Implementation
What initially felt like would take two days to complete ended up taking three days worth of class time. The individual conferences I held with these students became very reflective exercises for both myself and the students. I remain thankful that I had such a supportive cooperating teacher to take my place as I proceeded to complete these interviews. Before providing the hard copies of my notes and agreements I made with my students, I feel it is important to provide a brief narrative of how the one-on-one interviews went.
Things got started with Student 21, who was assessed in Phase I as a student who shows sincerity in his work, but often struggles to cultivate a good work ethic and is easily distracted from errant conversation with the students around him. I showed him the contract and all of the detailed behavior and academic performances I have observed in the classroom. After he confirmed that my observations were accurate, I prompted him to work with me to develop a plan to try and focus on being productive rather than distracting in the classroom, the result of which we agreed would be an increase in academic performance.
Unfortunately, we were halted. At every suggestion I made, from switching seats to stricter treatment of problem behaviors, I was met with apathy. Student 21 felt that these measures would not help him achieve his goal of passing the class. The habits, according to him, were simply too hard to break altogether. A few moments of silence passed, which gave me the opportunity to brainstorm ideas. I recalled a former cooperating teacher of mine offering one of his students a pizza party if he could show up to school on time for five days straight. Pizza: could this really be the answer? Ultimately, it was a shot in the dark, but I made the same offer to Student 21 on the grounds that he get his grade up to a passing level. I was desperate and I needed something to motivate this student towards completing his coursework.
His eyes lit up. He could not believe that I would go out of my way to provide him with a pizza party if he improved his academic performance in my class. (Heck, if it worked for all of my students, I would throw them all a pizza party.) Touched by my graciousness, the student readily accepted the offer, and even mapped out a plan that would ensure he could meet his goal: reduce side conversation and increase productivity. With all of the students, I tried to incorporate various influences in their lives and discussed what impact poor grades would mean for those influences (for example, eligibility for sports and post-secondary aspirations). In addition, I made the same pizza offer to the other seven students I sat down with over the course of three days and was met with various levels of enthusiasm. Still, they all agreed that this would be an adequate reward for their efforts at improving their grade. All except one.
Student 22, who I called in the interview with me on the second day, sat down just as the others had done in the office next to the classroom. I had him review the observed problem behaviors and asked if they sounded accurate. He agreed that these observations were indeed accurate and we set out to formulate a plan for improving his academic performance. He made good suggestions, such as rearranging his seating placement and enforcing assignment checks to ensure that he was staying on track. However, when I offered the pizza party reward, as I had to the other students before him, he returned my offer with skepticism. He claimed that if he truly wanted to improve his performance in the class, he had to motivate himself rather than rely on external rewards such as a pizza party. According to Student 22, the ability to self-motivate would lead to personal gratification and would set a better tone for his performance in other classes beyond that semester.
I have to admit I was sincerely impressed with his maturity. Rather than being overwhelmed with excitement about the prospect of a pizza party, Student 22 thought critically about his performance in class and developed a rational explanation for why a pizza party would not motivate him to become more productive in my class. We left the pizza party out of the contract. I use the examples of Student 21 and Student 22 to compare the extremes of my study and will use their contrasts to further illustrate my findings. Now it was time to observe and see if I could detect changes in student behavior. (Click here to see the student contracts.)
Things got started with Student 21, who was assessed in Phase I as a student who shows sincerity in his work, but often struggles to cultivate a good work ethic and is easily distracted from errant conversation with the students around him. I showed him the contract and all of the detailed behavior and academic performances I have observed in the classroom. After he confirmed that my observations were accurate, I prompted him to work with me to develop a plan to try and focus on being productive rather than distracting in the classroom, the result of which we agreed would be an increase in academic performance.
Unfortunately, we were halted. At every suggestion I made, from switching seats to stricter treatment of problem behaviors, I was met with apathy. Student 21 felt that these measures would not help him achieve his goal of passing the class. The habits, according to him, were simply too hard to break altogether. A few moments of silence passed, which gave me the opportunity to brainstorm ideas. I recalled a former cooperating teacher of mine offering one of his students a pizza party if he could show up to school on time for five days straight. Pizza: could this really be the answer? Ultimately, it was a shot in the dark, but I made the same offer to Student 21 on the grounds that he get his grade up to a passing level. I was desperate and I needed something to motivate this student towards completing his coursework.
His eyes lit up. He could not believe that I would go out of my way to provide him with a pizza party if he improved his academic performance in my class. (Heck, if it worked for all of my students, I would throw them all a pizza party.) Touched by my graciousness, the student readily accepted the offer, and even mapped out a plan that would ensure he could meet his goal: reduce side conversation and increase productivity. With all of the students, I tried to incorporate various influences in their lives and discussed what impact poor grades would mean for those influences (for example, eligibility for sports and post-secondary aspirations). In addition, I made the same pizza offer to the other seven students I sat down with over the course of three days and was met with various levels of enthusiasm. Still, they all agreed that this would be an adequate reward for their efforts at improving their grade. All except one.
Student 22, who I called in the interview with me on the second day, sat down just as the others had done in the office next to the classroom. I had him review the observed problem behaviors and asked if they sounded accurate. He agreed that these observations were indeed accurate and we set out to formulate a plan for improving his academic performance. He made good suggestions, such as rearranging his seating placement and enforcing assignment checks to ensure that he was staying on track. However, when I offered the pizza party reward, as I had to the other students before him, he returned my offer with skepticism. He claimed that if he truly wanted to improve his performance in the class, he had to motivate himself rather than rely on external rewards such as a pizza party. According to Student 22, the ability to self-motivate would lead to personal gratification and would set a better tone for his performance in other classes beyond that semester.
I have to admit I was sincerely impressed with his maturity. Rather than being overwhelmed with excitement about the prospect of a pizza party, Student 22 thought critically about his performance in class and developed a rational explanation for why a pizza party would not motivate him to become more productive in my class. We left the pizza party out of the contract. I use the examples of Student 21 and Student 22 to compare the extremes of my study and will use their contrasts to further illustrate my findings. Now it was time to observe and see if I could detect changes in student behavior. (Click here to see the student contracts.)
Findings
As we were nearing the end of the semester, many students clearly started to feel the crunch of deadlines fast approaching. Students consistently approached me asking what they needed to do to ensure their grades resembled something preferable. Specifically, the students that I personally interviewed showed a heightened initiative in their work. The standard problem behaviors of speaking over classmates and direct instruction and distracting others from work were still present, but to a significantly lesser extent than previously observed. Here is an overview of the observed improvements:
Extrinsic rewards do not ensure the reduction of problem behavior and increase of academic productivity. This is the moment you have all been waiting for. Out of all eight students that I interviewed as a part of this phase in my action research, only one ended up passing my class. It was Student 22 — the only student who chose not to include the pizza party as a part of his behavior agreement. Out of all of the students, he also showed the most improvement when it came to problem behaviors in the classroom. I observed a tremendous increase in focus and attention after we had out sit-down towards the end of the semester. What was interesting was that he specifically cited the need for self-motivation when it came to success. Self-motivation, he claimed, would lead to a greater personal gratification, something a pizza party simply was not capable of. Our talk together was enough to spur him into action. He ended up polishing up his missing assignments and remained on task for the rest of the semester to pass the class. This is not to say that the use of pizza as a motivator was entirely misguided. There were observed improvements with the behavior of most students that I talked to. In fact, most were able to complete the assignments and activities planned for the rest of the semester proficiently. The difference was, the other seven students to not effectively clean up their past mistakes in the class (as in, completing assignments that were not finished from earlier in the semester). The only other positive to arise as a result of this attempted intervention is that I will not have to buy pizza for seven hungry, teenage mouths.
I do want to take moment to go back on my decision to incorporate pizza into the equation of building a positive learning community in my classroom. When I thought of my past cooperating teacher who used this as a technique to motivate a student who was consistently tardy, I did not consider the purpose of the pizza. In addition to his tardiness, this particular student struggled at home to access an adequate meal on a daily basis. Thus, my teacher felt that pizza would be the perfect motivator: not only would this student improve his attendance record, but he would be rewarded with something of greater value to him. That was not the function of pizza in my attempt at motivating my students. Other than being delicious, the pizza served no immediate purpose for my students, and thus they may have not been as motivated, despite the initial excitement.
Individualized behavior plans helped improve the conditions of a positive learning community to an extent. When I outlined a plan with each of these students and stuck with it, I observed improvements. For most students, there was a greater attention to in-class behavior and productivity. While not entirely eliminated, most of the students showed an increased awareness of problem behaviors and refrained from distracting those around them. Even moments of problem behaviors with these students could be easily defeated with a poignant cold-call. For example, if Student 15 was conversing with a peer while I was talking, I would address that student directly: "Student 15, I need you to stop distracting those around you and pay attention to my instruction. Thank you." This contrasts to my previous, more relaxed style of simply waiting for students to be quiet so that I could continue uninterrupted. However, unlike Student 22, most students did not show a complete turnaround. There will still hints of problem behaviors that lingered and required my attention until the end of the semester. As I go on to discuss in my reflection, I wish I had the opportunity to follow-up with these students to sit down and look again at the agreements they made with me in order to fully understand their view of the behavior contracts we constructed together.
Student perceptions of distracting behavior have shifted.
- Student 21: I noticed he was much less engaged in side conversation with his peers and was often found completing assignments in class. What continued to lack was his pursuit of past assignments that still maintained a failing grade. He did, however, inquire about these past assignments and expressed a desire to complete them.
- Student 11: He became actively aware of the assignments he had fell behind on and consistently communicated with me his desire to complete them, some of which he did, but not all. His focus had improved over the course of the last couple of weeks of the class and was able to complete assignments on time.
- Student 7: This student largely did not show any improvement in behavior or classroom productivity. As usual, I routinely needed to remind her of the task at hand and what she needed to complete in order to raise her grade to a passing level. Her previously observed behaviors of not using class time wisely and carrying on irrelevant conversation persisted on a daily basis.
- Student 1: Compared to his previous behavior of meandering around the classroom, not focused on the day's in-class challenges, he made some marked improvements. I found that sitting him next to a routinely on-task student, with whom he was friends with, helped him stay on-task and complete assignments. There was little in the way of making up assignments he did not complete from earlier in the semester.
- Student 19: After our one-on-one interview, this student became noticeably introverted. Unlike previously observed, this student remained in his seat day in and day out and for the most part refrained from communicating with his peers on a distracting level. However, I did not see a notable increase in the quality of his work. He appeared to be more focus, but his assignments were still handed in incomplete.
- Students 13 and 15: It is hard to talk about these students separately considering that their observed problem behaviors are so interconnected. I called this friendship out during both of our individual meetings and the results appeared positive. Both students were able to maintain a higher level of focus and productivity towards the end of the semester, but there was always the occasional interruption from their corner of the classroom.
- Student: 22: Very shortly after we had our one-on-one, this student demonstrated a much finer work ethic. Not once did I have to ask him to refrain from distracting those around him. Even the girl he sat next to and frequently bantered with no longer distracted him from completing his work on time. He also finished up assignments that had been missing up to that point. Out of all of the students I interviewed, Student 22 was clearly the most improved.
Extrinsic rewards do not ensure the reduction of problem behavior and increase of academic productivity. This is the moment you have all been waiting for. Out of all eight students that I interviewed as a part of this phase in my action research, only one ended up passing my class. It was Student 22 — the only student who chose not to include the pizza party as a part of his behavior agreement. Out of all of the students, he also showed the most improvement when it came to problem behaviors in the classroom. I observed a tremendous increase in focus and attention after we had out sit-down towards the end of the semester. What was interesting was that he specifically cited the need for self-motivation when it came to success. Self-motivation, he claimed, would lead to a greater personal gratification, something a pizza party simply was not capable of. Our talk together was enough to spur him into action. He ended up polishing up his missing assignments and remained on task for the rest of the semester to pass the class. This is not to say that the use of pizza as a motivator was entirely misguided. There were observed improvements with the behavior of most students that I talked to. In fact, most were able to complete the assignments and activities planned for the rest of the semester proficiently. The difference was, the other seven students to not effectively clean up their past mistakes in the class (as in, completing assignments that were not finished from earlier in the semester). The only other positive to arise as a result of this attempted intervention is that I will not have to buy pizza for seven hungry, teenage mouths.
I do want to take moment to go back on my decision to incorporate pizza into the equation of building a positive learning community in my classroom. When I thought of my past cooperating teacher who used this as a technique to motivate a student who was consistently tardy, I did not consider the purpose of the pizza. In addition to his tardiness, this particular student struggled at home to access an adequate meal on a daily basis. Thus, my teacher felt that pizza would be the perfect motivator: not only would this student improve his attendance record, but he would be rewarded with something of greater value to him. That was not the function of pizza in my attempt at motivating my students. Other than being delicious, the pizza served no immediate purpose for my students, and thus they may have not been as motivated, despite the initial excitement.
Individualized behavior plans helped improve the conditions of a positive learning community to an extent. When I outlined a plan with each of these students and stuck with it, I observed improvements. For most students, there was a greater attention to in-class behavior and productivity. While not entirely eliminated, most of the students showed an increased awareness of problem behaviors and refrained from distracting those around them. Even moments of problem behaviors with these students could be easily defeated with a poignant cold-call. For example, if Student 15 was conversing with a peer while I was talking, I would address that student directly: "Student 15, I need you to stop distracting those around you and pay attention to my instruction. Thank you." This contrasts to my previous, more relaxed style of simply waiting for students to be quiet so that I could continue uninterrupted. However, unlike Student 22, most students did not show a complete turnaround. There will still hints of problem behaviors that lingered and required my attention until the end of the semester. As I go on to discuss in my reflection, I wish I had the opportunity to follow-up with these students to sit down and look again at the agreements they made with me in order to fully understand their view of the behavior contracts we constructed together.
Student perceptions of distracting behavior have shifted.
At the beginning of my journey through action research, I gave my students a short survey as a part of my Needs Assessment. At the end of the semester, I gave my students the same survey to see if their impressions of the class had changed. The students still believed that "Students who disrupt or distract other students should be disciplined" and "I always remain quiet and respectful when Mr. Simmons is talking" (most responded with a "4" on a Likert Scale from 1-5, "1" being Strongly Disagree and "5" being Strongly Agree). However, there was a major shift with regards to the statement, "My learning is negatively affected by distracting behavior in class" (see results above). When I asked this question towards the beginning of the semester, most students responded with a "2" (37% of responders). Not only did this response drop by ten points, but the shift made its way over to the "Strongly Agree" side (24% of responders). Over the course of the semester, students became more sensitive to distracting behavior in the classroom. I would hypothesize that as we approached the end of the semester, and completing assignments and tasks on time became more crucial to passing the class, students became more aware of, and subsequently distracted by, problem behaviors in the classroom. This data appears consistent with my findings from Phase I of my action research, when students admitted in group discussions that those who displayed distracting behavior in class often made it difficult to be productive in class, to the extent that one student wanted to permanently switch out of my class. As for the implications for Phase II of my action research, an increased awareness of problem behaviors shows that said behaviors are not conducive to the development of a positive learning community. Rather, these behaviors can prove to be a negative influence on the learning experiences of students, and thus does not get me closer to achieving my goal of creating a more positive learning community within my classroom.
The development of my teacher character was at an impasse. I had done what I could to sit down with individual students and attempt to empathize, or at least show some urgency that their behavior in the classroom did not parallel the objectives I had outlined to develop a positive learning community. Some students seemed completely indifferent altogether and tempting the students with extrinsic rewards did not prove helpful. I wanted to instill a sense of moral obligation within my students—a feeling of dedication to coursework that could bleed into their professional aspirations. Aside from Student 22, who showed a truly personal initiative, I did not seem to fully reach my students. It is only natural to feel responsible for a student failing my course. What could I have done differently? How will a student’s first semester performance affect my relationship with the student? I became less concerned about fixing behaviors and more concerned with spurring motivation within my students.
The development of my teacher character was at an impasse. I had done what I could to sit down with individual students and attempt to empathize, or at least show some urgency that their behavior in the classroom did not parallel the objectives I had outlined to develop a positive learning community. Some students seemed completely indifferent altogether and tempting the students with extrinsic rewards did not prove helpful. I wanted to instill a sense of moral obligation within my students—a feeling of dedication to coursework that could bleed into their professional aspirations. Aside from Student 22, who showed a truly personal initiative, I did not seem to fully reach my students. It is only natural to feel responsible for a student failing my course. What could I have done differently? How will a student’s first semester performance affect my relationship with the student? I became less concerned about fixing behaviors and more concerned with spurring motivation within my students.
Reflection
I have told the "pizza story" to many of my peers, colleagues, and professors and have been met with differing reactions. Some felt that while my approach was a little unorthodox, the use of snack foods to motivate students should have worked to improve academic output. Others pointed me in the direction of research that stipulates extrinsic motivation factors, such as the use of rewards, can actually be detrimental to a student’s long-term productivity and creativity. I am left wondering if problem behaviors are truly at the root of what is proving meddlesome for the development of a positive learning community. After my first two phases of action research, I am starting to think that perhaps problem behaviors are more a result of lack of motivation rather than inherent behaviors that students bring with them to every class. Sure, there are consistencies with my students' performances in other classes, but perhaps they are simply unmotivated in those classes as well. This indicates to me that student problem behaviors in my class are not a result of my personal pedagogy, but rather a challenge or obstacle the students face, which extends beyond the confines of my walls.
I cannot help but feel responsible for the students that failed my class. This is not because my intervention technique did or did not work, but rather, I feel like I should have done more earlier in the semester to guide them on the right track. The process of conducting action research has revealed a regular method I should be using at all times during instruction, not only as a way to develop my personal teaching pedagogy, but also to help address individual student needs. This is easier said than done. I used to think that my teachers were whining when they bemoaned the large class sizes in the California's public school system, but I now empathize with their complaints. Teaching and enhancing the learning of 40 students, at the same time, is not easy! It would interesting to go back to the high school and conduct a follow-up interview with these same students to see how they felt about their production and what they could have done to get to that passing level, because the plan that we made together clearly did not work for most of them. Unfortunately, with my new teaching job, I fear that will remain a slight mystery.
I now turn my attention to my current students and begin to wonder what I can do for them to help build a positive learning community through an engaging, motivating curriculum. As I sit down to develop learning activities and lesson plans, I find myself constantly asking myself, “Will this motivate my students to want to learn?” Additionally, I have found in the past that students appreciate structure, but I feel this limits their creativity. On the other hand, I have found that when I reduce the structure and allow for greater student agency, many students become lost or do not know how to proceed. I am going to start trying to find a good balance between structure and student agency, which will hopefully foster an increase in motivation and engagement for my students. I want my students to be able to latch on to the subject matter and assessable skills in a way that is intrinsically motivating and exciting.
From this reflection, I am left to consider myself as a teacher. What kind of teacher am I? At the outset of my action research, I sought to create a positive learning community by instilling a desire within my students to become productive members of their own communities. I soon discovered, however, productivity and motivation are not stagnant aspects of one’s work ethic. Instead, students come to class with unique, preoccupying traits and issues that may inhibit them from performing to their full potential. Additionally, a student can only be successful to the extent to which they are motivated. Now, rather than focusing on a student’s behavior, I am more concerned with the level of engagement and motivation a student displays with my lessons, which I would argue through my research is the primary source of a student’s behavior, in addition to external factors such as the home environment. The transition of focus from pizza to finding out what may intrinsically motivate a student symbolizes a major shift in my growth and development as a teacher. Beyond motivation in the classroom, students need to want to be positive, engaging role models in the community. Through the process of action research, I learned that I needed to create authentic learning experiences in my classroom in order to help motivate my students. If I cannot tap into students’ sources of enjoyment or fulfillment (personal authenticity), then I will never be more than a daily classroom monitor to them.
I cannot help but feel responsible for the students that failed my class. This is not because my intervention technique did or did not work, but rather, I feel like I should have done more earlier in the semester to guide them on the right track. The process of conducting action research has revealed a regular method I should be using at all times during instruction, not only as a way to develop my personal teaching pedagogy, but also to help address individual student needs. This is easier said than done. I used to think that my teachers were whining when they bemoaned the large class sizes in the California's public school system, but I now empathize with their complaints. Teaching and enhancing the learning of 40 students, at the same time, is not easy! It would interesting to go back to the high school and conduct a follow-up interview with these same students to see how they felt about their production and what they could have done to get to that passing level, because the plan that we made together clearly did not work for most of them. Unfortunately, with my new teaching job, I fear that will remain a slight mystery.
I now turn my attention to my current students and begin to wonder what I can do for them to help build a positive learning community through an engaging, motivating curriculum. As I sit down to develop learning activities and lesson plans, I find myself constantly asking myself, “Will this motivate my students to want to learn?” Additionally, I have found in the past that students appreciate structure, but I feel this limits their creativity. On the other hand, I have found that when I reduce the structure and allow for greater student agency, many students become lost or do not know how to proceed. I am going to start trying to find a good balance between structure and student agency, which will hopefully foster an increase in motivation and engagement for my students. I want my students to be able to latch on to the subject matter and assessable skills in a way that is intrinsically motivating and exciting.
From this reflection, I am left to consider myself as a teacher. What kind of teacher am I? At the outset of my action research, I sought to create a positive learning community by instilling a desire within my students to become productive members of their own communities. I soon discovered, however, productivity and motivation are not stagnant aspects of one’s work ethic. Instead, students come to class with unique, preoccupying traits and issues that may inhibit them from performing to their full potential. Additionally, a student can only be successful to the extent to which they are motivated. Now, rather than focusing on a student’s behavior, I am more concerned with the level of engagement and motivation a student displays with my lessons, which I would argue through my research is the primary source of a student’s behavior, in addition to external factors such as the home environment. The transition of focus from pizza to finding out what may intrinsically motivate a student symbolizes a major shift in my growth and development as a teacher. Beyond motivation in the classroom, students need to want to be positive, engaging role models in the community. Through the process of action research, I learned that I needed to create authentic learning experiences in my classroom in order to help motivate my students. If I cannot tap into students’ sources of enjoyment or fulfillment (personal authenticity), then I will never be more than a daily classroom monitor to them.
Next Steps for Instruction
If it is one thing I am taking away from this phase of my action research, it is that motivation plays an integral role in a student’s ability to perform proficiently in the classroom. More than that, the use of extrinsic motivation may prove to be more detrimental than beneficial. I believe it is now time to shift my research away from behavior and towards motivation as a function not only of developing a positive learning community, but inspiring creativity and positive work habits with my students. My lessons will need to be focused on creating a curriculum designed around student interests, yet based on core skills universal to the course content. Though my time at this high school placement has expired, I will look to continue my research at the school I am currently employed at.
In addition, rather than focusing on the entire class as a whole, I want to work with a single student to create a case study in order to see if I can develop a system that will help students develop positive work habits and create a positive learning community within my classroom. I will plan on prototyping several models of curricular adjustments that, if proven effective, can be applied to a larger classroom context. In order to prepare for this move, I will conduct a smaller, more concentrated literature review on motivation in preparation for my next phase of action research.
In addition, rather than focusing on the entire class as a whole, I want to work with a single student to create a case study in order to see if I can develop a system that will help students develop positive work habits and create a positive learning community within my classroom. I will plan on prototyping several models of curricular adjustments that, if proven effective, can be applied to a larger classroom context. In order to prepare for this move, I will conduct a smaller, more concentrated literature review on motivation in preparation for my next phase of action research.