Grades, candy, calls home, high fives, stickers. Do these truly motivate our students, or are we using incentives research reveals have little impact on behavior?
Before meeting with teachers of five or fewer years of experience, we watched Daniel Pink’s TedTalk on the Surprising Science of Motivation, where he revealed many businesses have created incentive structures that either don’t work or actually do harm. Sure, incentives can work for a simple set of tasks that lead to a clearly defined outcome, Pink argues, but how many 21st century American jobs will require that kind of thought? If outsourcing and automating continues, not many.
He contends (and social scientists reportedly agree) that to motivate workers in today and tomorrow’s innovative careers, you need to design work environments that foster autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
The Five or Fewer group discussed how to structure classroom environments where students experience rich, deep learning as a result of these intrinsic motivators, not the more traditional sticks or carrots. Wading through mentor’s tried and true lessons, unfamiliar texts, and various instructional strategies, our newer teachers find their footing by placing students in the center of their own learning.
They give their students the freedom to learn from failure and the support to advance toward mastery. They have conversations with their students about their lives and dreams, guiding them toward finding purpose. They understand that learning is not always comfortable, as they, too, are learning while doing.
What have you learned from a new teacher lately?