As a teacher, I have offered candy, extra credit and other small rewards to motivate my students. But then I complain when my students aren't motivated to do an assignment or study. I hadn't realized that I was playing a major role in taking away their intrinsic motivation.
My major complaint about student motivation is in grades. Students today, at least in the school that I teach in, are mostly concerned abut what they have to do to get an A. In his article, Kohn states, “Students who are led to think about grades tend to be less interested in learning, less likely to think creatively, and less likely to choose difficult assignments than those who are encouraged to focus on the task itself.” Many of my students don't seem to care about what they will learn by completing a task. They only want to know what grade they'll get or what is the minimum amount of work that I need to do to get an A?
My concerns about student motivation have caused me to take the candy rewards out of my room. (I do still use extra credit, though...) I have also been considering changing my grading policy so that homework and class assignments aren't officially graded (I would still provide feedback, but no points, no letter grade.) Whether or not they pass the course would be based on the performance on class assessments. This way they would be completing class tasks to learn from them rather than earn points. Then they can apply what they've learned to their assessments. I know that assessments still use grades to motivate, but it's going to take a lot of work to change the idea that grades are all that matter in high school.
I think that even in college grades are the number one priority on every student’s mind. In almost every class I have had there is a student who will ask, “Do we need to know this for the midterm?” This question has become the most important question for most students. If it is on the midterm, then we will memorize it and if it is not on the midterm we will not bother to process it. Since coming back for my second degree, I have realized that my motivation to learn has changed. My first time around was all concentrated on grades and getting by. This time around is more for learning the material and grasping the tools needed to be successful in my career. While I still want to excel in my classes, this will come in a different manner because of my desire to learn the material. I’m not sure how we can change this in younger students. I think external rewards that are connected with the assignement are a good start. If you want kids to read, then reward them with their choice of a free book from your library or free 10 minute reading time once a week.
ReplyDeleteAs far a motivation goes external rewards like stickers or candies work temporarily, but grade bare a punishment in some way. Whether or not a you think a B is a punishment to a child it might be. Motivation is tricky because if the child is interested in the assignment or the topic you do not need to motivate them. However when the child isn’t interested there are two roads punishment or rewards. My parents tried both tactics with me, but I was stubborn so neither really worked. The ultimate motivator is the content itself. There will always be content that someone doesn’t like the goal should be to get them to persevere on their own because the next unit or subject will be better. This is a mature idea that I have come to realize in college. Taking 120 credits to graduate is silly if you’re like me and your last classes to hit that major number are “history of college sports” and “intro to wine” neither having anything to do with my major, and in my mind unnecessary. Therefore it’s difficult for to sit down and get the work done.
ReplyDeleteI agree that students' primary concern is getting the A or 4 point. A lot of times students are so used to just cramming at the last second and remembering just for the test. This is not learning. I admit, I have been a victim of this so called "form" of learning. It is a challenge to get students out of this mode because the truth is that to succeed, you need the good grade. Ultimately middle school and high school aged kids aren't very interested in the things they are learning. For teachers, the struggle becomes how to motivate their students to want to learn the material instead of just memorizing for short periods of time.
ReplyDelete