Mary Resnick is teaching creative writing as part of her first teaching assignment. She wonders how her students will react to this being her first year of teaching, but not her first year as a working adult (she decided to become a teacher after raising her own children). Because her daughters had teachers who Mary considered weak, she decided she was going to be firm, but fair. "This is not a popularity contest," Mary reasons. "All students should work hard and if they do, I'll reward them with good grades."
Mrs. Resnick stands by the door as her first period students enter. When they are settled into their desks, she says that she expects them to write well by the end of the school year. She also tells them that if they don't, they will fail her class.
Each week, as the school year progresses, Mrs. Resnick reviews her students' essays. As a motivational technique, she writes comments such as "below average work" or "unacceptable" on the top of their papers. "This will get them to try harder," she rationalizes. However, while the writing skills of some of the students improve, most seem to be giving up. "This is not what I expected to happen," Mary tells her mentor teacher, Annie Jasperson. "Maybe I can explain how your students might be feeling," replies Annie.
Using the motivational theories from the chapter (e.g., behavioral, human needs, attribution, and expectancy theory), write Annie's response.
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