Case Study in Motivation

Deanne Whitehead
EDU 615
April 22, 2014

Case Study in Motivation

I. Introduction
Donald is a sixth grade boy, who actually is about a year and a half older
than his peers, as he was held back when he was in second grade due to a
medical reason. Donald was diagnosed at an early age with colitis; therefore, an
accommodation has been put in place on a 504 plan that allows Donald to use
the bathroom at any time of the day that is needed. His current 504 plan has
only medical accommodations in place; there is nothing that states that Donald
needs any academic accommodations. Based upon district and state mandated
testing results, Donald is an average student in all areas, with nothing to indicate
any learning disabilities or struggles. Donald is the younger of two boys in a
strong, educationally based family. His older brother is in ninth grade and is a
high achieving student, both in academics and sports, while Donald struggles
with school and is not particularly athletic. Both of Donalds parents are
supportive and want what is best for him, although his mother tends to not hold
Donald accountable for his lack of effort in terms of his schoolwork. There seems
to be a great deal of pressure on Donald at home to follow in his brothers
footsteps.
Donald is a student in my Language Arts class and I would consider him to
be much more capable than what he demonstrates on a daily basis. Across all
subject areas, Donald appears to be very apathetic in his demeanor. He is a
very polite and respectful boy when discussing with a teacher a poor grade on a
test, or a zero in the grade book, however, Donald always seem to care less than

his teachers and parents do about his success in school. It is a consensus

among his teachers that Donald is a highly unmotivated student.
A typical class period in Language Arts for Donald is much the same
across any subject area or in any of his classes. Donald is for the most part quiet
during class, although there are a few students who he can become silly with.
Donald is highly distractible in the classroom. He gets off task in the presence of
his friends, and he constantly is watching what others are doing and has a
difficult time staying focused. Donald definitely has some attentional issues. He
is often out of his seat, at the pencil sharpener, or most likely, signing out to use
the bathroom. Donald uses a large amount of class time each day at the
bathroom. He is often gone about 5-10 minutes of each class period, and
according to his other teachers, he leaves their classrooms in much the same
capacity, on a daily basis. Donald is often seen in the halls walking very slowly to
and from the restroom facilities. It is a belief by many staff members that Donald
uses the bathroom as an avoidance technique to miss a great deal of class time.
Unfortunately, Donald is not the type of student who can afford to miss valuable
class time. He does not easily catch up, as he does his work in a slow fashion.
He is often late handing assignments in and he at times struggles with concepts
because he will so often be out of the classroom.
Part of the concern with Donald and his lack of motivation is his mother.
She cannot accept that Donalds problem is his lack of effort; she is convinced
that Donald has a learning disability. As a result of her questioning this, the
elementary school tested Donald for special education services one year ago.

Case Study in Motivation

Donald did not qualify in any area to receive any type of services or interventions.
His state testing results of this current school year show Donald to be in the
average range, and in some areas even revealed quite a bit of growth. Donalds
mom wants desperately for Donald to be an A or B student, as his older brother
is. Unfortunately, Donald is more of a solid C student, in which he probably could
be a B student with some effort on his part. Donalds mom has continued to push
for more testing so that services can be provided for Donald, and the school is
pushing back now. There is no indication that Donald needs special education
services, nor recommendations from any of his teachers that believe Donald
would qualify. At this point, his mother is not helping Donald to be successful at
school. Donald seems to know how to get by without a great deal of effort, and if
he begins to start failing, he seems to know that mom will be calling a teacher,
the principal, or requesting a meeting. It is this lack of being held accountable
that is holding Donald back, as he is not required to take responsibility of his
inactions.
Donalds lack of motivation can be directly related to the selfdetermination theory of motivation. As Anderman and Anderman (2010) explain,
Humans have three basic needs: the need for autonomy, the need for
competency, and the need for relatedness. Donald seems to have each of
these pieces missing from his current educational situation. He is lacking in
autonomy because he is not in control of his own learning, therefore has little to
no self-directness when it comes to his education. Donald is not held
accountable in terms of being responsible for his work completion and study

habits. He knows that his mother will control each aspect of his education and
that he does not have to be responsible for himself. Therefore, the need for
autonomy is unfulfilled. The need for competence is also missing. I do not
believe that Donald feels very confident in school as he often performs poorly on
quizzes and tests, or fails to complete his class work. This results in poor
grades, one that does not inspire a feeling of competence or self-worth. Lastly,
although Donald does have friends, I do not believe he has a strong sense of
relatedness. He is not that student who has a large social group, nor does he
play on any team that would allow him to feel that he is part of a larger network of
other students.
II. Observations
During any type of work environment in class, whether it is group or
independent work, Donald most likely will have several distractibility issues. It is
often difficult for him to stay focused and pay attention whenever there is activity
in the room. He often will leave during this time to use the restroom, possibly as
a form of avoidance. During this learning time, I have employed several
strategies to help Donald with these attentional concerns. Group work is critical,
as Donald needs just the right group of students to work with. I want the others
in a group to be a role model for Donald. Throughout the course of the school
year, I have found handful of other students that are appropriate group members
for Donald. I will make sure that with each configuration I form, Donald is at least
with one or two of these students. The students at my school have, more than
likely, been together for most of their entire education therefore, most of them

Case Study in Motivation

have a good grasp on each other, especially concerning their strengths,
weaknesses, and learning styles. These students expect Donald to do his part
within the constraints of the group and they model for him an appropriate work
ethic. I believe that working together provides Donald with the beginning of
fulfillment in the basic need of relatedness. Research has shown that people
need to feel that there are other people who care about them and really know
them. (Deci and Ryan, 1999) As these sixth graders are maturing and becoming
more empathetic towards their peers need, I am observing students like Donald
blossoming and stepping up to the plate so as not to let their classmates down.
A separate relationship in Donalds school environment is one of the
teacher and student. It did not take long at the beginning of the year, for me to
realize that Donald definitely needed more individualized attention than most my
other students. Donald seemed to me to be a student who just seemed a little
bit lost, as if he had no direction. It didnt do any good for me to express
frustration about Donalds lack of effort and motivation, as his defenses tells him
to retreat in this type of situation. Nor is it particularly helpful to discuss with
Donald his missing assignments or poor grades as he is already aware of these
factors about himself. I did establish early on that Donald needed to feel that
others believed in him, especially his teachers. I try to strengthen that teacherstudent relationship the best that I could. Deci, et al. (1999) state that students
who feel a satisfying relationship with one or more teachers tend to do better in
school than those who do not. Donald began to come in for lunch for extra help,
most of the time on his request. He also began to stay after school for homework

club, but did not go there until after a quick check in with me. This strengthened
our working relationship as Donald began to see me as one that he could trust
and cared about his success.
During test taking situations, Donald can appear to struggle or show
confusion. He often performs poorly on assessments, which is partially due to
his lack of study habits and his distractibility in class. Donald often gets confused
with the directions. When a teacher is explaining to the class the various
portions of an assessment, Donald will have the appearance of following along,
but I have found that he is not. One simple strategy that I employ is to
immediately check in with Donald for understanding of the directions. I will at
times sit with him and reread the directions, and sometimes portions of the test
itself. Or I will do a sample question from each section with him for Donald to
use as a model for the rest of the assessment. Throughout the school year,
Donald has gone from feeling uneasy working one on one with me, to being
much more comfortable. He didnt want to stand out as needing help in the
beginning, but once he realized that with a little extra support and redirection he
could be much more successful, his level of confidence increased. As a result,
Donald will be much more engaged in the test, which leads to him trying harder.
The feeling of autonomy, with an emphasis on the student becoming much more
self-directed, is the motivational theory of self- determination at work.
Every quarter in Language Arts, students need to recite a poem that they
have practiced and memorized. This is to enable all students to become much
more efficient with their oral fluency. Another method used to practice fluency is

Case Study in Motivation

reading aloud one on one with the teacher, and reading aloud in front of the
class. With these activities, Donald has demonstrated an increase in anxiety or
nervousness. During oral presentations, Donald has at times, acted silly. To
ensure that he and the other students are confident and ready, I have them
practice with each other several times throughout the week leading up to the
poetry recitations. I will purposely pair Donald with a student who will serve as a
leader or role model, one that will encourage him to be serious and do his very
best. I require all my students to practice with their parents. As I know that
Donalds mom will take this practice seriously, and keep her expectations of him
high, Donald has responded to both the peer and parent practice exceedingly
well. I have witnessed his rising confidence with both his speaking skills with
poetry and his oral reading fluency.
III. Effective Strategies
As the theory of self-determination largely is reliant on extrinsic motivation,
or the desire to gain external rewards such as grades, and intrinsic motivation, or
the internal motivating factors such as a desire to learn, students such as
Donald, need to learn from the value of both. The goal would be for Donald to
become motivated through whatever means work for him at the time, most likely
being external factors, or through extrinsic motivation. As Donald grows,
matures, and progresses through the grade levels, so might his intrinsic
motivation. Although Donald is old for his age, being the youngest of his family
and not someone who has been required to bear a lot of responsibility, Donald
does act younger than the majority of his peers, and may be a bit

developmentally behind in terms of his maturity level. Actually practicing the

three basic needs of the self-determination theory, by utilizing them every day, as
well as having the support of teachers and his classmates, will help Donald be
successful as a student. Deci and Ryan (2002) suggests, When people
experience these three things; competence, relatedness, and autonomy, they
become self-determined, and intrinsically motivated to pursue the things that
interest them. At twelve years old, Donald is not in a position to really know or
understand what drives him, or what will motivate him in the future. As is
understood within the frameworks of the theory of self-determination, the
psychological growth of a person does not happen automatically, it requires
sustenance as a young person reaches a level of developmental maturity that will
occur for individuals in due time. (Cherry, K., 2014)
I would strongly recommend to teachers, in motivating all of our students,
to keep the interest level high by varying instruction. Through differentiated
instruction, students take a much keener interest in their learning, which leads to
the development of intrinsic motivation. When reflecting upon Donald in
particular, Carol Ann Tomlinson, an expert on differentiated instruction, reminds
me of a suggestion. Give your students as much responsibility for their learning
as possible. It helps young learners become independent-an important learning
goal on its own. (Tomlinson, 2001) The simple theory of giving the student the
responsibility for his learning, by placing the accountability where it truly belongs,
with the student, is essential. This will enable these young adolescents to grow
into the life- long learners that they have the potential to become.

Case Study in Motivation

IV. Conclusion
Having the opportunity to focus on one of my students, Donald has taught
me a great deal on what strategies I can try or continue to use to motivate him,
as well as other students. Undergoing this process of analyzing one individual,
who struggles with motivational issues, was an eye opener. This type of
experience can remind teachers that all of our students are unique; where one
may lack motivation, another may be highly motivated without an outlet to
express themselves sufficiently. While another student may have a different
concern with their desire to succeed and do their best, a different theory of
motivation would be much more practical to utilize. The strategy that I find
particularly important as a teacher is one of common sense and understanding,
one we recognize by just being a good teacher. It is the approach that if we
develop a caring and welcoming classroom environment for our students, one
that is based upon respect for others, that is a gift that we can give our students,
and a strong motivating factor by itself. To make great strides as a teacher, and
watch your students become strong learners and upstanding young people is the
greatest reward of all.

References
Anderman, E.M., Anderman, L.H. (2014) Classroom motivation: 2nd ed. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Cherry, K. (2014) What is the self-determination theory? About.com Psychology.

http://psychology.about.com/od/motivation/f/self-detemination-theory/

Deci, E.D., Ryan, R.M.(2002) Handbook of self-determination research. New

York: University of Rochester Press.

Deci, E.D., Ryan, R.M. (2009) Selfdetermination theory of motivation.

Education.com: The Gale Group. http://www.education.com/print/selfdetermination-theory-of-motivation/

Tomlinson, C.A. (2001) How to differentiate in mixed-ability classrooms: 2nd ed.

Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.