Reflection on motivation

Pick one item, either positive or negative, that really resonated with you from the readings this week.
Was the idea off base?  Did it upset you? Or did it seem a great idea, so why aren't we doing it?  
Discuss what the idea, why it struck a chord with you, and your thoughts on the topic. 



      The article on motivation was interesting.  As I read the article I reflected on my time as a teacher in a middle school; within the 8 years, sadly we had 5 different leaders.  Each of them had their own set of ideas on how to "motivate" the teaching staff but only one truly succeeded.  I reflected on why that was and it had absolutely nothing to do with money but the fact that the three elements of the motivation formula: autonomy,  mastery, and purpose, as Pink (2011), cited by Choi (2013) were at the cornerstone of her leadership.  She viewed us as experts in our field and trusted that our sole goal was to provide the best learning experience we could for our students.  
Autonomy: We were encouraged to seek out our individual PD opportunities and the school paid for us (this included travel, hotel, registration, and food, if it was out of town).  It was the technology-focused PD that lead me to seek my masters in technology integration.
Mastery:  Choi (2013) points out that Pink surmised that employees should work on Goldilocks tasks.  Choi (2013) explains that these tasks are just right; not too difficult, nor too easy.  The leader was able to provide us with these Goldilocks tasks because she made it a point to focus on getting to know her staff; she knew our strengths and weakness. 
Purpose: Choi (2013) explains that "purpose is what gets you our of bed in the morning and into work without groaning and grumbling".  I think the majority of educators understand their purpose but the getting out of bed without groaning and grumbling has a lot to do with them being valued on the job.  That value, I believe, is inherent to trusting them enough to give the autonomy on the job.  The school district I just recently left does not truly allow for autonomy within the classroom and as a result, schools are plagued with dedicated but discouraged educators.  I also believe that their is very little support to grow teachers and no opportunity for them to chose their PD options come PD day. 

When I read about the edcamps, I immediately though, what an awesome idea, why aren't they doing this on district wide PD days.  I can only assume that there is a level of distrust.  The principal at my particular school didn't trust that teachers would go to the PD days and therefore required teachers to have facilitators sign off on a certificate of participation.  This very action sends a signal that she distrust her staff.  I also think it indirectly acknowledged that she was aware that PD sessions were not high quality or of interest to teachers in the district.  The edcamps would give educators the autonomy to create, chose, present on topics that are interest to them. (Swanson, 2014, p. 37) 

How can you apply this information to your classroom?
At the start of every year, I have my students take a Multiple Intelligences Inventory Assessment.  This helps me get to know how they like to learn.  Using this information, when I create station activities, I make sure that I am creating a stations with their learning styles in mind.  In order to apply this information, I will now give students choice with certain stations but there will always be at least one that is required.  For example if I created 6 stations, students will have to complete three of their choosing and the one required; making it a total of 4 stations.  I also give students choice when it comes to the type of homework assigned from time to time.  Once I have established that they have some say in what we do, they will often ask for a particular type of assignment do complete.

How can you apply this information to your professionals development, specifically, the DTTP professional development you’ll be developing in this course.  
Using surveys, I will be able to provide participants with some level of autonomy.  Participants will be asked to identify, how they would like to be able to use/integrate the focus technology in their classrooms.  The training sessions will have a "make and take" segment to allow teachers to apply what they have learned.  They will have the autonomy to chose what curricular theme they would like to address with their activity.  The purpose for the sessions would be made very clear.  Layton states that we should "find the technology that balances easy-to-use interfaces with the effective curriculum and automated assessment.  As a bonus, make sure it’s cloud-based so teachers and students can use it inside and outside the classroom."  One of the technology resources chosen has an auto grade feature, depending on the type of question format chosen and it can be used outside of the classroom.  The technology will also provide instant data; allowing teachers to use this information to inform future lessons.  The goal of the technology integration would be specifically to assist teachers in meeting the demands of their teacher-assessed student achievement goals along with meeting the requirements of parts of their teacher evaluation rubric.

Choi, J. (2013, July 10). The motivation trifecta: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Retrieved from    
     http://deliveringhappiness.com/blog/the-motivation-trifecta-autonomy-mastery-and-purpose/

Layton, S. (2014, February 20). Motivate teachers to use technology. Retrieved from http://blog.aeseducation.com/2014/02/motivate-teachers-try-new-technology/ 

Swanson, K. (2014). Edcamp: teachers take back professional development. Educational Leadership. 71(8).