The readings for this week touch upon many thoughts I've had recently about my students and my own teaching. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what I want them to really get out of my class and out of high school in general, so that they can leave us more prepared for college - and I think I'm now at a point that I can verbalize what I want most for them. I want them to learn how to learn - how they best learn. That's it, really. As often as we talk about the books we read and the assignments we're writing, we find ourselves talking about how school works and what they are doing to be successful (or what they'll do differently next year when starting college). I enjoy those conversations so much, because I can tell they don't often get to have them.
So what happens when I have the opportunity to engage with readings such as these? I want to immediately go talk with "my kids" and hear what they think. I want to talk to them about their understanding of what motivates them to complete tasks, work toward goals. Do they engage in cognition about their learning behavior? How would my seniors characterize their ability and effort? To what would they attribute success and failure, and how does that further increase (or decrease) their motivation? Do they know/understand/think about the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? Can they discuss their approach to schoolwork as being characterized by performance goals or by mastery goals? Do they know that perhaps they CAN and SHOULD think about this - that to know themselves as learners could possibly result in even greater achievement (dependent upon, of course, how one defines "achievement")?
When I read the case studies in Pintrich & Schunk's From Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications, I think about all my different students and what they would say. I imagine my AP students who are clearly identifying with the "overstriver" type in Covington's expectancy-value model, whose primary motives for academic success come from competition with peers, expectancy for high grades or from fear of failure or social/familial punishment. I imagine my insecure underachievers who would rather feign indifference and forgetfulness than admit to the fact that they're afraid they can no longer meet the challenge. I think of how much true learning and teaching can so easily be eclipsed by task completion and grade accumulation. And that's not why I got into teaching - nor is it why my students enjoy my class.
This is an area of such great significance to me. I am trying to rethink my curriculum and its implementation - to change my approach so that my students' learning is not being gauged according to a checklist of activities, but instead by a series of metacognitive exercises. This past year I asked my students to engage in more self-assessment, written reflections about how they read and wrote (as opposed to what they read and wrote), and more analyses of the self. I think this is a good start.
But what if I share the actual research with them? What if I were to give my seniors a copy of figure 2.2 from P&S's chapter on expectancy-value theory, and ask what it meant to them as learners? As young adults about to enter a learning environment where the means by which one is motivated to work has suddenly changed?
One of the things I tell my students to always ask is this: "Why are we doing this?" Some people think that asking a teacher that question implies the student is being impertinent and insubordinate. I tell my kids it means they're thinking critically - identifying the goal of a given direction or behavior, and determining its personal or situational signifiance. I think that relates to these readings in that I want my students to have a greater sense of how they perceive themselves as learners. But as long as they are "expected" to sit quietly and complete the task, to not challenge or question or defend or argue or arouse or offend or exult or emote - well then, they may achieve the grade, but they won't achieve much else.
I wish many teachers were more like you -- at the higher ed level, I mean, :). I observed that the more submissive and obedient students tend to be more highly regarded -- students who were more questioning and critical in their thinking were seen to cause instructor stress by asking questions that the instructors couldn't answer. Hence, the less questioning students had more instructor attention while the more questioning students were regarded as troublemakers. These more critical thinkers eventually switched off in class, going from being motivated to becoming undermotivated. Have you encountered such problems?
ReplyDeleteHi Yinwah and Sarah,
ReplyDeleteYinwah your comment is extremely interesting for me since I was one of those trouble maker students(in high school, undergraduate). I always got pleasure to ask questions which might put teachers in problematic spot. On the other hand, teachers were always vigilant around me, and I got pleasure to get attention like that.
Now I realize that as a trouble maker student, I always hoped that at least one of my teachers can ignore my shield (being troublemaker), and show that S/he values my opinions.
Unfortunately, my teachers did not like me, and they weren't willing to put effort for me. (Even now I do not like teachers!!!, even though I am a teacher).
I imagine my insecure underachievers who would rather feign indifference and forgetfulness than admit to the fact that they're afraid they can no longer meet the challenge. I think of how much true learning and teaching can so easily be eclipsed by task completion and grade accumulation. And that's not why I got into teaching - nor is it why my students enjoy my class.
ReplyDeleteSarah - Your sentiments described in the statements above echo mine exactly! In higher ed I feel like so many students have a chip on their shoulder when they are in classes with students from other majors that are perceived to be more difficult. This is greatly evident in my A&P class, which has a mix of phys ed students as well as pre-med students. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves until the first round of grades are given, and then it becomes this competitive jungle. I have struggled with how to structure my classes to maximize the activities that arouse true enjoyment and minimize the activities that evoke boredom. It's so difficult when you feel pressured to deliver so much content that is brand new to the students! I shudder to think how I would handle being placed in a middle or high school science classroom. At least my students have a basic grasp on biology and chemistry concepts! Kudos to those of you taking on that challenge day in and day out!
- Jess Redmond
The issue of over strivers is interesting since we can learn so much from failure. I was watching a YouTube video earlier today related to that. The expectation of so many students is that only an A is acceptable. Last fall I cotaught a class of undergrads. The students who complained the most about their final grades were the ones who got an A-minus. They weren't concerned during the semester when they were heading toward B's (they didn't do much to change their behavior) so what is it we are doing so students have the expecTation that only an A is the expectation? What can be done within the context of education to change this?
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