What Motivates You?

I am in the process of reading Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Dan Pink. I am only a few pages in (well a few screens because I am reading it on my Kindle) but I am already having a hard time putting it down. What Pink aims to do is lay out the science behind motivation and how we can use that to find success in our own lives. So far I think it is great and if you get a chance pick up (or download) a copy and check it out.

But before you do, you can get a little preview of the book. And this just isn't any kind of preview. The Royal Society For The Encouragement Of The Arts (RSA) put together a great animated video of a talk Pink did at the RSA when he came to talk about motivation. Not only is the talk awesome, the animations to go along with the talk are great.




What motivates you? What motivates you kids? Leave some suggestions down in the comments.

Two Questions...

Normally in this space I write about the tools we use to make learning easier, more fun or just plain better. But we all know that learning is not solely about the tools. We know (or at least we should) there are many dimensions to learning.

One of those dimensions that we often struggle with (for both students and teachers) is motivation. Helping students feel like learning is something they want to do and need to do. Helping teachers to think differently so they can teach differently. 

I am a big believer that motivation is mostly intrinsic. Meaning that it has to come from within. Don't get me wrong. We as educators can do a lot for our kids to help them find their motivation. But ultimately it is up to them to want to do. It is the same thing when trying to motivate educators. There is a certain amount that a district or administration can do to help teachers find their motivation. But again, ultimately it is up to the teacher to either to want to do or not. 

If you have not heard of Dan Pink take some time over the weekend to read about him. He is a fascinating author that, when you read him, really makes you think about yourself and your role in this world. I have been reading his latest book, Drive, for the past couple of days and have just been glued to my Kindle. The book centers around finding out what motivates us as humans and how to capitalize on that to have high satisfaction in work and at home. 

Before you take a look at the book there are 2 videos you need to see. 

The first is this one I found on Dan's website that really sums up some thinking I have been doing since my keynote at TeachMeet Nashville. The video is an excerpt from the book and but really could help to start a conversation with your kids or your staff. 

The other video is Dan speaking at TED. (If you don;t know what TED is, it brings together some amazing thinkers, doers, movers and shakers to have them talk about, really, whatever they want. There is a great website for all the TED videos and an awesome wiki for Teaching With TED.) Here is his also speaking about the book and more about motivation.



So think about those 2 things this weekend and head back here. I would love to know what your sentence is and how you think you could use this stuff with kids.

What teaching methods motivate students to enjoy learning?

As most of my Tuesday's go, I helped to facilitate the #edchat that takes place on Twitter from 7-8pm. We were joined by teachers, administrators, parents and, for the first time, students. Our topic this week; What teaching methods motivate students to enjoy learning? It was a fascinating discussion. Here is what some participants had to say:

• I feel that teachers need more training in being "facilitators." Students need choices and need to feel that they are part of the learning process. Teachers need more training in how to use Web 2.0 tools. Their training should consist of a lot of modeling by classroom teachers who actually use the tools. Administrators also need to see the benefits of using the latest technology in the learning process.
• Real world experiences, cooperative learning, changing the environment, facilitation, integrating tech, and allowing students to have choices regarding what topics they want to explore and how they would like to present the material.
• Students are motivated by the excitement of teachers and other students. Giving students choices and input in their learning will also help motivate them. We need to concentrate on encouraging other teachers to motivate students and update their teaching practices.
• Methods that bring relevancy to the material are what motivates students to enjoy learning. I saw several post about teachers needing to makes changes within themselves first and I agree with that 100%. What worked 30 years ago does not work now and that applies to any teacher that is reluctant to bring forth new innovations and discoveries in their classroom.
• Students need to know what meaning there is in the learning. Students can understand the steps/the process, but if there is no application to their lives, what motive is there for remembering?
• I was interested in the emphasis on real world application and student choice. There wasn't a lot of disagreement. However I started thinking, what does "real world" mean? Bills, taxes, 9-5, chores. Is this what we mean by "real-world" in education? I think we mean some kind of ideal world where people pursue their interests regardless of the constraints of authority. If we mean that we can prove that some one, some where uses the topics we teach, that is different (and probably not motivating).
• I think it all goes down to how well the teacher interacts with the class and then introducing them to technology that supports their learning. I try and use lots of simple applications that the students can master -especially in terms of collaborating eg online whiteboards/Google docs etc.

As is true with most of our chats, several themes kept coming up over and over again. In order to motivate students, we as educators must be motivated ourselves. Students pick up on passion. They know when you walk in your classroom and you are not excited about the subject or topic you will be teaching and will not be motivated themselves. Why would they? However, if you walk in everyday, excited to be there, show enthusiasm for what you are teaching it will ultimately translate to your students. You have passion for what you do, now show your students.

Showing students your passion goes right along with another theme that came up over and over. Students need know who is teaching them and teachers need to get to know their students. Do you need to know everything? No (and there are just somethings we don't need to know!) But you need to know the types of students you are teaching. You need to understand where you students come from. If students feel like you have made a connection with them they will want to work for you.

Real world experiences are really the way to get your students excited about learning. Relevancy. You have to provide connections to what students are learning in your class to what students are doing or will do. For some subjects, that's easy. For others, like Mathematics (especially upper-level mathematics) it is hard for student to translate what they learn to why they need to learn it. Having more student-centered, problem-based, real-world activities are, I believe the key to motivation in the classroom.

So, what do you think? What is the key to motivation? Do you have any tips or tricks to share. What have you done that has work or not worked. Is it even the job of the teacher to motivate students? Should students be motivated to learn because it's the "right thing to do?"

Photo Credit-1) "Hold out your hand, Monsignor!" (Photo provided by listverse.com)