Theoretical Foundations of Eccomi Pronto

“The habits we form from childhood make no small difference, but rather they make all the difference.” (Aristotle, 350 B.C.)

“There is nothing so practical as a good theory.” (Lewin, 1951, p. 169)

Schools are powerful places where children learn to become people--people who work; play; laugh; cry; help others; hurt others; show courage; overcome adversity; feel shame; hide from challenges; persevere; give up; grow; shrink; stagnate; rebound from disappointment; and, thrive. Children learn how to do all these things in school. Each of these things can become a habitual aspect of the way that the child exists in the world beyond school. They become part of the stories that children tell themselves about themselves and thereby persist into adulthood. These stories take on the semblance and the power of reality and determine which futures are possible for the child, and which are not.

It is tempting to simplify schools and to think of them only as places where children learn academic skills and acquire academic knowledge. Admittedly, this academic learning is critically important. Knowing how to phonetically decode words is an essential skill upon which is based the ability to read independently and the power that comes from being able independently set the course of one’s own learning. Knowing the tenants and implications of the theory of evolution is essential for understanding biological principles involved in important decisions about a wide range of human concerns (e.g. biodiversity, public health, population control). Certainly, no school could be judged as effective if its students were not mastering essential academic skills and acquiring essential academic knowledge.

Yet academic learning cannot be the only focus of schools. The problems with focusing the goal of schooling narrowly on academic learning have been extensively explored within modern educational thought. Dewey (1916), for example, has pointed out that the goal of schooling should be to prepare students for full participation in a constantly changing democratic society. To accomplish this broad goal, schooling needs to attend to a wide range of types of student learning (e.g. affective learning, self-understanding, self-direction, social skills) in addition to academic learning and help students develop the love of learning and the capacity to create new knowledge that are necessary to be active participants in an evolving society.

Other educators have emphasized that schooling needs to focus on helping students internalize a broad range of types of learning (e.g. ethical, social, ethical, personal) so that the academic learning they acquire in school can be used pro-socially to benefit society and so that they can come to enjoy the happiness and well-being associated with the balance between personal success, healthy relationships, and community involvement (Noddings, 2005).

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In order to be effective, schools need to engaged in both helping students acquire academic skills and knowledge and helping students develop the knowledge, skills, attitudes, beliefs and habits of mind that enable them to 1) profit maximally from their instructional opportunities and experiences 2) direct their own learning and lives, 3) maintain meaningful work and personal relationships and 4) contribute to the improvements of their communities and society.

Over the past 25 years, the importance of these types of abilities and skills has been repeatedly noted. For example, in 1990, the U.S. Secretary of Labor initiated a commission to identify the skills that people need in the world of work. In addition to the basic academic skills, the commission identified a number of skills related to social competence, self-knowledge and self-management. Such skills include: listening to others, participating effectively in groups, understanding other’s emotions, dealing with cultural diversity, managing oneself, assuming responsibility, managing one own self-esteem, decision-making, and problem-solving (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, 1991).

More recently in the US, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has identified a set of skills that they see as necessary for success in the complex, changing, globally interconnected context that shapes modern life (Trilling & Fadel, 2009). The partnership’s skill framework includes a strong focus on life and career skills that include: the ability to maintain flexibility and adaptability, the ability to take initiative and be self-directed, the ability to manage difference and work collaboratively with others, the ability to accept responsibility and be accountable, the ability to lead other, the ability to act responsibly in the interests of the larger community.

Similarly, from the education policy perspective, noted economist and Nobel laureate James Heckman (Heckman & Krueger, 2003) has studied the factors affecting the achievement gap between middle class and low income and minority students in the United States and concluded that both “cognitive” (academic skills) and “non-cognitive skills” (e.g. self-direction skills, social engagement skills, self regulation skills, openness, conscientiousness, pro-social orientation social skills etc.) are responsible for the gap and that programs that school-based programs that focus on helping students develop their non-cognitive skills are an essential component of effective achievement gap reduction approaches.

Relatedly, Levin (2012) summarized international research on the relationships between the development of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills (labeled “non-cognitive skills”) and the quality and productivity of the labor force. He noted that across the globe there is a much stronger relationship between students’ “non-cognitive” skills and their earning level as an adult than there is between students’ academic achievement test scores and their later earnings levels. Furthermore he found that elementary, middle and high schools can significantly improve “non-cognitive factors” if there is a focus on implementing “purposeful interventions” targeted in these areas. Based on the research evidence, Levin suggested that: 1) schools should be committed to purposeful interventions that promote students’ development of “motivation, self-discipline, persistence, cooperation, self-presentation, tolerance, respect, and other non-cognitive dimensions”, 2) this focus on non cognitive factors should be evident in early childhood programs, elementary schools, middle schools and high schools; and, 3) governments should invest in the development of measurement of “non cognitive” success factors to monitor the performance of schools.

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Reviews of educational and developmental psychological research over the past three decades have identified critical “nonacademic” skills that are necessary for academic success (Hattie, Biggs, & Purdie, 1996; Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 1994). More recently, researchers have identified “nonacademic skills” that are known to be different between successful students and students who are at risk for academic failure (Durlack, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2010; Greenberg et al., 2003; Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack, 2001; Zins, Weissberg, Wang, & Walberg, 2004). These “nonacademic” skills represent three categories of abilities (Carey et al., in press): 1) cognitive and metacognitive skills such as goal setting, progress monitoring, and memory skills; 2) social skills such as interpersonal skills, social problem solving, listening, and teamwork skills; and 3) self-management skills such as managing attention, motivation, and anger.

Eccomi Pronto was developed to help early elementary school students develop the personal and social skills that are necessary to master academic skills and learn academic content effectively. It was designed to promote students’ development of the capacity to: understand their own psychological selves (to satisfy necessary preconditions for developing effective self-direction); direct their own learning; regulate their own emotions and motivation; and, establish and maintain healthy relationships in the classroom. Eccomi Pronto was designed as the first component of a three-component program. It focuses on the early elementary years where the primary academic task is to develop the capacities necessary to initiate the transition from being a dependent to an independent reader (Beers, 2003) and where the primary psychosocial task is to develop a sense of competence (Erickson, 1959) that will sustain later learning and development. The second (middle school) component (C’era Una Volta) will focus on the development of students’ personal and social skills that support the development of narrative writing and, relatedly, metacognitive development. The third (high school) component (Io Sono) is planned to focus on promoting the development of students’ personal and social skills that support the development of autobiographical writing and the development of a strong sense of personal identity and interpersonal connection.

All three components (Eccomi Pronto, C’era Una Volta, and Io Sono) use stories to promote students development. In Eccomi Pronto elementary students hear stories and are guided through a process to help them understand their meaning and structure. In C’era Una Volta, students construct stories and develop metacognitive skills and a deeper understanding of how to structure a good story. Finally, in Io Sono, students come to understand themselves better and to create their own identities through biographical stories. In addition they learn to deepen their caring relationships with peers by being guided in group processing activities where they give and receive help and feedback on writing technique and on personal and social issues included in their personal stories.

Eccomi Pronto is based on four major theoretical traditions: Adlerian Individual Psychology; Narrative Counseling Theory; Self-Knowledge Development Theory; and Positive Psychology. Eccomi Pronto is also based on research in early literacy development and on personal social factors affecting academic achievement and success. The contributions of each of these perspectives to Eccomi Pronto are illustrated below.

Narrative Counseling Theory, Self-Knowledge Development Theory and Early Literacy Research

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Each Eccomi Pronto lesson is based on stories that a teacher/counselor reads to the students. Stories are powerful devices for helping children acquire knowledge of themselves, others, and the world; and important skills underlying both social competence and reading and literacy development. Stories were chosen as the foundation of Eccomi Pronto for three reasons: 1) stories are an important way that people make sense of themselves and their place in the world (White 2007); 2) the analysis of stories can be used to assess and promote children’s self-knowledge development and self-direction (Weinstein and Alschuler (1985); and, 3) developing the concepts for understanding the structure of stories is an important early literacy skill that promotes the development of independent reading in primary school students.

It should also be noted that sharing stories is a particularly powerful way for adults and children to build the type of relationship that is promotes effective learning (Bianchi, 2008). A good teacher-student relationship is critically important for student learning. Students learn best when they perceive that their teacher knows, likes, respects and cares about them. Good stories evoke ideas and emotions in both adults and children. The collaborative dialog between adults and children about the events and meaning of the story provide an opportunity for the development of empathy and understanding. The story-focus of Eccomi Pronto is designed not only to promote children’s self-understanding but also to help teachers deepen their relationships with their students resulting in provide a more satisfying and enriching classroom environment conducive to student learning.

Narrative Counseling (White, 2007) is a relatively new approach to counseling that emphasize the importance of stories as the fundamental way that people make sense of their lives and their place in the world. People’s life stories are self-generated and based on self-observation and experience. Self-stories are also influenced by the things people are told by significant others and by the truths transmitted to individuals by the culture in which they reside.

To understand a person, one needs to understand their stories about themselves, about their relationships and about their place in the world. To help a person change, one needs to help them create better stories about themselves. To understand a person’s difficulties in changing their behavior one needs to understand how their stories prevent change. Most of the existing theory and research in narrative counseling has focused on its use in helping troubled individuals “externalize problems” and “restory” their lives. Recent work, has focused on the use of narrative approaches in understanding the process of career development and the use of narrative counseling techniques to help individuals create new more liberating self-stories that permit a wider range of personal options and choices (Savickas, 2000). Only a few authors have focused on the use of narrative approaches in more preventative ways. Eppler, Olsen and Hidano, (2009), for example have recently discussed the potential of using story-telling as a technique to help elementary school students identify positive outcomes for problematic situations.

Given the powerful role that stories have in the organization and direction of people’s lives, it is surprising that so little attention is paid to helping children acquire the

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concepts and tools they need to create good personal stories. Eccomi Pronto is intended to help fill this void be helping children acquire useful concepts that they can use to: construct an image of themselves as an active self-directed individual; learn useful self-management skills, and; learn the elements of good “story telling” (including attention to event sequences, understanding personal meanings, making inferences about emotions, making inferences about motivations, and constructing the meaning of event sequences). In short, Eccomi Pronto helps students learn how to create good stories. These narrative skills will serve as the foundation for their subsequent positive psychological development.

Self-Knowledge Development Theory (SKDT) (Weinstein and Alschuler, 1985) describes the sequential stages in students’ development of self-knowledge and self-understanding. SKDT has its origin in the work of Piaget (1981) and Vygotsky (1978). Piaget emphasized the importance of understanding the developmental process through which children come to understand themselves and the physical and social worlds in which they live. He identified several stages through which children pass as they develop perspective-taking abilities and abstract thought and he emphasized the importance of matching education program and pedagogy to children’s current cognitive developmental levels.

Vygotsky emphasized the importance of language and social interaction in the supporting children’s cognitive development. For Vygotsky, development is the internalization of culture that provides both them with both the content of thought and the tools of thought. Culture initially resided outside the child but is gradually internalized through dialogic processes with adults and peers. Effective teaching creates interactions and dialog that exist on the leading edge of children’s cognitive development. These interactions include content and use cognitive processes that children are just ready to internalize. In this zone of proximal development children are able to do things with help that they are not yet ready to do by themselves. Effective teaching in this zone of proximal development involves a process of scaffolding where teachers initially supply a good deal structure, support, dialog, and direction. The externally supplied scaffolding is gradually “faded” as children develop the ability to do the work by themselves (as the bit of culture related to the problems being worked on are internalized).

Weinstein and Alschuler (1985) applied social cognitive developmental principles to the understanding of self-knowledge development. Self-knowledge development refers to the processes through which people come to know themselves and to use this knowledge to intentionally direct their own behavior. Weinstein and Alschuler identified four stages of self-knowledge development which they named the Elemental, Situational, Pattern and Transformational levels. In the Elemental Level, children learn to attend to, remember and recount personal experiences but the recounting of these experiences had poor sequence and lacks connection between external events and internal states (thoughts and feelings) or between internal states and actions.

In the Situational Level, children develop many of the capacities that enable later self-direction. They are able to see how a collection of related events comprise a whole

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“story”. They are able to recount events in good sequence, and make causal connections between external events and inner states (feelings and thoughts) and between inner states and subsequent behavior. They can make plausible inferences about peoples internal states based on knowledge of their external circumstances and the things that happen to them. Finally, in the Situational Level, children can sum up and state the meaning of a collection of events. In this phase children initially have an impoverished affective vocabulary and need to acquire more differentiated ways to describe their inner life. Similarly, they initially have very simple schema to describe how external events affect inner states and how inner states motivate behavior. They need to acquire more complex ways to describe and understand human motivation and emotion.

In the Pattern Lever, adolescents develop the ability to operate abstractly on their “stories”. They can compare the commonalities that exeunt across several stories and discern a pattern that reflects a habitual way of behaving. They develop the ability to recognize and identify their own habitual patterns of behavior.

Finally, in the Transformational level, adolescents develop the ability to alter their own patterns of behavior through the intentional application of self-administered meta-cognitive interventions. They can encourage the activation of desirable patterns and forestall (or interrupt) undesirable patterns.

Children in the early primary school grades can generally be expected to be making a transition into the Situational Self-Knowledge Development Level. The Situational Level skills outlined above will be in their zone of proximal development. Eccomi Pronto is designed (according to the principles of Vygotsky) to provide a highly interactive educational experience that will help students internalize Situational Level self-knowledge skills. In Eccomi Pronto, this is accomplished the group processing of stories that provides students with scaffolded experiences in practicing these skills. It is also accomplished through follow-up activities that provide students interactive experiences in applying the same skills they have used to understand “third person” stories to understanding themselves in their own lives.

Early Literacy Research was summarized in a report of the commissioned by the Public Library Association and Association for Library Service to Children in the United States (Everhart, 2004). This report concluded that reading development was positively impacted by an early focus on six skills: vocabulary, narrative skills, print motivation, print awareness, letter knowledge and phonemic awareness. Eccomi Pronto focuses primarily of helping students develop narrative skills which include: developing an awareness of story elements; developing the ability to remember and relate events in sequence; identifying the relationships between story events and characters’ thoughts feeling and actions; identifying the relationships between characters’ thoughts feeling and actions and subsequent events; and identifying the moral, lesson or gist of the story. Through listening to and processing the stories in a group, students internalize the “blueprint” or “template” of “a story” with which future stories can understood. If students have such a template, they can approach listening to or reading new stories in an active fashion, anticipating, hypothesizing and guessing about how events will unfold.

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Their active engagement with the story results in better listening and (eventually) reading comprehension.

Block & Pressley (2002) review research on the use of questions to promote comprehension and found that when teachers asked students questions about material they were being read both active engagement and comprehension increased. They noted that proficient readers use multiple metacognitive skills when reading while poor readers use relatively few. Recently Strasser, Larrain and Lissin (2013) demonstrated that asking students questions about how events or characters in a story relate to each other (similar to the group processing conduced in Eccomi Pronto) resulted in both more active student engagement and greater reading comprehension. Interventions that increase students’ cognitive engagement and use of metacognitive skills related to stories (as Eccomi Pronto is designed to do), improve reading fluency and comprehension.

Positive Psychology

In the development of Eccomi Pronto, we conducted an intentional search of theory and research within the field of the Positive Psychology movement in order to identify key psychological concepts upon which the Eccomi Pronto stories would be based. There is a long tradition of interest in children’s stories (fairytale, folktales and fables) within the psychotherapeutic community. Freud (1900) noted that fairy tales had much in common with dreams indicating that both fairy tales and dreams used symbols to express the conflicts, anxieties, and forbidden desires that had been repressed into the unconscious. In his theoretical writings, Freud demonstrated that fairy tales used a symbolic language that could be interpreted psychoanalytically to reveal the latent or hidden content of the mind. Bettelheim (1976) suggested that traditional fairy tales are based on common human conflicts and fears and consequently allowed children to grapple with their psychological discomfort in more remote and symbolic ways. He argued that fairy tales are an important tool for helping children learns to navigate reality and survive in a world that is dominated by adults.

Jung (1954) believed that fairy tales, folk tales, and fables represented evidence for a “collective unconscious” (rather than reflecting conflicts buried within the personal unconscious) and used the analysis of them to identify “archetypes”—common powerful thematic structures within the collective unconscious. In her masterwork The Interpretation of Fairy Tales, Jung’s student, Marie-Luise von Franz (1987) extend his work and elaborated on how she believed that fairy tales can be used to describe the collective unconscious. She indicated that, by encountering fairy tales, psychotherapy clients could develop a deeper awareness and understanding of the contents of their own collective unconscious.

Feminist and postmodern literary analyses (especially of traditional fairy tales) have emphasized that children’s stories serve the function of socializing children to the world of the storyteller. Rather than reflecting preexisting psychological realities (e.g. unconscious conflicts or archetypes) these stories help to create psychological and social reality through the transmission of gender roles and stereotypes. Children’s stories are seen as a mechanism to prepare children to fit into existing power hierarchies (Parsons,

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2004). For example, a feminist analysis of a popular children’s story the story notes that:

“Cinderella cannot speak for herself, she cannot act on her own behalf, and she cannot function autonomously: yet she is rewarded with the ultimate prize. After meek submission, humble acceptance of her fate, being good to those who abused her, and becoming beautiful, she is rewarded with the prince, yet she did nothing.” (Parsons, 2004 pp.144-145).

The awareness of the power of stories to socialize children to unjust social orders has let to the creation of stories that are intentionally designed to help student understand inequity and challenge unjust systems (see Haddix, 1999) and to the development and analyses of methods for retelling traditional stories to eliminate hegemonic story elements and structures (Crew, 2002).

Social-cognitive developmental understandings of children stories has much in common with feminist and postmodern analyses. Vygotsky (1978) noted that, as they develop, children internalize both cultural content and cognitive processes. As children assimilate stories, they internalize what the stories say about them and their social world. All stories have encoded in them a tacit theory of human nature, human capabilities, social realities and morality. As children internalize stories, they also internalize this tacit theory. Traditional children’s stories are base on folk psychology some of which is helpful and some of which may be harmful.

Eccomi Pronto, however, uses stories that are intentionally constructed to provide children with the opportunity to internalize psychological concepts that promote optimal personal and social development. All the Eccomi Ponto stories rooted in a “culture” of positive psychology that is based on the belief that all people are competent, active agents who are capable of directing their own lives, participating in productive nurturing relationships, and contributing to the good of their communities. The concepts upon which these stories were constructed was found in theory and research of the Positive Psychology movement which is a attempt to shift the focus of modern psychology towards an understanding of optimal human functioning.

Rather than being a discrete theory, Positive Psychology is a movement within the field of psychology that encompasses a range of theories and research approaches that share the common purpose of identifying the conditions under which humans demonstrate optimal psychological health and functioning (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Rather than focusing on deficits and problems, theorists and researchers of the positive psychology movement focus on understanding phenomena like the development of character, the learning of virtues, the development of the capacity for self-direction, learned optimism, the development social competence, mindfulness, joy, forgiveness and resilience.

Kim et al. (2012) has pointed out that there is along tradition of philosophical and psychological thought that undergirds Positive Psychology. They trace its philosophical origins to Aristotle’s (350 B.C.) Nicomachean Ethics, in which Aristotle explored the question of how people should best live. Aristotle described “eudaimonia”, which is a type of happiness that is achieved by living a meaningful life. Furthermore, he maintained that this state was superior to other types of momentary happiness that are

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attained through hedonistic pleasure seeking (Kim et al, 2012).

Gabel and Haidt (2005) identified several important historical strands of psychological theory and research (e.g. James’s (1902) theorizing on “healthy mindedness”; Maslow’s (1943) work of self-actualization; Cowan’s (2000) research on resilience in children and adolescents) that are clearly foundational to modern Positive Psychology. They suggested that rather than be being thought of as a new approach, Positive Psychology should be considered as a movement that intentionally highlights theory-building and research in optimal human functioning in order to promote the development and use of psychological knowledge in this area. Theory and research in the following Positive Psychology areas served as the foundational concepts for the Eccomi Pronto Stories.

Metacognitive awareness is the introspective ability to observe one’s own mental functions, thoughts, and behavior and draw useful inferences (e.g. about strengths, weaknesses, interests, motivational patterns) to guide learning and decision-making (Falvell, 1987). Research indicates that students can develop their metacognitive awareness through school-based interventions (Schraw, 1998). Students can be helped to acquire metacognitive awareness to guide their own learning, career development and social relationships. School-based program can help students develop metacognitive awareness of their interests, values, abilities learning styles, temperament and personality—all of which promote effective learning, self-direction and decision-making.

Learned Optimism and Attributional Style are two important areas of metacognitive awareness. When individuals experience a success or a failure, they immediately (and sometimes automatically) attribute the outcome to a cause. The cause that is selected can have a profound effect on future behavior. Attributions of causation affect motivation and influence whether or not individuals try something and whether or not they will persist if they initially experience hardship or failure (Wiener, 1974). For example, if students believe that their grade on a test is determined by a “powerful other” (e.g." I’ll get a good grade if the teacher likes me"), by luck (“I’ll get a good grade if it's my lucky day”), or by unchangeable aspects of themselves ("I’ll get a good grade if I’m intelligent enough"), they are unlikely to be motivated to study for the test. If, on the other hand, they believe that the outcome of the test is largely determine by things they can actually do to make a difference (I’ll get a good grade on the test if I study hard enough) they will be motivated to act.

Similarly, students who have explanatory styles that attribute success and failure to uncontrollable causes are less likely to be optimistic and more likely to be depressed. In addition to being related to learning, attribution style is related to optimism (Seligman, 2006), as well as to psychological resilience and depression (Seligman & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987). A negative attribution styles also predisposes students to self-handicapping behavior—the substitution of maladaptive behavior for achievement-oriented behavior in order to prevent self-esteem loss associated with anticipated “unavoidable” failures (Jones & Berglas, 1978). Clearly, learning to make accurate causal attributions and recognize and compensate for biases introduced by one’s own explanatory style is an important aspect of meta-cognitive understanding they should be a focus of school-based programs, given the strong relationship between explanatory style, achievement, resilience, mental health and well-being.

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Achievement Motivation is an area of psychological theory and research that focuses understanding on human motivations to succeed (Atkinson & Feather, 1966; McClelland, 1965) . Research in achievement motivation has validated the importance of distinguishing between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). Intrinsic motivation refers to the things that an individual finds to be motivating by their very nature. Extrinsic motivation refers to the things that are done to achieve an arbitrary reward. For example, students may enjoy writing stories so much so that they write stories in their spare time at home (intrinsic motivation) and at the same time they will practice solving math problems only because they want to get a good grade on the tests (extrinsic motivation). It is important that all students understand what things they find to be intrinsically interesting and cultivate and develop their intrinsic interests. Areas of intrinsic interest reflect appropriate career directions and academic specializations. It is likewise important that all students identify the tasks that they must master that are not intrinsically interesting. In these areas they will need to learn to apply self-motivational strategies to direct and sustain their learning behavior.

Self Determination Theory and research provides an important perspective on how to help students develop the motivation to engage in learning-related tasks that are not intrinsically interesting to them. Self Determination Theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000) suggests that there are actually several different types of situations in which extrinsic motivation operates. In Externally Regulated situations, students are motivated exclusively by the rewards and punishments that occur as a consequence of their actions. Students develop little personal investment in these actions and will not perform them unless rewards or punishments are likely to result. In Introjected Regulation situations, students are motivated by a desire for the approval of others. They will engage in learning if they perceive that it will result in enhanced regard for them from important others. In Regulation through Identification situations, students engage in activities that then have consciously examined and have identified as having value for them. Finally, in Integrated Regulation situations, students engage in activities because the activities have been integrated into their self-concept and life goals.

As an example, a student may study math: because their parents will give them $10 if they do well on the test (External); because they want the teacher to think well of them (Introjection); because they are certain that they will need to know math in order to get a good job (Identification); or because they see themselves as a young engineer who needs to understand math (Integration). Self-determination theory and research suggests that regulation through Identification and through Integration reflect higher levels of internalization by the student, which is manifested in a greater sense of autonomy, greater effort, greater persistence, and higher performance (especially on difficult and/or complex tasks). Internalization is promoted by learning environments that tap into students’ basic needs to feel competent, autonomous and related to others (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick & Leone, 1994). If students’ can be helped with the internalization of motivation by helping them recognized the value of their school learning and by helping them develop a positive future identity into which the academic learning is integrated, higher levels of self-motivated work to master the academic material and consequently higher levels of academic achievement will result.

Goal-Setting reflects the specific skills associated with directing and maintaining effort towards the achievement of goals. Goal setting is a particularly effective method for helping students develop and maintain motivation in school. Self directed-learners need to develop specific skills in self-regulating their learning behavior towards their self-chosen goals

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(Zimmerman, 1990). Goal Setting is a powerful tool to help students self-regulate their learning. Research has consistently demonstrated that effective goal setting results in enhanced motivation and performance (Locke, 1996, 2001; Morisano et al, 2010.). Learning how to set goals that are ambitious, challenging, personally meaningful, and attainable is an important prerequisite for academic achievement and like-long success.

Self-Efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977; 1997) and its related research base have established the importance of understanding student’s beliefs about their own capabilities to perform well on tasks in school. Bandura (1977) has demonstrated that people’s beliefs about their capabilities to adequately perform a task influences: 1) the likelihood that they will attempt the task; 2) the amount of effort they will expend on the task; 3) the amount of time that they will persist when difficulties are encountered attempting to perform the task; and consequently, 4) the likelihood that they will be successful on the task. A student who believes that s/he is capable of solving difficult math problems will be more likely to: try new problems; work hard on solving the new problems; persist in solving the new problems even when it becomes difficult; and consequently, experience success (resulting in having their initial beliefs in their capabilities confirmed by experience). Similarly, a student who believe that they are incapable of solving difficult math problems will be more likely to: try to avoid doing math; put out minimal effort if forced to do math, and give up when difficulties are encountered. This student too, will end up having their belief about their capabilities confirmed by experience.

Student’s self-efficacy beliefs come from several sources including: actual performance accomplishments (mastery experiences), modeling (vicarious learning), and verbal persuasion, Bandura, 1977). The post powerful influences on students’ self-efficacy beliefs are the actual experiences that they have had with success and failure. Students’ self-efficacy can also be enhanced when they observe real people or imaginary characters (e.g. in stories or movies) with whom they identify successfully perform the task. Effective persuasive messages (e.g. encouragement) from trusted and influential people (e.g. teachers) can also enhance students’ self-efficacy beliefs.

Rather than reflecting global beliefs about capabilities, self-efficacy beliefs tend to be narrowly focused within a specific performance domain (Bandura, 1997). A student may believe that they are not able to learn to read well and at the same time believe that they can learn to draw pictures well. Academic self-efficacy have consistently been shown to be related to academic performance (Zimmerman, 2000). Using path analyses, Zimmerman, Bandura, and Martinez-Pons (1992) demonstrated that self-efficacy improves academic performance both directly and indirectly. Students with high academic self-efficacy show better academic achievement and set higher academic goals for themselves. Clearly, teachers can help students develop academic self-efficacy. Margolis, & McCabe (2006) identified a number of suggestions that are similar to the Eccomi Pronto approach including: using peer support; teaching metacognitive learning and motivational strategies; helping students connect academic leaning with their own interests; encouraging students to make their own choices; encouraging students to try; and helping students make accurate attributionsabout the causes of their successes and failures in school. If student can be helped to develop accurate and positive academic self-efficacy beliefs increased in academic performance and confidence will result.

Possible Selves theory and its related research base (Markus and Nurius, 1986) provide a potentially foundation for Eccomi-Pronto stories. Possible Selves theory is an extension of self-

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concept theory. Similar to other approaches in this tradition, Possible Selves theory emphasizes the impact that a student’s self-definition has on school behavior. The special contribution of Possible Selves theory is its focus on the motivational power of students’ views of themselves in the future. Students’ views of the selves that they would hope to become, fear they will become, and expect to become can be powerful motivators for present school behavior.

Possible selves are the ideal selves that we would very much like to become. They are also the selves that we could become and are afraid of becoming. The possible selves that are hoped for might include the successful self, the creative self, the rich self, the thin self, or the loved and admired self, whereas, the dreaded possible selves could be the alone self, the depressed self, the incompetent self, the alcoholic self, the unemployed self, or the bag lady self. (Markus and Nurius, 1986, p. 954)

Students’ motivation to engage in effortful learning in school is related to how vividly they can picture different possible selves, the nature of their possible selves, and the connections students perceive between school behavior and either achieving a positive self or avoiding a negative self. Possible selves are projections about the future that are rooted in students’ present and past experiences. Both positive and negative possible selves reflect what students have come to believe are actually possible for themselves. The nature of students’ possible selves is strongly influenced by their culture, class, socioeconomic circumstances, family environment, and personal experiences of success or failure in school. Students’ possible selves are also shaped by role models and exposure to media.

Several studies document the relationships between students’ possible selves and their achievement and school-related behavior. (Leondari, Syngollitou and Kiosseoglou 1998; Anderman, Anderman, and Griesinger, 1999; Oysterman and Markus, 1990; Oyserman, Grant and Anger, 1995). In addition, several studies have found that possible-selves-based interventions have positive effects on student achievement (Day, Borkowsky, Ponzo, and Howsepian, 1994; Oyserman, Bybee and Terry, 2006). Students will be more motivated if they have a clear and vivid picture image of their future and see the relationships between their immediate day-to-day choices and behavior and their long-term vision. Helping students create a vivid vision of their possible futures, and see how their immediate choices and behavior relate to their long-term vision will help them likely to achieve and succeed.

Self-Directed Learning refers to a family of related approaches to education that recognize that learners need to be taught how to develop skill in the effective use of learning strategies while they are learning academic concepts and content. (Ambrose, Bridges, DiPietro, Lovett & Norman, 2010). All students need to learn and to learn how to learn. Students are more likely to take initiative and responsibility for directing their own learning if they are active self-directed learners. The development of self-directed learning is enhanced when students exercise choice in what they learn and when classroom learning is connected to students’ personal interests (Corno, 1992). Self-directed learners: show an awareness of their responsibility in choosing what they learn, are curious and open to try new things, view problems as challenges, desire change, enjoy learning, are more persistent, are self-confident and are goal-oriented. (Mardziah, 2001). They are more effective learners with a stronger commitment to life-long-learning. Through interactions with the counseling programs all students are encouraged to identify their own life directions, make academic choices consistent with these

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directions, and connect their classroom learning to their life goals.

Self-Regulation refers to an individual’s ability to alter his own internal states in order to facilitate effective functioning. The ability to regulate both one's attention and emotion is an important factor in both achievement in school, in wellbeing and in latter success (ACT, 2011; DuPaul & Stoner, 2003; Graziano, Reavis, Keane, & Kalkins, 2007; Gumora & Arsenio, 2002). Children need to learn how to direct their own attention and modulate emotional states related to fear, anxiety, anger and depression. Children who have self-regulation difficulties often show interpersonal problems in addition to academic difficulties and without intervention are on the track towards chronic underachievement, stunted social interest and dissatisfaction. Effective interventions have been developed to teach self-regulation in a wide range of domains including, for example: attention (Randye, Lee, Rosa & Miller, 2010; Reid, Trout & Schwartz, 2005); anger management (Fraser, Galinsky, Smokowski, Day, Terzian, Rose & Guo, 2005), stress management (McCraty, Atkinson, Tomasino, Goelitz & Mayrovitz, 1999); and anxiety (Rapee, Schniering & Hudson, 2009). The majority of these effective approaches use some form of cognitive-behavioral skills training to teach student how to control their own internal processes and to modulate their own internal emotional states. By enabling all students to regulate their own attention and emotional states, school-based programs like Eccomi Pronto promote the development of essential skills that necessary for learning, persistence, resilience and effective and satisfying social interactions.

Social skills have been defined by Walker (1983) as “a set of competencies that a) allow an individual to initiate and maintain positive social relationships, b) contribute to peer acceptance and to a satisfactory school adjustment, and c) allow an individual to cope effectively with the larger social environment” (p. 27). Social skills are built on a foundation of social and emotional learning. In order to demonstrate good social skills, students need to recognize their emotions, recognize the emotion of others, manage their emotions, develop empathy and perspective-taking abilities, establish positive relationships, make good decisions in social contexts, and manage challenging social situations constructively and ethically (Zins, Weissbert, Wang, & Walberg, 2004). Research also indicates that social skills can be taught effectively in school context (Beelmann, Pfingsten & Losel, 1994; Honig, A., & Wittmer, 1996) and that a number of effective social skills programs exist (see Gibbs, Potter & Goldstein, 1995; McGinnis & Goldstein, 1997; Walker, 1983).

Help Seeking is a critically important social skill that is strongly related to success in school and in life (Nelson-Le Gall, 1981). When students encounter inevitable problems associated with mastering school material, engaging in self-initiated help-seeking will help them learn and achieve. In order to seek help effectively, students need to be able to recognize that they need help, decide what type of help they need, decide who can provide that help, and effectively approach that individual (or individuals) to elicit their help (Nelson Le-Gall, 1985; Newman, 1994). Help-seeking is an important component of self-regulated learning that is enacted in the social context of schools (Newman 1994; Zimmerman & Martinez-Pons, 1988). If students learn effective help-seeking they will be prepared not only not to address their immediate problems in school but can also to become better able to solve problem thought their lives by seeking needed assistance.

Critical consciousness and Educating for Social Justice are represent related theories concerned with promoting the development of the ability to recognize and understand oppression

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and to take effective action for the sake of equity and justice. Kincheloe & Steinberg (1993) maintain that critical consciousness is a form of critical thinking that allows individuals to recognize and understand the relationships between power, intergroup oppression and social justice at the community, societal and international levels. When individuals exercise critical consciousness they explore questions related to human dignity, freedom, authority, social responsibility, and personal purpose. An understanding of these concepts and social support in using the concepts to make sense of social situations is required for the development of critical consciousness. Educating for Social Justice is a movement within the field of education that focuses on the development, implementation and evaluation of procedures, approaches and techniques associated with teaching critical consciousness and pro-social action. In the past, most of the research in this area has been focused on the development of critical consciousness in teachers and other public school personnel (see Bell, 1997; Darling-Hammond, French & Garcia-Lopez, 2002). Recent research has begun to focus on effective techniques for social justice education for public school students. (Brooks & Thompson, 2005; Lalas, 2007). A number of interesting and potentially powerful approaches have been developed (see Beale, 2004; Lalas, 2007; Lucas, 2005; McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004) that have been incorporated into selected Eccomi Pronto lessons.

Table 1: Relationships Among Eccomi Pronto Lessons and Positive Psychology Constructs.

# Theme Title Positive Psychology Constructs

1 Goal Setting Goal Setting Theory

2 Causal Attribution Causal Attribution Theory

3 Learned Optimism Learned Optimism Theory

4 Comfort with Social Difference Social Skills

5 Self Regulation of Motivation Self-Regulation

6 Intrinsic Interests Achievement Motivation

Self-Determination Theory

7 Possible Selves Possible Selves Theory

8 Use of Self-Talk to Direct Behavior Metacognitive Awareness

Self-Directed Learning

9 Help-Seeking Help Seeking

10 Self-Efficacy Self-Efficacy Theory

11 Social Skills for Collaborative Learning Social Skills

12 Social Consciousness Critical Consciousness

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Adlerian Individual Psychology

The pedagogical approach and the related instructional methods for implementing Eccomi Pronto in classrooms is based on the principles of Adlerian psychology (Adler, 1927). In many ways, Adler was an early forerunner of the positive psychology movement (Barlow, Tobin & Schmidt, 2009; Carlson, Watts & Manciacci, 2006). In contrast to the rather pessimistic views of human nature championed by his contemporaries, Adler emphasized people’s creativity, resourcefulness, capacity for self-understanding, capacity for self-direction, altruism, cooperation, and humanitarianism. Adler and his collaborators (see Dinkmeyer & Dinkmeyer,1982; Dreikurs & Stoltz, 1964) emphasized the importance of applying their psychological theory to improving schools and families so that teachers and parents could help children develop a healthy, productive and pro-social style of like that would lead to both a sense of personal well-being and the betterment of society.

Adler maintained that all people are motivated by a desire to develop competence and to be able to master the challenges of like. He believed that all people have an innate desire to contribute to good of their group, community and larger society. He called this desire “social interest.” Furthermore, he believed that children would develop optimally in environments (e.g. families and schools) that were both democratic and encouraging.

In a democratic classrooms, for example, children are allowed to make choices appropriate to their level of demonstrated responsibility. Teachers establish rules to maintain order and ensure that the environment offers all students equitable opportunities to learn. Students are encouraged to exercise choice within the context of these rules. Violation of the rules is not punished by the application of arbitrary sanctions. Rather, children are afforded the opportunity to experience the natural or logical consequences of their misbehavior. Disruptive students, for example, are excluded from participation in the classroom activities until they indicate that they are ready to observe the rules. In democratic classrooms, children get practice making personal choices and learn how to contribute to the good of the group.

Democratic teachers believe that all students are capable of learning self-management and self-direction and the consequently provide many opportunities for students to make choices within the context of clear classroom rules that are intended to ensure that an orderly classroom environment is maintained so that everyone can learn and enjoy school. Democratic teachers create simple rules (e.g. “Only on person can talk at a time.”) in order to maintain order and teach social responsibility but also offer choices (e.g. “How shall we make sure that only one person talks at a time when we discuss this story?”) to teach students how to make good choices and decisions). Democratic teachers also allow students to experience the consequences on both correct behavior and misbehavior. The note correct behavior (e.g. “Johnny, I saw that you did a great job today taking turns talking.”), encourage progress (e.g. “Johnny, there were a few time today that you had trouble letting other students have their turn talking but you are doing much better at that and I know that you will get better as you practice.”), and let students experience the logical and natural consequences of misbehavior (“Johnny, you seem to be having trouble today staying quiet when other students are talking, please don’t say anything for a while, listen to our discussion, and raise your hand when you are ready to take turns and join the group.”).

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Encouragement of children by adults is also essential for their psychological growth and development. Adler noted that children needed courage to try new things in school because every attempt to do something new carried with it the possibility of failure and the imagined opportunity for public humiliation. Adult encouragement is therefore necessary so that children will try new things. Encouragement is accomplished through frequent expressions of confidence in the child’s capacity to master a task. Encouragement is not praise. Effective encouraging statement, in fact, often include a frank assessment of the child’s current level of performance along with an statement of belief in their capacity to achieve mastery. A teacher in an Adlerian classroom, for example, might say, “This week you only got 60% correct on your spelling test, but you are improving and I know if you keep studying every day you’ll do much better.” Adlerian teachers also recognize each student has a unique set of strengths and interests and tries to find ways for each child’s strengths to be used and acknowledged in the classroom and to encourage each child to explore their areas of strength in school and at home.

When an adult encourages a child they literally help the child develop courage. Courage is necessary because in order to learn students need to risk failure. Students need to learn how to attempt things they cannot do perfectly and to persevere in spite of setbacks. Most problems with children’s achievement motivation and achievement-related behavior occur because of a lack of adult encouragement and or the substitution inappropriate adult behavior (e.g. false praise, reward) for encouragement. Without proper encouragement to learn, students typically focus on seeking attention, exerting their power, disengaging from school, or punishing their teacher or fellow students. All these misbehaviors prevent the development of productive self-directed learning.

Eccomi Pronto lessons are conducted in a manner that is consistent with the democratic classroom practices advocated by Adlerian psychology. The teacher/counselor sets clear rules for student behavior and interaction and applies logical consequences when rules are violated. Students are encouraged to participate and put forward their ideas and guesses. Each individual student’s contributions and strengths are acknowledged. Students are encouraged to help each other. This environment provides optimal support for student’s risk taking and their development of self-knowledge and self-direction.

Summary of the Basic Theoretical Principles of Eccomi Pronto

In summary, Eccomi Pronto is based on the following basic principles derived from theory and research:

1) Personal Development and Academic Development are related.

As noted above Eccomi Pronto is based upon the principle that students’ personal development and academic development are inextricably interconnected. Students need to learn facts and skills but at the same time they need to develop a sense of themselves as active learners who are capable of directing their own learning, managing their own motivational processes, and achieving mastery of bodies of knowledge and technical skills.

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The Eccomi Pronto curriculum is based on this important principle. It is important that the curriculum be delivered in a manner that is consisted with this important principle. The teacher who uses Eccomi Ponto in their classroom ought to genuinely believe that their mission is to help their students become capable students and capable people. Eccomi Pronto should be delivered in a classroom context where there is a intentional focus on both the academic skills and the personal development of students.

2) Teacher-Student Relationship is fundamentally important in promoting personal and academic development.

A quality of the relationship between teachers and students is critically important for learning and development. Eccomi Pronto requires that some conditions baseline conditions are present in order to implement it effectively. The story telling and group processing components of Eccomi Pronto are also designed to promote the development of a quality teacher-student relationship.

It is essential that the Eccomi Pronto curriculum be delivered by teachers who like their students and who have a genuine concern for them as learners and as people. Furthermore, it is important that teachers respect their students and genuinely believe that all students can learn and develop. Teachers demonstrate these beliefs by constricting classroom routines and decision-making structures that allow students voice and that acknowledge their right to agency yet that maintain an order in the classroom so that all students can learn and develop.

Built on this foundation, implementing the Eccomi Pronto curriculum will help to deepen the teacher-student relationship by providing the opportunity for the students to experience that their teacher does indeed care about them as people and that their teacher (like their parents) communicates this caring by providing guidance in the complex art of becoming an effective person.

3) Democratic Classrooms promote the development of self-directed learning and social responsibility.

The development of self-direction and social responsibility develop best in democratic classrooms. In democratic classrooms, children are able to learn how to exercise responsible choice, develop self-direction and self-regulation, and collaborate with others. They are able to discover their worn strengths and talents. Eccomi Pronto should be implemented in the context of a democratic classroom with the use of democratic management practices.

4) Encouragement is the key to promoting self-direction and achievement motivation.

To encourage a child it is important to 1) accurately describe their performance (e.g. “Jane, your got half of the answers correct on the addition quiz today.”), 2) note their progress (“You are doing much better than last month.”), and 3) express your belief

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in their potential to improve (e.g. “And, I am sure that you will do even better next week after I have been able to explain addition a bit more and you have had the chance to practice it”).

Eccomi Pronto asks students to learn complex learn “storying skills”. Because these skills are just within students’ current cognitive abilities, they will find they challenging. It is extremely important that teachers using Eccomi Pronto encourage their students by providing accurate feedback on performance, noting progress, and expressing their belief in every child’s capacity to improve with experience and practice.

5) Scaffolding and Working in the Zone of Proximal Development promoted cognitive development.

Eccomi Pronto is focuses on the development of important pre-literacy and social-cognitive development skills that with the “zone of proximal development” for most early elementary school students. This means that most students will not be able to enact these skills independently at first. Teachers will need to provide external scaffolding to help students experience, enact, practice and internalize these skills. This is especially true in when processing the stories.

The Eccomi Pronto curriculum provides detailed suggestion in each unit on how teachers can provide scaffolding. Over the course of the curriculum, the amount of scaffolding is gradually decreased as students internalize the learning. Also, the stories become more complex and the lessons focus on more complex skills and concepts.The majority of the stories focus on the development of Situational level (Weinstein and Alschuler, 1985) pre-literacy and social cognitive development skills. This means the stories, processing of the stories and follow-up activities are designed to help students:

Understand the parts of a good story Recount the important events of a story in proper sequence Make plausible inferences about peoples internal states based on knowledge of

their external circumstances and the things that happen to them. Make causal connections between the story events and the characters’ inner states

(feelings and thoughts) Make causal connections between the character’s inner states and subsequent

behavior. Expand their active vocabulary about feelings and acquire more differentiated

ways to describe their inner life. Develop more complex schema to describe how external events affect inner states

and how inner states motivate and direct behavior.

In addition to reinforcing these skills, the last story also focuses on students’ transition to Pattern level self-knowledge development (Weinsten and Alschuler, 1985). It is designed to help students begin to:

Recognize patterns of behavior across different related stories

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Identify how a dysfunctional pattern of behavior leads to undesirable consequences

Understand that altering a dysfunctional pattern can lead to desirable consequences.

This focus on Pattern level self-knowledge is included to provide a transition to the next level of the Eccomi Pronto curriculum.

While the Eccomi Pronto curriculum provide guidance on scaffolding, it is impossible for any curriculum to anticipate the all the complexities that exist in schools and classrooms. Some teachers will find that all their students need less scaffolding than is suggest. Some teachers will find that all their students need more scaffolding than is suggested. Some teachers will find that some of their students need less scaffolding than is suggested and some of their students need more than is suggested. In determining how much scaffolding is necessary, teachers should use the curriculum as a guide and then base their decisions on their own knowledge of their students and observation s of their student’s performance.

6) Stories have power to create a special bond between teachers and students and promote student engagement and development.

As noted above, a good teacher-student relationship is critically important for student learning. Students learn best when they perceive that their teacher knows, likes, respects and cares about them. Roberto Bianchi (2009) has noted that telling stories is a particularly powerful way for adults and children to build the type of relationship that is promotes effective learning. Good stories evoke cognitions and emotions in both adults and children. And the collaborative dialog between adults and children about the events and meaning of the story provide an opportunity for the development of empathy and understanding. Eccomi Pronto is designed to help teachers deepen their relationships with their students which will provide a more satisfying and enriching classroom environment and also promote to student learning and development.

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