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Friday, June 6, 2014

Free Response Number Three: Motivation

In general, the concept of motivation and its related components seem fairly comprehensible in theory. However, I have noticed that motivation, attributions, etc. contain many more subtle nuances than I would have thought; you really have to understand these concepts and think about how to best apply them in an educational setting. Our discussion on rules, classroom management, and motivation had a lot of common sense behind them, but they are not always that simple to implement. For instance, you may know that good classroom management entails proper seating arrangements and fostering a positive classroom climate, but putting into place these safeguards are much trickier than I would have expected. I remember trying to apply these rules in my own classes when I taught English in Thailand. I thought my expectations and guidelines would pass through without a hiccup, but when you are working with children anything can happen. I had to adjust my ideas and notions as best suited my students and learn to know them. In education, you really cannot rely solely on theory or principle to ensure success. I think they provide a good structure and are good theories to follow, but they become quite subjective once you apply them in the real world.

One thing that really struck me last night was the belief that a behavior is bad, not a person. I have encountered multiple interactions and/or mentalities such as these during my lifetime. I think that many teachers have easily fallen into this trap, not with the intention of meaning to, and have probably done more damage than good. Once you label a child a certain way based on their behaviors you set yourself on a slippery slope and even if the child is unaware of your actions it still affects them subconsciously. I believe that I must be extra careful now to avoid that mistake. I think I would not encounter that problem working with English Language Learners, but maybe with students in mainstream classrooms. Upon further reflection, it actually is quite unfair to say that once a child starts acting a certain way they cannot change. Following that reasoning, nobody would stand a chance to change! And then even after a child is affected by your comments you can still remedy the situation. Drawing upon Jonah's experiences working with "troubled" kids, they probably were some of the most difficult children to work with, but there was still a chance for them to change. When it comes to growth, we should not short-change or lower our expectations of our students. 

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