THE TYPE i TOOLKIT
DRiVE, by Daniel Pink concludes with ample amounts off methods to improve intrinsic motivation in businesses, classrooms, and throughout your life.
Things to ponder:
What is your Sentence?
A congresswoman once told President JFK, “a great man is a sentence. Lincoln’s was: ‘he preserved the union and freed the slaves.’ FDR’s was: ‘he lifted us out of the Great Depression and helped us win a world war.’ What is your sentence?”
By reorganizing, and focusing on a singular leading task we are able to gain traction on what matters most to us, and what will motivate us intrinsically.
Mine as a future educator would be "Lisa inspired students to achieve their greatest potential and develop a life long passion for agriculture."
COMMENT what your sentence would be!
What did you accomplish today?
As you work to achieve your sentence from the last question remember how you eat an elephant; one bite at a time.
Ask yourself at the end of the day: “are you better today than you were yesterday?”
Write down your small incremental steps and remind yourself you won’t be a master in a few days; mastery is a journey of a thousand steps.
As a student teacher in the spring, I have purchased a small white board for my room. ON this white board I plan to do two things.
1. Write down a small attainable goal each morning, such as sticking to my "set-up" routine before each class, resolving a conflict with a student, or grading a class's assignment prior to leaving the school.
2. Write down any progress I had made that day, such as I helped a student and saw the "light-bulb" turn on.
Conduct deliberate practice
The best way to improve is to apply effort toward improving performance; to do this follow these few tips:
1. Set a stretch goal. Remember that the goal of practice is to improve performance, not to go through the motions.
In the spring this would look like making goals which I would rely on my virtual mentors and Mrs. Barzydlo for assistance to meet, such as connecting with a student or diversifying my lessons to meet my learner's needs more adequately.
2. Understand your weaknesses, and direct your effort there.
Throughout the fall in 412, 413, and 295 I will adequately identify my weaknesses. Knowing this information going into spring semester will allow me to create a game plan to reach those stretch-goals.
3. Apply full concentration and effort. It’s going to be mentally and physically exhausting.
I take this advice with a grain of salt. Yes I must prepare and have GRIT, but I cannot forget to take time out of each day, even 5 minutes, to re-charge my batteries.
4. Receive immediate and informative feedback. This will point out how to improve.
I am fortunate to have a wonderful mentor team, cohort members, Penn State supervisors and cooperating teachers to guide me through feedback to become a better educator.
5. Repeat, with discipline. Mastery is the sum of thousands of small events, done day in and day out.
Similar to the question, "what did you accomplish today?" I can create a daily motivations to power through. Overtime this will help you develop grit.
Improving Intrinsic Motivation In My Classroom
Give 20% Time for Self-Chosen Projects
Companies like google and 3M have had success in implementing 20% time to generate free thinking. This would be a good practice to allow students to have a free-friday to work on various Ag related tasks such as working in AET, completing projects due, or exploring other areas of content they were curious about.
Turn an Off-Site into a Fedex Day
Teachers can set aside the day for when students can choose what to work on, with the only rule being that they must deliver. They can deliver a new idea, a prototype, a better process, or more.
In an Agriculture Classroom they have ENDLESS opportunities to deliver on their learning.
Conduct Anonymous Surveys of Autonomy and Purpose
Ask questions like “how much autonomy do you have over your learning in my class?” and “what is our organization’s purpose?”
How can I know how my students really feel if I don't ask them?
Give Yourself Performance Reviews
It’d be crazy to imagine an athlete like Lebron James getting feedback or coaching just once a year, in a 1-hour session. Try to seek more management feedback for yourself.
In addition, give yourself performance reviews. Set performance and learning goals at the beginning of the month, and then evaluate your performance at the end of the month.
Involve students in Goal Setting
Bring students into the goal-setting process. This will give students ownership over our goals and make them feel more driven toward accomplishing them.
Transitioning into the changes
A theory is perfect, until we make it practice
As a student, you might feel helpless if the teacher suddenly changes your entire routine.
- Start small. Don’t worry about changing the whole classroom overnight, change one routine piece at a time and allow the students to adjust accordingly.
- Experiment in a committed fashion. Try with all your might, but don't be afraid to scrap an idea and start new if it isn't working.
- Emphasize results. To get students to see their improvements, show them improved learning, point out curious behavior, or tell them you are proud of their accomplishments.
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how you summarized Part 3 and had an all inclusive incorporation of thoughts and applications with it. It really can be a lot to take in when you realize all of this information is not just ideas, but are tangible practices and "need to do" things within your day to day. My advice is to pick a few areas you know you need improvement in and start there verses taking it all on. For example, I was not good at the "recharging your batteries" or what people discuss as the work-life balance so I made sure I scheduled to do things with other people, making me step away from work, and it has increased my productivity when I am working as well as my personal/social life.
My sentence would be "Mrs. Ranck cared, challenged, and inspired me to be the best version of myself to be successful in reaching all of my goals in life."
Keep up the good work!
I love your sentence Mrs. Ranck, I look forward to seeing your again when we travel to National Convention!
ReplyDeleteHello Lisa -- I really enjoyed your article and your challenge. My sentence would be something like... "He gladly mentored/supported/influenced those who accepted the challenge to touch the future of agriculture".
ReplyDeleteYour summary shows maturity, drive, and a real commitment to develop your students and prepare and guide them in their pathway to career success, personal growth and into becoming premiere leaders in their families, communities and beyond! I look forward to your journey over the next year!
Lisa, thank you for such a detailed and engaging blog post about the last part of your summer reading assignment! I love how you emphasize the importance of celebrating the small things and setting small but might goals and seeing them through to fruition. My sentence would be "She believed in the future of agricultural education with a faith born in the collaboration of educational technology and mentoring to create a sense of community for agricultural educators."
ReplyDeleteLisa
ReplyDeleteYour summary of part 3 of Drive was very thought provoking. I started to reflect on my first years of teaching. These were the years I wanted to change everything in my physical space, my curriculum and wanted to improve my teaching practice. At this time I got a lot of advice from the retiring teacher and from another mentor teacher. I wish I had the practice in place of setting a small goal each day and writing down what I accomplished. Today 10 years later I do write down my goals in my lesson planner and a to do list to work at each of them. I am excited to see how your white board activity works for you. Keep us posted!
Mrs. C
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this blog post very much. Professional reflection is probably the best thing you will ever do as an educator. I'll admit, I read this post over a week ago and I've been waiting to respond until I had my sentence pulled together. It had been a low teaching day for my first read and I've learned that bad days are not days to give other people a lot of advice, they're days to reflect and re-center professionally. That said, I've come to the realization that my sentence is very relationship focused, but not very agriculturally specific, and that may be what makes it so powerful for me - meeting every student exactly where they are. "She accepted who I was while believing in who I could be."