The Labyrinth

Motivation affects learning and behavior in many ways. It increases the ability of a student to start and persist in activities towards a directed goal. Motivation also determines what consequences will reinforce a student to perform as well as enhance cognitive ability to process information which all leads to better performance in school.

There are two basic types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is caused by factors outside the student. Little Sally is motivated by the desire to be recognized by her parents for doing a good job. Intrinsic motivation drives a student to work based on internal factors. Little Bobby does very well in his art classes because he enjoys the feeling he gets when he creates an original piece of art.

Some children have what is called “achievement” motivation. This kind of motivation drives a student to excel simply for the sake of doing well without any thought of external rewards. Others are motivated to learn because they want to understand why something is not the way they thought it was. They want to understand how things really are.

What motivation is, is very important but also important is how to get students to become motivated. For that we need to consider what it is that makes students tick. “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” attempts to categorize those needs from the basic needs to the advanced needs.

1. Psychological needs related to survival such as food and shelter.
2. The need to feel safe and secure.
3. The need to feel part of a group and loved.
4. The need to feel good about one’s self.
5. And finally, the need to reach one’s full potential.

If the first need fails to be met then the second will also fail to be met and so on. It all whittles down to what a student is thinking about. If a student is worried about what or if they’re going to eat, they’re not going to be paying attention in class. If they’re worried about avoiding the school bully or getting home without any trouble from local kids, they aren’t going to be worried about the class. If they don’t feel they are being accepted by others for who they are then they aren’t going to accept themselves either and they aren’t going to care what their real potential is since they’ve become convinced they have none.

If you’ll notice, the first four needs deal with the here and now. Only the fifth deals with the future. It doesn’t say “the need to have met one’s full potential” but rather “the need to reach one’s potential.” Kids and young adults tend to live day to day since school is a very regimented process. The student gets up, they get cleaned up, they eat breakfast, they go to school, and they come home. Rather, rinse, repeat. There is no need to worry about tomorrow because tomorrow is just another today. Well, all tomorrows except for birthdays and major holidays. And even then, for some kids, those also are just another today.

One of the key motivating factors in students is the future. Getting them to recognize their future is the challenge. In the 1950, educational short “The Benefits of Looking Ahead,” Nick Baxter is seen looking at a paper with three students listed as most likely to succeed. He wonders why they were chosen as they had nothing he hasn’t got. Or so he believes. He then ponders where those students will be in the future. One will be a scientist, one a community leader and the third a politician. His friend then suggests that he will be a drifter in the future since he has no direction. As he considers this he attempts to build a table which promptly falls apart. He then realizes he needs a plan for this table before he builds and with the plan he builds a very nice table. From this, he recognizes the importance of having a plan in his life. So he sets out to figure out what he wants to do and then researches how to accomplish those things.

Fast forward fifty years and students are still struggling with the same issues. They need to understand that the daily grind is not a ride on a trained donkey walking in a circle for the amusement of little children but rather a well oiled machine taking them down the road of success. The student needs to understand the point of their education in order for them to be motivated to allow their education to take them somewhere.

In the 1947 educational short “Maintaining Discipline in the Classroom” a teacher is disappointed to find that more than half of the class failed the test and those that passed, did so barely. After the teacher berates the students, the film delves into the mindset of the students. One of the students decides they should just as well quit. Others are angry at the teacher. After the class laughs when the teacher sends one of the misbehaving students to the principal’s office, he group punishes the entire class. This is later explained to be a very dangerous thing to do and doesn’t work well. The class then just gets more unruly in protest. The film then examines what the teacher did wrong.

In the “correct way” portion of the film the teachers explains the “ratio” concept of math using everyday things that the students are familiar with. The mother uses ratio to bake a smaller or larger cake based on a recipe. The boys would come across ratio in things such as a blueprint to build a bridge. He then works through the problem that most of the students missed explaining the concepts along the way. By not demeaning the students and giving them a respectful lesson on how to do the problem, the students are motivated to learn and understand where they went wrong so they can do better in the future.

Fifty years later we still encourage these same teaching methods. A teacher needs to treat the students with respect and accept responsibility for failing to reach the students rather than accusing the students of being lazy. We also need to apply the abstract concepts in the classroom to real world problems that the students will encounter in their daily lives. This will allow them to see what their education is really all about so they are motivated to stick with it.

The 1953 educational short film “Practicing Democracy in the Classroom” covers this aspect of motivation as well. The main goal of education, according to the film, is to make students good citizens. Mr. Davis is a history teacher who is asked to explain how and why he teaches the way he does. The “authoritarian” method where the teacher ruled the classroom, didn’t work. The “liaises faire” method where the students ruled, didn’t work. But what they found worked was the democratic method where the students became equally involved with their education along with the teacher. In order to encourage a positive learning environment, the teacher spent the first few days allowing the students to get to know each other. They also took tests to find out what they already knew and what their interests were. The idea of the democratic method is to have mutual respect between the students and the teacher. Together they would come up with goals and topics to discuss. The students would start by reading and thinking individually and then form small groups to combine and refine their ideas. Mr. Davis explains to one of the parents that the students are interested in learning because they had a part in the process. Because the students have a direct role in their education allowing them to apply the concepts to real world situations, they were more motivated.

Though most of the film is a propaganda piece touting the benefits of democracy over other government types like communism the teaching methods are still being taught today. The idea that students need to have respect for each other and the teacher in order for the classroom to function smoothly was covered in more detail in the previous paper. The idea that students should take an active role in their own education is also still around. Students are often given choices for what they can study in order to complete a course requirement. And, just as in the previous film, the importance of applying the course to the real world is also explored. In this film the students learn about democracy by researching their own town and by talking to members of their town leadership. At the end of the film, Mr. Davis states plainly that this method can be used in any class by any teachers. Examples are also given.

Why students drop out of school is examined in the 1962 educational film “The Drop Out.” At the beginning of the film students are talking about why they can drop out and explain that it’s because they’ve already got a job. They’re getting a pay check so they don’t feel they need school. Many drop outs have parents who are considered failures. They see school as a nuisance. But this has been found to not be a very consistent cause of a student to drop out. That blame falls on the ability to read. The statistic given in the film is that 80% of drop outs are lacking reading skills. The importance of special classes to help such students is covered. When a student is poor, material things seem more important. This can cause the student to be distracted from their school work seeing the world as more of a grab bag. Maslow’s 2nd and 3rd needs are mentioned directly (despite the film coming 11 years earlier) as reasons for a student to give up on school if they aren’t met. They’re more interested in finding ways to get things now rather than working to get those things over time.

In the second part of the film, “life lines” are covered. A “life line” is something which keeps a potential drop out connected to their education. An example student finds that he is good at running which allowed him to meet Maslow’s 3rd need. He became accepted by his track teammates and eventually his success on the track led to him working harder in school and finding success there as well. The film mentions that A’s and B’s are too abstract for some students but the idea of a career is well understood. Students who are looking to quit school are given jobs appropriate to their interests which allows them to see how school applies to the real world. As long as the student is being educated on the job and their grades are maintained they are allowed to keep the position.

One of the interesting comments made in the film is that a High School degree is important in a world of automation. Fifty years later, a college degree is required to get a quality job. Jobs are getting more and more complicated and the educational process needs to keep up. People in a profession will tell you that the key to staying in the field is constant education; especially when it comes to technology. Fifty years later we still have work-study programs for students. Fifty years later, reading is still the key to the success of a student. The vast majority of those who drop out are deficient in that area. Fifty years later students are still dropping out because they want to get into the real world now. They see school as a donkey going nowhere.

So how has motivation changed since 50 years ago? It hasn’t. Students still learn best when they see their education as relevant to the real world. They learn best when they are taught with a hands-on approach rather than being forced to learn things in an abstract manner. They have the same basic needs that when not met can cripple their ability to learn. In order for students to be motivated to learn they need a non-threatening learning environment with a teacher that shares a mutual respect with the students. Students need to learn to focus on the future rather than the now so they see their education for what it really is to be motivated to maximize their learning experience.

Affiliated Film Producers (Producer). (1962). Dropout, The
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=30061a
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=30061b

Coronet Instructional Films (Producer). (1950). Benefits of Looking Ahead, The
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=00021

Educational Film Service (Producer). (1953). Practicing Democracy in the Classroom
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=20718

McGraw-Hill Films (Producer). (1947). Maintaining Classroom Discipline
http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=prelinger&collectionid=00574

Even if the reason is illogical, there is always a reason a child misbehaves. A teacher can simply wait for a child to misbehave and then react to it or the teacher can also learn what makes a child act the way they do and educate the child to act differently before they misbehave. This paper will first address an article that addresses why children misbehave. In an edition of the Journal of Behavior Studies from 1998 there is an article titled “Teaching Respect in the Classroom: An Instructional Approach.” This article addresses respect as an underlying cause of misbehavior in children.

There are two groups of people that the paper focuses on that a child must learn to respect: their peers and their teachers. Although the underlying problem addressed in lack of respect, the Cool Tool is actually designed to “teach and encourage [socially acceptable] behaviors in schools” (Shannon Langland, M.S., Teri Lewis-Palmer, M.S., George Sugai, Ph.D, p. 249). It is designed to be able to be used in any setting by any instructor although it is limited to elementary and middle school children (Langland et al, p. 249). The focus is also to limit the time and efforts needed by the instructor to implement this process (Langland et al, p. 249). There are four sections to the lesson templates:

a. Skill name
b. Teaching examples
c. Student activities
d. After the lesson

“The purpose of defining the name of the skill is to build a common language and provide a clear definition of the skill” (Langland et al, p. 249). This makes it easier to communicate to a child which behavior they are exhibiting and either praise or correct it. Teaching examples are used to demonstrate how to properly apply a skill. One should use both examples and nonexamples to make it easier for the child to discriminate in a given situation. An example is used to demonstrate when a social skill should be used and a nonexample is an example of when a social skill should not be used (Langland et al, p. 250). The teacher should then use positive and negative examples to demonstrate what to do in a given situation and what not to do (Langland et al, p. 250). Examples should emphasize the range of contexts that a social skill can be used in (Langland et al, p. 249).

The next part of the template is to have the students role play “situations in which the skill is required” (Langland et al, p. 250). A situation card can be used to tell the students what they should do in a given situation and then act out the appropriate behavior. Students should also come up with other situations that the behavior could be applied to which were not covered in previous examples (Langland et al, p. 250). Also important is what happens after the lesson. The lesson format provides “after the lesson activities” which help to engrain the lessons in the child (Langland et al, p. 250).

The first is “precorrection” which is a prompt given before entering a situation which the child had previously misbehaved in (Langland et al, p. 250). If a child entering into a problem context then a “reminded” is used to point the child to the problem social skill they should be using (Langland et al, p. 250). And finally, after the social context in which the child applied the correct behavior, praise should be used to reinforce the behavior (Langland et al, p. 250).

A study was done to test the effectiveness of this tool and a classroom that had 0.25 misbehaviors per minute dropped to 0.07 misbehaviors per minute after the tool was applied. A classroom that had 0.11 misbehaviors per minute dropped to 0.04 misbehaviors per minute after the tool was applied (Langland et al, p. 258). This study then seems to show that misbehavior’s underlying cause is largely a lack of social skills in children. They simply don’t know how to act properly or refuse to act properly in a given situation.

In the next article found in Social Psychology of Education titled “The classroom as a courtroom” (Bernard Wiener, 2003) the idea that we can view the classroom as a courtroom to better address problems is considered. The reason for this comparison is the importance of metaphors to understand abstract concepts such as a school system. In the classroom the teachers are essentially the judges and the students are the defendants. They are given tests and “punished” or “rewarded” accordingly with a grade that reflects their performance. The idea is that just as a defendant can argue mitigating circumstances to try to persuade a lesser punishment, so can a student.

There are three basic things being considered when a student has taken a test. Did they pass or fail, did they put little or a lot of effort into it and do they have the ability or not (Wiener, p. 4). A chart on page five graphs the evaluations from the teachers for these fictitious students with varying ability, effort and motivation. Those with motivation and high grades were rated the highest while those with the same grades but no motivation were rated lower. Those who had the ability but scored low were rated the worst regardless of motivation. This demonstrates that mitigating circumstances determine the view of the student by the teacher. Teachers expect more out of students who have the capability and are more likely to give negative feedback to those students if they don’t meet expectations while students who don’t have the ability receive positive feedback more consistently regardless of performance (Wiener, p. 6).

There are essentially two goals of punishment. One is to penalize the student for a ‘transgression’ in an effort to correct future behavior and the other is to penalize the student to ‘avenge the evil deed’ (Wiener, p. 6). In one case a teacher would give an F to a student who deserved it in order to encourage them to do better. In the other, a teacher would give an F to a student simply because that’s what they deserved. This could also be viewed as serving both goals. The teacher could give the student an F because that is what they earned and also to encourage them to do better.

The problem with the courtroom metaphor is that a teacher does not generally want to be viewed as a judge of crimes. They would rather be viewed as someone who encourages learning (Wiener, p. 14). In many cases students will try to get back at the ‘judges’ which is evident in the increase of violence towards teachers (Wiener, p. 14). The question then is how we convey the correct attitude towards teachers from students.

And that, I think goes back to the first journal entry: teaching respect. Parents often have a difficult time accepting their duality. On one hand they are supposed to unconditionally love their children and on the other hand they are expected to punish their children when they do wrong. A parent must be both loving and authoritative. In today’s society it seems that parents are more and more opting to ignore their authoritative responsibility instead trying to pass it on to those who educate their children or the people who take care of the children while the parents work. A parent can get away with punishing a child without alienating the child as long as the child knows why they are being punishment and the parent doesn’t ignore their responsibility to love the child. If a parent is too authoritative then the child will rebel in order to defy the parent. If the parent is “too loving” then the child will rebel in order to get their way because they know they can. Punishing a child out of love is not an oxymoron.

If children were taught at home this duality then the teachers wouldn’t have this problem when they punish the child. The child would understand that they are being punished not to spite the child but to encourage it to do better and that love doesn’t mean letting you get away with everything. And a teacher giving you the grade you deserve does not make him a jerk. This concept can only be conveyed if the teacher has the respect of the child. The child has to understand why they are being punished and they need to respect the teacher for demanding certain things from them.

It will never be the case that all children embrace the idea of respecting their peers and their teachers. However it is the case that we should not throw our hands up in the air and pretend it’s all hopeless. We understand what one of the root causes of misbehavior is and we also understand the role of a teacher. Addressing the root causes of bad behavior and not encouraging the false idea that being a judge is a bad thing are two good steps to a better learning environment.

Langland, S., Lewis-Palmer T., & Sugai G. (1998). Teaching respect in the classroom:
an instructional approach. Journal of Behavioral Education (Vol 8, No. 2), 245-
262.

Weiner, B. (2003). The classroom as a courtroom. Social Psychology of Education 6.
3-15.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/12/02/special.ed.testing.ap/

Society wants to believe that we’re all equal in everything. That if we all try hard enough we will succeed. This is not actually true. I will die before I ever succeed at being an engineer or a professional writer. I just simply don’t have the time or talent. Perhaps if I were to live a dozen lifetimes I could find the time and will to pursue such things. In the mean time I need to focus on those talents which can consistently pay the bills.

In terms of special education it is often the case that teachers are trying to smash squares through triangular holes in order to fulfill their legal obligations for the “No Child Left Behind Act.” This isn’t a bad idea in theory. If we didn’t force teachers to take such kids seriously it would probably be more often the case that teachers would underestimate students and let them fall behind simply because the teacher, in their unqualified opinion, feels the child is medically unable to do any better.

It’s nice to see the parents accepting the fact that their child is not “normal” and cannot perform at the level required by the federal government. It would be nice if the government would stop wasting the students’ time and allow the teachers to focus on what the child is good at and build an education out of their strengths. At some point in a person’s life they are going to become specialized in one area. If a student cannot handle a liberal education then it’s not such a crazy idea to specialize them early on. If a student does poorly in math but does really well in shop class then teach them math and reading by doing projects in the shop. Let them get away from the abstract concepts that confuse them and let them take a stab at learning math through practical applications.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/09/22/playground.ban.ap/

This is a typical case of the parents being in denial and resisting reasonable offers. The false analogy isn’t helping either. Not only is their child bad at “math,” he is also actively making it very difficult for others to learn math and actively abusing other students in the “classroom.” People have a tendency to oversimplify the situation to try to garner support. In Jan’s parents’ case they’re refusing to acknowledge all the reasons that were given them for why their child isn’t allowed on the playground.

“Jan’s parents say previous assessments of the boy were sufficient…” Obviously the boy has changed a bit since the last assessments and so no, they are not sufficient. Something is going wrong now and rather than the parents trying to figure out why their child is being a bully, they’re living in the past, in denial about how their child is now. It’s only going to get worse. The school is forcing them to address the problem now before it becomes unmanageable.

“The boy’s parents say they hope their lawsuit will force schools to treat disabled or home-schooled children the same way as other children.” The school is treating Jan the same as any other student. Apparently Jan’s parents feel that Jan should be allowed to act out even though other students would be punished for the same behavior. It was not an unreasonable request that Jan sees a psychologist to try to fix the problem rather than just ignoring it and pretending nothing is wrong.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Special%20Education%20Lawsuit

There is never enough money. The more money you throw at a school the bigger the stomachs of the administration become. In many classes we’re teaching courses that have material that is decades if not hundreds of years old and yet we’re petrified to use a book that’s more than a year or few old. Schools are constantly buying new books that cover no new material and paying out the nose for it. In college we get the privilege of paying out the nose for these books out of pocket. Any why are the books so expensive? Because we must use them and the publishers can get away with ridiculous costs. In the case of government supported schools, why not charge over a hundred dollars for a book? The government is paying for it.

It’s hard to support a school suing for more money; especially without knowing all the existing financial information about the school. The school would be better off finding ways to cut costs rather than just trying to get more money.

“In a suit filed in Thurston County Superior Court, the districts claim the state has not lived up to its constitutional obligation to fund basic education, which includes special education.” I find that hard to believe. Has the state not lived up to its obligation to give sufficient money or has the school not lived up to its obligation to properly disperse funds to provide the basic education needs to all its students? I’d start my investigation by looking into the latter.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1994&dept_id=226369&newsid=13037138&PAG=461&rfi=9

It’s interesting that only about 200 students nationwide have transferred out of a school as a result of the school having failed to meet federal standards. For major cities that would be a small fraction of the student body of a single school. This would indicate to me that the parents either don’t care about federal standards or don’t feel there are adequate options. It’s only now that parents are starting to have students who have only experienced public education with the federal mandated tests so those numbers may go up in the coming years. Parents with students who were not subject to federal standards requirements are probably less inclined to believe that the school their older children went to is somehow doing worse simply because it’s not meeting federal standards. If they were happy with the education the older child received then they’re probably more inclined to believe that their younger child is receiving the same quality education regardless of what a standardized test says.

It’d also be interesting to look at which students are transferring out. Is it the students who pass the tests or fail the tests? The idea is to see if parents are looking for a school that serves all students well or a school that serves their child well. The students not meeting the standardized tests, according to the article are the special education students and those students who are not proficient at English. The federal government expects those students to reach a certain level that society in general may not be as concerned with. A parent may be less inclined to care about the standing of the school in terms of standardized tests if the school is only behind with special education students because the parent doesn’t expect much from those students. Their student isn’t part of that group so the school’s performance in that area is irrelevant.

http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/news/archive/local_17912425.shtml

Considering that 90 percent of the schools in Wisconsin managed to pass proficiency tests in all areas including special education, one has to question why 10% couldn’t without immediately blaming the students. Just like every profession there are members who vary greatly in talent. If a child is lucky they will have a handful of teachers in their life that make an impact. Other teachers they will be indifferent or annoyed about. It’s a balancing act between blaming teachers and students for performance. Schools need to be as determined to help teachers become better at their job as they are trying to help students excel.

Many students are self sufficient and can do well despite a teacher’s lack of teaching talent. But, other students, especially those in special education, rely heavily on the talents of the teacher in order to do well in school.

“It’s no different than expecting every fourth-grader to run a mile in 10 minutes, even though some are in wheelchairs, others are asthmatic, and a group of them broke their ankles in soccer,” Tish said.

This is true but the problem is that it can become an excuse for poor teaching. It’s better for a teacher to have high expectations for a student and fail to fully meet them than have low expectations and succeed. If you don’t put the bar above the perceived abilities of a student you will never know how high they can actually go.