Ahh, the end of a long, first semester back in grad school (Side note: Anyone remember when I bored this past Fall? It's like a faraway dream now!). Now, I'm on the brink of celebration. Two finals down, one to go! I love the feeling that accompanies the culmination of a semester. Almost of my "to do" items have been completed. A truly, genuine sense of achievement has been acquired.
As an educator, it's these same emotions I want my students to experience. I'm first challenged to remember how I am able to arrive at this whimsical place. It's simple--I function on internal motivation. External motivation typically throws my equilibrium off. I joke with my family that I succeed in spite of them. (Disclaimer: I have the most supporting family, but compliments and congratulations weren't easily distributed. We had to work harder and better than the previous attempt.) A constant point of confusion in my own teaching has been the equal use of internal and external motivation for my students. Given how I was raised, and to what I'm accustomed, I've always had difficulty over-accentuating external motivating factors. By high school, I believe students should be functioning 85% of the time from an internal root. It turns out that research supports this too! I might be exaggerating with the random 85%, but the point is that good readers are motivated to read via basic human motivation theory? Who knew I was onto something?
In my seminar paper, I explored the connection between motivation and reading comprehension. Those who are internally motivated to read can typically focus more closely and exhibit stronger reading comprehension as a result. It seems straightforward. I wasn't surprised by anything I read. The literature helped me to contextualize my past teaching life. When I explain the logistics of teaching in a high-needs, low-income school, people want to talk about laws, teacher tenure and budgets. My rebuttals always put the focus back on the children--who are simply just children. An underserved population.
In my current teaching life, I experience a very different set of variables on a daily basis. I teach a well-served population, filled with internally motivated students. I'm blessed in a new way. My instruction pushes them to reach new depths of understanding, and stronger comprehension. No longer do I struggle to keep them focused, but now I must motivate them to want to go deeper--and have the confidence to know that they can.
Deanna,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you explored a really interesting topic for your seminar paper! Motivation is key to, well, just about everything in school, yet many students do not have the natural, intrinsic desire to read. Did you happen to read about ways to motivate a reluctant or struggling reader in the classroom without resorting to candy, prizes, etc.?
Hey Kristen! I originally wanted to do in that direction, but steered away. The theme of everything I read was that students need to be internally motivated. A good extension of this paper would be to more closely investigate how to boost internal motivation. Referring back to my blog post, I know how my parents influenced me, but what does an educator do if that doesn't work (and it probably won't because that type of relationship is lacking)? I have so many thoughts on this topic now that I'm in an environment that shows evidence of different motivational challenges. I truly think that this topic is at the heart of student achievement as we enter a technological age.
ReplyDelete