Background:

Many children I work with have not been successful students for many years, which is part of the reason they are in a specialized placement.  Their confidence in their ability to learn is low, and their view of their self is generally negative with behaviors that create self-fulfilling expectations.  An article by Kevin Sutherland and Nirbhay Singh (2004) talks about children with emotional and behavioral problems affecting learned helplessness in the classroom, in part, due to negative interaction patterns with the teacher, avoidance of work that is too difficult and not understood, receiving little praise or acknowledgement of their effort, and the student’s inability to see a connection between their efforts and a positive outcome.  

In The Inclusive Classroom by Mastropieri and Scruggs (2004), several

conditions are stated that enhance motivation as well as affect or self esteem.  I want to address these conditions and then give examples of activities and assignments that can be used in the classroom to enhance motivation and positive affect:

q     Instructional materials that are adapted to varying levels of ability

q     Tasks that are meaningful and relevant to the student

q     Assignments that are non-competitive and focus on self exploration and/or cooperation; these tend to be experiential and make good use of art, music or drama activities

q     Making the connection between a student’s effort and their sense of success

I try to incorporate as many sensory cues and as many learning styles as possible in an assignment so students can work on and discuss the same topic while working at different levels.  I also give examples of my experiences to model the process in working on a given topic.

Sample Activities

1. “My Favorite Shoes” - Bring in several pairs of different kinds of shoes (ballet, tap, sneakers, boots) and music (“Boots Are Made For Walkin”, “Blue Suede Shoes”) to set the stage for your discussion about shoes.  You may discuss their purpose, history, social importance, current styles, and what they like in shoes.
   1. Ask the students to draw a picture of what their favorite shoe would look like.  It can be one they’ve seen, worn, or one they have invented.
   2. After they’ve finished, ask them to write about their shoe.  Based on their ability, you might individualize by asking them to describe it using poetry, a short story telling about what makes it special, simple descriptive sentences, or even tell you about it, writing down their sentences and having them type them on the computer.
   3. You may or may not read your own story at the beginning or the end to model the writing process and to encourage sharing of written work.  Give your students the option of sharing their work, as just the act of writing may have been a leap of faith.
   4. Encourage all appropriate efforts and give them a chance to say if they liked he outcome as well.

    

2. “The Best Play I Ever Saw” - Teachers who work with children with emotional and behavioral problems know how a child’s experience impacts his/her ability to function in the classroom and to learn. Children bring issues from home as well as the normal frustrations of learning to function in a world that is also challenging and to some extent “dis-eased”. I felt the impact of these words a few years ago when I encouraged a group of high functioning teens to write a play about drugs which was a topic we had been reading and talking about in Social Skills group. I felt somewhat tentative about this assignment as several of the teens were fragile emotionally.  

One teen was very depressed and withdrawn, others were oppositional and uncooperative.  All were very capable academically, but cynical and unmotivated. Their job was to write a play about drug abuse using basic writing elements such as a compelling plot, tension and resolution, believable characters and to collaborate with one another to write the play.  My job was to manage behaviors and sometimes to clarify ideas being discussed. The play that was created revolved around a group of teens at a party having to deal with one of their friends having drunk too much and stealing keys from a friend to take another girl out for a joy ride and the tragic effects of their act.  After doing a great job of putting together a well written and moving play, the students wanted to act it out.  They ended up putting it on before their peers and doing so with as much emotion and heart as a professional theatre group.  

What I learned from this assignment:

·        Students get excited, motivated, and passionate when working on something that has personal meaning to them.

·        Give students freedom to explore their own creativity.  One of the students appointed himself the director, jumping to the table top to narrate the play.  I generally don’t let kids do this, but my instincts told me that their enthusiasm was taking them in a very exciting direction.  The dialogue was also very “real” which I don’t usually allow in the classroom, but in the context of the play made sense. I let myself grow as a teacher by allowing the students to set their boundaries both in the writing and the acting of the play. I saw my students gain self-confidence in their ability to express themselves, share feelings, disagree, collaborate, work together in a common production and teach others from what they had created.   I saw kids hug one another after the production that had brought them together and allowed them to feel completion and maybe a kind of healing of their spirits.

·        I learned I was a part of something special and worth while.

3. “The Gift” - With the music from “Secret Garden” playing, have the students close their eyes or rest their heads on the table while their eyes focus inward-breathing deeply and relaxing, becoming aware of the sounds around them, then letting them go and becoming more focused on what’s going on inside of them.  You may say

“Focus on your imagination where you can create pictures and images.  Clear your mind and let it be a blank canvas to be painted on. Imagine that you are at the edge of town, aware of the skyline and the business around you.  Near you is a path that leads away from town.  You allow yourself to move away from town.  As you walk, begin to be aware of what is around you.  Notice if there are trees or flowers or ground there.  Breathe in the smells, notice the color of the sky and clouds.  You can see ahead a stand of trees that create a canopy over smaller trees and bushes.  You notice a wall covered with ivy before you.  Allow yourself to walk to the wall and begin to search the ivy with your hands.  You will find a large brass handle hidden in the ivy.  Allow yourself to turn the handle, pushing hard against the wall with both hands.  You feel it move and you let yourself in through the opening to see what is behind the wall. The path continues into a beautiful garden that has been hidden behind the wall-a secret garden that can only be found by those who need to share its beauty.  Look around and take in all that is there for you to enjoy.  There is a large tree off to the left that has a swing hanging from a limb.  From there you can fly up in the air and see all that the garden has to offer.  You follow the path to a waterfall where you sit and listen to the water and feel the splashing on you face and feet.  Another path goes through shoulder high wild flowers with a variety of smells.  As you follow the path to a clearing with a table and chairs you notice something on the table.  It is a gift box wrapped with paper and ribbon.  You pick up the gift and see a card.  On the card is your name.  It is a gift for you.  You allow yourself to sit down at the table and you begin to open the gift.  You remove the lid to the box and open the tissue paper inside”

As the teacher, you may use this activity in a number of ways:

·        You may ask your students to write about what they found inside and have them continue the story from there, telling about their gift and what happens with it.

·        You may say the box is empty and talk about some gifts being intangible, asking them to tell of a gift they have found today or one that is intangible.

·        You may say the gift is a solution to a problem they, someone they know or the world has been dealing with and ask them to share it through a story or a drawing.

·        The box may contain a key, or a stone, or a symbol.  Ask the students to explain it and write about it.

4.   Poetry Writing - Poetry gives voice to those aspects of our self which often remain hidden. If we choose to partake in the experience of writing poetry, it can be fun, exhilarating, scary and deeply moving.  It can also help ground you and help you learn more about yourself and others. Following are some suggestions for poetry writing exercises.

• I like to have children write to music, writing about the images the music evokes.I encourage them to write non-stop, not bothering to worry about if what they are writing makes sense, or is grammatically correct

• Many students enjoy rap and hip hop which incorporates free association. Using instrumental music that has a definite beat, have them free associate around a given or chosen theme. This can also be done without the music. Here is an example of poems done by three students.

FOOD

Tastes that are tangy

Wake up my mouth
Good for the stomach
Good for the soul

Smells coming from the kitchen
Invite me in
Make me feel safe

Food is good
Food is home
Food is good

• Another exercise which lends itself to poetry writing is to let students explore things from a different point of view.  For example, find something outdoors such as a car or a twig and ask them to speak from that voice without saying what the object is.  Have the class share their poems and guess what the speaker is. 

Resources:

Mastropieri, M. A., & Scruggs, T. E. (2004). The Inclusive Classroom: Strategies for Effective Instruction (2^nd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Kavale, K. A., & Mostert, M. P. (2004). Other aspects of Sutherland and Singh’s take on learned helplessness and students with emotional or behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 29, 183-189.

Sutherland, K. S., & Singh, N. N. (2004). Learned helplessness and students with emotional or behavioral disorders: Deprivation in the classroom. Behavioral Disorders, 29, 170-182.