
may resort to cheating (Anderman, 2010 pg. 87). In order to promote an intrinsic goal
oriented motivator for Jay, and other students who want the reward of receiving the
work to complete during class, but do not demonstrate proficiency for completing the
task, I will still give the homework assignment. Rather than having them complete the
task independently, I will work with them as a small group. This allows me to see where
they are making errors and I am able to provide individual instruction as needed.
Because Jay is working on his homework, motivation is less extrinsic and more intrinsic,
as he works toward mastery of the concept.!

!
Jays task avoidance behaviors are most pronounced in the area of homework. He
values his free time at home and resents having more school work that interferes with
this time. He will rush to complete work during independent work time, or say that he left
work at home and not turn it in at all. Anderman suggests that teachers consider the
students perspective in relation to homework as it can influence their opinion about the
value of learning in a subject. If assigned work is meaningful, then engagement in the
task will increase (Anderman, pg. 26). In response to Jays perspective toward
homework, I have modified some of the assignments and allowed more time during
class for him to complete work.!

!
!
!

Effective Strategies!

!
My goal for this student was to structure instructional practices that motivated Jay to
focus on a mastery approach to learning. The goal orientation theory identifies those
students that are motivated to understand and apply an academic task, value mastery
goals (Anderman, pg. 7). Research reveals that mastery goals relate to a students level
of effort and willingness to complete a task (Anderman, pg. 22). In order to guide Jay
toward this goal, I met with him privately to address his attitude regarding homework. I
explained homework from my perspective, which is to ensure that he is learning the
material. Because Jay likes to wheel and deal we negotiated what would be a
reasonable amount of homework. By establishing a learning contract, a negotiated
agreement that will allow him the freedom of how content will be applied or
demonstrated, Jay can begin to feel more in control and focus more on mastering
content and less on avoidance (Tomlinson, 1999, pg. 87). In addition, I modeled my
expectations for quality work that is not rushed and provided positive feedback for
completed work. !

!
Jays experiences with failure contribute to his lack of self-efficacy. According to the
attribution theory there is the need to seek out an explanation for an outcome,
regardless of whether it was intended. It is the result of this outcome that influences a
particular response (Anderman, pg. 5). Because Jay shows an adeptness for
constructing models and appears motivated by a hands-on approach to learning, I

offered these assignments, when practical. Being that this is an area of strength for him,
it provided a more positive learning outcome.!

!
According to Anderman, making meaningful choices by determining how, when, and
where to incorporate choice into their instructional plans is a teachers responsibility,
but also cautions that too many choices could become arduous for the student and
teacher (Anderman (2010), pg. 140). By offering Jay choices, this motivated him to see
his work more as an accomplishment and less as a chore. A good choice task for Jay is
between-task choices because it allows him more control over how he presents an
assignment, increasing the desired intrinsic motivation and mastery of learning.
Whereas the within-task choice might overwhelm him as this would require choosing
how to take in the information, which due to his low self-efficacy, requires more support
on my part in helping him chunk and apply the information.!

!
Conclusion!
Tuning into any students individual learning style, or preference is a key strategy for
meeting the learning needs of all students. While structuring content to ensure that
students are experiencing a variety of learning modalities provides an incentive for
learning, it is just as important to reflect on what motivates the individual student to want
to learn. After reading and researching the different motivational theories, I found myself
questioning each of my students level of motivation, or lack of motivation. I began to
assess my own teaching and whether my instruction was motivating my students
intrinsically or extrinsically. Although it is unrealistic to think that all instruction will be

valued intrinsically by all students, considering what students find interesting will support
engagement and the desire to complete the given task.!

!
While Jays overall attendance did not improve, his attempt to leave school with
complaints of sickness or anxiety decreased considerably, and by the third trimester
completely. Jays low intrinsic and extrinsic motivation proved challenging, but by
rewarding Jay with less homework and providing him with more choices for completing
tasks, work completion and quality of work improved. Much research in the field of
motivation suggests that when students are provided with opportunities to exercise
autonomy in the classroom, motivation will be enhanced (Anderman (2010), pg. 138).
He no longer isolates himself from others and his interactions with others in the
classroom is less forced.!

!
It will be my recommendation that Jay be considered for the Jobs For Maine Graduates
program for the next school year. This will provide him with the supports he will need to
continue to overcome his school anxiety and to establish goals for his future. Because
this program involves school and community involvement as part of its curriculum, Jay
can continue to work on his sense of belonging with the school. This program will also
provide homework support as he transitions from a self-contained classroom to a team
of 5 core teachers. Most importantly, it will provide him an advocate that will continue to
support his sense of competence and self-efficacy.!

!
!

!
References!

!
Anderman, E., & Anderman, L. (2010). Classroom motivation. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: !
Pearson.!

!
Midgley, C; Maehr, M. L. Hruda, L. Z; Anderman, E. M; Anderman, L. H; Freeman, K. E; !
Urdan, T. (2000). Manual for the patterns of adaptive learning scales. Ann Arbor: !
University of Michigan.!

!
Tomlinson, C. (1999). The differentiated classroom responding to the needs of all !
learners. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.!