Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Check out this article. It gave me a lot more information on the difference between these two motivation theories and specifically how they can be applied in the classroom.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/characteristics-intrinsic-extrinsic/

The article states that motivation is not interest but rather interest is an influence on motivation. A child may have an interest in cars, but that does not necessarily mean that they are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation is situational, and therefore can change over time. The article states that "doing something because one wants to can easily become doing it because one needs to".

Overall, children who are intrinsically motivated engage in activities that enhance learning, which leads to greater self-efficacy and less anxiety. These are the children who love learning and become life-long seekers of knowledge. These are also the children who are capable of setting goals for themselves, and working, through intrinsic motivation, to achieve their goals. As teachers, if we can provide engaging, applicable learning experiences for kids, I think that kids will be able to develop more of a vision for their life early on, and will hopefully be given the tools to reach their goals as well.

Private Schools Wrestling With Diversity

Last week's readings and discussion on social context made me think a lot about diversity in schools and how to foster independence as well as personal responsibility. Ultimately, how to encourage kids to be respectful, committed contributors to society.

I came across this article from the NY Times, and it made me wonder if some schools are putting too much pressure on themselves to accurately represent the different cultures represented in their area.

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/13/nyregion/private-schools-wrestling-with-diversity-and-identities.html

The motivation behind the Pingry's school's goal to recruit more minority faculty members, administrators and students is the belief that diversity strengthens education. I agree, but I wonder if too much focus is being placed on the external goal of getting people to the school when it should be more internal (i.e. how to accommodate for a wide variety of cultures intermingling in close quarters). The constant restructuring of curriculum in order to meet the needs of Korean, Indians, and Pakastanis seems quite exhausting. Furthermore, who decides what information is most culturally relevant and will best benefit the students?

It seems that students and faculty members at Pingry are desperately striving to create a idealistic community where everyone gets along and respects others for their differences. It just seems as though when there are so many cultures and strong religious backgrounds represented in one place it would be nearly impossible for all to come to terms with each other.

Thoughts on Motivation for Achievement

While reading through the journal article for this week by Turner and Meyer, I was not surprised to find that most students do not prefer challenging activities in the classroom. When applied to the classroom, the idea of moderate challenge is that in order to be truly successful, students need to take risks. Atkinson found that incentive to solve a problem would be highest when the probability of success was moderate, or around 50%. However, a study showed that students consistently chose activities where there was a 77% success level, which indicates that, overall, students in elementary and middle school classrooms don't feel comfortable or confident taking academic risks.

It is understandable why these kids fear failure considering the set up of most classrooms today and kids' desire to be socially competent and accepted. Many teachers do not create a classroom culture that applauds effort over success, and therefore kids feel pressure to "do things right" in order to avoid looking incompetent in front of their peers.

While reading the article and reflecting on instructional practices in teaching mathematics, I have found that number talks are an extremely effective way to foster conceptual understanding and to create an emotionally supportive environment. It is also a great way to hold students accountable for their thinking.

According to Turner and Meyer, "Instructional practices associated with establishing a learning orientation appeared to create fertile conditions for teaching and learning challenging mathematics." Number talks foster this approach by focusing on effort, growing as a community of learners, allowing for the students to be autonomous in their thinking, and placing less emphasis on having the correct answer.