WonderingThoughts

It seems to me, we live in a world dominated by extrinsic rewards and competition motivating activities.  I think for most people, it defines most of what we do during the week.  Go to work and earn a paycheck.  Come home to watch tv and dream about who you could be or where you could live.   Then go online or on the cell phone to play a game. But, if we stop with just extrinsic rewards and competition, we have an incomplete picture.  Those are just the first levels on a progression.  And so, we continue to Identification or Self motivation.   I am amazed by the level of effort my teaching colleagues will put into the profession, when they are the teacher.  When they own the teacher role.  And we see this in other lines of work - or as these individuals may prefer to call it: professions. There is a simple self test.  Do you go to “ work .”  Or, has that always sounded strange?  If it does sound strange, you may rethin...

More to the story.    To push through college financially, I worked a lot of factory jobs.  Meeting a wide variety of people, I learned most didn’t really love their job .  Some didn’t even like their job.  So why do it?   To understand their motivation it helps to dive a bit deeper.  In education, we talk about motivational levels.  I like to think of the progression moving this way: External - awards..  For adults, a paycheck; for students, it may be a grade.  For a child, praise or a trip to DQ. Future award..   the promotion; ..preparing for college or a career; ..saving up for a new Lego. Competition with others.  I think we know what this is...  it started the first time we interacted with another child, or tested our parents. Competition with self.  I wish we all knew what this was…  not as common as you would think. At this point, I like to pause.  There is a progression.  External require...

The why’s and can’s :   Why can’t others grasp some of the things I explain? Can something be too difficult?  Should we give up if they are? Why do some people, who have perhaps less talent, surpass us?   Can a perspective change help us engage? Can we find our “mojo” in our work? And, How can we transform our lives to better impact others?   From the last wondering thought: So,... if you have entered a work situation, or class setting as the stellar individual, everything coming super easy, and a year later are left wondering, “how has everyone passed me up?”  Yep, your boredom undercut your motivation and they all did pass you up.  The right level of difficulty keeps us at our best . Too difficult - the downward spiral. At the far end of the difficulty spectrum, is the place few desire to hang out.  And, honestly, you shouldn’t.  (Although, there is more to it than we can digest in this draft, in a later blog - “Why some people e...

The why’s and can’s :   Why can’t others grasp some of the things I explain? Can something be too easy? Why do some students, who have perhaps less inherent talent, or seem less smart, surpass others who seem brilliant?   Can a perspective change help us engage? Can we find our “mojo” in our work? And, How can we transform our lives to better impact others?   So,  let’s start off this conversation about something we all think we know - after all, we spent a lot of time there: school. Imagine: A young, new, clueless teacher walking into a classroom.  Clueless, not on the content or the material to be covered... but, on the engagement of the students .  Presenting the material, the students are asking no questions… The teacher wonders, " Am I going too slow?  A lot of empty eyes out there, and no one is asking questions.  Are they getting bored? "   The teacher increases pace, and runs through more and more exciting conten...

See Blue's Clues on NickJr As an educator and a parent, I know for many of us, the most difficult student(s) to teach can easily be our own.   So, for many of you parents, teaching your own students at home, I feel for you.  Thankfully, we can learn a few lessons from a kid’s show which featured a blue dog, “Blue,” and the dog’s owner “Steve.”  Steve Burns is a modest guy, only a few years younger than myself, and with teaching skills he has helped many more than he realizes. One of my first points of advice for new teachers,... “Watch Blue’s Clues.” My advice for parents…  “Watch Blue’s Clues.” What are you there to learn?  #1: Wait time.   Steve was the master.  As he spoke through the camera, intentionally breaking the fourth wall, there were those long pauses.  Long pauses . The dead air involved with wait time is endless !  Initially.  Then, it gets easier.  We see its effectiveness and understand the timing.  Allowi...

Sometimes, children will do the darndest things.  As a child, I remember occasionally looking at the sun.  Not a glance… but, just less than a full out stare.  What was I thinking?  Thankfully, somehow I didn’t go blind.  (Actually, until hitting 40, I have been blessed with much better than average vision for a male.) What color was the sun? Asking students what they think the color of the sun is gets the typical responses.  We are familiar with the color of a sunset, as the sun’s light is filtered by the atmosphere it looks a fiery yellow, then orange, maybe red.   If you asked me as a kid, I’d say, “white.”  I was usually looking at midday.  (How did I not go blind??) But, white isn’t a color. As a kid, I was very inquisitive.  The numerous dumb things I and other kids (especially our friend M-S-) in my neighborhood did out of curiosity, wanting to have fun, curious to learn first hand, would make a few good episodes of The Wond...