3 Things I Learned:
1. I first found the Self-Determination Theory to be very interesting, as I could apply it to myself. This theory states that ones motivation is driven by their need for competence, control, and autonomy. Humans have a natural tendency to want to behave in efficient and healthy ways. However, this tendency can be altered by the social groups that an individual associates themselves with. Self – Determination can be applied to several things such as healthcare, sports, relationships, or education. When taking a look at the self determination theory in terms of education, it is easy to see that ones motivation to be self determined can change as a result of their friends, family, neighbourhood, and the community. If a student is associated with very determined friends, that student will feel the need to match or progress past their friends. If a student’s friends are not interested in school or do not feel the motivation to try to get good grades, that student may also lose their motivation towards academics.
2. During the reading, I discovered that it is actually more beneficial to add more content to your students assignments than it is to break things down. By adding more content to assignments, the teacher is able to expand the students cognitive and metacognitive part of the brain. Keeping in mind, adding more content does not mean making the assignment more difficult. If the assignment has more related content added to it, students can simultaneously achieve more than one goal.
3. Lastly, I took a lot from reading about the different types of motivation, those being intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation takes place when an individual is motivated to preform or complete a task because it is something that they enjoy doing. If the drive is coming from intrinsic motivation, the task may not even feel like it is a task, but rather an activity not taking up free-time. Extrinsic motivation takes place when an individual is preforming or completing a task because there will be a reward given at once the job is done. This reward could be money, a praise, or a good grade. When the drive to complete a task comes from extrinsic motivation, the task is usually something that the individual is not excited to do.
2 Connections I Made:
1. I strongly related to the concept of self-regulation in education. I can remember my teachers in elementary school practicing self regulation with us very often. Of course, at the time I did not understand why they did that like I do now. We would be given free periods to either work on whatever we wanted, or we would be given checklists during these periods, and always felt very accomplished once our checklist was complete.
2. The second connection I made related to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. While completing assignments and other tasks, I had never actually thought about why I am doing it. Until learning about the types of motivation, I realized that I am usually completing a task because there is an award involved… usually my grade. Even as I write this blog, I can admit to myself that this motivation is coming from extrinsic motivation, not intrinsic motivation. However, I as I learned about the types of motivation, i found myself connecting to both at many different times.
1 Question I Have:
One question I have left with me after these readings relates to choice and decisions. The text discusses how leaving choice for students creates more motivation to do the task. As teachers, how do we find a balance between giving our students choice, and making our students complete one task without giving them choice?