This growth in emotional intelligence filtered into multiple aspects of the students’ lives (and education), one of which was motivation to learning. The intervention was designed to offer students numerous opportunities for positive learning
experiences and achievement of goals. They were afforded instant results per say; firstly, in the form of intrinsic rewards such as praise, positive re-enforcement, peer support, and individual recognition, then secondly, extrinsically via graduated tangible rewards. Students had merit milestones to reach to obtain these prizes— five, ten, fifteen, and twenty with prizes ranging from extra break time to football tickets.
In the beginning, the students initially worked for the prizes. They enjoyed the idea that for just showing up with a “good attitude”, their programme shirts, and Success Diaries, they could be rewarded for doing what was naturally asked of them. This was encouraged throughout the programme, the ease at which they could control a positive experience such as earning a merit. There was also a clear system in place; lessons were conducted in the morning and if the student wanted to participate in the afternoon “fun” activity, then he or she needed to work hard to earn that reward. This was additionally reinforced in the discipline scheme as well—misbehaviour could result in forfeiting the afternoon activity. These activities were kept unknown to the students until after the morning lessons to foster hard work and good behaviour (over time) as a more inherent achievement rather than just something they wanted (or did not want) to do.
[Student] came to [the programme] this week with 5 merits
earned from school and home and earned an additional 3 merits for completing her Diary on her own, bringing it to [class], and her T shirt. She will received a Silver medal for this and seems to be VERY keen to continue earning rewards for her hard work. (Diary/C3/W2)
[Student] seems keen to continue earning merits as he came to [class] with 5 earned from school!! In addition, he was given another 2 merits today for Success Diary and T shirt, which will reward him with a Silver medal! (Diary/C3W2)
We are VERY pleased that [student] is also working so hard to earn merits and rewards, but the other students are saying she's not earning them, but telling her teachers they need to sign it to prove she attended class? Can we please confirm these two issues? To date, [student] has earned 25 merits and received no warnings today although she should have received a yellow card for her
attitude/actions…She was also asked to quit "nagging" [the
instructors] about what prizes she wanted versus what we offer and when she is to receive them. (Diary/C3W4)
By midterm or Weeks 5/6, the students began to shift their attitudes and behaviours about the merits; they maintained quality work ethic and optimistic attitudes less for the merits and more because of the value this added to their individual and group learning experiences. They became less and less motivated by tangible rewards and more by the inspiring feelings of camaraderie amongst the group to be active learners.
Very impressed with her attitude and work ethic--in the morning, Sara was focused and acted as a good partner for Rourke! The two offered loads of reflection and participation in the discussions and reading about humiliation. She also took great pride and effort in creating her classmate/tutor as a super hero! (WPR/C3W6/Sara/027)
I was kinda glad the way it was different, because like, I’m pretty sure most of us thought we were going to go there, miss school, do like activities and everything. But I’m kinda glad that we did work as well, cause it shows you how much you appreciate things, and all that,
because you don’t want to go there and get rewards for nothing, cause you don’t think anything of it. And then you just think that the people there are just walkovers, so you don’t really care about them; where as like, they showed that they cared about your education and all that, so you like, by putting all the work in with it.
(PI/C1/Sheldon/011)
The students developed a sense of pride over their work, their behaviour, and their group; each week they set new goals for themselves and each week they shared in that pride and sense of achievement when accomplishing these goals, no matter how small. If they felt another student in the group was struggling, they supported that student and offered unsolicited help, even at times in a protective manner.
Um I set goals I would be good and on my best behaviour and done that… I said I would get up in the morning and I’ve done that… feel pretty proud of [myself] that I’ve done that. (PI/Sara/027)
[My goal was to] learn different words, hard words like omniscient, envy, and the rest…yeah um, I [done] that. (PI/Greg/028)
In the afternoon, despite having a dress on, Sara grabbed some shorts and took to the climbing courses like a champ!! She was not afraid of the challenges or the heights and worked very hard to accomplish the tasks. SO MANY times Sara was overheard cheering on Greg, Gil and [student]--super supportive of her classmates with nothing, but positive things to say/do! (Diary/C3W6)
Gil continues to impress me each week with his attitude and compassion. Before half term, Gil had lost his second Success Diary, but not only did he find it, he came back with THIRTEEN new merits!!!! Almost all earned from teachers/school…has shown lots of interest in helping the other students when he can. In the climbing
activity, Gil took off on his own, trying all the courses and attempting to better each go either faster, or better form. He cheered on
classmates and asked multiple times to have his picture taken to record his achievements. (WPR/C3W7/Gil/031)
They challenged themselves and each other, not because they expected merits or medals, but because it made them feel good—feel good about themselves, about school, and mostly, about being successful learners.
Sara focused more on her own personal development during [the programme] rather than on earning merits, but what she didn't know, is that she was being awarded them anyhow!! Sara finished with 17 merits, just shy of the 20 needed for the football tickets; however, Gil urged us to give her 3 of his so that she could attend the game with the rest of the group!! (WPR/C3W12/Sara/027)
Week 1, Greg was afraid to even put on the harness at the climbing wall and by week 7, he was the first one out there, setting goals for himself and challenging his fears by climbing more difficult courses and pushing himself out of his comfort zone! The other kids saw this and began cheering for him and supporting him--his determination was infectious. Although a few lessons were quite hard for him due to content, he carried on his best, and maintained a good attitude. Greg's enthusiasm seemed to drop the last couple sessions, but on the final day of laser tag, he was back…(WPR/C3W12/Greg/028)
Was a bit concerned that the story for the reading lesson and the consequent discussions would be tough for Greg as the story involved the death of a younger disabled brother. Greg was asked before the class begun if he would be comfortable with it, and he said, "Yes." Given the option to excuse himself at any time, Greg bravely tackled the lesson. He listened to the personal stories the
others shared and even offered some of his own
comments/experiences. As usual, Gil was a great support, but surprisingly, so was Sara! She came over to him during the break as he sat alone and shared some Haribo with him. Heart-warming to see the compassion and empathy! (Diary/C3W6)
The intervention nurtured this individual emotional growth amongst the participates by allowing it to unfold through their own self-discovery processes; the intervention and its instructors merely provided the tools and the guidance for the students to take control and implement this into their learning and personal development at their own speed and in an encouraging and supportive environment. This made it difficult at times to assess whether or not the stages of Bibliotherapy were being achieved; therefore, this programme was not judged on a scale of success or failure rather determining impact to the students and their experiences.