Motivation Post (Jigsaw #1)

As we completed our Jigsaw activity in class, I left feeling that I had gained some useful, hands-on information on how to motivate students.  The article that I was an "expert" on was titled Texts That Matter and the main idea was that   "Instead of focusing on how to get students to remember what they read, our best bet is simply to provide texts that are more memorable."

I think that this is great advice, but what really made the jigsaw activity useful was being exposed to the reoccurring themes that surfaced in all the articles.  According to the class interpretations of the articles, it seems that the role of motivation in literacy hinges on a student centred approach to instruction.  Student motivation and buy in requires that there is a certain amount of intrinsic motivation stemming from the active involvement of the students in the selection of the medium of instruction. To put in more simply, the kids should be able to choose a way to approach the given subject matter.  Therefore, the teacher needs to provide a VARIETY of QUALITY material. This idea of student selection seemed central to every article.

My school pays for me to attend one educational conference each year and the best conference that I have attended is The Brain Conference, which took place in Geneva a couple of years ago.  The conference is put on annually and the location is always changing.  One of my favorite speakers from the conference was Judy Willis, who is a neurologist turned teacher.  Judy's main focus is pinning educational pedagogy to current brain research and one area that she discusses is motivation.  Not surprisingly, she hits on some of the main topics that we have been discussing in our small groups in class, such as, student buy-in (intrinsic motivation).  Judy presents her ideas about motivation through a framework that she calls the video game model.  The video link that I have posted below is not really as much about video games as it is about the specifics of what is happening neurologically in regard to motivation.  I found this video fascinating and very applicable to the classroom.  If you do not want to watch the whole 24 minutes, you can start it at about 11 minutes and still get the main idea.  Just click on the link below (for some techie reason, the blog would not let me imbed the video directly on the page).

 

Judy Willis, Neurologist and Teacher, on Motivation

Literacy History

Literacy History

Long-term memories are often connected to emotional events and my first memories involving literacy are no exception.  At the age of five, I was madly in love with Dianne Hackworth, my kindergarten teacher.  I can’t really say if I loved books at the time, or if I just enjoyed being read to by Dianne.  Either way, I had an early connection to literature and the emotional aspect of that connection has remained with me as the cornerstone of my literacy development. 

Throughout Elementary, Middle and High school I progressed through what I would call a somewhat formulaic literary development.  In Elementary school (and younger) my mother read to me on a daily basis.  Some books that I enjoyed included Dr. Seuz, Shel Silverstein, Where The Wild Things Are and Breakfast With Francis, just to name a few.  Perhaps what I was really enjoying, as much as the books, was the emotional connection with my mother.  I say this because during Middle and High school, when I was reading on my own, I went through the motions and enjoyed the required school novels, but I did not really love reading.

When I reflect on the rebirth of my love of books, which did not happen until I had begun university, I realize that again it was an emotional connection that sparked my interest.  My mother gave me a copy of Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet that had been given to her as a gift from my father when they were dating.  A short note on the inside of the cover read, “to my Kathy for being herself”.  I loved this book, which is now over 45 years old, and have read it many, many times.  I have kept the book with me throughout all of my travels and eventually gave it to my wife when we started dating.  Admittedly, it was a selfish gift because I only “gave it away” when I knew that we would always be together.  Regardless, the content of the book, and the emotions that I associated with it, spurred my love of reading, especially in regard to religious, poetic and philosophical texts.  In time my love of this genre (if you can call it that) broadened to include anything involving Anthropology, travel and historical fiction.

Today I simply love to read and I try to make it part of my daily routine.  I still primarily love the above-mentioned topics, but I can appreciate the classics of any genre from fantasy to westerns.  However, regardless of what I am reading, I would say that the source of my interest in literature is emotional.  I love the realization and recognition of universal truths and the feeling of being reminded of something that I already knew. As Khalil Gibran expresses, any great idea that is conveyed to us “already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.”