The major point I chose to focus on from this class presentation was the idea of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation: intrinsic motivation is student-directed in that it originates inside the psyche of the student as some self-guided reward the student chooses to approach, and extrinsic motivation is when the teacher gives the students a reward such as a grade, candy or praise. Intrinsic motivation, being the one that we want students to value, would be when a student studies and aces a test simply because they want to know the information, avoid being a failure or if they knew that their athletic career might be compromised by being kicked off the team due to a failed test grade. In our schools today, I honestly believe that most motivation is extrinsic mainly due to the overwhelming preoccupation that both students and teachers have to grades. Even colleges these days are judging acceptance on GPA--we are sending a message to students that their grades matter more than the learning and application of new found information and knowledge. So here is one solution that I find appropriate: experiential education. The class will be hearing more on this come Friday, I promise, but I plan to mention it now because one major tenet of experiential education is its own preoccupation with instilling intrinsic motivation in students and making them excited to learn. When a student is given the chance to experience education, they are being given the chance to choose their own learning in an environment at their own pace--and it is my belief that motivation usually involves individual choice, so students who choose what to learn will be motivated to learn better.
My colleagues Tyler and Sean also chose to discuss teacher types such as Authoritarian, Permissive, Indifferent and Authoritative, which they showed are directly linked to motivation in students. Authoritarian, Permissive and Indifferent teachers don’t promote motivation very well mainly because--and this is purposely grossly oversimplified--they are either too preoccupied with rigor (Authoritarian), focused on student emotions and feelings (Permissive) or not preoccupied with anything (Indifferent). My results showed I was mostly Authoritative (15/15), slightly Permissive (9/15), and rarely Authoritarian or Indifferent (4/15 each). Why am I Authoritative? I believe in student discipline when it is necessary, but would rather my students experience the learning and gain new insight then specifically behave in a manner that might be suitable for a cocktail dinner. As an Authoritative teacher, I also believe in student-oriented curriculum where students get to direct their own learning and choose learning experiences that interest them, rather than try to learn in a teacher-centric environment where I, as teacher, would be the absolute authority. Why do I have Permissive characteristics? As I just stated, I believe in my students and I care, so occasionally I stop teaching and ask students if they are alright, see what is troubling them and check to see if there might be something different I can do to help them. It is important to care for the feelings of our students, because if a student is in a foul mood then it is guaranteed that they won’t be motivated, they won’t learn as much and their success in class will suffer. As a teacher, motivation is very important: what reason would kids have to listen if there was no relevance to the information or nothing to gain from learning?
My colleagues Tyler and Sean also chose to discuss teacher types such as Authoritarian, Permissive, Indifferent and Authoritative, which they showed are directly linked to motivation in students. Authoritarian, Permissive and Indifferent teachers don’t promote motivation very well mainly because--and this is purposely grossly oversimplified--they are either too preoccupied with rigor (Authoritarian), focused on student emotions and feelings (Permissive) or not preoccupied with anything (Indifferent). My results showed I was mostly Authoritative (15/15), slightly Permissive (9/15), and rarely Authoritarian or Indifferent (4/15 each). Why am I Authoritative? I believe in student discipline when it is necessary, but would rather my students experience the learning and gain new insight then specifically behave in a manner that might be suitable for a cocktail dinner. As an Authoritative teacher, I also believe in student-oriented curriculum where students get to direct their own learning and choose learning experiences that interest them, rather than try to learn in a teacher-centric environment where I, as teacher, would be the absolute authority. Why do I have Permissive characteristics? As I just stated, I believe in my students and I care, so occasionally I stop teaching and ask students if they are alright, see what is troubling them and check to see if there might be something different I can do to help them. It is important to care for the feelings of our students, because if a student is in a foul mood then it is guaranteed that they won’t be motivated, they won’t learn as much and their success in class will suffer. As a teacher, motivation is very important: what reason would kids have to listen if there was no relevance to the information or nothing to gain from learning?
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