Posted in DemEd in Real LifeStudentsTeaching on Mar 17, 2010 - 09:01 PM
Paul, one of my friends in high school, proclaimed that North Dakota didn't exist. He'd ask, "Have you ever met anyone from North Dakota? What's ever come out of North Dakota? We've read about it--but have you ever been there?" I've never really stopped wondering about North Dakota being a conspiracy to validate South Dakota's existence, but Paul's words have been louder than ever in my head since I've taken on my new teaching job as a literacy intervention teacher.Last semester, I was thrown into a teaching position wherein I had 150 students to tend to--and that experience was more an exercise in control than in instruction or teaching. This semester as explained in my last entry caps my student load at 50 students (I have 37--6-10 students per sixty-minute period). My students and I can finally breathe in this classroom and focus on developing depth of thinking rather than breadth (getting through the curriculum). Now, the nuances that go into a true learning environment are coming to the surface and my colleagues and I are trying to figure out the mystery that is internal motivation.
Yes, I'm searching for that Philosopher's Stone of education--how to develop internal motivation in students without the use of external motivators (rewards or punishments). As with North Dakota, I've read about it, I've seen videos of students proclaiming to have found it, but I have yet to see it with my own eyes.
There are still 14 weeks left in this semester, so there is still time for this search, and I feel my students and I getting closer to it. Learning in our class is starting to feel genuinely fun and engaging. I am having to lecture students less. Some students are even doing extra homework. Little tiny hints, but we still don't know what's happening or how it's happening exactly. My students and I discuss this topic openly so they're in the know.
My students and I are doing some self-reflective research with double-loop learning wherein we document our words after implementing a lesson (we have students transcribe speech) then we evaluate the lesson and go back to the transcription to find evidence to support our judgments. We're trying to pin-point exactly why some of us are internally motivated, getting there, or some of us are nowhere near it.
More details to follow after our second round of instructional research is complete next week. For now, what we (my students and I) agree on is that we're in a beautiful state of confusion in our class, and we feel that this is what real learning feels like.
Tags for this entry:
research,
motivation,
rewards,
punishment,
questioning
Comments
Mar 18, 2010 - 12:29 AM
Ammerah, I’m so happy that you were re-hired at your school, AND now have an environment that is more conducive to meaningful learning than the previous one.
Like Sara, I love the line “We’re in a beautiful state of confusion in our class, and we feel that this is what real learning feels like.” Your students are lucky to have a teacher who learns along with them and models real education: asking questions, and learning how to find your own answers.
Mar 18, 2010 - 01:00 AM
As usual, it is very entertaining hearing you speak. I start reading and can’t let go until the last word. I wish I had a teacher who would make me feel good about deep thinking and confusion, I would have enjoyed being analytical and reflective much more.
Mar 18, 2010 - 07:17 AM
As someone who has spent some time in Fargo and stayed in Bismarck, I can say without a doubt that North Dakota exists (and is real beautiful too!).
But I think you are right - internal motivation, like North Dakota, is a place you need to actively search out and deliberately work to get to. And the most essential step in developing or strengthening internal motivation, I believe, is to talk about it and get young people aware that it DOES exist and is something really valuable - which is what you are doing with the young people you work with.
Thanks for sharing all of what you do, Ammerah.
Mar 18, 2010 - 01:06 PM
Sara: Sorry for the confusion but I have 37 students divided into 5 classes (so 6-10 students per 60 minute period). I’ll clarify this in the post. As for the students appreciating the self-reflection—this is going to take some time since it takes a lot of effort and focus. Some LOVED it right from the start, but some still just want to get the grade and move on. We’ll break them still 
Mar 18, 2010 - 01:10 PM
Melia and Ayman: I try to practice what I preach—if I expect the students to love confusion and critical reflection, then I need to practice it myself and stand before them confident in my own questions and confusions.
Dana: Thanks for extending the metaphor and obliterating our exciting theory at the same time, lol. I love the way you extended the metaphor to involve the search and effort necessary to develop internal motivation. It shatters the paradigm of “teacher knows all” even further. Thanks you—I’ll be using this.
Sara Schmidt
Mar 18, 2010 - 12:25 AM
“A beautiful state of confusion”—I love that! I am absolutely wowed (and perhaps a bit envious?) over the kind of self-reflection your students are getting to experience in an actual classroom.
And I can’t imagine the difficulty of figuring out internal motivation with 37 students; I have trouble with my one!
Good luck with the remaining fourteen weeks. It sounds like your students are getting a lot from your course.