If you reward your children for doing their homework, they will usually respond by getting it done. But is this the most effective method of motivation? No, says psychologist Edward L. Deci, who challenges traditional thinking and shows that this method actually works against performance. The best way to motivate people—at school, at work, or at home—is to support their sense of autonomy. Explaining the reasons why a task is important and then allowing as much personal freedom as possible in carrying out the task will stimulate interest and commitment, and is a much more effective approach than the standard system of reward and punishment. We are all inherently interested in the world, argues Deci, so why not nurture that interest in each other? Instead of asking, "How can I motivate people?" we should be asking, "How can I create the conditions within which people will motivate themselves?"
In this blog, share your thoughts, experiences, and reflections about how motivation works and does not work within the public schools setting. Are you seeing examples of support for student autonomy?
How can we as educators and school counselors support student autonomy? Strategies? Approaches?
The students I have been observing are partially motivated, in that they will generally do the work but they aren't necessarily engaged or particularly interested. There isn't much autonomy as they are generally given precise directions for an activity and are supposed to follow them. I am not seeing much support for autonomy.
ReplyDeleteOne approach I would try to support student autonomy would be to have a list of possible things to do in a particular area of science, for example chemistry related. Students could choose things from the list, all of which would have point values attached, and they would need to do enough activities to add up to a specified point level or above. In this way, students could choose things that they found more interesting or were curious about. Another thing I might try would be to have one day a month (or other interval) where students could explore any area of science that they wanted to. This would involve intrinsic motivation since they could choose a subject of interest. It would also help me know what students found interesting in order to help engage them in other lessons. Computer software that is available such as virtual lab software would help with this. Students can customize their own lab to explore a topic, instead of everyone doing a cookie cutter lab, and labs that can't be done in a classroom due to safety or cost can be done virtually. Students can't necessarily make choices about everything because there are certain standards that need to be covered throughout the year, but they can choose aspects of topics or types of work (such as a presentation vs a paper) that they prefer.
Laura, I love the idea of "choice" and this is supported by research and is considered a best practice. Great idea.
DeleteI think motivation can work in a variety of ways in different settings. It all depends on cooperation and cohesion of the entire school staff. If the school is all on the same page, it's more likely the students will become motivated. However, that's not often the case.
ReplyDeleteIn the schools I've been in so far, I've seen rewards systems played out. For example, the students' behaviors are tracked by colors. They all start on blue and the goal is to stay there. When they behave inappropriately, they are moved down a color, to green, then orange, and then red. Red warrants disciplinary action such as a trip to the principal's office and punishment. If the students stay on blue for the whole month, they are entitled to a monthly reward. The blue students really enjoy and take pride in the reward, but the red students seem to be repeat offenders and don't really care whether they get the reward or not. Instead of striving to be better, they adopt the identity of "blue student" or "red student." I would like to learn about and experience different ways to promote intrinsic motivation and student autonomy.
One great way to support student autonomy is by giving them choices, but making the choices specific. For example, instead of leaving the choice open ended by asking "What would you like to talk about in group today?", give the students more direction by saying "Today we are going to talk about the dangerous effects of alcohol. Would you rather read a story about it, or complete a discussion and workbook page?" This gives them the feeling of power and independence, without the teacher or counselor relinquishing control.
Motivation seems to be a difficult thing to pin down in elementary school classrooms where I have been most of my observations and teaching. I have found that when young students have one-on-one attention from the instructor they can usually become motivated (by exterior force) to complete an assignment but this does not develop life-long learning skills. I have found it even more difficult for instructors to gainfully motivate an entire group of students; either externally or internally.
ReplyDeleteIn the lessons that I have been leading at this point I find it very helpful to have a two-minute reflection session at the end of the time together. I ask students to rate the lesson ‘thumbs up, thumbs down, or in the middle,’ with equivalent hand gestures. This quick and dirty self-reflection exercise allows me to gauge student interest in a particular book or lesson but, more importantly, allows for students to share what they would change if they were to do the lesson again. I have been surprised to hear even first graders make thoughtful responses about how they would like a lesson delivered in the future. Self-generated motivation stems from a metacognitive process that a learner must realize in their own interests; this can be examined by even very young learners in elementary school. The teacher’s role, then, is to find appropriate materials that link to the interests of their students. Linking lessons to current popular culture seems like a great way to link the students’ personal interest with lesson objectives.
The overall goal to boost self-motivated learning in my classroom is to allow for student choice and effectively sell lessons. Allowing for students to vote for their next lesson can help students take more personal responsibility and ownership in their material but the classroom might run into problems of the tyranny of the majority (i.e. what happens to the 45% that did not want that option?). In younger elementary students, the attitude and salesmanship of the teacher can also still effectively motivate students dependent on praise from teachers. Overall, I think that metacognitive exercises with younger students can be the most effective way to build sustained intrinsic motivation that will continue through their life learning.
From what I have observed in my schools, the level of motivation depends on the student. There are so many factors involved that can alter how motivated a student is on their work. I agree, there has to be some intrinsic reason to be motivated to do something or complete a task.
ReplyDeleteIn the elementary school, they use a clip chart method to track student behavior in order to motivate them to be a hard-working student. If they are doing what they are supposed to, then their clip moves up. If they are not doing what they are supposed to, then their clip moves down.
I think to support intrinsic motivation, we have to model this kind of behavior for our students. As a staff, we need to model appropriate behaviors and encourage our students that to be successful, sometimes it takes a lot of motivation and hard work. I think faculty members do such a disservice when they complain about their jobs or how is it "only Monday." We need to be supportive role models and encourage personal motivation.
Finally, I know the school counselors have learned the helpful tool of providing choices to our students. This allows them to make their own, independent decision of what they want. The power goes back to them which helps create motivation on their end.
Motivation is such a tricky thing in the schools. I agree that motivation varies by grade level/developmental age and even down to each individual student. The key is for school staff to be on the same page and specifically, for classroom teachers to nurture that relationship to know each of their students and the different motivators they may have. At my elementary school, we have a handful of students who have behavior charts and are motivated by external rewards. This has been helpful in getting them engaged within the classroom, but oftentimes, we have issues with the teachers not following through which can present quite a challenge on certain days.
ReplyDeleteI think that keeping lessons engaging and changing is helpful in creating the motivation. Having kids constantly moving and working through different aspects of their lessons can create an increased interest rather than just sitting and watching a powerpoint. I also agree with Abby in that choices are BIG. Giving students a say in what they will be doing can increase their accountability and willingness to stay involved because they had a little bit of power in making those "important" decisions.
I feel the teacher I'm doing my clinicals with has done a really good job of motivating the students without directly rewarding them. She has late slips and if they don't get homework done on time they owe her a late slip and pints are docked but at the same time she gives them an opertunity during each class to ask questions about the homework and to work on any work they have due for her. I feel this is a much better way to motivate students than simply rewarding them. By rewarding students we might achieve the results we're looking for once but it doesn't have a lasting effect. Most of her students have her trust and can come to her with personal stuff and feel comfortable talking about it either her. To me personally having students open up and talk is probably the biggest motivator as a teacher to getting them to achieve their work. During the lesson I taught them this week, a few of the students didn't seem to understand or want to do the material and rather than reward or punish them, I chose to sit down and explain the work to them in terms they could understand and they seem to get it and actually put an attempt forward becuase there was a mutual respect between us.
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of supporting student motivation is essential, but I do have some concerns about giving them full freedom on carrying out tasks. Personally, I know that when I have full freedom, it is hard for me to get motivated to get anything done; therefore, I think providing some goal or deadline would be necessary. I also agree with Abby that giving students choices is extremely helpful when it comes to student autonomy because it allows for some independence which is essential to their development. It does depend on each student as well because some will be more motivated than others which should be approached differently. However, I do think that choices would still work for those students as well. So far, I have seen a great deal of student autonomy at my internship sites and I think the teachers and school counselors make every effort to foster that environment for students. I have also seen a reward/punishment approach with check-in/check-out students and it has been effective at times. I do think that approach will wear off eventually, so it is helpful to use different approaches.
ReplyDeleteWhen thinking about student motivation and autonomy in a learning environment I think of montessori schools. In these student centered environments students have the ability to choose what they will do and still meet goals. Students have the ability to choose from different tasks which allows for autonomy but by the end of the day they have met the goals set aside for them. I think this is very different as students age and begin learning more in depth concepts. In my placement high school, we have a student centered math class and many students do not like the structure of finding answers for themselves or conducting their own research. I think one reason for this distaste would be how different than it is from a reward/punishment classroom. Each classroom will work different and each student will work differently but I think each will work to motivate students.
ReplyDeleteI believe that rewarding people for good behavior may motivate some, but I think it is important to take into account the reason for motivation. I would much rather a child be motivated because they feel that their opinion is important or because they want to do well rather than because they want a reward. The latter seems selfish and I think it could grow into something more than motivation and end up with a person who only does things if they are rewarded. That leads me to another problem with with the method of rewarding for motivation, I think that eventually a person would only be motivated if they knew they would receive a reward. I have noticed through my time at placement that students are much more motivated to answer questions and participate if they feel that their opinions are heard. I also think that they take more chances with guessing or asking questions because they feel respected, because they are listened to. It seems unrealistic to motivate an entire classroom of students witht rewards, I think a teacher would have to constantly be rewarding students. With all of that being said, I do feel that it is important to reward students randomly. It is always nice to feel appreciated and get a small surprise when you have worked hard. I think that a combination of both methods is a good way to go, but motivation because students feel they are worthy of contributing and because they want to do well is more important than anything.
ReplyDeleteSelf-motivation seems almost non-existent in my kindergarten classroom. At such a young age they only seem motivated by direct attention or praise from an adult and/or the promise of some sort of reward.
ReplyDeleteThey seem to work harder on tasks that they enjoy. For example during stations, the children seem to work harder and more quietly on the activities they think are fun, such as the creation station which is mainly arts based. After I observed this behavior for a few days, I asked a few of the students why they enjoyed that station the most and they responded that they didn't like the worksheets or teacher lectures at other stations and they enjoyed the freedom of creating something.
I have also observed that if one child is working diligently and he receives praise from an adult, the other children will follow suit and begin exhibiting proper behavior in order to receive praise too.
I think self-motivation is something children develop as they progress through school. I think in kindergarten they are too young to understand how beneficial excelling in school will be for them to successful later in life, therefore they lack self motivation.
I think that motivation is a very slippery slope. On one hand, too much motivation will lead to external justification (i.e., students only completing their work for the reward) but not enough motivation will have no effects. Based on social psychology, minor rewards are effective. I think that the definition of "minor" depends on the particular student/grade level/development. This is difficult to define without knowing the class in question. However, I would think that something minor could be like 5 extra minutes on the computers. Smaller rewards actually have been shown to increase intrinsic motivation (students completing their work because they actually want to). While I think motivation and rewards can be effective, I do not personally think that most teachers/counselors know enough about it. Without this knowledge, it can be counterproductive. As with everything, it is important to do our research before implementing anything!
ReplyDeleteMotivation in school seems to be a difficult issue to address with a straight forward set of guidelines. Personally, I was raised by parents who told me I simply needed to try my best. I was never rewarded or punished for the grades I received yet I had a desire to do well and be engaged in the classroom. As I began working with a variety of aged children, I realized that this motivation is not evident in every person and I have been curious about motivating students in the classroom for quite a while now, seeing my group home kids really struggle with finding motivation to complete any type of school based learning. In my 4th grade class, some of the students appear motivated, others not as much. Some students really light up when the class has a group discussion about a particular topic and are very excited to speak up. I think one of the best ways for students to feel motivated is when teachers provide a framework for an assignment but leave details and creativity for the students to implement as they desire. I love the mind set that we should not be so focused on motivating students but rather how can teachers help students motivate themselves.
ReplyDeleteI feel like self-motivation (or really ANY kind of motivation) is totally absent from the seventh grade class that I've been observing. Students are either talking with one another, turning in assignments blank, blatantly not doing homework, sleeping in class right in front of the teacher who is trying to do (engaging) activities, and a variety of other behavior that demonstrates they students don't have any motivation to participate.
ReplyDeleteI think this is largely a product of the environment that the instructor set up at the beginning of the year. It takes time and effort to get students to care and something instructors either don't know how, don't want to mess it up, or don't want to take the extra time. Personally, we use a Full Value Contract as well as a Commitment to Excellence on the trips I lead with Adventure WV. We have extraordinarily high buy-in, great behavior, and high self-motivation to participate which I think is largely thanks to allowing the choice and freedom of creation of those document each person chooses to adopt.