Introduction

The MAKING THE EFFORT curriculum teaches students at the secondary level with intellectual disabilities, emotional handi-caps, learning disabilities, or autism the social behaviors they need to succeed on the job and in the community. MAKING THE EFFORT is based on attribution theory, a social psychological model of motivation. MAKING THE EFFORT was selected as the title of the curriculum because it represents the motivation and perseverance students need to succeed.

This Teacher’s Guide Includes the Following Sections:

• How to Use the Lesson Guides. This page-printed on the inside cover of the Teacher's Guide-describes and explains how to use each section of the lesson plan. A more detailed description is provided with the lesson guide to Unit 1, Lesson 1 (pp. 48-51).
• Curriculum Structure. This section lists the psychological principle for each unit, the psychological corollary for every lesson, and objectives for every unit and lesson.
• Lesson Guides, which provide step-by-step instructions on how to introduce, use, and follow up each lesson in the student workbook.
• A Unit Synthesis Activity, which lists an activity that may be assigned at the beginning of the unit and completed as students progress through the unit or may be used at the end of a unit for evaluation.
• Social Behavior Index. This index-found at the end of this book indicates the lessons in which a particular social behavior is emphasized.
• Social Vocabulary Index. This index indicates the lessons in the student workbook in which specific social vocabulary words are used.

Audience

MAKING THE EFFORT's primary audience is students at the secondary level with intellectual disabilities, emotional handicaps, learning disabilities, or autism. The program may also be helpful to slow learners and students who are learning English as a second language. MAKING THE EFFORT's student lessons are written at an average third-grade reading level; new vocabulary words are listed in the teacher's guides to each lesson.

Adaptations may be helpful to students with specific needs:

• For students whose reading levels are below the third-grade level, teachers may wish to read aloud-or have students read aloud - the written material before students complete exercises. While many workbook lessons ask students to respond to questions or exercises in writing, disgraphic students and non-writers may instead use these activities as a basis for discussion. Students' answers may also be recorded on video or a recording device or, in many cases, in drawings. Students might also be encouraged to "act out" roles of characters in plays, stories, poems, and vignettes as a method of ensuring comprehension. Teachers should feel free to adapt methods to the specific disabilities of their students.
• Because MAKING THE EFFORT was designed primarily with the older adolescent in mind, it emphasizes settings that students will encounter after they finish school. Teachers of middle or junior high school students may wish to change some situations suggested in lesson guides to maintain their younger students' interest.

Attribution Theory - The Psychological Premise for Making the Effort

MAKING THE EFFORT is based on attribution theory-a set of assumptions about human motivation-developed by Dr. Bernard Weiner, a social psychologist at the University of California at Los Angeles.' A somewhat simplified description of the theory is presented here.

MAKING THE EFFORT's purpose is to help students develop adaptive motivation systems social-skills and behaviors that will bring them success. Attribution theory suggests that we feel more motivated if we have a sense of control over our own lives.

Consequently, MAKING THE EFFORT makes a systematic attempt to help students develop a greater sense of control.

Attribution theory is based on several assumptions:

1. We prefer to be able to predict and control events in our lives.
2. We need and want to understand causes of events-especially personal success and failure. The causes that we infer become our attributions, that is, we attribute our successes and failures to certain factors.
3. The attributions we make affect our motivation:

• If we attribute our successes to factors we can control - like effort or cooperation--we will be motivated to continue trying and being cooperative.
• But if we feel that a success or failure was caused by luck, innate ability, or other factors we cannot control, we will feel less motivated to continue trying.

Hence, MAKING THE EFFORT emphasizes effort and encourages students to see that their own efforts are the primary cause of their successes. Conversely, students are encouraged to view a lack of effort as the primary cause of failure.

1. Effort is controllable - we can always put more or less effort into achieving a particular goal. MAKING THE EFFORT teaches students that they can control the amount of effort they put into achieving a goal, and that they can, therefore, decide if they will or won't succeed.
2. We can use effort to compensate for factors over which we have no control. Thus, MAKING THE EFFORT suggests that students can compensate for their disabilities by trying harder.
3. People who evaluate us--including teachers and employers-are impressed when we put great effort into a task. Thus, effort encourages people to evaluate us positively.

Attribution Theory has implications for teaching:

• Because MAKING THE EFFORT builds student motivation systematically and sequentially, the program is most effective if all materials and lessons are taught in the order in which they appear in the curriculum.
• Teachers are encouraged to reward student effort and, conversely, emphasize lack of effort in helping students understand failures.
• In response to student questions, discussions, and debate, teachers should help students examine factors students can control - effort and behavior - rather than dwelling on factors students cannot control.

How to Use the Teacher’s Guide

To Each Unit and Lesson

A detailed step-by-step description accompanies the guide to Unit 1, Lesson 1. Following are additional comments about these guides:

• Each of MAKING THE EFFORT's student workbooks has six units; each unit has five lessons. Thus, each workbook provides a total of 30 student lessons.
• Note that teacher's guides to each lesson are suggested; teachers should feel free to make modifications as needed to meet student needs.
• Note also that discussion questions, assignments, and activities have not been written in "student" language; teachers will generally want to reword these sections to ensure student comprehension.
• MAKING THE EFFORT's student lessons can be completed in one class period. Lessons may be extended to two class periods by using homework and behavior development activities on the second day. MAKING THE EFFORT may be used with individual students as well as with small or large classes.

Special Methods Used in Making the Effort

MAKING THE EFFORT's purpose is to motivate students to learn, practice, and polish their social skills. In order to accomplish these objectives, a variety of methods are suggested in addition to lessons in student workbooks, including roleplaying, small group assignments, "fishbowl" activities, brainstorming, and large group discussions.

Following are suggestions and reminders for beginning teachers or those who may have used these techniques frequently:

• Using Roleplaying 2 MAKING THE EFFORT frequently suggests roleplaying because students need both practice and feedback as they develop appropriate social behaviors. Generally speaking, roleplaying activities suggested in MAKING THE EFFORT address situations students will encounter in the normal course of daily life. Nevertheless, students who are especially shy or sensitive may find roleplaying difficult or threatening. Because of this, we have included suggestions to help teachers manage roleplaying exercises so that all students are willing to participate:
• Teachers are advised to select students who are socially competent and respected by their peers for initial role-playing activities; this can generate acceptance of the technique and enthusiasm on the part of other students.
• Students who do not wish to participate in roleplaying should never be forced to do so; those who are hesitant at first will probably feel more comfortable with the technique as they observe the enthusiasm of their peers.
• Teachers should try to create an atmosphere in which students feel free not to participate in a particular activity; peers can exert pressure that can make refusal very difficult.
• Students who exemplify the specific inappropriate behavior that the activity is trying to correct should not be singled out either for roleplaying or in discussions.
• Students should not generally be asked to play roles that replicate roles they play in real life; e.g., the student who is a social failure in real life should not be asked to play this role in the classroom.

Note that some roleplaying exercises described in MAKING THE EFFORT lessons call for students to demonstrate negative or undesirable behaviors first, then to demonstrate opposite behaviors that are positive or desirable. These activities should be used only if students will be able to comprehend the difference and only when class time permits the second stage in which students demonstrate positive and desirable behaviors. If insufficient time exists to complete the entire process in one class period, the activity should be postponed, omitted, or amended to ensure that students do not leave the class having practiced only the negative behaviors.

Using Brainstorming

Brainstorming is generally used as a creative process, intended to elicit from students as many ideas about a topic as possible. Brainstorming is effective only when the following rules are observed:

• Every idea presented should be initially viewed as valid; all contributions should be recorded on lists of ideas.
• No idea should be evaluated during the brainstorming process; if evaluations are necessary, they should be made only after students have exhausted their ideas; evaluations should not be seen as part of the brainstorming process.
• Students should feel free to expand upon or improve ideas already suggested.
• Everyone should be encouraged to contribute ideas.
• Using Small Group Activities Lesson plans in the teacher's guides generally suggest appropriate sizes for groups; where group sizes are not identified, small groups may be comprised of three to six students. The composition of students within a given group is generally left to the discretion of the teacher. In some cases, groups comprised of students who are close friends may be most productive; other activities may be more productive if cliques are split up. In order to minimize confusion about the tasks groups are expected to accomplish, teachers are advised to post specifics on the board or provide copies of directions to each group. Note that many MAKING THE EFFORT activities and roleplaying assignments provide different topics for small groups to address; teachers should feel free to add topics to those already suggested.

Recording

Teachers who have access to a camera can greatly increase MAKING THE EFFORT's impact on students. MAKING THE EFFORT's follow-up and behavior development activities may be easily adapted to this medium by using the following technique:

• Before students receive any suggestions regarding specific behaviors, have students demonstrate the behavior first on a camera. This will give teachers a "baseline" by which they can evaluate student progress.
• After discussing criteria for effective performance of the specific behavior, have students view the videos made earlier and evaluate their own performance; depending upon the class, this step may be best used either in large or small groups, or on an individual basis.
• After they view and evaluate their own performance, students should state specific ways in which they could improve.
• Record students as they repeat roleplaying exercises and have students evaluate the extent to which they improved in their second attempt.
• Give students a third (and, if needed, a fourth) opportunity to demonstrate their skills.
• After a few weeks, have students repeat their performance to determine the extent to which their skills are now part of their repertoire. Students will benefit most if they can obtain and accept feedback not only from the teacher but also from their classmates; after they repeat the above procedure a few times, students should feel increasingly comfortable with the idea of being viewed and evaluated by their peers.