RUNNING HEAD: MOTIVATION CASE STUDY 1

Lindsey Kraus
EDU 615 Module 8 Final Case Study
University of New England
February 28, 2015

MOTIVATION CASE STUDY 2

I. Introduction
Hayden* was a 4 year old student in my pre-kindergarten class during the
2012-2013 school year. He joined our class mid-year from another preschool. I was not
given many details but it was known that Hayden was asked to leave his previous
preschool. He was being raised by his grandparents with some influence from his mother. Haydens mother worked long hours and he did not see her very often. Haydens father was not in the picture at all. Haydens grandparents cared a lot about him, but
clearly had difficulty dealing with his behaviors and moods. They often seemed exhausted, exasperated and frustrated with him. Hayden has had brain damage since
birth and is on medication to help with the effects. I was also not given many details on
the damage and medication. I do know that Hayden had many doctors appointments
and behavioral observations while he was in my class.
While Hayden was in my class he went through a few types of medications to
figure out which worked best for him. These medications and change of medications affected Haydens behaviors and moods severely. On his good days, Hayden had positive
impacts in the classroom and was very well liked by his peers. He was very smart and
loved showing his peers and teachers how much he knew about various things. On his
bad days, Hayden was a huge disruption in the classroom and made it very difficult to
focus on any other child but him. When Hayden would get upset he sometimes would
throw books, chairs or be violent towards teachers. Luckily, Hayden was very rarely violent towards the other children. Haydens behaviors were not consistent and it was hard
to tell what would make Hayden upset and act out. It was

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clear that because of his disability and medications that Hayden could not always control his actions. Hayden had a SEIT, physical therapist and occupational therapist that
he saw multiple times a week.
Hayden also had various reactions and behaviors with other classes and teachers. Sometimes when he was having a hard day in my classroom, I would put him in
another classroom to give him a change in scenery. Hayden had the same inconsistent
behaviors with the other teachers and different students. Most of the time he would be
on his best behavior for awhile and then revert to his bad behaviors.

II. Observations
Hayden struggled in almost all academic situations. Unless he was playing on
the computer, Hayden had a very hard time completing activities on his own. Hayden
had very few great days, and only on those days could I trust that he could complete a
writing, math or science activity on his own. He very rarely could stay focused on an activity that he was expected to complete on his own, and most times he just did not want
to do them. When Hayden was in his moods and did not feel like completing academic
work, he would refuse to do anything and just sit there. A majority of our activities that
the students completed individually were writing activities. Hayden knew all of his letters
and numbers very well, but had very weak fine motor skills. Hayden needed a lot of
one-on-one attention to complete these activities, and that was hard to always give
when there were 16 other students in the class. Hayden had a physical

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therapist who helped him with his fine motor skills, but she was only there briefly once
or twice a week. Occasionally I would tell Hayden that if he got his individual work done
then he could go to a center of his choice, but this often led to rushed, poorly done work
so I did not offer that to him very often.
Hayden did slightly better during group activities. There were a few students that
Hayden liked to be around but had a bad influence on him, so I was careful to make the
groups in a way so that it would be a positive experience for Hayden. Hayden enjoyed
being around his peers, and enjoyed sharing knowledge with them. Sometimes I would
make Hayden the leader of the group, which he usually responded positively to because he enjoyed teaching his peers. Hayden also had substantial support from his
SEIT. She came in several times a week for an hour or more to work with Hayden and
his social, emotional and academic disabilities. The SEIT was extremely helpful in these
situations. She would sit with Hayden in his group and help him interact appropriately
with his peers. She modeled the correct behaviors for him and the other group members, and praised them when they behaved correctly. This was very beneficial for Hayden, and he thrived when she was there with him. Hayden really liked his SEIT and
therefore he was motivated to perform well and be on his best behavior in front of her.
Hayden did well with one-on-one activities with a teacher and he also did well
with activities that he got to choose. When assessing one-on-one with Hayden, I had
many positive experiences. He benefitted from the one-on-one attention and liked to
please his teacher. It was easier to keep him focused and in a good mood when he was
the only student I had to worry about. Even when not assessing Hayden, I enjoyed

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doing activities with him because he really excelled when having the teacher right there
with him. It was easy to pull from his strengths and interests when he was the only
student I was focusing on. When Hayden got to choose his activities and centers and he
was with students who had a positive impact on him, Hayden also did well. Some days
were better than others depending on his mood, but he mostly played very well with his
friends and enjoyed having the freedom to choose his activities. Hayden especially excelled on the computer. He was very good at navigating the mouse, which was rare in
my class. (All the students could use an iPad perfectly, but they did not know how to use
a mouse). Hayden loved helping his peers, especially by showing them how to do activities on the computer. He was extremely proud of himself when he finished something on
the computer correctly. I tried to have Hayden complete as many activities as possible
on the computer since he was so happy with it, but it was also a reward for him so we
had to make sure it wasnt the only place he was working at.
When Hayden had free time to play with his friends with little structure (gym time,
outside play), it was almost always a disaster. Hayden had a very hard time controlling
his actions. When playing games with his friends Hayden became extremely impulsive.
When the students were in these situations, a teacher always had to be near Hayden
and watching him individually. Hayden loved playing tag games or pretending to be superheroes, but he always took it too far. He would always put his hands on his peers
and take it too far by pulling or pushing them. Because of this behavior it was very hard
to let the children have completely free play. My assistant and I would have to play

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organized games with the children so that it could be a controlled environment. Even
then we had trouble with Hayden. He would become very competitive and do anything
he could to win. We spent a lot of time talking as a class about how to appropriately play
with each other and keep our hands to ourselves. Every time that Hayden took a situation too far and used his hands on a friend, he had to sit out of the game or activity.
Sometimes this would work because Hayden really enjoyed playing so he did not want
to miss any time. Other times, it did not seem to affect Hayden at all. This depended on
his mood, medication, and the type of day he was having, and this behavior could never
be predicted.

III. Effective Strategies

When I was teaching Haydens class, I was a very inexperienced teacher and I
did not know much about motivational theories. With the help of all of Haydens aids, I
was differentiating instruction for him. As I mentioned earlier, Hayden excelled when he
was able to help other students in his group. Letting him have some responsibility
helped his confidence and his ability to complete a task. We also put Hayden in many
different types of groups over time to help find what kind of group worked the best for
him. As Tomlinson (2001) states, In a differentiated classroom, the teacher uses many
different group configurations over time, and students experience many different working groups and arrangements. This not only means grouping based on skill level, but
grouping that is not always the same students. Finding many students that Hayden

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worked well with and rotating them in a group with him helped him adapt to different situations and kept his interest.
Tomlinson (2001) also discusses differentiating instruction by interest. I did this
with Hayden often. Hayden was primarily interested in the computer, but he also loved
blocks and various math manipulatives. Tomlinson (2001) states that one of the goals of
interest-based instruction is enhancing student motivation to learn. By working with
Hayden in areas that he enjoyed being in, he was in a better mood and accomplished
more. We also put many activities on the computer for him so that he would be excited
to explore them and learn more about them. Hayden was not the type of student who
would do something even if he did not want to, so it was important to find Haydens interests and differentiate instruction for him this way.
I believe that Hayden would have benefitted from Goal-Orientation Theory. Because of Haydens special needs, I think that if we had set up a list of goals for him to
achieve, he would have been successful. Having these goals displayed in a way that he
understood would help him realize that he could accomplish tasks such as writing if he
slowed down and worked on them. Hayden could have opportunities to work on these
goals in short periods of time so that he did not get overwhelmed, and then as he began
succeeding the time he spent working could increase. When Hayden was in a good
mood, he really enjoyed showing his teachers that he could accomplish a task. In this
case Hayden was interested in performance goals, which Anderman & Anderman
(2014) state as a student who endorses performance goals engages in a task to
demonstrate his or her ability at the task. By letting Hayden work on and achieve the

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goals at his own pace that worked for him, I believe he could have become interested in
mastery goals, which Anderman & Anderman (2014) state as a student who
endorses mastery goals is involved with the task to truly master the material that is being learned.
Hayden might have also benefitted from rewards when accomplished a goal.
Since Hayden enjoyed using the computer, extra time on the computer or iPad could
have been his reward. He also could have been rewarded with tracing and writing activities on the iPad. As Hayden improved at achieving his goals, the rewards could have
been slowly taken away or lessened. Because of Haydens special needs, he needed
something to work towards and those steps needed to be clearly stated and explained
to him. Hayden got easily frustrated with tasks, so if he was aware of each step that he
had to accomplish I think this would have helped him see that he could reach his goals.
I also believe that Hayden would have benefitted from Social Cognitive Theory.
Albert Bandura did a lot of work with this theory, and there was a concept he introduced
that I believe pertained to Hayden. As Anderman & Anderman (2014) state, First, he
demonstrated that individuals often learn and subsequently engage in new behaviors
that are observed in others (Bandura, 1969). Even though Haydens behaviors were
hard to predict, he really enjoyed being around his peers and his peers always wanted
to be around him. Haydens peers often wanted to participate in activities and centers
with Hayden, and Hayden always had many playmates outside and during free play
times.
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When Haydens SEIT was in the classroom with us, she helped him with his social skills. Hayden was extremely smart and caught onto things quickly, so I think it
would have benefitted him to be paired with another student or students with similar interests and who was maybe slightly more advanced than he was. His SEIT would occasionally pull Hayden and another student from the group to work on an activity together.
With the help of his SEIT to control his behaviors and when he was in a good mood,
Hayden worked extremely well with his peers. By starting off the small groups with students that would demonstrate the correct behaviors, Hayden would see the appropriate
way to act and want to be like his peers.I think if we had done this more often with different types of students, Hayden would be more motivated to complete tasks with his
classmates and on his own. As Hayden adjusted to working appropriately with his peers
in small groups, we could have slowly let him do this on his own without a teacher in the
group. If Hayden was consistently demonstrating good behavior with many students,
letting him choose his group mates or partner would have motivated Hayden to continue
the good behavior and accomplishment of tasks. Haydens social skills were a big goal
for him, so incorporating his academic goals into his social goals might have shown a
huge improvement.

IV. Conclusion
While studying Hayden, it became very clear to me that students are motivated
by many different things, and every student is different. When thinking about Hayden
and reading about motivational theories, I really started to understand Haydens
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behaviors and what might have worked for him. Even though Hayden was a student I
had in the past and I would not be able to use these theories now, it helped me analyze
his specific behaviors which will help me with students like him in the future. Because of
Haydens special needs, he would have been motivated by having specific, clear goals
and positive interaction with his peers.
Every student is different, so I cant say that one theory would work for the whole
class. I do think that as teachers we need to get to know our students well enough that
we can find out what they are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated by so that we can
help them perform to the best of their abilities. Although I dont think a theory would
work for every student, I think that goal orientation theory would benefit a lot of students,
especially young students. Young students need to know the steps they are going to
have to take to achieve a task, and sometimes can only achieve one step at a time. By
knowing they are achieving at least one part of the goal at a time, it will motivate them to
keep going and complete the whole task.
Young students are also just learning about social situations and interacting with
their peers. By intertwining social goals with academic goals, we can show them proper
social behaviors while achieving academic goals. The students can also benefit from
social cognitive theory when being grouped by interest. If students have similar interests
they can bounce ideas and knowledge off of each other and complete projects and activities together. By having peers that support learning and positive social behavior, students like Hayden can succeed and have a good school experience.

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By doing this case study I have realized how diverse each student really is. I
think by completing this project I now know how to analyze a student and their behaviors, academic strengths and weakness and social skills and really discover how
they learn. Students are all motivated by different factors and it is important to be familiar with all of the motivational theories so that we can tap into each students needs.

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References

Anderman, E.M., & Anderman L.H. (2014). Classroom motivation. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Tomlinson, C.A, (2004). How to differentiate instruction in mixed ability classrooms. (2nd
edition) Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.