Ability, Effort, Other people and Luck

This was a very interesting chapter considering I spend most of my day trying to motivate students. Many of my students have not had much experience with success, at least not on the first few tries. They view themselves as stupid and don't want anyone to know that they don't learn in the same way as everyone else. It is much easier to be the class clown, or "lazy" student, rather than the "special education student." Most of my students believe that "smart" students do not apply effort in their academic studies. Most of my students believe that the "smart" students do very little work, it just comes "naturally" to those students.

An idea that really struck me in the readings was that people attribute success at any given task to 1 of 4 causes: ability, effort, other people and luck. Three out of four of those ideas actually hurt success. At some point in your life, you may not have the required skills to be "naturally" good at something, and other people and luck are not constants. Effort is the most useful trait out of the four. Effort can provide the motivation that can be applied throughout a person's lifetime.

One thing I have been trying at school is to privately catch my students when they are applying effort in their academic subjects all on their own. I try to whisper to them that I am proud of their effort. I have even called home to let the parent know the positive things that their son or daughter has done so that they don't always just hear the negative from the school district. At the end of last school year, I made a certificate for the most "improved student" and gave it privately to a female student who gave a 110% of herself to her academic studies. She said it was the first time that she was ever acknowledged for something positive in school. She was beaming with pride.

The Special Education teachers at the High School plan on explicitly teaching more lessons about effort and showing examples between effort and success. We hope the the students will learn to change their beliefs and start to put forth the effort required to be successful in their academic subjects and beyond.

An idea that really struck me in the reading this month, was the practice and implementation of teaching effort. Many of us, myself included, are guilty from time to time of presuming that all of our students know how to put forth effort. We may make comments such as "I would like to see your best effort," however, we sometimes fail to wonder if the student knows what their best effort is. Do they know how to push themselves to do their best?


I absolutely love the idea of implementing effort rubrics as a way to create a distinct relationship between effort and achievement. I believe that it is essential for students to understand this relationship so that they become more equipped learners, ready to take on any task put in front of them. I truly believe that too many of our students feel that they are simply not smart enough to understand the material and even if they put forth effort it just doesn't seem to be good enough to make the grade. The question then becomes, how do we as educators help students develop the skills and confidence they need to attain success......

"To get what we've never had we must do what we've never done."

Read and Reflect

An idea that really struck me while reading the subsection "Teaching about Effort" was the idea of having each student complete an effort rubric after a test/quiz/project. I really liked this idea because I think that when students are able to see the relationship between effort and achievement (provided that they are honest with themselves while filling out the rubric) they will realize how important putting forth 100% effort is, as well as how effort affects achievement. I think this would serve as a tremendous motivator for most students.

I have not had the opportunity to implement this in my classroom as of yet because most of my classroom settings are Co-teach or Instructional support. I plan to experiment with this rubric with my Instructional Support class in the near future. I'm excited to see how it turns out! I will be using the effort rubric from the book (pg. 52) to start my experiment with. I may change bits and pieces as time progresses. I'll keep everyone updated as to how this is working out for us!

Sorry I don't have any fun pictures :-P


When reading the text, another idea that struck me was the "Guidelines for Effective Praise" (pg. 56). The table really outlines effective/ineffective praise quite well. I think most of us (or at least myself) are guilty of only praising particular students, or students who are over-achievers anyway! This will also be something that I plan to work on- praise everyone on their good work or achievements.

I don't typically believe in giving physical awards/rewards because I feel that children are going to grow to expect something physical every time they meet some expectation. Rather, I feel that they will benefit more with a "self-esteem boost".

Prize bins and Treasure chest!

      While walking around HMS I realized that a lot of teachers have various prize incentives for their students. Each one has different criteria for winning a prize.  Students learn that they will be rewarded for various tasks and goals achieve from effort given to homework, classwork, routines and daily chores. As the authors of Classroom Instruction that Works states "Reinforcing effort can help teach students one of the most valuable lessons they can learn- the harder you try, the more successful you are." (Marzano, 59).

Goals and Achievement!

 

This is the start of our intervention bulletin board at HMS.  Students names are added when they have completed an IXL Math section.  We will continue to increase the number of stars throughout the year!

 

This is a bulletin board for sixth grade blue team students.  They all wrote their goals for the year and have signed the goal pledge to achieve their personal best for the year! This kit can be ordered from www.reallygoodstuff.com.

Effort in classroom routines.

After the first two classes of my sixth grade research seminar in the library, students should begin to know the class routines.  When they arrive at the library, they get their folders, read the agenda on the white board and begin their warm up exercise. Most students need reminders after the first class so I reinforce what they have done by complimenting students who have followed the routines correctly.  I give small token prizes to students who have done this accomplishment. They can pick either erasers, bookmarks or pencils out out my "Prize Batman Bucket".  I think that this is a great way to start the year and help students model for each other.  I find that they do make an extra effort to learn and follow the routines much easier when they are recognized and soon everyone is achieving this small goal. 

Email Address Please!

Hello Bloggers!

Currently all members only have access to add comments.  I'd like everyone to be able to POST as I have.  Posting allows you to add info with formatting, pics. links, etc.!  In order to give you permission to add a post I need to make you a 'Blog Author'.  I need the email address you used to set up your membership to the blog.  Send me your email address either as a comment on the blog or to my Fairhaven email (ahartley-matteson@fairhavenps.org).  Once I receive your email I will add you as an author and you will have access to POST on the blog! 

Thanks,
Amy

Posts and comments!!!

Who's going to be the first to blog a post/comment/question/picture/thought???

Blogging by myself is getting boring!!   

Classroom Instruction That Works

Our blog group is reading Classroom Instruction That Works.  If you want to be part of our study group please be sure to email me so I can get the text to you asap.  Those who have already emailed me you should receive your copy on Monday! 

Effort, effort, everywhere!!!

A morning message with student's descriptions of what "effort" means.

Cooperative groups work together to create classroom rules.  Notice rule # 4!!

Has anyone tried a new technique to promote students to put forth extra effort?  Please share!!

September: Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition

This month please complete the following before the last day of the month:

• Read Classroom Instruction that Works, Chapter 4 (page 49-59)
• Blog your responses to the prompts on page 21 in your planner
• Blog at least one example of something you tried in your classroom related to the topic.

Remember to respond to each other's blog entries and have fun!!

212 Degrees!

This is an awesome video all about effort! 
http://www.212movie.com/