Case Study: Annie

Case Study: Annie

Annie is a fifth grade student who is struggling in Language Arts. 

Bandura’s social learning theory focuses on the cause-effect process that takes place within the brains of students. According to Bandura, the bulk of human learning “is not shaped by its consequences but is more efficiently learned directly from a model” (Slavin, p. 112, 2016). After reading the text, I would argue that consequences do play an important role in learning. Applying Bandura’s thoughts to this case study, however, reveal that there are likely pieces of information missing from Annie’s case. The first issue would be to address why Annie feels she is not a good student. The prompt does not provide the grade she is getting in the class, so this may or may not be a reflection or self-assessment on Annie’s part. Why would she be feeling like she is not a good student?

Bandura’s theory places a heavy emphasis on modeling. Students who observe jumping jacks, for example, are able to replicate the behavior without having to apply trial-and-analysis to their learning. They are simply able to do it, something called “no-trial learning” (Slavin, p. 112, 2016). This could be why Annie feels she is better-suited to something like P.E. where she can easily replicate exercises, or art, which provides step-by-step instructions, or allows students freedom from ascribing to rules or standards at all.

Self-efficacy is often referred to as the “locus of control,” (Slavin, p. 252, 2016) and is the concept that describes where a person is allocating their abilities. For example: “A person with an internal locus of control believes that success or failure is the result of his or her own efforts or abilities” (Slavin, p. 252, 2016). Conversely, someone with an external locus of control might believe that their success is determined by external factors. An example of this would be a student who receives a bad grade, believing that this happened because the teacher “hates” him or her, when in fact it is due to missing assignments. What this says in regards to Annie is that she clearly believes that her self-efficacy is almost non-existent. She prefers subjects in which she is not responsible for generating the steps or standards, and can instead mimic what she needs to in order to pass. This tells me Annie’s locus of control is placed externally, not internally.

Annie is a fifth-grade student, which means it would not be appropriate to expect her to synthesize meaning and standards out of abstract information (Slavin, p. 27, 2016). One thing Mr. Baer could do is provide her with a written checklist of what Annie needs to do in order to receive an “A” on an assignment. This would help Annie have more insight into what Mr. Baer defines success as, and would increase her metacognitive skills in this subject (McGinty PowerPoint, 2017). This would also give Annie a sense of control over her own success or failure, which would boost her confidence and motivation.

Self-regulation is defined as being able to “think and solve problems without the help of others” (Slavin, p. 33, 2016). If I were the teacher, I would investigate to see if Annie’s situation could be helped through cognitive behavior modification. An example of instruction following Meichenbaum’s Model of Self-Regulated Learning on page 114 of the text would be: 1.) Model completing the writing exercise while talking out loud about my process, 2.) Giving Annie a turn to perform the same task while I talk out loud about the process, 3.) Giving Annie a turn to perform the task again, this time talking herself through it, 4.) Giving Annie a turn to perform the task again without my cues, allowing her time to instruct herself, and then 5.) Giving Annie a turn to perform the same task again, this time allowing time for her own private speech. If I had given her a rubric so she could check for success, I would use this as a part of my modeling. In this model, whenever Annie was unable to complete the task, I would simply back up to the previous step—something that I think could be done multiple times (Slavin, p. 114, 2017).

The other issue to address would be why Annie doesn’t feel motivated to be a self-regulated learner. According to the text, it would be reasonable to expect Annie to be experiencing an increase in logical thinking, and a decrease in egocentric thinking (Slavin, p. 27, 2016). It might be a good idea to assess Annie’s reading levels to see if she is able to read at grade level, or if the material is presently too difficult. Beyond that, it might be smart to team up with a Resource professional who could inquire about when Annie’s last eye exam was, or if she has ever been formally assessed as a learner. 

Conclusion:

Annie’s preference toward heavily participatory activities, such as P.E. and art, give clues that Annie is likely not a “bad student” as she describes herself to be. Rather, it is very possible that this is simply the language Annie is using to communicate that she feels stuck in her Language Arts coursework but literally lacks the language skills needed to express what the real problem is. There are steps that Mr. Baer can do to help Annie feel more empowered as a learner, which will motivate her to invest more in class and in her schoolwork. Receiving immediate feedback will solidify successful behaviors. It is reasonable to expect that this would at least improve Annie’s situation with the information given. 

References:

McGinty, M. (2017). Social Cognitive View of Learning and Motivation. PowerPoint Presentation.

Slavin, R. (2016). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. New York, NY: Pearson.