Motivating the Unmotivated

1. Motivating the Unmotivated

2. Welcome!

3. Diagnosis Form

4. Behaviors What does a lack of motivation LOOK like? _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________ _______________

5. Power

6. Power Definition • Having the resources, the opportunity, and the capability to influence the circumstances of one’s own life. A sense of power is about … A-K Pattern • number • frequency

7. Behaviors that Indicate a Problem with Power • Often stubborn and excessively bossy • Frequently act helpless • Control through aggression or withdrawal • Avoid being incharge of others • React poorly to frustration • Avoid taking responsibility and blame others • Do not exercise initiative • Avoid tasks that are challenging • Lack emotionalself-control • Use unself-responsible language • Use “mademe” excuses • Withhold resources that others need • Undermine decisions that others make • Unilaterally alterrules • Take credit for the accomplishments of others • Are excessively critical of others’ accomplishments • Have trouble makingdecisions • Don’t followthrough • Create distractions

8. Power Strategy #1 • Three words to provide controlled choices: • Choose • Decide • Pick • Examples of Controlled Choices • For language arts, place three pictures on the board and have students choose one to write about. • Make a math assignment that requires completing either the odd-numbered or even-numbered problems. TT “You can choose to do it on the green paper or the red paper.”

9. Power Strategy #2 • Use choose, decide, and pick to help students see the choices they are making. • “I’m wondering what grade you will choose this semester.” • “I see you decided to staple it rather than use tape.” • “How many of you chose to review your notes last night?” TT “I see you chose to ignore her when she teased you.”

10. Power Strategy #2 (continued) • Choose/Decide/Pick in Action • “I heard you chose to end up in the principal’s office yesterday.” • “Roberto ripped my coat!” • “And how did you choose to respond?” • “I can’t let him get away with something like that.” • “So what behavior did you pick?” • “He made me mad!” • “So you decided to do what?” • “He started the whole thing.” • “And you chose to respond with…?” REPEAT!!!

11. Power Strategy #2 (continued) Dominoes of Self-Responsibility Words Thoughts Beliefs Behavior!

12. Power Strategy #3 • Use choose, decide, and pick to formulate consequences. • “If you decide to keep talking, you’ll be deciding to sit apart.” • “If you choose to have your snack now, you’ve chosen to not have one later. • “If you decide to turn it in on Monday, you’ll have chosen to receive the grade you earned. If you decide to turn it in after Monday, you’ll receive one grade lower than the grade you earned.”

13. Power Strategy #4 • “This is not an appropriate time for sharpening your pencil. Please choose a better time to do it so that you don’t distract the class.” TT “Please make a different choice.”

14. Power Strategy #5 • Use Freedom Phrases • Students ask questions that make teachers the decision maker such as: • “May I sharpen my pencil now?” • “Will this book qualify for extra credit?” • “Is it okay if I ask Beth to help me?”

15. Power Strategy #5 (continued) • “Yes” gives the teacher all control/power. • Freedom Phrases let the student have some control/power over their actions at the teacher’s discretion. • If your answer would be “Yes”, try one of these: • “It’s up to you.” • “It’s your choice.” • “You choose.” • “You get to decide.” • “You make that decision.”

16. Power Strategy #5 (continued) • Adding a Condition to Freedom Phrases Examples: • “May I sharpen my pencils now?” • “If you can do it without disturbing the reading group. You decide.” • “May I go to the library now?” • “My concern is that you be back here at 11:15. You choose.” • Regardless of the phrase you choose, you are showing your students that you respect them.

17. Power Strategy #6 • Use these three OTHER special words. • Stretch • Risk • Challenge • These words encourage your students to stretch and accept the risk of self-challenge. • “I would like five people who would risk responding to this problem.” • “Who feels like accepting a challenge today?” TT “Thank you for taking a risk on that problem.”

18. Power Strategy #7 • Use Risk Pads to encourage students to take risks. • “Take a risk with this problem. Work it out on your Risk Pads. Let’s see what we can learn from your risk.” • Encouraging risk taking in the classroom helps students to step out of their comfort zones to encourage self-improvement and empowerment.

19. Power Strategy #8 • “Who do you want to be?” • Although students may not always be able to choose what they get to do in class, they can always decide how they want to be. • Self-responsibility!!! • Being gives birth to doing. • “If you all choose to be attentive and productive in class today, we may be able to do something fun a the end of class.”

20. Power Strategy #9 • Employ the attribute theory. • Students who feel unempowered attribute the things that happen to them in their lives to luck, magic, circumstance, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or no cause of their own. They say things like this: • “She failed me!” • “Wow! I was so lucky to get an ‘A’!” • “My teacher doesn’t like athletes.” • “She’s smarter than me.” • “He got a better grade because his dad’s a teacher.”

21. Power Strategy #9 (continued) • Students with a strong inner sense of personal power attribute the things that happen to them to effort, energy, persistence, study, commitment, and behaviors over which they have some control. They make statements such as: • “I chose a ‘C’.” • “He studied harder than I did.” • “My preparation was thorough.” • “I’ll stick to it until I get it.”

22. Attribute Awareness Ideas • Attributes List • Directions: What attributes do you possess that will work with this assignment? List them here. Be prepared to share the one that will be most valuable to you. 1._________________________________________________ 2._________________________________________________ 3._________________________________________________ 4._________________________________________________ • Steps to success • Have each student put the grade he or she wants in the box. Then, ask students what steps they could take to achieve those grades. They add that information under or on the feet of the diagram.

23. Attribute Awareness Ideas (continued) • Control Factors • Directions: List three factors over which you have no control on this project. 1. ______________________________________ 2. ______________________________________ 3. ______________________________________ Find a portion of each factor that you could control. Write your answers below. • Cause and Effect Diagram Cause Effect I chose… I chose… I chose…

24. Attribute Awareness Ideas (continued) • Project Map • Directions: Rank the arrowed factors below in terms of how much control you had over each as it relates to this project. The a is most control and h is least control. • ____________________ e. ____________________ • ____________________ f. ____________________ • ____________________ g. ____________________ • ____________________ h. ____________________ Effort Intelligence Grammar Preparation English Project Motivation Neatness Resources Intelligence

25. Teacher Talk and Attribute Awareness TT • “To what do you attribute that?” • “You got an ‘A’ in science? To what do you attribute that? • “You got the job? Wonderful! How did you accomplish that? • “You tie your shoes on your own now? How did you make that happen?” • This can be used for both positive and negative effects in their lives. • “You made the team. To what do you attribute that?” OR “You got cut from the team? To what do you attribute that?”

26. Power Strategy #10 TT • Employ the “I can’t” antidote. • Act as if. • Pretend. • Play like. • If you didknowhow, what would youdo?

27. Power Strategy #11 • Behave calmly and consistently. • How do you make a “power kid’s” day? • LOSE IT! • Do not overreact to loud, boisterous students. Their goal is to get you angry so they can focus on your anger rather than on their reaction in the situation. They are also invested in having you blow it and then feel guilty.

28. Power Strategy #12 • Move UP before you move IN. / Step BACK before you move FORWARD. • When dealing with ‘power students’, it is important to move UP in consciousness before moving IN with action. • When your 3rd grader spills paint, your 8th grader burps loudly in class, or the senior in your history class uses inappropriate language, you must take action. • To ensure that the action taken comes from love and logic instead of anger and frustration, stop. Take a breath and actively change your mindset before moving in to take action. • Talk to yourself before you talk to the student. • Make a BE choice before you make a DO choice. • See it all as perfect. • Accept that what is, is. • Make no assumptions.

29. Power Strategy #12 (continued) 1. Talk to yourself before you talk to the child. • When you skip this step, it is likely that you’ll react with your emotions instead of your logic. • This helps you control your attitude, your energy, and your relationship to the teachable moment that is before you. • Examples: • “I don’t have to take this personally. The student’s choices do not mean that I’m a good or bad teacher. This isn’t about me. It’s about him and where he currently is on the learning curve. • “The behavior is age appropriate. Ten-year-olds tease and taunt. Little kids wiggle. Teenagers activate power struggles. Even though I don’t like this behavior and it needs to change. It’s normal. • “Helpful lessons spring from uncomfortable situations. This situation has the potential to create learning and healing for me and this student.”

30. Power Strategy #12 (continued) • 2. Make a BE choice before you make a DO choice. • We make DO choices CONSTANTLY. These are things we choose to DO with our students. • Ex. Choosing to read a story aloud to the class • Making a BE choice is more difficult and takes more thought. • Ex. Choosing to BE silly, emphatic, serious, etc. while reading the story • Making a BE choice dramatically effects the outcome of what you DO. • Ex. Reprimanding a student for cheating while BEING calm and stern or by BEING angry and yelling

31. Power Strategy #12 (continued) 3. See it all as perfect. • You must CHOOSE to see each moment as perfect. • If you have a guest speaker and your students act respectfully, that’s perfect. If they act disrespectfully, that’s perfect, too. • Your students are providing you with information vital to their learning process. • We do not learn from DOING, but from DEBRIEFING our actions. • Although these situations may be frustrating, you must train yourself as a TEACHER to not only teach content, but behavior. • Welcome these events as teachable moments. This is the time to learn.

32. Power Strategy #12 (continued) • Accept that what is, is. • We always think things like this: • “He’s 16! He shouldn’t be behaving like he’s 11!” • “My students know how to behave better than this!” • If you find yourself thinking that things should be other than what they are – that your students should be different, that they should know better, or that you should have done something differently- you are emotionally resisting and fighting what “is.” • You’ll find that dealing with each circumstance becomes easier when you accept your present-moment circumstances.

33. Power Strategy #12 (continued) • Make no assumptions. • As adults, we think we know it all: why that student lied to us, what that girl is thinking, what he is about to do next, and who began the argument in the cooperative group. • Allowing assumptions to control your mind leads to conflict and misunderstanding. • Commit to keeping an open mind.

34. Power Strategy #13 TT • Teach conflict resolution. • Give students the opportunity to work out their own problems, but also show them methods for attacking their problems. • Give them a solution-seeking process: • Define the problem. • List alternatives. • Reach consensus. • Implement the plan. • Evaluate later. “Every problem has a solution. Let’s find it.”

35. Power Strategy #14 • Involve students in the process of evaluation and self-evaluation. • Evaluation is a power issue. The one who evaluates has the power. It sets up a ‘big me/little you’ relationship.

36. Power Strategy #14 • Example of self-evaluation: RATE YOUR WRITING Dear Teacher: I am turning in the following creative writing lesson: ______________________________________________________________________ Below is what I think of this paper. Low High Neatness 1 2 3 4 5 Humor 1 2 3 4 5 Interest 1 2 3 4 5 Punctuation 1 2 3 4 5 Effort 1 2 3 4 5 If I were grading this paper, I would give myself a grade of _______________. _______________________________________________ Signed

37. Power Strategy #15 TT • Make yourself dispensable. • All power-raising activities have to do with turning significant decisions over to students. • Class jobs • Common supplies • Other experts/peer counseling • Self-checking materials • Routines • Time management/prioritizing “Ask three before me.” “Someone in your group knows.” “Is this a group question?”

38. Power Strategy #16 • Invite student input. • In order to share control and empower students, actively seek student opinions, ideas, suggestions, and concerns on a wide variety of topics. • This shows students that their ideas have value. In turn, they begin to see themselves as valuable. • Ideas: • What would you do if…? • If you lived in a world… • Paragraph piles • “I urge” telegrams • Add-on opinion chains • Sharing time • Journal writing • Rank order • Goal profiles • Academic contracts • Responsibility Contracts

39. Power Strategy #17 • Refrain from teacher talk that escalates. A. Asking questions to which you already have the answer. • “Where were you when I explained this?” • “Do you know where your seat is?” • “What did I just tell you?” • These are thinly veiled accusations. They show disrespect and irritation. • Stop and evaluate your motive for asking one of these questions. If it is anger or frustration, express your feeling. • “I am angry that I’m having to remind you again to sit down.

40. Power Strategy #17 (continued) • Giving information that they already have • “You’re late.” • “You didn’t do your homework.” • This kind of information • serves no purpose. • invites embarrassment, resentment, and resistance. • accuses rather than welcomes communication. • is counterproductive. • At the time of the offense, the less said the better. Too much attention (positive or negative) will encourage the behavior.

41. Power Strategy #18 • Communicate anger without wounding the spirit. • Use the describe/describe/describe teaching technique. • Describe what you see or hear. • Describe what you’re feeling (one word). • Describe the desired outcome. • Example: • I heard laughing when Antonia made a mistake. • I feel frustrated. • People deserve to feel supported and affirmed in our class.

42. Power Strategy #19 • Change your perception of consequences. • Call it “Responsibility Room” instead of “Detention” or “Suspension.” • You go to the “Music Room” to learn music. Why not teach our kids some responsibility? • Have the student create a “Responsibility Action Plan.”

43. Conclusion • Denying ‘power kids’ invites resistance, reluctance, resentment, and revenge. • Given no choice or control, these students rebel. • By keeping your cool and incorporating some of these strategies in your classroom, you can get a drastically different outcome.

44. Models

45. Models Definition One must be able to refer to adequate examples in order to establish meaningful values, ideals, and personal standards.

46. Students with a strong sense of models... Use models to make sense out of their lives. Use models to clarify their own standards and live up to them. Know the standards of performance by which they will be judged and realize how close they are to those standards. Know what quality work looks like. Have a sense of direction. They have vision, mission, and purpose.

47. Feel there is something they are working toward, and know where they are headed. • Make sense out of what is going on around them. • Know when they are being true to themselves and living up to their values and ideals. • Use their values to guide them and aren't easily thrown off track by new situations. • Are able to organize and accomplish tasks. • Have a sense of order in their lives. • Look up to and respect positive attributes in others. • Recognize which people are worth emulating.

48. Behaviors That Indicate a Problem with Mental Models Do not respond well to instruction Waste time. Get confused easily. Sloppy and messy with self and materials. Usually not well organized. Often do not tell the truth. Have difficult time deciding what to do. Do not seem to be headed in any direction. Are unclear about what they want to say or do.

49. Surface skimmers. Often insist there is only one way to do something. May have rigid standards. Often act contrary to the ethical standards they espouse. Confuse impulsive acts with goals they have agreed upon. Keep hidden agendas. Become chameleons around others.

50. Model Strategy # 2Teach HOW to do things in class Direct Do Debrief Spend time teaching the “how to” of lessons. Invest time in training students to work effectively in the classroom. Focus on the “how to” on as many different learning styles as possible.