Sarah Sharkey!

6/16/2014!

S3a!

STANDARD 3 : A school Administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success

of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school CULTURE and
instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
( The Culture of Teaching and Learning Standard)

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S3a) Why is it important for an administrator to understand motivation theories?
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Over the past three years, I have noticed a trend in student engagement as each year
progresses. The beginning of the school year shows student excitement and commitment to
learning. This slowly transforms into boredom and even some defiance toward the end of the
school year. I have always wondered, How can a student who was so motivated and engaged at
the beginning of the year not want to work now? What happened? I had a specific example of
this over the past school year. One student always did as asked and tried his best. By the end of
the year he hated school and said he tried to get on teachers nerves so he would get kicked out
and never have to come back again! Of course there were many factors I blamed this on, but I
knew deep down it had to be something to do with motivation. The only problem was I did not
know how to specifically address the problem.
I learned this lesson: Trying to motivate students with external rewards is a damaging
practice (Sullo). Over the course of the school year, my student internalized the work that
needed to be done was only worth a positive affirmation. Eventually he decided the affirmation
was not worth the effort. My challenge is to turn my carrot and sticks approach into an
inspirational model that develops internal motivation.

As I review Intrinsic Motivation Theories from various researchers, I find it to be very

important for each student to have control over his or her learning. Choices are key in creating
intrinsic motivation. I myself prefer to have a choice, even if it is not a choice I am happy with.
If I wake up in the morning and all I have in the house for cereal is corn flakes, I will grumble
about eating corn flakes. If there are two options that I am not particularly fond of - corn flakes
and oatmeal - I would not say much as I eat whichever one I choose. At the very least, I still had
a choice.
Realistic Challenges prove to be on top of the list of many researchers as well. I created
this term due to a combination of different terms used by the various researchers (challenge,
realistic expectations achievement, competence), but I feel it makes a point. I start the school
year telling my class, I will only ask you to do something if I know you can do it. Sometimes I
need to repeat this over and over again to certain students, but in the end they always come out of
the struggle with success with added learning about problem solving, perseverance, and
confidence along the way. I found it interesting in the article Inspiring Motivation from Within
where he suggests holding a discussion specifically about Success and what that really means.
It would be easy to add this to my beginning of the year motivation.
Finally, the content must be relevant to the audience. I am amazed I passed Language
Arts in middle school since I read only one required reading the entire year. I got by on
discussions with friends about the books. Although I am a fast reader and am able to comprehend
easily, I can only read fast and comprehend when the content is relevant to my life. In college, I
took Calculus 2 and shockingly passed. I absolutely love math, but I had no connection to it at
all. To this day I cannot explain the practical application of the subject. If the professor had

explained when Calculus is used in real world application, I could have made that connection to
my own life. I would have understood the material much more clearly. The content must make
connections to the students prior to introducing new material.
We all have examples of educational experiences similar to the ones I provided above. I
passed both classes because of an extrinsic motivation - to pass and move on to the next class.
The teachers (and I) am lucky I chose to be somewhat compliant and not buck the system as my
student did in my earliest example. I feel attaching relevancy will help students reach the
Ultimate Goal discussed in What Drives Employee Engagement and Why It Matters (2). In
the article the ultimate goal is engaged employees, with students taking the role of employees
in the educational realm. Relevancy is the foundation to take something from extrinsic
motivation to intrinsic motivation.
Upon reflecting on my practice, I choose student role models throughout the day. I find
students who are following expectations and display them for the class to see. For example, in
the hallway, I choose a student who stands in line quietly, hands by their sides, facing forward. I
then ask that student to step out of line to show the rest of the class how they should act. As I
read the articles mentioned, I thought, Is this external motivation? Do the students only act this
way so they can receive recognition by me and the rest of the class? After further review, I find
this practice is acceptable to use at times. Comparing this practice to the article, How to
Motivate Your Students: What Every Teacher Should Know but Doesnt, it demonstrates
positive reinforcement, positive competition, giving praise when it is earned, giving feedback
and offering chances to improve as well as providing opportunities for success. Although this
provides some extrinsic motivation, it helps students realize some intrinsic motivation. Not only

that, it provides linguistic and nonlinguistic presentations of the expectations recommended in

Marzanos Nine Strategies (3).
Connecting back to the student I mentioned before, if he would be my student again this
year, I would have strategies to use in order to transform his motivation to extrinsic to intrinsic. I
would begin by providing choices in his learning, therefore giving him control of the situation.
So during the Daily 5 literacy time, he could choose 5-6 books to put in his book box. Then, I
would set a realistic challenge for him. He would decide how many books he thinks he could
read during this time (two to three would be plenty). After he finishes reading, I would check in
with him to help him make connections, making sure the books are relevant to his life. If I could
employ these strategies throughout all classroom areas, I can assist him in becoming intrinsically
motivated to take learning into his own hands.

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How to Motivate Your Students: What Every Teacher Should Know but Doesn't - Online College
Courses. (2012, December 10). <i>OnlineCollegeCoursescom How to Motivate Your Students
What Every Teacher Should Know but Doesnt Comments</i>. Retrieved June 17, 2014, from
http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2012/12/10/how-to-motivate-your-students-whatevery-teacher-should-know-but-doesnt/

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Marzano, R. (n.d.). Marzano's Nine Instructional Strategies for Effective Teaching and Learning.
<i></i>. Retrieved June 18, 2014, from http://www.ntuaft.com/TISE/Research-Based
%20Instructional%20Strategies/marzanos%209%20strategies.pdf

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Sullo, B. (n.d.). Virginia Journal of Education. <i>Rss</i>. Retrieved June 17, 2014, from http://
www.veanea.org/home/1029.htm

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What Drives Employee Engagement and Why It Matters. (2012, January 1). <i></i>. Retrieved
June 17, 2014, from http://www.dalecarnegie.com/assets/1/7/
driveengagement_101612_wp.pdf