DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR REINFORCING EFFORT AND PROVIDING RECOGNITION

 

Psychologist Bernard Weiner (1972, 1983) popularized the notion that a belief in effort ultimately pays off in terms of enhanced achievement.  Students may not realize the influence that effort can have on achievement.  One way to help them understand this is to explicitly teach it and share examples.  For example, Weiner (1983) states that teachers might share personal examples of times they succeeded by continuing to try even when a task was hard or when a solution was not immediately apparent.

 

Teachers might also seek out and share multiple examples of well-known athletes and educators who succeeded in large part simply because they didn’t give up. 

A powerful way to reinforce the influence of effort on achievement is to have students occasionally assess their effort and achievement on a task and the relationship between the two (Weiner, 1972).  This can be done, by first, presenting students with rubrics for effort and achievement.  Students might use these rubrics for particular assignments and then create and complete a chart so that they can readily see the relationship between their effort and achievement.  In addition to charting the relationship between the two variables, students might be asked to reflect on what they learned from the experience.  For example, teachers might periodically ask students to describe what they noticed about the relationship between the effort they put into a project or task and their achievement.  Reflecting on their experiences in this way heightens students’ awareness of the power of effort (Covington, 1983 and Harter, 1980).

 

According to Marzano et al: (2001), reinforcing student effort actually increases student achievement.  However, in order for this to take effect, teachers must spend time explicitly teaching the connection between effort and achievement to students.  Introducing examples of well-known athletes, educators, and political or social leaders who succeeded because of their efforts provides students with motivation to do the same. Also, using specific rubrics that connect effort to achievement provides a tangible way for students and teachers to discuss progress.  This allows students to view and understand the relationship between their effort and how it effects their achievement.  Students are therefore able to make a difference in their achievement through being recognized for their effort. By developing a reflective approach, students begin to internalize and take ownership of their behavior and on their learning.

Providing praise for accomplishing easy tasks can undermine achievement.  If students feel that the praise was undeserved; it could lower the perception of their ability (Marzano, 2001).  In addition, studies found that teachers praised students unevenly, which hurt the motivation of other students.  According to Anderson, L., Evertson, and Brophy, teachers only praise about 11% of students’ correct responses (Marzano, 2001).  Offering student rewards for completing a task without it being based on a standard of performance can have a negative impact on the intrinsic motivation of a student (Marzano, 2001).

 

According to Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1981, 1982), different treatments change behavior in part by creating and strengthening percepts of self-efficacy (Schunk, 1983).  Students take recognition and internalize a more positive view of their abilities. Self-efficacy is believed to effect effort expenditure in students.  For example, telling children that they possess the ability to add helps to validate their sense of self-efficacy.  This becomes a cycle of reinforcement because with a heightened sense of efficacy, students feel motivated and acquire more skills.  This causes them to feel more capable then before.      

 

Bandura continues with the assertion that “the initial approximations of response patterns learned observationally are further refined through self-corrective adjustments based on informative feedback from performance” (Bandura, 1977, 1981, 1982).  In order for students to make sense of feedback and develop a responsive attitude to this feedback they must internalize this process. Students must be first motivated to work.  That motivation becomes the “stimuli” that creates effort. Students must see a direct connection between their effort and desired outcome.  According to the self-efficacy theory, “as persons develop skills and a sense of efficacy they should persist longer at tasks” (Schunk, 1983, p.855). 

 

There are two different types of feedback that can be given to students.  First, there is ability attributional feedback, which means giving recognition by saying something, such as, “You’re great at this”. While effort attributional feedback links a student’s achievement with effort by saying something, “You’ve been working hard”.

However during another study, it was found that children who received only ability feedback judged themselves the most efficacious and solved correctly the highest number of posttest problems (Schunk, 1983). This research supports the idea that “perceptions of capabilities bear an important relationship to subsequent achievement” (Schunk, 1983, p. 855).  This research supports the fact that students respond positively when they are recognized for their abilities. 

There are instructional situations where using the strategy of reinforcing effort and providing recognition could be beneficial. The following instructional situations are possible times to use the strategy: one to one conferencing, small group instruction, and whole group share.

 

For example, recognition can be provided during a one-to-one writing conference with a student. This meeting is private between the teacher and the individual student, which makes the feedback more meaningful. It is meaningful because the teacher can use this time to explicitly connect the student’s past performance to the effort that was given to the task. The teacher can use the “Effort and Achievement Rubric” (Marzano, 2001, p. 52) to help the student make the connection between their achievement and their effort. Any praise would then be linked directly to a standard of performance. This way, the student knows that they deserve the recognition, and accepts the feedback.  The teacher will acknowledge effort that has previously been made, as well as use this as an opportunity to provide and discuss possible next steps for that student. The student will keep a log to reflect on how they think they did on the task using the “Effort and Achievement Rubric” (Marzano, 2001, p. 52) thereby self-monitoring.

 

For math, small group instruction, we would use data from simulations and predictive tests. For example, point out to a student the step they missed on an equation due to lack of effort.  It can be done through peer conferencing where students are paired as leader and student to work through a problem. Using data allows teachers and students to make connections to past performance and link effort demonstrated to academic performance. Small group/peer feedback allows students to take ownership over their learning and give feedback to one another.  It is targeted instruction based on skill with support group.  A teacher could point out when students get an easy problem wrong due to a carefree mistake.

 

In reinforcing effort and providing recognition from a whole class approach the key is creating a classroom culture where students see the connection between effort and achievement. A first approach that might seem insignificant but can be highly effective is creating a class motto that depicts this ideology. Your students must believe that you believe that their effort will lead to achievement. This strategy should be introduced to students from the beginning of the school year, through discussions, Read Alouds. The choice of Read Alouds is crucial to setting the precedent that students can connect to. The teacher must be mindful of the current demographic in their classroom and select texts that will help students connect to the character and the message that effort is connected to achievement. In order for this approach to work in a whole group setting the teacher must have systems and structures that provide opportunities for recognition of effort. Whole class meeting time and student share time are the most opportune times to help build a culture of recognition of effort in the classroom. Students should have an explicit guideline for self-assessment, peer-assessment and even class assessment. Having a rubric such as the “Effort and Achievement Rubric.” (Marzano, 2001, p. 52) is a crucial component to creating a culture of shared expectations.

 

In order for Reinforcing effort and Providing Recognition to be implemented successfully in a school, there needs to be structured system to support teachers and students. It must become embedded in the culture of the school. As such, there has to be opportunities for both the teacher and the class to recognize academic effort.  This will eventually lead to a sense of ownership by all stakeholders.

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

 

Bandura, Jeffery, Albert. (1977).  Self-efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change. Psychological Review, Vol. 84, No. 2, 191-215.

Covington. M. V. and Harter, S. (1983). Developmental Perspectives on the self-system. In P. H. Mussen (Ed.), Handbook of Child Psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 275-385). New York: Wiley.

Marzano, Robert, J. Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement.  Alexandria, VA, USA:  Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2001. P. 49- 59.

Schunk Dale, H. (1983).  Ability Versus Effort Attributional Feedback: Differential Effects on Self- Efficacy and Achievement.  Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 75, 848-856.

Weiner, Bernard. (1972, 1983), Attributional theory of motivation and emotion. Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 97, 74- 84.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.