RTI Toolkit: A Practical Guide for Schools Academic ... · Academic & Behavioral Interventions for the Classroom Jim ... word and begin reading with you again. ... This stack of ‘main

RTI Toolkit: A Practical Guide for Schools

Academic & Behavioral Interventions for the Classroom

Jim Wright, Presenter August 2011 Rochester City Schools Rochester, NY

Jim Wright 364 Long Road Tully, NY 13159 Email: [email protected] Resources from Workshop Available at: http://www.jimwrightonline.com/RCSD_cohort3.php 5

Paired Reading Description: The student reads aloud in tandem with an accomplished reader. At a student signal, the helping reader stops reading, while the student continues on. When the student commits a reading error, the helping reader resumes reading in tandem. Materials:

Reading book Preparation:

The teacher, parent, adult tutor, or peer tutor working with the student should be trained in advance to use the paired-reading approach.

Intervention Script: 1. Sit with the student in a quiet location without too many distractions. Position the

book selected for the reading session so that both you and the student can easily follow the text.

2. Say to the student, “Now we are going to read aloud together for a little while.

Whenever you want to read alone, just tap the back of my hand like this [demonstrate] and I will stop reading. If you come to a word you don’t know, I will tell you the word and begin reading with you again.”

3. Begin reading aloud with the student. If the student misreads a word, point to the word and pronounce it. Then have the student repeat the word. When the student reads the word correctly, resume reading through the passage.

4. When the child delivers the appropriate signal (a hand tap), stop reading aloud and

instead follow along silently as the student continues with oral reading. Be sure occasionally to praise the student in specific terms for good reading (e.g., “That was a hard word. You did a nice job sounding it out!”).

5. If, while reading alone, the child either commits a reading error or hesitates for longer

than 5 seconds, point to the error-word and pronounce it. Then tell the student to say the word. When the student pronounces the error-word correctly, begin reading aloud again in unison with the student.

6. Continue reading aloud with the student until he or she again signals to read alone. Tips: Consider Using Paired Reading for Peer Tutoring or as a Parent Strategy. Paired reading is a highly structured but simple strategy that can easily be taught to others—including to school-age children and youth. If you have a pool of responsible older students available you may want to create a cross-age peer tutoring program that uses

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Jim Wright, Presenter www.interventioncentral.org 2

paired reading as its central intervention. Or train parents to use this simple reading strategy when they read with their children at home.

References: Topping, K. (1987). Paired reading: A powerful technique for parent use. Reading Teacher, 40, 608-614.

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‘How RTI Works’ Series © 2010 Jim Wright www.interventioncentral.org 1

Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit Good readers continuously monitor their understanding of informational text. When necessary, they also take steps to improve their understanding of text through use of reading comprehension ‘fix-up’ skills. Presented here are a series of fix-up skill strategies that can help struggling students to better understand difficult reading assignments.

[Core Instruction] Providing Main Idea Practice through ‘Partner Retell’ (Carnine & Carnine, 2004). Students in a group or class are assigned a text selection to read silently. Students are then paired off, with one student assigned the role of ‘reteller’ and the other appointed as ‘listener’. The reteller recounts the main idea to the listener, who can comment or ask questions. The teacher then states the main idea to the class. Next, the reteller locates two key details from the reading that support the main idea and shares these with the listener. At the end of the activity, the teacher does a spot check by randomly calling on one or more students in the listener role and asking them to recap what information was shared by the reteller.

[Accommodation] Developing a Bank of Multiple Passages to Present Challenging Concepts (Hedin & Conderman, 2010; Kamil et al., 2008; Texas Reading Initiative, 2002). The teacher notes which course concepts, cognitive strategies, or other information will likely present the greatest challenge to students. For these ‘challenge’ topics, the teacher selects alternative readings that present the same general information and review the same key vocabulary as the course text but that are more accessible to struggling readers (e.g., with selections written at an easier reading level or that use graphics to visually illustrate concepts). These alternative selections are organized into a bank. Students are encouraged to engage in wide reading by choosing selections from the bank as a means to better understand difficult material.

[Student Strategy] Promoting Understanding & Building Endurance through Reading-Reflection Pauses (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). The student decides on a reading interval (e.g., every four sentences; every 3 minutes; at the end of each paragraph). At the end of each interval, the student pauses briefly to recall the main points of the reading. If the student has questions or is uncertain about the content, the student rereads part or all of the section just read. This strategy is useful both for students who need to monitor their understanding as well as those who benefit from brief breaks when engaging in intensive reading as a means to build up endurance as attentive readers.

[Student Strategy] Identifying or Constructing Main Idea Sentences (Davey & McBride, 1986; Rosenshine, Meister & Chapman, 1996). For each paragraph in an assigned reading, the student either (a) highlights the main idea sentence or (b) highlights key details and uses them to write a ‘gist’ sentence. The student then writes the main idea of that paragraph on an index card. On the other side of the card, the student writes a question whose answer is that paragraph’s main idea sentence. This stack of ‘main idea’ cards becomes a useful tool to review assigned readings.

[Student Strategy] Restructuring Paragraphs with Main Idea First to Strengthen ‘Rereads’ (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). The student highlights or creates a main idea sentence for each paragraph in the assigned reading. When rereading each paragraph of the selection, the student (1) reads the main idea sentence or student-generated ‘gist’ sentence first (irrespective of where that sentence actually falls in the paragraph); (2) reads the remainder of the paragraph, and (3) reflects on how the main idea relates to the paragraph content.

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[Student Strategy] Summarizing Readings (Boardman et al., 2008). The student is taught to summarize readings into main ideas and essential details--stripped of superfluous content. The act of summarizing longer readings can promote understanding and retention of content while the summarized text itself can be a useful study tool.

[Student Strategy] Linking Pronouns to Referents (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). Some readers lose the connection between pronouns and the nouns that they refer to (known as ‘referents’)—especially when reading challenging text. The student is encouraged to circle pronouns in the reading, to explicitly identify each pronoun’s referent, and (optionally) to write next to the pronoun the name of its referent. For example, the student may add the referent to a pronoun in this sentence from a biology text: “The Cambrian Period is the first geological age that has large numbers of multi-celled organisms associated with it Cambrian Period.”

[Student Strategy] Apply Vocabulary ‘Fix-Up’ Skills for Unknown Words (Klingner & Vaughn, 1999). When confronting an unknown word in a reading selection, the student applies the following vocabulary ‘fix-up’ skills:

1. Read the sentence again.

2. Read the sentences before and after the problem sentence for clues to the word’s meaning.

3. See if there are prefixes or suffixes in the word that can give clues to meaning.

4. Break the word up by syllables and look for ‘smaller words’ within.

[Student Strategy] Compiling a Vocabulary Journal from Course Readings (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). The student highlights new or unfamiliar vocabulary from course readings. The student writes each term into a vocabulary journal, using a standard ‘sentence-stem’ format: e.g., “Mitosis means…” or “A chloroplast is…”. If the student is unable to generate a definition for a vocabulary term based on the course reading, he or she writes the term into the vocabulary journal without definition and then applies other strategies to define the term: e.g., look up the term in a dictionary; use Google to locate two examples of the term being used correctly in context; ask the instructor, etc.).

[Student Strategy] Encouraging Student Use of Text Enhancements (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). Text enhancements can be used to tag important vocabulary terms, key ideas, or other reading content. If working with photocopied material, the student can use a highlighter--but should limit highlighting to important text elements such as main idea and key vocabulary terms. Another enhancement strategy is the ‘lasso and rope’ technique—using a pen or pencil to circle a vocabulary term and then drawing a line that connects that term to its underlined definition. If working from a textbook, the student can cut sticky notes into strips. These strips can be inserted in the book as pointers to text of interest. They can also be used as temporary labels—e.g., for writing a vocabulary term and its definition.

[Student Strategy] Reading Actively Through Text Annotation (Harris, 1990; Sarkisian et al., 2003). Students are likely to increase their retention of information when they interact actively with their reading by jotting comments in the margin of the text. Using photocopies, the student is taught to engage in an ongoing 'conversation' with the writer by recording a running series of brief comments in the margins of the text. The student may write annotations to record opinions about points raised by the writer, questions triggered by the reading, or unknown vocabulary words.

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References

Boardman, A. G., Roberts, G., Vaughn, S., Wexler, J., Murray, C. S., & Kosanovich, M. (2008). Effective instruction for adolescent struggling readers: A practice brief. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction.

Carnine, L., & Carnine, D. (2004). The interaction of reading skills and science content knowledge when teaching struggling secondary students. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 20, 203-218.

Davey, B., & McBride, S. (1986). Effects of question-generation training on reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 256-262.

Harris, J. (1990). Text annotation and underlining as metacognitive strategies to improve comprehension and retention of expository text. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Reading Conference (Miami).

Hedin, L. R., & Conderman, G. (2010). Teaching students to comprehend informational text through rereading. The Reading Teacher, 63(7), 556–565.

Kamil, M. L., Borman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., & Torgesen, J. (2008). Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A practice guide (NCEE #2008-4027). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc.

Klingner, J. K., & Vaughn, S. (1999). Promoting reading comprehension, content learning, and English acquisition through collaborative strategic reading (CSR). The Reading Teacher, 52(7), 738-747.

Rosenshine, B., Meister, C., & Chapman, S. (1996). Teaching students to generate questions: A review of the intervention studies. Review of Educational Research, 66, 181-221.

Sarkisian V., Toscano, M., Tomkins-Tinch, K., & Casey, K. (2003). Reading strategies and critical thinking. Retrieved October 15, 2006, from http://www.academic.marist.edu/alcuin/ssk/stratthink.html

Texas Reading Initiative. (2002). Promoting vocabulary development: Components of effective vocabulary instruction. Austin, TX: Author. Retrieved November 15, 2010, from http://www.tea.state.tx.us/reading/practices/redbk5.pdf

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Jim Wright www.interventioncentral.org 1

Math Review: Promote Mastery of Math Facts Through Incremental Rehearsal Incremental rehearsal builds student fluency in basic math facts (‘arithmetic combinations’) by pairing unknown computation items with a steadily increasing collection of known items. This intervention makes use of repeated, or massed, practice to promote fluency and guarantees that the student will experience a high rate of success.. Materials • Index cards and pen Steps to Implementing This Intervention In preparation for this intervention: 1. The tutor first writes down on an index card in ink each math fact that a student is expected to

master-but without the answer. NOTE: Educators can use the A-Plus Math Flashcard Creator, an on-line application, to make and print flashcards in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The web address for the flashcard creator is: http://www.aplusmath.com/Flashcards/Flashcard_Creator.html

2. The tutor reviews the collection of math-fact cards with the student. Any of the math facts that

the student can orally answer correctly within two seconds are considered to be known problems and are separated into one pile. Math facts that the student cannot yet answer correctly within two seconds are considered ‘unknown’ and collected in a second pile -- the ‘unknown facts’ deck.

3. The tutor next randomly selects 9 cards from the pile of known math facts and sets this subset

of cards aside as the ‘known facts’ deck. The rest of the pile of cards containing known math facts is put away (‘discard deck’), not to be used further in this intervention.

During the intervention: The tutor follows an incremental-rehearsal sequence each day when working with the student: 1. First, the tutor takes a single card from the ‘unknown facts’ deck. The tutor reads the math fact

on the card aloud, provides the answer, and prompts the student to read off and answer the same unknown problem.

2. Next the tutor takes one math fact from the ‘known facts’ deck and pairs it with the unknown

problem. When shown the two problems in sequence, the student is asked during the presentation of each math fact to read off the problem and answer it. The student is judged to be successful on a problem if he or she orally provides the correct answer to that problem within 2 seconds. If the student commits an error on any card or hesitates for longer than two seconds, the tutor reads the math fact on the card aloud, gives the answer, then prompts the

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student to read off the same unknown problem and provide the answer. This review sequence continues until the student answers all cards within two seconds without errors.

3. The tutor then repeats the sequence--taking yet another problem from the ‘known facts’ deck

to add to the expanding collection of math facts being reviewed (‘review deck’). Each time, the tutor prompts the student to read off and answer the whole series of math facts in the review deck, beginning with the unknown fact and then moving through the growing series of known facts that follow it.

4. When the review deck has expanded to include one ‘unknown’ math fact followed by nine

‘known’ math facts (a ratio of 90 percent ‘known’ material to 10 percent ‘unknown’ material), the last ‘known’ math fact that was added to the student’s review deck is discarded (put away with the ‘discard deck’). The previously ‘unknown’ math fact that the student has just successfully practiced in multiple trials is now treated as a ‘known’ math fact and is included as the first item in the nine-card ‘known facts’ deck for future drills.

5. The student is then presented with a new math fact to answer, taken from the ‘unknown facts’

deck. With each new ‘unknown’ math fact, the review sequence is again repeated as described above until the ‘unknown’ math fact is grouped incrementally with nine math facts from the ‘known facts’ deck—and on and on.

Daily review sessions are discontinued either when time runs out or when the student answers an ‘unknown’ math fact incorrectly three times. Reference Burns, M. K. (2005). Using incremental rehearsal to increase fluency of single-digit multiplication facts with children identified as learning disabled in mathematics computation. Education and Treatment of Children, 28, 237-249.

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Math Computation: Increase Accuracy By Intermixing Easy and Challenging Problems Teachers can improve accuracy and positively influence the attitude of students when completing math-fact worksheets by intermixing ‘easy’ problems among the ‘challenging’ problems. Research shows that students are more motivated to complete computation worksheets when they contain some very easy problems interspersed among the more challenging items. Materials • Math computation worksheets & answer keys with a mixture of difficult and easy problems Steps to Implementing This Intervention 1. The teacher first identifies one or more ‘challenging’ problem-types that are matched to the

student’s current math-computation abilities (e.g., multiplying a 2-digit number by a 2-digit number with regrouping).

2. The teacher next identifies an ‘easy’ problem-type that the students can complete very quickly

(e.g., adding or subtracting two 1-digit numbers). 3. The teacher then creates a a series of student math computation worksheets with ‘easy’

computation problems interspersed at a fixed rate among the ‘challenging’ problems. (NOTE: Instructions are included below for creating interspersal worksheets using a free online application from www.interventioncentral.org.)

• If the student is expected to complete the worksheet independently as seat work or

homework, ‘challenging’ and ‘easy’ problems should be interspersed at a 1:1 ratio (that is, every ‘challenging’ problem in the worksheet is followed by an ‘easy’ problem).

• If the student is to have the problems read aloud and then asked to solve the problems

mentally and write down only the answer, the items should appear on the worksheet at a ratio of 3:1 (that is, every third ‘challenging’ problem is followed by an ‘easy’ one).

Directions for On-Line Creation of Worksheets With a Mix of Easy and Challenging Computation Problems (‘Interspersal Worksheets’) By following the directions below, teachers can use a free on-line Math Worksheet Generator to create computation worksheets with easy problems interspersed among more challenging ones: • The teacher goes to the following URL for the Math Worksheet Generator:

http://www.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs/tools/mathprobe/allmult.php

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Jim Wright www.interventioncentral.org 2 • Displayed on that Math Worksheet Generator web page is a series of math computation goals

for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Teachers can select up to five different problem types to appear on a student worksheet. Each problem type is selected by clicking on the checkbox next to it.

• It is simple to create a worksheet with a 1:1 ratio of challenging and easy problems (that is,

with an easy problem following every challenging problem). First, the teacher clicks the checkbox next to an ‘easy’ problem type that the student can compute very quickly (e.g., adding or subtracting two 1-digit numbers). Next the teacher selects a ‘challenging’ problem type that is instructionally appropriate for the student (e.g., multiplying a 2-digit number by a 2-digit number with regrouping). Then the teacher clicks the ‘Multiple Skill Computation Probe’ button. The computer program will then automatically create a student computation worksheet and teacher answer key with alternating easy and challenging problems.

• It is also no problem to create a worksheet with a higher (e.g., 2:1, 3:1, or 4:1) ratio of

challenging problems to easy problems. The teacher first clicks the checkbox next to an ‘easy’ problem type that the student can compute very quickly (e.g., adding or subtracting two 1-digit numbers). The teacher then selects up to four different challenging problem types that are instructionally appropriate to the student. Depending on the number of challenging problem-types selected, when the teacher clicks the ‘Multiple Skill Computation Probe’ button, the computer program will create a student computation worksheet and teacher answer key that contain 2 (or 3 or 4) challenging problems for every easy problem.

Because the computer program generates new worksheets each time it is used, the teacher can enter the desired settings and –in one sitting-- create and print off enough worksheets and answer keys to support a six- or eight-week intervention. Reference Hawkins, J., Skinner, C. H., & Oliver, R. (2005). The effects of task demands and additive interspersal ratios on fifth-grade students’ mathematics accuracy. School Psychology Review, 34, 543-555.

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Combining Cognitive & Metacognitive Strategies to Assist Students With Mathematical Problem Solving Solving an advanced math problem independently requires the coordination of a number of complex skills. The student must have the capacity to reliably implement the specific steps of a particular problem-solving process, or cognitive strategy. At least as important, though, is that the student must also possess the necessary metacognitive skills to analyze the problem, select an appropriate strategy to solve that problem from an array of possible alternatives, and monitor the problem-solving process to ensure that it is carried out correctly. The following strategies combine both cognitive and metacognitive elements (Montague, 1992; Montague & Dietz, 2009). First, the student is taught a 7-step process for attacking a math word problem (cognitive strategy). Second, the instructor trains the student to use a three-part self-coaching routine for each of the seven problem-solving steps (metacognitive strategy). In the cognitive part of this multi-strategy intervention, the student learns an explicit series of steps to analyze and solve a math problem. Those steps include: 1. Reading the problem. The student reads the problem carefully, noting and attempting to clear

up any areas of uncertainly or confusion (e.g., unknown vocabulary terms). 2. Paraphrasing the problem. The student restates the problem in his or her own words. 3. ‘Drawing’ the problem. The student creates a drawing of the problem, creating a visual

representation of the word problem. 4. Creating a plan to solve the problem. The student decides on the best way to solve the

problem and develops a plan to do so. 5. Predicting/Estimating the answer. The student estimates or predicts what the answer to the

problem will be. The student may compute a quick approximation of the answer, using rounding or other shortcuts.

6. Computing the answer. The student follows the plan developed earlier to compute the answer to the problem.

7. Checking the answer. The student methodically checks the calculations for each step of the problem. The student also compares the actual answer to the estimated answer calculated in a previous step to ensure that there is general agreement between the two values.

The metacognitive component of the intervention is a three-part routine that follows a sequence of ‘Say’, ‘Ask, ‘Check’. For each of the 7 problem-solving steps reviewed above: • The student first self-instructs by stating, or ‘saying’, the purpose of the step (‘Say’). • The student next self-questions by ‘asking’ what he or she intends to do to complete the step

(‘Ask’). • The student concludes the step by self-monitoring, or ‘checking’, the successful completion of

the step (‘Check’). While the Say-Ask-Check sequence is repeated across all 7 problem-solving steps, the actual content of the student self-coaching comments changes across the steps.

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Table 1 shows how each of the steps in the word problem cognitive strategy is matched to the three-part Say-Ask-Check sequence: Table 1: ‘Say-Ask-Check’ Metacognitive Prompts Tied to a Word-Problem Cognitive Strategy (Montague, 1992) Cognitive Strategy Step

Metacognitive ‘Say-Ask-Check’ Prompt Targets

Sample Metacognitive ‘Say-Ask-Check’ Prompts

1. Read the problem.

‘Say’ (Self-Instruction) Target: The student reads and studies the problem carefully before proceeding. ‘Ask’ (Self-Question) Target: Does the student fully understand the problem? ‘Check’ (Self-Monitor) Target: Proceed only if the problem is understood.

Say: “I will read the problem. I will reread the problem if I don’t understand it.” Ask: “Now that I have read the problem, do I fully understand it?” Check: “I understand the problem and will move forward.”

2. Paraphrase the problem.

‘Say’ (Self-Instruction) Target: The student restates the problem in order to demonstrate understanding. ‘Ask’ (Self-Question) Target: Is the student able to paraphrase the problem? ‘Check’ (Self-Monitor) Target: Ensure that any highlighted key words are relevant to the question.

Say: “I will highlight key words and phrases that relate to the problem question.” “I will restate the problem in my own words.” Ask: “Did I highlight the most important words or phrases in the problem?” Check: “I found the key words or phrases that will help to solve the problem.”

3. ‘Draw’ the problem.

‘Say’ (Self-Instruction) Target: The student creates a drawing of the problem to consolidate understanding. ‘Ask’ (Self-Question) Target: Is there a match between the drawing and the problem? ‘Check’ (Self-Monitor) Target: The drawing includes in visual form the key elements of the math problem.

Say: “I will draw a diagram of the problem.” Ask: “Does my drawing represent the problem?” Check: “The drawing contains the essential parts of the problem.”

4. Create a plan to solve the problem.

‘Say’ (Self-Instruction) Target: The student generates a plan to solve the problem. ‘Ask’ (Self-Question) Target: What plan will help the student to solve this problem? ‘Check’ (Self-Monitor) Target: The plan is appropriate to solve the problem.

Say: “I will make a plan to solve the problem.” Ask: “What is the first step of this plan? What is the next step of the plan?” Check: “My plan has the right steps to solve the problem.”

5. Predict/estimate the

‘Say’ (Self-Instruction) Target: The student uses estimation or other strategies to predict or

Say: “I will estimate what the answer will be.”

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Answer. estimate the answer. ‘Ask’ (Self-Question) Target: What estimating technique will the student use to predict the answer? ‘Check’ (Self-Monitor) Target: The predicted/estimated answer used all of the essential problem information.

Ask: “What numbers in the problem should be used in my estimation?” Check: “I did not skip any important information in my estimation.”

6. Compute the answer.

‘Say’ (Self-Instruction) Target: The student follows the plan to compute the solution to the problem. ‘Ask’ (Self-Question) Target: Does the answer agree with the estimate? ‘Check’ (Self-Monitor) Target: The steps in the plan were followed and the operations completed in the correct order.

Say: “I will compute the answer to the problem.” Ask: “Does my answer sound right?” “Is my answer close to my estimate?” Check: “I carried out all of the operations in the correct order to solve this problem.”

7. Check the answer.

‘Say’ (Self-Instruction) Target: The student reviews the computation steps to verify the answer. ‘Ask’ (Self-Question) Target: Did the student check all the steps in solving the problem and are all computations correct? ‘Check’ (Self-Monitor) Target: The problem solution appears to have been done correctly.

Say: “I will check the steps of my answer.” Ask: “Did I go through each step in my answer and check my work?” Check: “”

Students will benefit from close teacher support when learning to combine the 7-step cognitive strategy to attack math word problems with the iterative 3-step metacognitive Say-Ask-Check sequence. Teachers can increase the likelihood that the student will successfully acquire these skills by using research-supported instructional practices (Burns, VanDerHeyden, & Boice, 2008), including: • Verifying that the student has the necessary foundation skills to solve math word problems • Using explicit instruction techniques to teach the cognitive and metacognitive strategies • Ensuring that all instructional tasks allow the student to experience an adequate rate of

success • Providing regular opportunities for the student to be engaged in active accurate academic

responding • Offering frequent performance feedback to motivate the student and shape his or her learning. References Burns, M. K., VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Boice, C. H. (2008). Best practices in intensive academic interventions. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp.1151-1162). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. Montague, M. (1992). The effects of cognitive and metacognitive strategy instruction on the mathematical problem solving of middle school students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 25, 230-248. Montague, M., & Dietz, S. (2009). Evaluating the evidence base for cognitive strategy instruction and mathematical problem solving. Exceptional Children, 75, 285-302.

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Sentence Combining: Teaching Rules of Sentence Structure by Doing Students with poor writing skills often write sentences that lack ‘syntactic maturity’ (Robinson & Howell, 2008). That is, these writers’ sentences often follow a simple, stereotyped format. In public schools, grammar skills have traditionally been taught in isolation to give students the advanced writing knowledge required to master a diverse range of sentence structures. However, isolated grammar instruction appears to have little or no positive impact in helping poor writers become better writers (Graham & Perin, 2007). A promising alternative is to use sentence combining (Graham & Perin, 2007; Strong, 1986). In this approach, students are presented with kernel sentences and given explicit instruction in how to weld these kernel sentences into more diverse sentence types either by using connecting words to combine multiple sentences into one or by isolating key information from an otherwise superfluous sentence and embedding that important information into the base sentence. In a simple demonstration of sentence combining, a student may generate these two sentences in her composition on the American Revolution: The American army had few supplies in the winter of 1776. The American army had few trained military leaders. The instructor might meet with the student and have the student recopy the two sentences in this format:

The American army had few supplies in the winter of 1776. The American army had few trained military leaders. (and)

The student would be encouraged to combine the two shorter sentences into a more comprehensive sentence by using the connecting word (coordinating conjunction) ‘and’ to combine objects: The American army had few supplies and few trained military leaders in the winter of 1776. Formatting Sentence Combining Examples These simple formatting conventions are used in sentence-combining exercises (Saddler, 2005; Strong, 1986): • In each example, the base clause (sentence) appears first. Any sentence(s) to be combined or

embedded with the base clause appear below that base clause. Example: Base clause: The dog ran after the bus.

Sentence to be embedded: The dog is yellow. Student-generated solution: The yellow dog ran after the bus.

• ‘Connecting words’ to be used as a sentence-combining tool appear in parentheses at the end of a sentence that is to be combined with the base clause. Example: Base clause: The car stalled.

Sentence to be combined: The car ran out of gas. (because) Student-generated solution: The car stalled because it ran out of gas.

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• The element(s) of any sentence to be embedded in the base clause are underlined.

Example: Base clause: The economic forecast resulted in strong stock market gains.

Sentence to be embedded: The economic forecast was upbeat. Student-generated solution: The upbeat economic forecast resulted in strong stock market gains.

Using Sentence Combining in Instruction Teachers who use sentence combining in their writing instruction should follow a direct-instruction approach (Saddler, 2005). The instructor fosters a learning atmosphere that encourages students to take risks when participating in sentence-combining activities. When first introducing sentence-combining to the class, the instructor explains that using varied sentence structures helps writers to better convey meaning. The instructor tells students that there are often multiple correct ways to combine sentences. The instructor completes several sentence-combining examples in front of the group, using a think-aloud approach to show his or her thinking process in successfully combining sentences. Students should then complete sentence-combining examples in pairs or groups, with the instructor circulating through the class to check for student understanding. Eventually, students work independently on sentence combining tasks to demonstrate mastery. They may then be asked to look in their own writing for examples in which they could combine sentences to improve A listing of types and examples of sentence-combining appears below in Table 1. When creating lessons on sentence combining, instructors should review the potential types of sentence-combining in Table 1 and decide the order in which those types might be presented to their class. Table 1: Sentence-combining types and examples (Saddler, 2005; Strong, 1986) Type of Sentence Sentence Combining Example Multiple (Compound) Sentence Subjects or Objects: Two or more subjects can be combined with a conjunction (e.g., or, and). Two or more direct or indirect objects can be combined with a conjunction (e.g., or, and).

• Skyscrapers in the city were damaged in the hurricane. Bridges in the city were damaged in the hurricane. Skyscrapers and bridges in the city were damaged in the hurricane.

• When they travel, migratory birds need safe habitat. When they travel, migratory birds need regular supplies of food. When they travel, migratory birds need safe habitat and regular supplies of food.

Adjectives & Adverbs: When a sentence simply contains an adjective or adverb that modifies the noun or verb of another sentence, the adjective or adverb from the first sentence can be embedded in the related sentence.

• Dry regions are at risk for chronic water shortages. Overpopulated regions are at risk for chronic water shortages. Dry and overpopulated regions are at risk for chronic water shortages.

• Health care costs have risen nationwide. Those health care costs have risen quickly. Health care costs have risen quickly nationwide.

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Connecting Words: One or more sentences are combined with connecting words. Coordinating conjunctions (e.g., and, but) link sentences on an equal basis. Subordinating conjunctions (e.g., after, until, unless, before, while, because) link sentences with one of the sentences subordinate or dependent on the other.

• The house was falling apart. No one seemed to care. (but) The house was falling apart, but no one seemed to care.

• The glaciers began to melt. The earth’s average temperature increased. (because) The glaciers began to melt because the earth’s average temperature increased.

Relative Clauses: Sentence contains an embedded, subordinate clause that modifies a noun.

• The artist was the most popular in the city. The artist painted watercolors of sunsets. (who) The artist who painted watercolors of sunsets was the most popular in the city.

Appositives: Sentence contains two noun phrases that refer to the same object. When two sentences refer to the same noun, one sentence be reduced to an appositive and embedded in the other sentence.

• The explorer paddled the kayak across the raging river. The explorer was an expert in handling boats. The explorer, an expert in handling boats, paddled the kayak across the raging river.

Possessive Nouns: A sentence that describes possession or ownership can be reduced to a possessive noun and embedded in another sentence.

• Some historians view the Louisiana Purchase as the most important expansion of United States territory. The Louisiana Purchase was President Jefferson’s achievement. Some historians view President Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase as the most important expansion of United States territory.

References Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC Alliance for Excellent Education. Robinson, L. K., & Howell, K. W. (2008). Best practices in curriculum-based evaluation & written expression. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 439-452). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. Saddler, B. (2005). Sentence combining: A sentence-level writing intervention. The Reading Teacher, 58, 468-471. Strong, W. (1986). Creative approaches to sentence combining. Urbana, OL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skill & National Council of Teachers of English.

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Motivation Deficit 1: The student is unmotivated because he or she cannot do the assigned work. Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student lacks essential skills required to do the task. Areas of deficit might include basic academic skills, cognitive strategies, and academic-enabler skills. Here are definitions of these skill areas:

Basic academic skills. Basic skills have straightforward criteria for correct performance (e.g., the student defines vocabulary words or decodes text or computes ‘math facts’) and comprise the building-blocks of more complex academic tasks (Rupley, Blair, & Nichols, 2009). The instructional goal in basic skills is for students to become ‘automatic’ in the skill(s) being taught.

Cognitive strategies. Students employ specific cognitive strategies as “guiding procedures” to complete more complex academic tasks such as reading comprehension or writing (Rosenshine, 1995). Cognitive strategies are “intentional and deliberate procedures” that are under the conscious control of the student (Rupley, Blair, & Nichols, 2009; p. 127). The instructional goals are to train students to use specific cognitive instruction strategies, to reliably identify the conditions under which they should employ these strategies, and to actually use them correctly and consistently. Question generation is an example of a cognitive strategy to promote reading comprehension (Rosenshine, Meister, & Chapman, 1996); the student is trained to locate or write main-idea sentences for each paragraph in a passage, then write those main ideas onto separate note cards with corresponding questions.

Academic-enabling skills. Skills that are ‘academic enablers’ (DiPerna, 2006) are not tied to specific academic knowledge but rather aid student learning across a wide range of settings and tasks. Examples of academic-enabling skills include organizing work materials, time management, and making and sticking to a work plan. The instructional goal is to train students to acquire these academic-support skills and to generalize their use to become efficient, self-managing learners.

What the Research Says: When a student lacks the capability to complete an academic task because of limited or missing basic skills, cognitive strategies, or academic-enabling skills, that student is still in the acquisition stage of learning (Haring et al., 1978). That student cannot be expected to be motivated or to be successful as a learner unless he or she is first explicitly taught these weak or absent essential skills (Daly, Witt, Martens & Dool, 1997).

How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: The teacher collects information (e.g., through observations of the student engaging in academic tasks; interviews with the student; examination of work products, quizzes, or tests) demonstrating that the student lacks basic skills, cognitive strategies, or academic-enabling skills essential to the academic task.

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How to Fix This Motivation Problem: Students who are not motivated because they lack essential skills need to be taught those skills.

Direct-Instruction Format. Students learning new material, concepts, or skills benefit from a ‘direct instruction’ approach. (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008; Rosenshine, 1995; Rupley, Blair, & Nichols, 2009). When following a direct-instruction format, the teacher:

ensures that the lesson content is appropriately matched to students’ abilities.

opens the lesson with a brief review of concepts or material that were previously presented.

states the goals of the current day’s lesson.

breaks new material into small, manageable increments, or steps.

throughout the lesson, provides adequate explanations and detailed instructions for all concepts and materials being taught. NOTE: Verbal explanations can include ‘talk-alouds’ (e.g., the teacher describes and explains each step of a cognitive strategy) and ‘think-alouds’ (e.g., the teacher applies a cognitive strategy to a particular problem or task and verbalizes the steps in applying the strategy).

regularly checks for student understanding by posing frequent questions and eliciting group responses.

verifies that students are experiencing sufficient success in the lesson content to shape their learning in the desired direction and to maintain student motivation and engagement.

provides timely and regular performance feedback and corrections throughout the lesson as needed to guide student learning.

allows students the chance to engage in practice activities distributed throughout the lesson (e.g., through teacher demonstration; then group practice with teacher supervision and feedback; then independent, individual student practice).

ensures that students have adequate support (e.g., clear and explicit instructions; teacher monitoring) to be successful during independent seatwork practice activities.

References:

Burns, M. K., VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Boice, C. H. (2008). Best practices in intensive academic interventions. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp.1151-1162). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

Daly, E. J., Witt, J. C., Martens, B. K., & Dool, E. J. (1997). A model for conducting a functional analysis of academic performance problems. School Psychology Review, 26, 554-574.

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DiPerna, J. C. (2006). Academic enablers and student achievement: Implications for assessment and intervention services in the schools. Psychology in the Schools, 43, 7-17.

Haring, N.G., Lovitt, T.C., Eaton, M.D., & Hansen, C.L. (1978). The fourth R: Research in the classroom. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing.

Rosenshine, B. (1995). Advances in research on instruction. The Journal of Educational Research, 88, 262-288.

Rosenshine, B., Meister, C., & Chapman, S. (1996). Teaching students to generate questions: A review of the intervention studies. Review of Educational Research, 66, 181-221.

Rupley, W. H., Blair, T. R., & Nichols, W. D. (2009). Effective reading instruction for struggling readers: The role of direct/explicit teaching. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 25:125–138.

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Motivation Deficit 2: The student is unmotivated because the ‘response effort’ needed to complete the assigned work seems too great. Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: Although the student has the required skills to complete the assigned work, he or she perceives the ‘effort’ needed to do so to be so great that the student loses motivation.

What the Research Says: Research indicates that (1) as the perceived effort to complete an academic task or other behavior (‘response effort’) increases, people are less likely to engage in that behavior, while (2) as the effort to complete the same behavior decreases, people are more likely to engage in it (Friman & Poling, 1995).

How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: The teacher first checks to see that the student has the requisite skills needed for academic success. The teacher then looks for evidence that, in specific situations, the student is reluctant to undertake academic tasks because they are perceived to require too much effort. Tell-tale signs that a student may be unmotivated because of the required response effort include procrastination, verbal complaining, frequent seeking of teacher help, and other avoidant behaviors.

How to Fix This Motivation Problem:

Teachers can increase student motivation through any method that reduces the apparent ‘response effort’ of an academic task (Friman & Poling, 1995). - so long as that method does not hold the student to a lesser academic standard than classmates (Skinner, Pappas, & Davis, 2005).

Try These Ideas to Improve Motivation by Reducing Response Effort: Here are ideas that use reduction in response effort as a motivation tool:

Start Assigned Readings in Class. Whenever the teacher assigns a challenging text for students to read independently (e.g., as homework), the teacher (or perhaps a skilled student reader) reads the first few paragraphs of the assigned reading aloud while the class follows along silently in their own texts. Students are then expected to read the remainder of the text on their own.

Begin Challenging Homework Assignments in Class. When assigned challenging homework, students are paired off or divided into groups and given a small amount of class time to begin the homework together, develop a plan for completing the homework, formulate questions about the homework, or engage in other activities that will create the necessary momentum to motivate students then to complete the work independently.

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‘Chunk’ Assignments. The teacher breaks a larger student assignment into smaller ‘chunks’. The teacher provides the student with performance feedback and praise for each completed ‘chunk’ of assigned work (Skinner, Pappas, & Davis, 2005).

Select a Supportive Peer or Adult to Get a Student Started on Assignments. If a student finds it difficult to get organized and begin independent seatwork activities, a supportive peer or adult in the classroom can get the student organized and started on the assignment.

Provide a Formal Work Plan. In advance of more complex assignments such as research papers, the teacher gives the student an outline of a work plan for completing those assignments. The plan breaks a larger assignment into appropriate sub-steps (e.g., ‘find five research articles for the paper’, ‘summarize key information from research articles into notes’, etc.). For each sub-step, the plan provides (1) an estimate of the minimum amount of ‘seat time’ required to complete it and (2) sets a calendar-date deadline for completion. The teacher then touches base with the student at least weekly to ensure that the student is staying current with the work plan. (TIP: Over time, the teacher can transfer increasing responsibility for generating work plans to the student.)

References:

Friman, P. C., & Poling, A. (1995). Making life easier with effort: Basic findings and applied research on response effort. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 28, 583–590.

Skinner, C. H., Pappas, D. N., & Davis, K. A. (2005). Enhancing academic engagement: Providing opportunities for responding and influencing students to choose to respond. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 389-403.

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Motivation Deficit 3: The student is unmotivated because classroom instruction does not engage. Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student is distracted or off-task because classroom instruction and learning activities are not sufficiently reinforcing to hold his or her attention.

What the Research Says: In classroom settings, students can choose to respond to a variety of reinforcing events—for example, watching the teacher, interacting with peers, looking out the window at passing traffic. The fact is that classroom instruction must always compete for student attention with other sources of reinforcement (Billington & DiTommaso, 2003; Skinner, Pappas, & Davis, 2005). There are two ways that the instructor can increase the student’s motivation to attend to classroom instruction: (1) by decreasing the reinforcing power of competing (distracting) stimuli, and/or (2) by increasing the reinforcing power of academic activities.

How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: The teacher observes that the student is engaged in behaviors other than those related to instruction or is otherwise distracted by non-instructional events occurring in the classroom. Furthermore, the teacher has verified that the student’s lack of attention to instruction is not due primarily to that student’s attempting to escape or avoid difficult classwork.

How to Fix This Motivation Problem: The teacher can increase the inattentive student’s focus on instruction and engagement in learning activities by using one or both of the strategies below:

Reduce the Reinforcing Power of Non-Instructional Activities. The teacher identifies any non-instructional activities in the classroom that are competing with instruction for the student’s attention and takes steps to reduce or eliminate them.

Increase the Reinforcing Power of Classroom Instruction. The teacher strives to boost the reinforcing quality of academic activities and instruction to better capture and hold the student’s attention.

Try These Ideas to Improve Motivation by Reducing the Reinforcing Power of Non-Instructional Activities:

Use Preferential Seating (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). The teacher seats a student who is distracted by peers or other environmental factors in a location where the student is most likely to stay focused on instructional content. All teachers have an 'action zone', a part of the room where they tend to focus most of their instruction; the instructor seats the distractible student somewhere within that zone. The ideal seating location for any particular student will vary, depending on the unique qualities of that student and of the classroom.

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Create Low-Distraction Work Areas (U.S. Department of Education, 2004. For students who are off-task during independent seatwork, the teacher can set up a study carrel in the corner of the room or other low-distraction work area. The teacher can then either direct the distractible student to use that area whenever independent seatwork is assigned or can permit the student to choose when to use the area.

Restrict Student Access to Electronic Devices and Other Potential Distracting Objects. The teacher creates a list of personal possessions that can pose the potential to distract from instruction (e.g., cell phones, personal game devices, etc.). The teacher either completely bans use of these items of student property at any point during a course session or restricts their use to clearly specified times or conditions.

Try These Ideas to Improve Motivation by Increasing the Reinforcing Power of Classroom Instruction and Activities:

Use Bellringer Activities. The teacher routinely gives students ‘bellringer’ activities to work on as soon as they enter the classroom. The point of this strategy is to capture students’ attention at the outset with academically relevant activities. Ideally, bellringer tasks should be engaging but also should review and reinforce previously taught content or prepare students for the upcoming lesson.

Provide Opportunities for Choice (Kern, Bambara, & Fogt, 2002). Teachers who allow students a degree of choice in structuring their learning activities typically have fewer behavior problems in their classrooms than teachers who do not. One efficient way to promote choice in the classroom is for the teacher to create a master menu of options that students can select from in various learning situations. For example, during independent assignment, students might be allowed to (1) choose from at least 2 assignment options, (2) sit where they want in the classroom, and (3) select a peer-buddy to check their work. Student choice then becomes integrated seamlessly into the classroom routine.

Structure Lessons around High-Interest or Functional-Learning Goals (Kern, Bambara, & Fogt, 2002; Miller et al., 2003). A student is more likely to be engaged when academic lessons are based on ‘high-interest’ topics that interest the student (e.g., NASCAR racing; fashion) or that have a ‘functional-learning’ pay-off—e.g., job interview skills; money management skills --that the student values and can apply in his or her own life.

Incorporate Cooperative Learning Activities into Instruction (Beyda, Zentall, & Ferko, 2002; Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002). Teacher-directed cooperative learning activities can be highly reinforcing for adolescent students, who typically find opportunities to interact with classmates to be a strong motivator. Cooperative learning tasks have the added advantages of promoting active student engagement and allowing the instructor to get real-time feedback through direct observation about the abilities and learning of individual students.

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Maintain a Brisk Pace of Instruction (Gettinger & Seibert, 2002). Instruction that is well-matched to the abilities of the classroom and moves at a brisk pace is most likely to capture and hold student attention. Additionally, the teacher is careful to avoid ‘dead time’, interruptions of instruction (e.g., time-consuming transitions to other activities; etc.) when students may get off-task and be difficult to redirect back to academic tasks.

References:

Beyda, S.D., Zentall, S.S., & Ferko, D.J.K. (2002). The relationship between teacher practices and the task-appropriate and social behavior of students with behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 27, 236-255.

Billington, E., & DiTommaso, N. M. (2003). Demonstrations and applications of the matching law in education. Journal of Behavioral Education, 12, 91-104.

Gettinger, M., & Seibert, J.K. (2002). Best practices in increasing academic learning time. In A. Thomas (Ed.), Best practices in school psychology IV: Volume I (4th ed., pp. 773-787). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

Kern, L., Bambara, L., & Fogt, J. (2002). Class-wide curricular modifications to improve the behavior of students with emotional or behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 27, 317-326.

Linnenbrink, E. A., & Pintrich, P. R. (2002). Motivation as an enabler for academic success. School Psychology Review, 31, 313-327.

Miller, K.A., Gunter, P.L., Venn, M.J., Hummel, J., & Wiley, L.P. (2003). Effects of curricular and materials modifications on academic performance and task engagement of three students with emotional or behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorder, 28, 130-149.

Skinner, C. H., Pappas, D. N., & Davis, K. A. (2005). Enhancing academic engagement: Providing opportunities for responding and influencing students to choose to respond. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 389-403.

U.S. Department of Education (2004). Teaching children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Instructional strategies and practices. Retrieved July 7, 2011, from http://www.ed.gov/teachers/needs/speced/adhd/adhd-resource-pt2.doc

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Motivation Deficit 4: The student is unmotivated because he or she fails to see an adequate pay-off to doing the assigned work. Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student requires praise, access to rewards, or other reinforcers in the short term as a temporary ‘pay-off’ to encourage her or him to apply greater effort.

What the Research Says: The use of external rewards (‘reinforcers’) can serve as a temporary strategy to encourage a reluctant student to become invested in completing school work and demonstrating appropriate behaviors (Akin-Little, Eckert, Lovett, & Little, 2004). It is expected that as the student puts increased effort into academics and behavior to earn teacher-administered reinforcers, the student will in turn begin to experience such positive natural reinforcers as improved grades, increased peer acceptance, a greater sense of self-efficacy in course content, and higher rates of teacher and parent approval. As the student enjoys the benefits of these natural reinforcers, the teacher can then fade and perhaps fully eliminate the use of programmed reinforcers or rewards.

Here are recommendations for using reward programs with students:

1. Do not use reward programs with students who are already demonstrating acceptable academic effort or general classroom conduct (Akin-Little, Eckert, Lovett, & Little, 2004).. While incentives can be a good way to ‘jump-start’ the academic motivation of a disengaged learner, they are not likely to benefit a student who is already making an adequate effort to perform in school.

2. Adjust rewards to match a student’s developing academic skills (Daly, Martens, Barnett, Witt, & Olson, 2007). During initial acquisition of a skill, provide reinforcement (e.g., praise, exchangeable tokens) contingent upon on-task behavior (time-based reinforcement). This approach avoids ‘penalizing’ students for slow performance. As the student moves into the fluency-building stage of learning, change to reinforcement based on rate of performance (reinforcing both accuracy and fluency in the skill). This approach explicitly reinforces high response rates. Then, as the student reaches acceptable rates of accuracy and fluency, maintain high rates of academic performance through such efficient methods as intermittent reinforcement or reinforcer lottery (e.g., the student earns tickets for each successful performance of target behaviors and those tickets are used for periodic lottery drawings for possible rewards).

How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: Through direct observation, student interview, and/or other means, the teacher has verified that instruction is effectively delivered and sufficiently engaging for most of the class, that the target student has the academic and related skills required for the academic work, and that the student has failed to be motivated by existing incentives such as grades that are typically available in classrooms. In the teacher’s judgment, the

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target student needs additional incentives (e.g., praise, rewards) to promote motivation to complete academic tasks.


Praise the Student. The teacher praises the student in clear and specific terms when the student engages in the desired behavior (Kern & Clemens, 2007). The teacher uses praise statements at a rate sufficient to motivate and guide the student toward the behavioral goal.

Use Rewards. The teacher establishes a reward system to motivate an individual student by implementing these steps (e.g., Kazdin, 1989):

1. Define the Target Behavior. The teacher writes a definition of the undesired student behavior to be decreased or the desired behavior to be increased as a result of the reward program.

2. Establish Criteria for Success. The teacher defines the minimum acceptable criteria for student success in the target behavior, which may include information about time intervals, cumulative frequency, and/or percentage of compliance.

3. Choose Student Incentives. The teacher selects incentives (positive reinforcers or ‘rewards’) that are likely to motivate the student.

4. Decide Whether a Point System Will Be Used. The teacher decides on one of two options in delivering rewards: the student is either given earned rewards directly whenever those rewards have been earned or the student can is assigned points (or tokens or tickets) each time that he or she meets the teacher’s behavioral expectations and then is allowed at some point to redeem these points for items from the reward menu.

5. Decide How the Reward is to Be Delivered. The teacher selects a means for the student to receive earned rewards (e.g., from the classroom teacher, from another school staff member, from the parent).

NOTE: A more thorough description of each step, Setting Up a Reward Program for a Middle or High School Student: Five Steps, is found elsewhere in this document.

References:

Akin-Little, K. A., Eckert, T. L., Lovett, B. J., & Little, S. G. (2004). Extrinsic reinforcement in the classroom: Bribery or best practice. School Psychology Review, 33, 344-362.

Daly, E. J., Martens, K. K., Barnett, D., Witt, J. C., & Olson, S. C. (2007). Varying intervention delivery in response to intervention: Confronting and resolving challenges with measurement, instruction, and intensity. School Psychology, Review, 36, 562-581.

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Kazdin, A. E. (1989). Behavior modification in applied settings (4th ed.). Pacific Gove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Kern, L. & Clemens, N. H. (2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 65-75.

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Motivation Deficit 5: The student is unmotivated because of low self-efficacy—lack of confidence that he or she can do the assigned work.

Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student has a low sense of self-efficacy in a subject area, activity, or academic task and that lack of confidence reduces the student’s motivation to apply his or her best effort. NOTE: Self-efficacy is the student’s view of his or her own abilities specific to a particular academic area (e.g., mathematics) and should not be confused with self-esteem, which represents the student’s global view of his or her self-worth.

What the Research Says: Students who believe that they have the ability to complete a particular academic task (self-efficacy) do better and have higher levels of motivation (Jacobs et al., 2002). Yet students often sabotage their academic performance by engaging in negative self-talk about their abilities and by making faulty attributions to explain poor academic performance (Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002).

How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: Teachers can tap students’ impressions of self-efficacy by asking them to ‘think aloud’ about their abilities in the academic area of interest. Instructors will find the information that they have collected to be most useful if students are encouraged to:

talk about their perceived strengths and weaknesses as learners in particular subject areas give examples (with details) about specific successes and failures that they have experienced

on academic assignments present strategies (if any) that they typically use to discuss how they complete a range of common academic tasks (e.g., undertaking a term paper,

completing a chemistry lab exercise, doing homework) disclose their routine for preparing for quizzes and tests. As the teacher evaluates the student’s comments, the instructor concludes that the student’s attributions/explanations are unrealistically negative and do not adequately acknowledge the role of effort or other controllable factors in improving that student’s academic skills or performance. How to Fix This Motivation Problem:

Challenge Faulty Student Attributions about Ability. As a student articulates attitudes toward learning and describes techniques that he or she uses as an independent learner, the teacher can use this information to identify whether a low sense of academic self-efficacy may be holding the student back. A useful framework for analyzing student views about their academic abilities is presented by Linnenbrink & Pintrich (2002). The authors analyze student attributions along three dimensions: internal/external; stable/unstable; and controllable/uncontrollable. As explained below, the

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teacher can use this framework to analyze and challenge a student’s faulty attributions about self-efficacy and help the student to reframe those attributions in a more optimistic (and motivating) light.

Internal/External. The student may view the explanation for his or her poor academic performance as internal (tied to aspects of the student’s own personality, abilities, or other personal factors) or external (linked to factors other than the student, such as teacher behavior, school policies, state curriculum requirements, etc.). When listening to student explanations about his or her academic standing, the teacher considers whether the student should reframe that explanation to acknowledge internal factors that may have been overlooked. For example, when a student blames the teacher for giving unannounced quizzes that catch the student unprepared (external explanation of the problem), the instructor can point out that the student has the option to review course content regularly and thus always be prepared for quizzes (shifting the focus by tying the internal explanation of student preparation to the goal of improving academic performance).

Stable/Unstable. The student may view the situation relating to poor academic performance as stable (likely to last for a long time) or unstable (likely to change soon). The teacher evaluates whether the student is realistic in estimating the stability of the situation. For example, when a student laments to her math teacher that her difficulty in grasping concepts relating to negative numbers shows that she ‘will never get a good grade in math’ (a view that the problem is long-term and therefore stable), the teacher can help the student to reframe the problem as unstable and likely to improve soon by noting that many students struggle with negative-number concepts but that the student should find upcoming math instructional modules to be much easier to comprehend.

Controllable/Uncontrollable. The student may see him or herself as having substantial control over the factors relating to academic performance or instead view the situation as beyond personal control. When listening to student explanations of academic problems, the teacher considers whether the student may be overlooking or minimizing his or her own influence and responsibility. For example, a teacher may point out to a student who complains about the requirements of a particular course as arbitrary and unfair (uncontrollable) that the student was given a syllabus at the start of the semester spelling out all academic requirements to be used as a roadmap for the course, that the syllabus will allow the student to complete assignments ahead of time if he wishes, and that furthermore the student is welcome to seek help from the teacher whenever he chooses (controllable factors).

References:

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Jacobs, J. E., Lanza, S., Osgood, D. W., Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Changes in children’s self-competence and values: Gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve. Child Development, 73, 509-527.

Linnenbrink, E. A., & Pintrich, P. R. (2002). Motivation as an enabler for academic success. School Psychology Review, 31, 313-327.

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Motivation Deficit 6: The student is unmotivated because he or she lacks a positive relationship with the teacher. Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student appears indifferent or even hostile toward the instructor and thus may lack motivation to follow teacher requests or to produce work.

What the Research Says: Because humans are highly social beings, positive teacher attention can be a very powerful motivator for students (e.g., Kazdin, 1989). However, teachers often do not make adequate use of simple but effective tools such as praise to promote positive interactions with their students (Kern & Clemens, 2007). At times, instructors and students can even fall into a ‘negative reinforcement trap’ (Maag, 2001; p. 176) that actively undercuts positive relationships. In this situation, a student who has difficulty with the classwork misbehaves and is then sent by the teacher to the principal’s office. Both teacher and student are reinforced by the student’s exclusion from the classroom: The teacher is negatively reinforced by having a difficult student removed from the room and the student is also negatively reinforced by being allowed to escape the challenging classwork. Because this scenario is reinforcing to both parties, it is very likely to be repeated with increasing frequency unless the teacher intervenes to break the negative cycle.

How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: The teacher looks for evidence that the student lacks a positive relationship with the teacher, such as:

the student’s apparent avoidance of opportunities to talk to the teacher

a lack of eye contact, sarcastic or defiant student comments

a general pattern of defiant or non-compliant behavior.

NOTE: Because teachers as well as students are social beings, an instructor’s impression of whether a student ‘likes’ them or not can often be a good predictor of the actual state of the teacher-student relationship.


The teacher provides the student with increased doses of positive attention at times when the student is engaging in appropriate behavior (Kazdin, 1989). (At the same time, the teacher keeps interactions with the student brief and neutral when that student misbehaves—although the student otherwise is held to the same behavioral expectations as his or her peers.)

Try These Ideas to Improve Motivation by Improving the Teacher-Student Relationship: Here are ideas that promote an improved teacher-student relationship as a motivation tool:

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Strive for a High Ratio of Positive Interactions with Students (Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002). A general, proactive rule of thumb to promote positive teacher-student relationships is for instructors to maintain a ratio of at least three positive interactions with any student for every negative (disciplinary) interaction that they have that student.

Commit to a Short Series of Positive ‘Micro-Conversations’ (Mendler, 2000). The teacher selects a student with whom that instructor wants to build a more positive relationship. The instructor makes a commitment to spend 2 minutes per day for ten consecutive days engaging the student in a positive conversation about topics of interest to that student. NOTE: During those two-minute daily conversations, the teacher maintains a positive tone and avoids talking about the student’s problem behaviors or poor academic performance.

Emphasize the Positive in Teacher Requests (Braithwaite, 2001). The teacher avoids using negative phrasing (e.g., "If you don't return to your seat, I can’t help you with your assignment") when making a request of a student. Instead, the teacher request is stated in positive terms (e.g., "I will be over to help you on the assignment just as soon as you return to your seat"). When a request has a positive 'spin', that teacher is less likely to trigger a power struggle and more likely to gain student compliance.

Strive for at Least One Daily Positive Verbal Interaction (Fields, 2004). The teacher makes a point early in each class session to engage in at least one positive verbal interaction with the target student. Whenever possible, the teacher continues to interact in positive ways with the student throughout the rest of the class period through both verbal (e.g., praise comment after a student remark) and non-verbal means (e.g., thumbs-up sign, smile.). In all interactions, the teacher maintains a polite, respectful tone.

References:

Braithwaite, R. (2001). Managing aggression. New York: Routledge.

Fields, B. (2004). Breaking the cycle of office referrals and suspensions: Defensive management. Educational Psychology in Practice, 20, 103-115.

Kazdin, A. E. (1989). Behavior modification in applied settings (4th ed.). Pacific Gove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Kern, L. & Clemens, N. H. (2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 65-75.

Maag, J. W. (2001). Rewarded by punishment: Reflections on the disuse of positive reinforcement in schools. Exceptional Children, 67, 173-186.

Mendler, A. N. (2000). Motivating students who don’t care. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.

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Sprick, R. S., Borgmeier, C., & Nolet, V. (2002). Prevention and management of behavior problems in secondary schools. In M. A. Shinn, H. M. Walker & G. Stoner (Eds.), Interventions for academic and behavior problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp.373-401). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

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Preventing Students from Falling Behind Through Proactive Teacher Communication

Struggling students benefit greatly when the teacher provides a clear explanation of course requirements, and offers regularly updated information about upcoming assignments, missing work, and students’ current standing in the course. When the teacher makes a proactive effort to keep students fully and continually informed about course expectations and their own performance, the instructor substantially reduces the likelihood that students will fall behind in their work and be at risk for underperformance or failure in the course. Here are some recommendations for teachers in communicating about course requirements:

1. Prepare a Course Syllabus. At the start of the semester, the teacher hands out a syllabus listing all major course assignments, their descriptions, and due dates, as well as dates of quizzes and tests. This syllabus provides the student with a comprehensive map of all of the work to be done in the course for the semester. It also gives a clear explanation of the grading system, including the relative weight toward the final grade of tests, quizzes, homework, classwork, and student participation. Additionally, the syllabus spells out any penalties for submission of late work.

2. Hand Out Weekly Work Agenda. On Mondays, the teacher gives students a work agenda for the week. The agenda lists any in-class and homework assignments for that week, their descriptions (if necessary), and due dates. [Optional but recommended] The agenda may also include milestone tasks from larger, multi-week projects (e.g., reminding students in a November agenda that they should have their 6 required source documents for a term paper selected by Friday of the current week).

3. Schedule Weekly Student Conferences. The teacher holds brief meetings with individual students. In those mini-conferences, the teacher reviews with students their performance in the course to date, notes any missing work and gets the student to commit to a plan to submit that work, and checks in with the student about upcoming assignments, quizzes, and tests to ensure that the student continues to stay on top of course requirements. NOTE: If time constraints prevent the teacher from being able to conference with the entire class each week, the instructor may instead meet with at-risk students weekly and meet less frequently (e.g., every other week or monthly) with the remainder of the class.

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Helping the Student Who is ‘Under Water’ With Late Assignments: A Structure for Teacher–Student Conferences

When students fall behind in their classwork, they can quickly enter a downward spiral. They must stay caught up in their current assignments and also submit late assignments; as the work piles up, some students become overwhelmed and simply give up.

In such cases, the teacher may want to meet with the student to help that student to create a work plan to catch up with late work. (It is also recommended that the parent attend such a conference, although parent participation is not required.) At the meeting, the teacher and student inventory what work is missing, negotiate a plan to complete that overdue work, and perhaps agree on a reasonable penalty when late work is turned in. Teacher, student (and parent, if attending) then sign off on the work plan. The teacher also ensures that the atmosphere at the meeting is supportive, rather than blaming, toward the student. And of course, any work plan hammered out at this meeting should seem attainable to the student.

Here in greater detail are the steps that the teacher and student would follow at a meeting to renegotiate missing work:

1. Inventory All Missing Work. The teacher reviews with the student all late or missing work. The student is given the opportunity to explain why the work has not yet been submitted.

2. Negotiate a Plan to Complete Missing Work. The teacher and student create a log with entries for all of the missing assignments. Each entry includes a description of the missing assignment and a due date by which the student pledges to submit that work. This log becomes the student’s work plan. It is important that the submission dates for late assignments be realistic--particularly for students who owe a considerable amount of late work and are also trying to keep caught up with current assignments. A teacher and student may agree, for example, that the student will have two weeks to complete and submit four late writing assignments. NOTE: Review the form Student Late-Work Planning Form: Middle & High School that appears later in this handout as a tool to organize and document the student’s work plan.

3. [Optional] Impose a Penalty for Missing Work. The teacher may decide to impose a penalty for the work being submitted late. Examples of possible penalties are a reduction of points (e.g., loss of 10 points per assignment) or the requirement that the student do additional work on the assignment than was required of his or her peers who turned it in on time. If imposed, such penalties would be spelled out at this teacher-student conference. If penalties are given, they should be balanced and fair, permitting the teacher to impose appropriate consequences while allowing the student to still see a path to completing the missing work and passing the course.

4. Periodically Check on the Status of the Missing-Work Plan. If the schedule agreed upon by teacher and student to complete and submit all late work exceeds two weeks, the teacher (or

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other designated school contact, such as a counselor) should meet with the student weekly while the plan is in effect. At these meetings, the teacher checks in with the student to verify that he or she is attaining the plan milestones on time and still expects to meet the submission deadlines agreed upon. If obstacles to emerge, the teacher and student engage in problem-solving to resolve them.

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Student Late-Work Planning Form: Middle & High School Teacher: ______________________________ Course: ________________________________

Student: _______________________________ Date: _________/_____/___________________

Directions: At a teacher-student conference, use this form to create a plan for the student to complete and submit missing or late work.

Assignment Target Date for

Completion

NOTES

What penalty--if any--will be imposed for these late assignments? __________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________ Student Signature

_____________________ Teacher Signature

_____________________ Parent Signature

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Setting Up a Reward Program for a Middle or High School Student: Five Steps Students who lack motivation to apply effort or behave appropriately in their middle or high school classrooms may benefit from the temporary opportunity to earn incentives for important behavioral goals such as paying attention in class, doing assigned work, or complying with teacher requests. Reward programs can work well for students who chronically struggle in the classroom and do not see a meaningful payoff to doing their assigned work. The purpose of a reward program is to give the student external incentives to encourage increased effort. Presumably, as the student tries harder to attend to instruction and complete academic tasks in order to earn rewards, there is the possibility that the student will also begin to experience collateral benefits from the increased effort, such as improved grades, greater peer acceptance, and an improved sense of self-efficacy with course work. As these benefits accrue, the teacher can gradually fade, then discontinue, the reward program. General guidelines appear below for setting up an individual reward program in a middle or high school classroom:

1. Define the Target Behavior. The teacher writes a definition of the undesired student behavior to be decreased or the desired behavior to be increased as a result of the reward program. The behavioral definition should be written in clear, specific terms—sufficiently clear to allow different observers who might review the behavioral definition to all be in general agreement about when the student is displaying that behavior in the classroom. Here are sample behavioral definitions:

John turns in homework, with clear evidence that he has attempted each problem or item assigned.

Jane remains in her seat during large-group instruction.

Frank complies with teacher requests within 1 minute.

2. Establish Criteria for Success. The teacher defines the minimum acceptable criteria for student success in the target behavior, which may include information about time intervals, cumulative frequency, and/or percentage of compliance. Time-intervals. Most reward systems are based on time intervals. If the student meets the behavioral goal within a specified time interval, the student is judged to have earned an incentive (e.g., reward, token point, praise, etc.). Here are examples of success criteria tied to time intervals:

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During each 45-minute math class session, Jane will leave her seat without permission no more than once during large-group instruction.

During daily 20-minute independent seatwork periods, Roger will avoid engaging in non-instructional conversations with other students lasting longer than 30 seconds.

Cumulative Frequency. Reward systems may occasionally be tied to cumulative behaviors within or across sessions. When the student has engaged in a desired behavior a sufficient number of times, that student then is judged to have earned an incentive (e.g., reward, token point, praise, etc.). Here are examples of success criteria tied to cumulative frequencies:

Francine will write short summaries to show that she has read at least 3 books as outside reading.

John will submit homework any four days in a row.

Percentage of Compliance. Other reward systems might include a minimum percentage of compliance as a condition for success. Here are examples of success criteria that use percentage of compliance:

When given a teacher request, Frank will comply with that request within 1 minute at least 90 percent of the time.

John will turn in homework at least 4 of a possible five times (80 percent) per instructional week.

3. Choose Student Incentives. The teacher next selects incentives (positive reinforcers or ‘rewards’) that are likely to motivate the student. The goal is to develop a ‘reward/reinforce menu’ from which the student can select rewards whenever they have been earned. Because reward menus include a variety of incentives and allow the student to exercise choice, they offer the advantages of being more motivating and of often lasting longer than single reward choices. There are several ways that the teacher can discover what reinforcers the student would prefer. The instructor can:

a. Conduct a reinforcer survey. The teacher (or other school staff member) compiles a list of reward ideas that can be delivered in a school setting. The teacher meets with the student and reviews the potential rewards. For each reward, the student rates whether he or she ‘likes it a lot’, ‘likes it a little’, or ‘does not like it’. The teacher then takes all reinforcers that the student rated as ‘likes a lot’ and compiles them into a reinforcer/reward menu.

b. Observe the student’s preferred activities in various school settings. Often, teachers can gain insight into the kinds of experiences or incentives a student finds reinforcing by noting the preferred activities that the student regularly seeks out. A teacher may

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discover, for example, that a particular student likes opportunities to socialize with two close friends, to visit Internet sites about space travel, and to work on art projects. This information could potentially be used to create motivating reward options for that student.

c. Interview the student and others who know the student. Meeting with the student and asking what school activities or incentives he or she would find rewarding can be an efficient way to identify rewards the student will work for. Or the teacher can talk with the student’s parents or others—such as past teachers—who know the student and may have insight into rewards that will motivate him or her. These ideas can be turned into a reward menu for the student.

4. Decide Whether a Point System Will Be Used. Teachers have two options in delivering rewards: the student can be given their earned rewards directly whenever they have been earned or the student can be assigned points (or tokens or tickets) each time that they meet the teacher’s behavioral expectations and then are allowed at some point to redeem these points for items from the reward menu.

For simple reward systems with time intervals that are limited to a school day or less, the teacher may elect to have the student claim a reward as soon as it has been earned.

For reward systems that extend beyond a school day, the teacher may use a point system. For example, a student goal may be to turn in completed homework four out of five days in the instructional week. The teacher has the student record a ‘reward point’ on her chart for every day that she turns in homework and then allows the student to redeem those points for a reward if the student earns a cumulative 4 points during the week. The advantage of points (or tokens or tickets) is that they provide immediate positive reinforcement of student behaviors in situations when the actual reward payoff is delayed.

5. Decide How the Reward is to Be Delivered. The use of rewards can be very motivating for some students. However, teachers may be concerned at the potential negative impact in their middle and high school classrooms if peers observe a student receiving rewards not available to the entire group. Here are options that offer some flexibility in the delivery of student incentives by allowing teachers to reap the benefits of reward programs while reducing the probability of negative side-effects:

The teacher meets with the student privately to deliver rewards. The teacher briefly meets with the student individually (e.g., just before or after a class session; during a free period) to deliver an earned reward.

Another school contact delivers the reward. In this scenario, the teacher is responsible for recording the student’s target behaviors and tracking when the student has earned a reward. However, another school staff member (e.g., assistant principal; guidance

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counselor; school psychologist) is enlisted to actually deliver rewards. For example, a teacher notes that a student has met her goal of turning in completed homework 4 out of five times in a given instructional week, making the student eligible for a reward. At the end of class, the teacher hands the student a ticket signifying that she has earned an incentive and directs the student to stop by the school psychologist’s office at the end of the day to claim her reward for a successful week.

The parent delivers the reward at home. The teacher communicates with the parent prior to starting the reward program. The parent and teacher reach agreement about a range of privileges and/or incentives that the student will be able to access at home based on reports of acceptable behavior supplied to the parent by the teacher. Details to be worked out include how the teacher will communicate with the parent about the student’s behaviors (e.g., phone call, email, text message) and how often the reward can potentially be earned (e.g., daily, weekly).

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‘Defensive Behavior Management’: Advance Planning, Connecting With the Student, and Defusing Crisis Situations

Description: ‘Defensive behavior management’ (Fields, 2004) is a teacher-friendly six-step approach to avert student-teacher power struggles that emphasizes providing proactive instructional support to the student, elimination of behavioral triggers in the classroom setting, relationship-building, strategic application of defusing techniques when needed, and use of a ‘reconnection’ conference after behavioral incidents to promote student reflection and positive behavior change.

Purpose: When students show non-compliant, defiant, and disruptive behaviors in the classroom, the situation can quickly spin out of control. In attempting to maintain authority, the teacher may instead fall into a power struggle with the student, often culminating in the student being removed from the classroom. The numerous negative consequences of chronic student misbehavior include classwide lost instructional time, the acting-out student’s frequent exclusion from instruction, and significant teacher stress (Fields, 2004). Defensive management can prevent these negative outcomes.

Materials: No specialized materials are needed.

Preparation: Preparation steps are included in the intervention itself (see below).

Intervention Steps: Defensive behavior management is implemented through these steps:

1. Understanding the Problem and Using Proactive Strategies to Prevent It. The teacher collects information--through direct observation and perhaps other means--about specific instances of student problem behavior and the instructional components and other factors surrounding them. The teacher analyzes this information to discover specific ‘trigger’ events that seem to set off the problem behavior(s). Examples of potential triggers include lack of skills; failure to understand directions; fatigue because of work volume; reluctance to demonstrate limited academic skills in the presence of peers or adults; etc.). As the teacher identifies elements in the classroom environment that appear to trigger student non-compliance or defiance, the instructor adjusts instruction to provide appropriate student support to prevent behavioral episodes (e.g., providing the student with additional instruction in a skill; repeating directions and writing them on the board; ‘chunking’ larger work assignments into smaller segments; restructuring academic tasks to reduce the likelihood of student embarrassment in front of peers).

2. Promoting Positive Teacher-Student Interactions. Early in each class session, the teacher makes a point to engage in at least one positive verbal interaction with the student. Throughout the class period, the teacher continues to interact in positive ways with the student (e.g., brief conversation, smile, thumbs up, praise comment after a student remark in large-group discussion, etc.). In each interaction, the teacher adopts a genuinely accepting, polite, respectful tone.

3. Scanning for Warning Indicators. During the class session, the teacher monitors the target student’s behavior for any behavioral indicators suggesting that the student is becoming frustrated or angry. Examples of behaviors that precede non-compliance or open defiance may include stopping work; muttering or complaining; becoming

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argumentative; interrupting others; leaving his or her seat; throwing objects, etc.).

4. Exercising Emotional Restraint. Whenever the student begins to display problematic behaviors, the teacher makes an active effort to remain calm. To actively monitor his or her emotional state, the teacher tracks physiological cues such as increased muscle tension and heart rate, as well as fear, annoyance, anger, or other negative emotions. The teacher also adopts calming or relaxation strategies that work for him or her in the face of provocative student behavior--such as taking a deep breath or counting to 10 before responding.

5. Using Defusing Tactics. If the student begins to escalate to non-compliant, defiant, or confrontational behavior (e.g., arguing, threatening, other intentional verbal interruptions), the teacher draws from a range of possible deescalating strategies to defuse the situation. Such strategies can include private conversation with the student while maintaining a calm voice, open-ended questions, paraphrasing the student’s concerns, acknowledging the student’s emotions, etc.

6. Reconnecting with the Student. Soon after any in-class incident of student non-compliance, defiance, or confrontation, the teacher makes a point to meet with the student individually to discuss the behavioral incident, identify the triggers in the classroom environment that may have led to the problem, and brainstorm with the student to create a written plan to prevent the reoccurrence of such an incident. Throughout this conference, the teacher maintains a supportive, positive, polite, and respectful tone.

Adjusting/Troubleshooting: Here are recommendations for using defensive management as an intervention strategy and addressing issues that might arise:

Consider adopting defensive behavior management across classrooms. Particularly in middle and high schools, students who are chronically non-compliant or defiant often display those maladaptive behaviors across instructional settings. If all teachers who work with a challenging student use the defensive management approach, there is a greater likelihood that the student will find classrooms more predictable and supportive—and that teachers will experience greater success with that student.

Do not use defensive management to respond to physically aggressive behaviors or other serious safety concerns. While the defensive-management process can work quite effectively to prevent or minimize verbal outbursts and non-compliance, the teacher should not attempt on his or her own to manage serious physical aggression using this classroom-based approach. Instead, teachers should respond to any episodes of student physical aggression by immediately notifying building administration.

Reference

Fields, B. (2004). Breaking the cycle of office referrals and suspensions: Defensive management. Educational Psychology in Practice, 20, 103-115.

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