Teach Children Well: Reflection #15: Student Motivation

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Reflection #15: Student Motivation

"Learning to Learn" Signage

The final reflection of element 2B of the The Massachusetts Educator Evaluation Rubric, Student Motivation, is an element I worked a lot on last year. Inspired by Hattie's book, Visible Learning for Teachers, Maximizing Impact on Learning, I created many small posters and explicitly coached students' "learning to learn" mindsets through videos, examples, stories, activities, response, and classroom signage. The power of this effort was amazing. With this effort, students were able to go forward with learning using positive, proactive attitudes rather than "I can't do it" and "that's not me" fixed mindsets. Hence, I encourage every educator to start the year with a unit about what it means to be a learner including the strategies, efforts, and mindsets that lead to learning success. Share this unit with families too as many people still have old mindsets with regard to learning strategy and success. I wrote this post, and used this video as part of this effort.

As you reflect on element 2B3, read the standard, indicator, element, criteria, key points, and questions below. Use the grid to reflect upon, and to make notes related to this element's implications for your own practice.

Standard II: Teaching All Students. The teacher promotes the learning and growth of all students through instructional practices that establish high expectations, create a safe and effective classroom environment, and demonstrate cultural proficiency

Indicator II-B. Learning Environment: Creates and maintains a safe and collaborative learning environment that motivates students to take academic risks, challenge themselves, and claim ownership of their learning.

Element II-B- 3: Student Motivation

Criteria (exemplary)
Models and consistently support students to identify strengths, interests, and needs; asks for support; take risks; challenge themselves; set learning goals; and monitor their own progress.

Key Points/Questions:

Models and consistently supports students to identify strengths, interests, and needs. In what ways do you support students' metacognition with regard to strengths, interests, and needs?
Take risks, challenge themselves. What structures do you have in place that foster student risk tasking and challenge?
Set learning goals; and monitor progress. How do you consistently create opportunities for students to set goals and monitor progress?

Element 2B3: Student Motivation

Key Points	Question	Effective Efforts	Implications for Your Practice	Results
Models and consistently supports students to identify strengths, interests, and needs.	In what ways do you support students' metacognition with regard to strengths, interests, and needs?	Define metacognition for students, use signage in the classroom for reminders. At start of year, survey students with regard to strengths, interests, and needs. Revisit that survey and reassess throughout the year. Respond to students’ strengths, interests, and needs with proactive feedback and response. Model your own learning metacognition.
Take risks, challenge themselves.	What structures do you have in place that foster student risk taking and challenge?	Create learning experiences and choices that invite risk taking and challenge. Respond to risk taking and challenge with enthusiasm and process. Demonstrate to students that risk taking and challenge are steps to learning. Use signage to emphasize the strength and value of risk taking and challenge.
Set learning goals; and monitor progress.	How do you consistently create opportunities for students to set goals and monitor progress?	Establish goal setting at the start of the year and beginning of each lesson and unit. Make monitoring goals a consistent effort throughout the year related to specific year-long, lesson, and unit goals. Model your own goal setting and monitoring explicitly.