Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Documentary
Over a few weeks I have been watching a Hanson documentary on itunes. The movie is not released yet, so they are showing episodes in podcasts. The documentary was filmed in 2004 and shows the struggle the band faced with their record label and the issues in the music business today. It is also the steps that took them to create their own independent label and record their music on their own. As I am watching this, I was thinking about my own documentary. They have someone taping the documentary, they are not filming it themselves, so its a little different from what I am doing. However, they have interviews with them, speaker phone conversations with men from the label they are fighting with, collaborations with other writers, and then time in the studio when they are actually recording. They are telling a story through their documentary, something that Bill and I had talked about last week. I began a story board of how I want my documentary to be and I realized that I need some more shots of students just learning in the classroom maybe, as well as some more shots of people from Upward Bound talking about motivation and how the students are motivated to learn and what they people there do to help, so I can look for a solution to motivation.
Monday, February 12, 2007
McClelland
The article on McClelland was very dense, but I am hoping I can get something out of it. It states right away that all motives are learned. They are based on effective arousal which is what we would call emotion. However, according to this view, emotions are not motives, but the basis for motives. They give an example about happiness or pleasure, about when a person is experiencing this emotion, and something happens with an increase or decrease in pleasure, it gives anticipation to the person. It is the anticipatory goal response or redintegrated change in affective state which is the motive.
What are the conditions which give rise inntely to the states of effective arousal anticipation of which is assumed to be the motivation? One notion is adopted from Troland, to the effect that there is beneception sensory processes indicating a condition favorable to survival of the indicidual or species and nociception (sensory processes indicating a condition detrimental to survival). Another possibility is Miller and Dollard's assumption that any stimulation, if it is strong enough, will produce affective arousal which is necessary for a motivational association. McClelland believes that this is wrong because it is incomplete and does not do justice to the pleasure-seeking activities of the organism, which suggests a third posibility, that moderate increase in stimulus intensity in any sense modality may lead to pleasure and a further increase in pain. While such a notion is intriguing and would explain readily certain drives for activity, for all we know, it there may be other conditions such as hormonal effects on the nervous system which give rise to pleasure and pain.
The persistence of a motive throughout the life history of an individual is a function of a number of variables, among which are the following: a) the absolute frequency of occurrence of the cue-leasure (pain) association: hunger is reliable motive because the association between certain sensations (stomach contractions, sight of food) and eating occurs several times a day throught the lifetime; b) the generality of the association and ease with which it may be extinguished; c) the stress (intensity of pleasure-pain) involved in the association at the time it is formed; d) the age at which the affective association is formed- the earlier it is formed the liklier conditions b and c are to obtain.
Overall, motives are individually acquired but certain situations will produce pleasure or pain with such regularity either through biological or cultural arrangements that the probability of certain common motives developing in all people is very high.Since all motives are learned, is it not likey tht each person will learn a different set? While in gernal this is true, degrees of freedom are in fact considerably reduced in the process of adjustment. Take achievement for example, all cultures must learn to do thing for themselves. In the course of mastery, it is highly likely it will get associated with affective arousal and will produce in time centrally motivating anticipations of success or failure.
What are the conditions which give rise inntely to the states of effective arousal anticipation of which is assumed to be the motivation? One notion is adopted from Troland, to the effect that there is beneception sensory processes indicating a condition favorable to survival of the indicidual or species and nociception (sensory processes indicating a condition detrimental to survival). Another possibility is Miller and Dollard's assumption that any stimulation, if it is strong enough, will produce affective arousal which is necessary for a motivational association. McClelland believes that this is wrong because it is incomplete and does not do justice to the pleasure-seeking activities of the organism, which suggests a third posibility, that moderate increase in stimulus intensity in any sense modality may lead to pleasure and a further increase in pain. While such a notion is intriguing and would explain readily certain drives for activity, for all we know, it there may be other conditions such as hormonal effects on the nervous system which give rise to pleasure and pain.
The persistence of a motive throughout the life history of an individual is a function of a number of variables, among which are the following: a) the absolute frequency of occurrence of the cue-leasure (pain) association: hunger is reliable motive because the association between certain sensations (stomach contractions, sight of food) and eating occurs several times a day throught the lifetime; b) the generality of the association and ease with which it may be extinguished; c) the stress (intensity of pleasure-pain) involved in the association at the time it is formed; d) the age at which the affective association is formed- the earlier it is formed the liklier conditions b and c are to obtain.
Overall, motives are individually acquired but certain situations will produce pleasure or pain with such regularity either through biological or cultural arrangements that the probability of certain common motives developing in all people is very high.Since all motives are learned, is it not likey tht each person will learn a different set? While in gernal this is true, degrees of freedom are in fact considerably reduced in the process of adjustment. Take achievement for example, all cultures must learn to do thing for themselves. In the course of mastery, it is highly likely it will get associated with affective arousal and will produce in time centrally motivating anticipations of success or failure.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
What do students want (and what really motivates them)?
I found an article entitled: What do students want (and what really motivates them)? It was from September of 1995 in Educatinal Leadership. It starts out by saying that students who are engaged in their work are energized by four goals: success, curiosity, originality, and satisfying relationships. They talked about a study they had done ten years prior asking teachers and students to simple questions: What kind of work do you find totally engaging? and What kind of work do you hate to do? They found distinct patterns in their responses. Engaging work was: work that stimulated their curiosity, expressed their creativity, and fostered positive relationships with others. As for work they hated, both teachers and students said it was work that was repetitive, that required little no thought, and that was forced on them by others.
The article then went through what they called the SCORE. S=Sucess(the need for mastery), C=Curiosity (the need for understanding), O= Originality (the need for self-expression), R=Relationships (the need for involvement with others) and E=Engery (I think that is just so they can complete their acronym)
The article then goes through each step giving tips of how you can increase these in your classroom. In success they give these three tips.
1. We must clearly articulate the criteria for success and provide clear, immediate, and constructive feedback.
2. We must show students that the skills they need to be successful are within their grasp by clearly and systematically modeling these skills.
3. We must help them see success as a valuable aspect of their personalities.
It states that these things seem obvious enough, but these are simple ways that we can improve motivation in the classroom by modeling things such as brandstorming, interpreting poetry etc. If they see that we can do it, they will get the courage to try themselves. This reminded me of the self efficacy reading I posted about earlier with the vicarious experience part.
As this article goes on they give examples how to intense curiosity by making sure the topic relates to the studends lives and the information about the topic is fragmentary or contradictory, increase originality by doing independent projects, and using peers to do projects with one another. One example they gave was having three students in a group, one learning about lizards, one about tortoises, and the other about snakes. Then have them compare and contrast the reptiles so that they need one anothers knowledge.
I thought it was an interesting article to use some of the ideas in my own classroom down the road, but I am going to continue reading about McClellen and Maslow for next week.
The article then went through what they called the SCORE. S=Sucess(the need for mastery), C=Curiosity (the need for understanding), O= Originality (the need for self-expression), R=Relationships (the need for involvement with others) and E=Engery (I think that is just so they can complete their acronym)
The article then goes through each step giving tips of how you can increase these in your classroom. In success they give these three tips.
1. We must clearly articulate the criteria for success and provide clear, immediate, and constructive feedback.
2. We must show students that the skills they need to be successful are within their grasp by clearly and systematically modeling these skills.
3. We must help them see success as a valuable aspect of their personalities.
It states that these things seem obvious enough, but these are simple ways that we can improve motivation in the classroom by modeling things such as brandstorming, interpreting poetry etc. If they see that we can do it, they will get the courage to try themselves. This reminded me of the self efficacy reading I posted about earlier with the vicarious experience part.
As this article goes on they give examples how to intense curiosity by making sure the topic relates to the studends lives and the information about the topic is fragmentary or contradictory, increase originality by doing independent projects, and using peers to do projects with one another. One example they gave was having three students in a group, one learning about lizards, one about tortoises, and the other about snakes. Then have them compare and contrast the reptiles so that they need one anothers knowledge.
I thought it was an interesting article to use some of the ideas in my own classroom down the road, but I am going to continue reading about McClellen and Maslow for next week.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Self efficacy
Self efficacy is a persons personal judgment of their performance capabilities for a particular type of taks at a particular point in time and is closely linked to expecatations for success. According to Bandura, there are four principal sources of information for self efficacy judgements in academic situations. Actual experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological arousal.
Actual experience is typically when success raises efficacy appraisals and failures lower them.
Vicarious experience is when a child is sometimes persuaded that they can do something by watching another child do something. In a study done in 1985, children who were having problems with addition and observed a peer had higher self efficacy for learning the procedure.
Verbal Persuasion is when a parent or teacher can sometimes persuade children that they are able to acheive some goal. In some circumstances, encouragment can bolster a child's self-confidence for a new task.
Physiological arousal for example, is when a student gets sweaty palms during a math test in the past, she may lose the confidence ability to perform in this instance.
People tend to avoid tasks and situations that they believe exceed their capabilities. Individuals with relatively high self efficacy tend to set higher goals for themselves. Students who are not confident that they can complete a task often become anxious or preoccupied with feeling of incompetence and concerns about failing.
In my reading about self efficacy and minority students, it states that: "Minority children with various sociocultural backgrounds attend schools predicated on mainstream, largely middle class, largely white Anglo Saxon assumptions. Such children acquire deficits in self esteem when they fail to master essential instrumentalities in this context. This self esteem is damaged not only by actual failure but also by negative perceptions and low expectations of them by teachers and other students." "The equation is direct - lack of instrumental competence in this setting-negative self esteem and poor self concept- incompentent school performance: equals alienation and dropout.
Actual experience is typically when success raises efficacy appraisals and failures lower them.
Vicarious experience is when a child is sometimes persuaded that they can do something by watching another child do something. In a study done in 1985, children who were having problems with addition and observed a peer had higher self efficacy for learning the procedure.
Verbal Persuasion is when a parent or teacher can sometimes persuade children that they are able to acheive some goal. In some circumstances, encouragment can bolster a child's self-confidence for a new task.
Physiological arousal for example, is when a student gets sweaty palms during a math test in the past, she may lose the confidence ability to perform in this instance.
People tend to avoid tasks and situations that they believe exceed their capabilities. Individuals with relatively high self efficacy tend to set higher goals for themselves. Students who are not confident that they can complete a task often become anxious or preoccupied with feeling of incompetence and concerns about failing.
In my reading about self efficacy and minority students, it states that: "Minority children with various sociocultural backgrounds attend schools predicated on mainstream, largely middle class, largely white Anglo Saxon assumptions. Such children acquire deficits in self esteem when they fail to master essential instrumentalities in this context. This self esteem is damaged not only by actual failure but also by negative perceptions and low expectations of them by teachers and other students." "The equation is direct - lack of instrumental competence in this setting-negative self esteem and poor self concept- incompentent school performance: equals alienation and dropout.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Moving along..
As I was putting my video on my computer, I was listening again to the interviews that I had with the students and the teachers. Basically the teachers dont think the students are as motivated as they should be and the students say they want to do well in school they just dont try as hard as they should at times. So, now that I know that much, I'm going to try and see how this can be fixed. Can it be fixed by parent involvement, the psychological motication theories that teachers must pick and use in the classroom, or using goal setting? Or all three?
I am continuing to read my motivation books and will post more on the theories next week, but right now I am going to post on a few of the articles that I have been reading. I read an article on Parent Involvement in Education. It told about all the things that parents can do to be involved in their child's education such as goign to school functions, going to parent teacher conferences, providing encouragement, arranging study time with their child, monitoring desired behavior and tutoring their children at home.
The research that was found in this study overwhelmingly demonstrated that parent involvement in childrens learning was positively related to acheievment. The more intensively parents are involved the better the child does. The most effective form of parent involvement was doing learning activities at home. Reading with their children, supporting their homework, or tutoring shows impressive results. The earlier this begins in the child's education, the better.
There is a much higher incidence of parenst involved in teh preschool and primary grades than in middle school and high school. They say that this is because the schools are bigger and farther away, the curriculum is more sophisticated, students are beginning to establish a sense of separation from their parents, and the parents are generally working.
When it speaks about low income and minority students and parent involvement, it says that the parents are unrepresented. The reasons they give are: lack of time or energy (due to long hours of work), embarressment or shyness about their own educational level, lack of understanding of information, and a perceived lack of welcome by teachers or administrators. It goes onto to say that no matter the level of the parents own education, they can still make a difference in their students lives.
I am going to see if I can ask a few parents a few questions about their child's education. I am also reading about self-efficacy right now, which is a prediction that one will be able to meet hte demands of the situation effectively. So a student with feelings of self-efficacy thinks that he or she can do well in school. It talks about how minority student's self esteem is usually damagned not only by failure, but by negative perceptions and low expectations of other students and teachers. I will have more info on this and other theories in my next blog.
I am continuing to read my motivation books and will post more on the theories next week, but right now I am going to post on a few of the articles that I have been reading. I read an article on Parent Involvement in Education. It told about all the things that parents can do to be involved in their child's education such as goign to school functions, going to parent teacher conferences, providing encouragement, arranging study time with their child, monitoring desired behavior and tutoring their children at home.
The research that was found in this study overwhelmingly demonstrated that parent involvement in childrens learning was positively related to acheievment. The more intensively parents are involved the better the child does. The most effective form of parent involvement was doing learning activities at home. Reading with their children, supporting their homework, or tutoring shows impressive results. The earlier this begins in the child's education, the better.
There is a much higher incidence of parenst involved in teh preschool and primary grades than in middle school and high school. They say that this is because the schools are bigger and farther away, the curriculum is more sophisticated, students are beginning to establish a sense of separation from their parents, and the parents are generally working.
When it speaks about low income and minority students and parent involvement, it says that the parents are unrepresented. The reasons they give are: lack of time or energy (due to long hours of work), embarressment or shyness about their own educational level, lack of understanding of information, and a perceived lack of welcome by teachers or administrators. It goes onto to say that no matter the level of the parents own education, they can still make a difference in their students lives.
I am going to see if I can ask a few parents a few questions about their child's education. I am also reading about self-efficacy right now, which is a prediction that one will be able to meet hte demands of the situation effectively. So a student with feelings of self-efficacy thinks that he or she can do well in school. It talks about how minority student's self esteem is usually damagned not only by failure, but by negative perceptions and low expectations of other students and teachers. I will have more info on this and other theories in my next blog.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Motivation to Learn
In one of my books that I am reading, called Motivation to Learn, they discuss psychological theories on motivation. Reinforcement theorists believe that behavior is caused by events external to the person and refer to the law of effect, which states that behavior is determined by its consequences. The chapter goes on to discuss how in many classrooms positive reinforcement strategies are used and can be very effective in influencing students behavior and can be used to motivate students when they may not have interest in doing something. However, it also mentions the negative effects it can cause. Students learn at different paces, if rewards are based on the teachers observation, a kid could be pretending to work hard and reminiscing about the home run he hit the night before. Also, if they get rewards for reading a book, they might pick easy reads, and they may become negative and demanding.
If the positive reinforcement doesn't work, it says that many people turn to punishment. However, with some students, it says the humiliation of having a failing grade will turn them around to want to bring up the grade, where for others it just causes anxiety and alienation, which hinder their learning.
If the positive reinforcement doesn't work, it says that many people turn to punishment. However, with some students, it says the humiliation of having a failing grade will turn them around to want to bring up the grade, where for others it just causes anxiety and alienation, which hinder their learning.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Interviews
Tuesday and this morning, I was at the high school and the middle school filming interviews for my documentary. I interviewed both of my cooperating teachers and the principal of Aldrich Middle School. All of them see a struggle with student motivation and students taking learning seriously. When I talked to the students, I found that 1) the accelerated and synectics students were motivated because they were being supported at home, and 2) the other students said they wanted to do well, but weren't doing that great. Now that I have my interviews, I am going to continue my reading with two books from the library on motivation and many articles that Bill gave me to read that deal with psychology and motivation.
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