MIDDLE SCHOOL MOTIVATION

Cathi Schuurmann MA

Michelle VanNoord MA LPC

Motivation and Middle School Students(Photo dbdes.com)

“I Don’t Care” Students

• Act as if they don’t care because:• If I care and fail, it hurts more• Why should I care? No one cares about me.• I have cared before and was let down. I won’t do this again.

• If I say, “I don’t care” enough, they will give up and leave me alone.

The end result is I win. I’m still in control.

BER p. 25 Powerful, Practical Strategies for Reaching “I Don’t Care!” Students

When a teacher gives up. . .

• Students go through a range of emotions:• 1. Happy• 2. Safe• 3. Disappointed• 4. Scared• 5. Angry

• BER p. 25

Positives and Negatives

Disrespect and the “IDC” student

• A student who disrespects adults is often one who has not been treated with dignity.

• The irony of this is (teachers) may use disrespectful methods in an attempt to teach respect.

• Examples of this?

• To understand is not to excuse the behavior, but to be better able to prevent and change it.

• BER p. 25

Understanding behavior

• 1. Misbehavior is a symptom of an underlying cause. • 2. Behavior is communication• 3. Behavior has a function• 4. Behavior occurs in patterns• 5. The only behavior teachers can control is their own

(Do not personalize their behavior!)• 6. Behavior can be changed.• BER p. 31, from Minahan and Rappaport’s The Behavior Code

Do you believe these statements?

• 1. Attitude is teachable. • 2. Every part of cognitive capacity is fully teachable.

• 3. Sustained effort is teachable.

• 4. Focused strategy is teachable.

• Jensen & Snider p. 4 Turnaround Tools for the Teenage Brain

Educator Mel Levine on success

“Success is like a vitamin.

If you don’t get enough, early enough you will suffer a severe deficiency that could have long term effects for your

entire life.”

“Why can’t they care enough to change?”

• “They’re unmotivated! They don’t care!”

• How’s your _________ going? (Diet? Exercise plan? Caffeine intake? Healthy eating

plan? Home improvement project?)

To change is difficult, especially if you don’t have anyone who believes you CAN change.

(MaryAnn Brittingham, BER)

“But there’s really never a change!!!!”

• It takes an average of three years to see a difference in “I don’t care” kids.

• You are changing their mindset about themselves.

• Read Carol Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success or watch her TED-Ed Talks.

IDC Students have a fixed mindset (photo www.wallingford.k12.ct.us)

The Middle School Brain

Neural Gawkiness

• Pre frontal cortex not yet developed

• Problems with organization, planning and regulating

mood

• Creates difficulty making thoughtful and informed

decisions

• Sober second thought

Wired for Risk

• More sensitive to rewards and less sensitive to risks

Social rewards

Peer Pressure

Incentives vs. punishment

Impulsivity

• Impulse control is not hardwired in

• Resist the temptation to micromanage• Ask thoughtful questions• Impulsivity plays a role in identity formation

Forgetfulness

• Cerebellum is undergoing rapid transformation

contributing to balance and motor coordination

• Limbic cortex is changing drastically

part of the brain responsible for emotion, attention, memory

How can we help?

Addressing the cognitive issues

- keep firm due dates

-continue to help students learn, develop and practice organizational methods

How can we help?

• Addressing emotional issues• project calm, stabilizing behavior• provide choices• break down big projects (executive functioning)• mini conferences• focus on the positive and what can be done to improve every difficult situation

Strategies to use in your classroom

• Relationships with students• Set goals, give challenges, stay positive• Find out the “why”• Make connections• Show empathy. Give them hope.

Your Response to Behavior• Either adds to or alleviates the pain of others

• Stay calm, be aware and respectful

• Be “curious” about behavior rather than reactive

• Behavior has meaning and is purposeful

• Look for anything positive

• Micro interactions can have major impacts

Stephen Covey’s Emotional Bank Account

Dr. Haim Ginott teacher and psychologist

• “I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.”

MOVE!• More movement = more attention• Brain breaks!

• brainbreaks.blogspot.com/Move constructively• Circle one answer you don’t know. Find a partner, and talk it through• Quick games, silly stretches, talk to a partner

• If kids are uncomfortable doing an activity, they will make you uncomfortable doing it.

• Planned seating

Logic• Offer a rationale for why a task is necessary

• Acknowledge when a task is boring. Explain the why behind the task. This is an act of empathy.

• Give “If. . . Then” scenarios. • “If you finish your homework. . . Then you ________“

• Allow students to complete the task their own way when possible. • Pick 15/20, choose which essay question, differentiated instruction

Motivation• Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About

What Motivates Us” (TED Talk too)

• Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation

Replacement Behavior

Behaviors are motivated by four functions:• 1. Attention Function• 2. Escape Function• 3. Tangible Function• 4. Sensory Function

• Teach a replacement behavior that achieves the same results as the inappropriate behavior.

• Mark Durand’s “Severe Behavior Problems”

(32 BER)

Dear Teacher,

I talk no matter where I am.

Moving my seat will not help.

Your Student,

____________

Teach Self Talk• IDC students reflect what they believe others feel about

them.

• Student: “I can’t do it.”• Teacher: “Yes you can.” • Teacher: “It is hard. Let’s try one.”

• Encourage any positive attempt.

(BER p. 41)

How to reach “IDC” parents• Papers signed when missing work, Ds or Fs• Parents sign planners• Constant emails home : ) • Require tutors• Quarterly meetings• Teacher, student, parent, principal meetings• Focus on a specific behavior• Set goals, all sign agreement• Weekly check-ins with teacher, principal, counselor

Resources and Recommended Reading

• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

• Middle School Makeover by Michelle Icard

• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

• Motivating the Unmotivated by MaryAnn Brittingham

• Powerful, Practical Strategies for Reaching “I Don’t Care!” and

Underperforming Students by MaryAnn Brittingham (BER Conference)

• Turnaround Tools for the Teenage Brain by Eric Jensen and Carole Snider

• What if Everybody Understood Child Development? by Rae Pica