In class this week we learned about different theories of motivation. We specifically learned about extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, expectancy theory, value theory, behaviorist theory, self-efficacy theory, goal theory, attribution theory, social cognitive theory, cognitive theory, and socio-cultural theory. I was most interested in the value theory of motivation. This theory states that people must believe there are direct and indirect benefits for performing a task. As a student, I constantly found myself wondering when I would ever need to know this information in real life. I absolutely hated the idea that I simply had to learn things to pass a test and then I would never use that knowledge again. I have always been much more motivated to learn topics when I felt like the information was useful.
My goal is to someday work with urban elementary school students. For these students especially, I feel like it is important for them to understand why it is important that they learn the material. They need to know how the information is applicable to their everyday lives. Below is a link to an interesting article I found that talks specifically about ways to motivate students in urban schools.
Rethinking Learning and Motivation in Urban Schools
I really liked that you looked at value theory, as I often feel the you described. In addition, I want to teach history, so I know I might have an issue proving the value of the past to present students. Do you have any specific techniques in mind for using value theory in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteBrooke,
DeleteIt's hard to give exact examples of how I want to use value theory in the classroom. I guess in general, I just want to show students why the information would be useful for them. For history specifically, I would probably try and emphasize the importance of understanding and learning from the events of the past. There are so many examples of history "repeating itself" and one could argue that some of the negative events in history might could have been avoided if people had learned from the mistakes of the past. This is a concept that I definitely didn't understand until recently and I think it would have really motivated me to pay more attention in history class.
What a great article! What are your thoughts on the research presented?
ReplyDeleteI thought the research was very interesting and it brought up several points that I hadn't considered before. For example, the article talked about how successful students use goal setting, self talk, and imagine rewards or punishments for success or failure. I had never thought about it before, but I actually do all of those things when trying to motivate myself. It is very common for me to divide large tasks into smaller more manageable goals, use self talk to encourage myself, and reward myself once the goal is accomplished. Now that I realize there is research supporting the fact that those are beneficial things to promote self-regulation and motivation, I will make a conscious effort to make sure my students have those skills. I don't remember ever being explicitly taught to do those things, however I must have picked it up from somewhere. I think that when I encounter students who seem to struggle with motivation, I will definitely try and help teach them these strategies.
DeleteI really like how you were honest and talked about the value theory in your personal life. I have been there many times where I feel like when am I ever going to needs this? I think it is so important to teach elementary students the importance of topics we are discussing because it will instill this perspective that everything we learn has a reason for the rest of their student careers. I like what you said to Brooke about history repeating itself, that is so true. I am really interested in thinking of ways to help students find ways to find value in all of the different topics in the classroom!
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