Jay Matthews, Post staff writer, summarizes "Engaging Minds: Motivation and Learning n America's Schools" by David A. Goslin into five ways to motivate students.
1. Only work on those who need it. - his argument is based on the idea that students feel that high grades (A's and B's) are given so sparingly that the thought of achieving high grades is not enough motivation for students. Goslin, therefore, suggests that grades should be less focused on in school, and that the material should be individualized.
2. Stop telling them they're smart. - Goslin believes that there should be more emphasis on the idea that hard work and effort achieve success, not that some are just smarter than others.
3. Make sure the homework isn't stupid. - We all have had teachers who we believe just give us homework as "busy work," instead of actually learning anything from it. This is the same concept.
4. Show some respect for learning. - Although many Americans are successful and didn't achieve high grades or even attend/finish college (e.g. Bill Gates), we need to put more emphasis on wanting to learn.
5. Involve the kid's family. - Parents need to be more involved in their children's schoolwork and learning... before there are problems and teachers are asking for parents' help.
The article can be found at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/04/AR2008080400432_pf.html
I think that the major problem with the school and grading system is that most students aren't intrinsically motivated (at least until college, if that!). Reeve (2005) stresses that intrinsic motivation is crucial because then individuals have a psychological need within themselves (p. 134). Therefore, students will then care more about studying and learning -- and then achieving high grades. To me, teachers (and schools, society, etc.) use grades as extrinsic motivation. Grades can be both incentives and consequences. High grades are incentives because they "attract a person toward initiating a particular course of action" (Reeve, 2005, p. 136), in this case studying. Grades are also consequences because they meet both the criteria for positive and negative reinforcers. When you receive high grades (positive reinforcer), you want to achieve them again. They "increase the future probability of the desired behavior" (Reeve, 2005, p. 139). When you receive low grades (negative reinforcer), you want to achieve high grades again - so it increases the probability to achieve the desired behavior (Reeve, 2005, p. 139).
What do you guys think? Do you agree with these? Disagree? Do you have other ideas on ways to motivate students? What motivated you to attend college - or prevent you from flunking out?
You know I do agree with the bases of these 5 points that are stated, but I would add one more to that which would be that tests can create lack of motivation in students who are not great test takers. Testing can be hard, especially if students learn in dfferent ways, they also test in different ways.
The only thing I do have to say in getting parents involved is that it can be hard. For many students they can be the first in their family to reach that grade level or the first in their family to understand what is being taught. Speaking from personal experience, when I was taking a AP math course in highschool, I could not really turn to my father or grandmother for much help since they didn't go to college. The other factor to that is also that the things students are learning now are really more complex then what our parents were learning years ago in school. Getting parents involved yes is a great idea, but motivating the children can be some task if they don't understand.
The concept is wonderful and I would love to see where motivating America's students turns out.
I both agree & disagree. If these five steps help a student or educator find success, more power to them. However, as a student who has struggled for as many years as I've been one, the pessimist in me argues that academic achievement is more complex than following 5 simple steps, after all, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese has more than 5 steps (if you count the butter and powdered cheese as separate steps).
Anyway, if its helpful to one person than its worth sharing to the public and I do hope it inspired educating readers to test this safe and fool-proof theory to see if they encourage academic success.
Thank you to rkac for leading the way & setting the blogging bar high!