Overcome the short term with a long game mentality

I had a student send me a message asking what missing assignment they needed to make up to get there grade up.

awesome.

They signed up for my FLEX period, which is essentially a class where students can get additional support or work on homework/projects.

Even better.

when he showed up, he immediately opened up his chrome book and started playing a video game.

I said to him, “you’re here. Now is your chance to not only do tonights homework, but also start working on those missing assignments you wanted to make up”

The moans and groans I heard were expected. And the sneaking of his video game to avoid work was continued til I locked his screen.

we’ve all seen this and been there ourselves.

so why is it this way? How do you build intrinsic motivation for your students/employees?

With the pandemic and e learning, it’s clear that grades are no longer major motivating factor.

Intrinsic motivation is not a gift you can give someone. It’s not some formula or two step process once you learn you’re able to do it every time.

It is a long, slow process that needs to be discovered on their own.

of course, we as leaders can help guide the process. But it’s a lot of work. And people resist because we know it can take a lot of time outside of our set class periods to build it.

it can go beyond teaching students the “why” behind area of a trapezoid though.

Because we aren’t teaching area so kids can use the formula the rest of their lives.

we are teaching the skill they use in order to Use the formula itself.

We are teaching problem solving skills, application skills.

all things that most students have no idea they are learning.

It’s not about the why behind geometry specifically we should bring awareness to.

We need to instead bring awareness to what skills students can take away.

What did they do when things got hard? Did they quit? Did they choose to go to the bathroom to get away? Did they make a major distraction?

What are they doing when they are uncomfortable.

When we are able to redirect the instruction and conversation Onto the student, making it Their responsibility to figure out their own responses, they’ll improve their self awareness.

and self awareness is everything.

So how on Earth Do you do this without taking up half of your class?

Great question. Short answer. At first. It will take a crap ton of time. Because it’s another skill students need to learn.

and learning takes time, trials and failure.

and our patience for failure is near non existent at this point. I am guilty too.

But what about trying multiple quick check ins and reflections

-thumbs up thumbs down thumbs sideways

-red yellow green ratings at the bottom of every worksheet

-three question reflection: did I give up? When did I give up? What action did I take when I gave up (what did I do to avoid working)?

anything to get students to be aware of their actions, productive and unproductive, will slowly get their intrinsic awareness improved.

you may not see the benefits the same year you spend time with them.

but

2, 5, 10 years down the road they will be more self aware, reflective and hopefully more productive human beings.

We’ve got to be okay as teachers for us to not see instant gratification of our efforts.

Don't we tell our kids this, too?