Friday, July 25, 2014

Motivation is Everything

One of the most popular articles in the New York Times this weekend caught my attention. The article describes a recently published paper that examined the two types of motives that exist, internal (motives that are inherent in the task such as writing a blog for the joy of writing) and instrumental (motives that are not inherent to the task such as writing a blog to become a thought leader in education). The article further describes how all of the activities that we undertake have both internal and instrumental consequences (writing a blog can be both for the joy of writing and make the writer a thought leader in education), but that having both types of motives does not predict success and that, “instrumental motives are not always an asset and can actually be counterproductive to success.
The research, based on data collected from West Point cadets showed that, “remarkably, cadets with strong internal and strong instrumental motives for attending West Point performed worse on every measure than did those with strong internal motives but weak instrumental ones.” This seems to make sense when we step back and think about achieving any difficult goal. If we are motivated by the outcome, and not mastery of the task itself, we can easily step back when it becomes too difficult and find another path towards our goal.
I think often of my students that want to go to college, “to get a good job and make money.” When the Advanced Placement or introductory college classes become challenging, they see that there are much easier ways to get “good” jobs and make money.  Since the opportunity to learn or the experience of going to college were not what was driving them forward, they found it easy to pass up on the college dream.
 Like any successful article, I find that after reading it I have to reexamine how I approach my students about the value of an education. As an AVID teacher, a program designed to support marginalized students in their path to college, I often use instrumental motivation to get them to perform their best. I explain how success in school can lead to acceptance to a good college, earning a good job, and earning a living that will support a happy family. The article makes a clear point that, "for students uninterested in learning, financial incentives…for high performance may prompt them to participate, but it may result in less well-educated students."
After reading this, I see that I may need to step back from the instrumental motivation I use. As the article states, just because there are instrumental consequences of being good in school it does not mean that is the best way to motivate my students. Instead I need to focus on the value of learning for its own sake, which I have tried to do in my class and explained in a previous post, but need to continue to consciously incorporate into my classes. 
Just like everything in my teaching career, it ends up reminding me of coaching football. I want my offensive linemen to block well. I do not talk to them about the fact that the better we block, the more likely we are to win. I simply value the skill of blocking and motivate them to master the skills, irrespective of the outcome it plays in the game. Whether the player is a starter or will never see the field, I expect them to master the skills. The end goal is the by-product of doing everything else right. It is as true for one of my AVID students as it is for my offensive linemen.

Cross-posted from: http://notfillingthepail.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-trip-is-more-important-than.html

Please follow John @jhhines57 or check out his blog at notfillingthepail.blogspot.com

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