Motivation and the Struggle to Learn: Responding to Fractured Experience

by Thorkildsen, Theresa A.; Nicholls, John G.

• ISBN13: 9780205335992
• ISBN10: 0205335993
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon

Summary

Four extensive case studies of academically disengaged students in middle childhood clarify the issues, theories, and strategies educators can use to help students construct meaningful academic lives. Dilemmas, theories, and strategies for constructing meaningful academic lives are highlighted in four extensive case studies. Perspectives of children, caregivers, and researchers are synthesized with findings from research on social development and learning. While other texts in the field focus on specific learning disabilities or a wide range of age groups, Motivation and the Struggle to Learn emphasizes a range of learning disabilites in students experiencing middle childhood.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Learning from Lives in Progress	1	(15)
Types of Fractured Experience	5	(1)
Needs and Orientations	6	(6)
Self-Determination	6	(2)
Competence	8	(2)
Affiliation	10	(1)
Needs among Students with Learning Disabilities	11	(1)
Expectations and Responsibilities	12	(1)
Practicing a Language of Synthesis	13	(3)
Little Boy on the Defensive	16	(34)
A Divided Intellectual Life	16	(11)
Helpful Coaching or Facilitated Laziness?	27	(4)
Flashes of Connected Experience	31	(2)
Coaching at Home	33	(3)
Co-Constructing an Unsafe Place	36	(6)
Seeking Friendship: A Means to an End or an End in Itself?	42	(7)
Lessons from Bruce's Life	49	(1)
Quiet Bird	50	(38)
Meet Quiet Bird	53	(7)
Learning to Love Books	60	(6)
Making Room for the Personal Awakens the Intellectual	66	(9)
Quiet Bird Shares His Social Conscience	75	(5)
Living an Integrated Life	80	(6)
Lessons from David's Life	86	(2)
Coordinating Needs and Expectations	88	(21)
Self-Determination in a World Where Obedience Is Easier	88	(4)
Family Contexts	89	(1)
School Contexts	90	(1)
Peer Contexts	90	(2)
Competence in the Face of Continual Challenge	92	(6)
Family Contexts	92	(1)
School Contexts	93	(1)
Peer Contexts	94	(4)
Sustaining Strong Relationships	98	(7)
Family Contexts	99	(3)
School Contexts	102	(1)
Peer Contexts	103	(2)
Fracturing Experience in Multiple Contexts	105	(4)
Enlightened Egocentrism	109	(42)
Searching for Interests	116	(2)
Searching for Meaningful Friendships	118	(6)
Connected Experience in Competition with Discrete Skills	124	(9)
Managing Anxiety among Caregivers	133	(6)
Sustaining Honest Communication	139	(10)
Lessons from Jack's Life	149	(2)
A Fighting Spirit	151	(38)
Identifying Earl's Interests	155	(3)
Searching for the Limelight	158	(3)
Discovering the Pain of Being Different	161	(6)
Literacy among the ``Bad Boys''	167	(6)
Tempering Aggression	173	(6)
Impediments to Task Orientation	179	(4)
Writing to Communicate	183	(4)
Lessons from Earl's Life	187	(2)
Responding to Fractured Experience	189	(24)
Bruce's Future	191	(4)
David's Future	195	(4)
Jack's Future	199	(3)
Earl's Future	202	(2)
The Conference We Need	204	(2)
Our Future	206	(7)
Revise Definitions of Equal Educational Opportunity	206	(1)
Strengthen Attempts to Consolidate Experience	207	(1)
Label Educational Experience	207	(1)
Encourage Children to Become Educational Theorists	208	(1)
Call Attention to Moral Agency	208	(1)
Establish an Engaging Learning Environment	209	(1)
Invent Constructive Responses to Resistance	210	(3)
References	213	(14)
Glossary	227	(8)
Index	235