Learner Motivation and Developing Self Esteem

1. Learner Motivation and Developing Self Esteem Lecture 7 Text Chapter 4

2. Story- A little Boy- author unknown Once a little boy went to school. He was quite a little boy and it was quite a big school but the little boy found that he could go to his room by walking right in from the door outside. He was happy, and school did not seem quite so big anymore. One morning when the little boy had been in school a while the teacher said, “Today we are going to draw a picture” “Good”, thought the little boy. He could draw all kinds of things-lions and tigers, chickens and cows, trains and boats. He took out his box of crayons and began to draw. But the teacher said “Wait, it is not time to begin”. And she waited until everyone looked ready. “Now”, said the teacher,” We are going to make flowers”. “Good”, thought the little boy. He liked to make flowers. And he began to make beautiful ones with his pink and orange and blue crayons. But the teacher said “Wait and I will show you how” And it was red, with a green stem. “There”, said the teacher. “Now you may begin”.

3. The little boy looked at the teacher’s flower. Then he looked at his own flower. He liked his flower better than the teacher’s but he did not say this. He just turned the paper over and made a flower like the teacher’s. It was red with a green stem. On another day when the little boy had opened the door from the outside all by himself the teacher said,” Today we’re going to make something with clay”. “Good”, thought the little boy. He liked clay. He could make all kinds of things with clay-snakes and snowmen, elephants and mice, cars and trucks. And he began to pull and pinch his ball of clay. But the teacher said, “Wait, its not time to begin” And she waited until everyone looked ready. “Now”, said the teacher “we are going to make a dish”. “Good” thought the little boy. He liked to make dishes and he began to make some that were all shapes and sizes. But the teacher said, “Wait, and I will show you how”. And she showed everyone how to make one deep dish.“There”, said the teacher, “now you may begin”.

4. The little boy looked at the teacher’s dish. Then he looked at his own. He liked his dishes better than the teacher’s but he did not say this. He just rolled his clay into a big ball again and made a dish like the teacher’s. It was a deep dish. And quite soon the little boy learned to wait and to watch and to make things just like the teacher. And quite soon he didn’t make things of his own anymore. Then it happened. The little boy and his family moved to another house in another city and the little boy had to go to another school. This school was even bigger than the other one, and there was no door from the outside into his room. He had to go up some big steps and walk down a long hall to get to his room. On the very first day he was there the teacher said,” Today we are going to make a picture” “Good”, thought the little boy and he waited for the teacher to tell him what to do. But the teacher didn’t say anything. She just walked around the room.

5. When she came to the little boy she said, “Don’t you want to make a picture?”. “Yes”, said the little boy, “what are we going to make”? “I don’t know until you make it” said the teacher. “How shall I make it?”asked the little boy. “Why, anyway you like”, said the teacher. “And any colour?” asked the little boy. “If everyone made the same picture and used the same colours, how would I know who made what, and which was which?”. “I don’t know”, said the little boy. And he began to make a red flower with a green stem.

6. Think Pair Share • What does this story say to you?

7. Personal motivation • What motivates you? • Think pair, share.

8. Motivation/Reinforcement • Motivation is concerned with personal energy directed towards the achievement of particular goals. • Intrinsic Motivation – refers to motivation that has been internalised and is the drive to do things for their own sake (Harter,1982)

9. Intrinsic • Intrinsic motivation is when a person is internally motivated with no thought of reward. • Intrinsically motivated learners want to learn because they are curious, they want to improve, they seek knowledge, and learning gives them satisfaction. • McKeachie (1999) notes that this form of motivation nurtures and encourages the habit of life-long learning.

10. Extrinsic • Extrinsic – it is the motivation to act that comes from the external environment, outside of the person. When we are extrinsically motivated, we act with the anticipation of rewards – praise, money, time off from work, grades, or some other incentive. • Just text us within the next 2minutes. Win a FREE TRIP TO FIJI!

12. Factors that influence motivation • Provision of successful and meaningful experiences; • Relevant learning goals; • Teacher enthusiasm for the subject; • Positive relationships with students; • Use of reinforcements and consequences; • Students’ perceptions of the importance of effort; • Well organised systems of communication and instruction;

13. What causes low motivation? • Physical discomfort • Excessive teacher demands • Low student expectations • Assessment based on material not covered in class • Student requests for help go unanswered • Students work at a pace to fast for them • Teacher presentations are boring • Student failure announced by the teacher • Loss of self esteem • Teacher is not interested in subject matter • Use of criticism and sarcasm to motivate students

14. Increasing Student Engagement and Motivation: From Time-On-Task to Homework. • http://www.nwrel.org/request/oct00/motivate.html

15. Achievement Motivation • Classroom tasks provide good opportunities for students to experience success and failure. • Student with high achievement motivation will demonstrate more determination and persistence with work. They tend to have high self esteem.

16. Portraits of Progress http://www.teachers.tv/video/24326 • Students with a lower level of achievement motivation will be more prone to not complete tasks. • There are internal and external controls that are associated with the level of achievement. • Considerations for teachers – a classroom climate based on mutual trust, personal responsibility for learning taken by students, co-operative learning strategies. Any more?

17. Attribution Theory of Motivation • Weiner (1986) explains that individuals will always seek to explain why they have succeeded or failed in undertaking tasks. • These explanations are called attributes. • Some explanations may include lack of effort, lack of ability, difficulty of task etc. • Students make attributions based on things such as situational cues, prior beliefs and self perceptions. • Therefore, it is imperative that classroom teachers are encouraging and nurturing with their students in all areas of teaching and learning.

18. Social Motivation • Social Motivation is an important consideration for all students. • Teacher support can be a major driver in influencing desired student behaviour, positive relationships in the classroom and a good student work ethic. • The needs of each individual student must be considered. • Student follow up, feedback and guidance must be appropriate and professional. Teachers should not take a negative approach. • Some factors for consideration to increase motivation include – warmth and enthusiasm, meaningful goals, fostering climate, maintaining equity.

19. Ensure course materials relate to students' lives and highlight ways learning can be applied in real-life situations(Lumsden, 1994; Skinner & Belmont, 1991). • Schoolwork should be meaningful to students outside the school building, as well as within. Students are more engaged in activities when they can build on prior knowledge and draw clear connections between what they are learning and the world they live in. They also need to feel that "school work is significant, valuable, and worthy of their efforts" (Policy Studies Associates, 1995).

20. Allow students to have some degree of control over learning(Brooks et al., 1998). • This can be done in any number of ways, from giving students choices between different assignments, to minimizing adult supervision over group projects, to letting students monitor and evaluate their own progress (Anderman & Midgley, 1998; Dev, 1997; Policy Studies Associates, 1995). Anderman & Midgely (1998) note that this doesn't mean teachers must relinquish control of the classroom: "Even small opportunities for choice, such as whether to work with a partner or independently" (p. 3) give students a greater sense of autonomy.

21. Assign challenging but achievable tasks for all students, including at-risk, remedial, and learning disabled students. • Tasks that seem impossible easily discourage learners, as do those tasks that are rote and repetitive (Dev, 1997; Policy Studies Associates, 1995). Remedial programs that limit students to repetitive basic skills activities actually "prompt students' lack of engagement in their schoolwork and frequently result in limited achievement" (Policy Studies Associates, 1995). Students need to feel successful and that they've earned success.

22. Arouse students' curiosity about the topic being studied. • Strong, Silver, and Robinson (1995) suggest using the "mystery" approach, in which students are presented with fragmentary or contradictory information about a subject and are then asked to examine available evidence to develop their own hypotheses. This kind of activity also builds on students' needs for competence and autonomy, giving students an opportunity to direct inquiry and "discover for themselves."

23. Design projects that allow students to share new knowledge with others. • Strong, Silver & Robinson (1995) observe that when students do assignments that only the teacher will read, they are entering into a nonreciprocal relationship. More often than not, the teacher already knows and has no real need for the information the student is providing him or her. • Projects are more engaging when students share what they are learning in reciprocal relationships, as in collaborative projects where each student's knowledge is needed by others in the group to complete an assignment.

24. Some thoughts on reinforcement… • Primary reinforcers are physical objects or events that have an immediate or direct effects on behaviour and do not depend on learning for their reinforcing properties. • Secondary reinforcers are stimuli or events that which become reinforcing through learning and typically symbolic, linguistic or social in character. • Tangible reinforcers: rewards in the form of concrete objects. • Token reinforcers: symbolic such as merits, prizes etc. • Social reinforcers: cause positive changes in behaviour. Includes teacher approval, praise etc. • Activity reinforcers: students undertake an activity they love because of a good action.

25. Principles of motivation and reinforcement Getting students involved • Set realistic goals and reward students who try hard to achieve them. • Gain co-operative support from students for high achievement goals/personal goals. • Provide varied and challenging learning activities and experiences to motivate students to reach high levels of personal achievement. • Ensure that students experience success and feelings of competence.

26. Inappropriate role models of motivation and reinforcement • Unenthusiastic performer Teachers who are unenthusiastic and unstimulating. • Trenchant censor Teachers attempt to motivate by criticism and typically use few other motivational strategies. • Demanding energiser Teachers who are excessively energetic and spend much of their time motivating students to high levels of achievement. • Negative expectations teacher Teachers tend to demonstrate an attitude of low or negative expectations.

27. Developing Self-Esteem Brainstorm Activity What is Self Esteem? How does positive student self esteem contribute to improved student outcomes?

28. Self Esteem… • One of the most basic human needs. This is a major factor in classroom behaviour. • Maslow (1954) mentioned that motivation can be grouped in an order of needs. This order of needs also incorporates self esteem. • Low level needs (physical) include basic things such as food and safety. Once these needs are satisfied, individuals tend to want to satisfy higher needs such as social needs. • Social needs are connected with self esteem.

29. Once social needs are met, individuals move on to satisfy their intellectual needs. This refers to needing to know and understand. • After this stage, the order includes aesthetic appreciation needs and self actualisation. • All stages tend to build on the other during the process. Consideration… • What could be some implications for classroom teachers in a primary classroom?

30. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Self Actualisation needs – fully functional individual Aesthetic needs – appreciation Need to know and understand – access to information; wanting to know Esteem needs – being recognised as unique Belongingness and love needs – being accepted Security and safety needs – regular, predictable Survival needs - physiological

33. Habits of Mind • How long does it take to develop a habit? • Take note of some of your Habits of Mind. Select 3 and work on them consciously over the next week. • Try to choose 3 that you know you should try to improve or develop further.

34. Arthur Costa talks about the habits • http://www.instituteforhabitsofmind.com/supportive-multimedia • ‘Please do not think that there are 16 ways in which humans display their intelligence. The list of habits is not meant to be complete.’

35. A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition. • An established disposition of the mind or character.

36. Taken from Murdoch,K and Wilson, J

37. What is a habit? • Work with a partner, share and record your thoughts

38. “HABIT IS A CABLE; WE WEAVE IT EACH DAY, AND AT LAST WE CANNOT BREAK IT.”

39. Arthur Costa and BenaKallick • A Habit of Mind is knowing how to behave intelligently when you DON'T know the answer. • A Habit of Mind means having a disposition toward behaving intelligently when confronted with problems, the answers to which are not immediately known: dichotomies, dilemmas, enigmas and uncertainties. • An attribute of intelligent human beings is not only having information, but also knowing how to act on it.

40. Habits of Mind are a set of intellectual behaviours, which require discipline of the mind. They are regularly practiced in order to become habitual. By utilising Habits of Mind children can develop a set of behaviours they can draw upon when faced with problems or challenging situations. • Studies have demonstrated that successful people from different backgrounds regularly use the sixteen intellectual habits. • Students who develop these Habits of Mind lay the foundation for optimal intellectual adaptability and creativity when faced with intellectual challenges.

41. Habits of Mind attend to: Value - choosing to behave intelligently Inclination- deciding to usea certain behavior Sensitivity- knowingwhento use them Capability- having skills& capacity to use them Commitment- reflectingon improvement Policy- promoting and incorporating their daily use

42. Persistence Persevering when the solution to a problem is not immediately apparent ‘Persistence is the twin sister of excellence. One is a matter of quality, the other a matter of time.’ Marabel Morgan

43. Managing Impulsivity Clarifying a goal before embarking on an action Pursuing a goal, delaying gratification is the essence of self regulation.

44. Listening to Others Listening to others with understanding and empathy ‘Listening is the beginning of understanding…Wisdom is the reward for a lifetime of listening. (Proverbs 1:5)

45. Flexibility in Thinking Can compromise, experiment and consider alternative points of view ‘If you never change your mind, why have one.’ (Edward de Bono)

46. Metacognition – thinking about thinking Awareness of our thinking – can apply thinking skills and strategies ‘When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.’ (Plato)

47. Checking for Accuracy & Precision Reviews and checks completed tasks to the criteria set ‘A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it is committing another mistake. (Confucius)

48. Questioning & Problem Solving Exploring the consequences of various courses of action ‘To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advances.’ (Albert Einstein)

49. Drawing on past knowledge & experiences Recalls information and past experiences to solve new challenges ‘I’ve never made a mistake, I’ve only learned from experience.’ (Thomas Edison)

50. Thinking & Communicating with Clarity & Precision Oral and written expressions are concise, descriptive and coherent ‘I have to translate my thoughts in a language that does not run clearly with them.’ (Francis Galton – Geneticist)