Friday, July 28, 2017

WEEK of AUG 5 POST (a bit early) 2/3 of Book Complete

I replied to a lot of people.  I have many people who are still not blogging.  I suppose I can send an email to encourage participation.  It is the only way I have a record of anyone's time too, since we are not having a meeting.
Anyways, I was hopeful that my dear friend Tresel Vick would blog with us, especially when the math graph came up around page 120 or so.  I am not a great math mind; however, what I was able to take away from that section is that mastery is not really ever completely and totally reachable.  This will blow some individuals' minds.  This will really bother some people.  I, however, get that and understand it.  I do not think it makes me any less motivated to try my best and continue to improve.
Remember a blog is supposed to be analogous to an online conversation.  I am requesting that you either create a new post or you respond to someone's post.  I hope you are enjoying the end of July.........

17 comments:

  1. I am not a great math mind either (and unfortunately my girls have followed in my footsteps), but that is why I can understand that mastery is not really ever completely and totally reachable. Some people are better "out of the box thinkers" or logic problem solvers. As Jen said, it doesn't discourage me from working harder or trying to improve, but my older daughter struggles with not getting discouraged. Where I see it is a challenge she sees it as a failure. I think that it has something to do with her "millenial" way of thinking. Her age group is one of entitlement and many times they do not want to work towards mastery of any kind.

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    1. I loved the visual about mastery! I agree with you that our students don't seem to think this way, unfortunately. Most students, my own sons included, are just trying to "get it done" so they can do something they want to do. It makes me sad to see so much talent and potential wasted. I work to try to get them to think differently, but they are so resistant. I won't give up though!

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    2. I also struggle with how to teach my children that struggle is good and that you are never done learning. As I reflect on my own childhood, this was a process and I don't think I truly understood it at an early age. Also, I was more motivated to to work toward mastery when I felt some sense of success and accomplishment. As a parent, I think that I need to continue to challenge myself and set a good example for my kids. If I never stop learning, they will see that setting the bar high and continuing to work toward it brings a sense of satisfaction.

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  2. In this 2nd section of the book about the three elements of Type I behavior (and what is at the heart of Motivation 3.0) I found myself zoning in on the definition of autonomy they gave, "acting with choice-which means we can be autonomous and happily interdependent with others." (p. 88) It makes sense that a sense of autonomy would better individual performance and attitude. We have discussed this for years in education about giving students "choices", teaching science through inquiry, and using grappling problems in math that give students an in at various levels. The problem seems to lie in the management part coming from higher up at the governing levels. Because state funds have been tied to test scores and teacher performance reviews etc. the essential features of autonomy (what, when, how, and with whom learning takes place) are not always feasible. If we want students to display Type I behavior then maybe we do need to update our environment and offer a "genius time" (akin to Google's 20% time) to students where they get to have autonomy over the task, time, technique, and team members.
    The other idea I found intriguing was what Csikszentmihalyi called "autotelic experiences" in which the meeting the goal itself is the reward. I find myself saying to my students when they ask what they will get if they win a review game, "You get the reward of winning the game." They don't like this response because they have been trained to expect a prize. Wouldn't it be nice if our students believed in the same type of goal that Olympic gold medal winner, Sebastian Coe, had where he says, "Throughout my athletics career, the overall goal was always to be a better athlete than I was at that moment- whether next week, next month or next year. The improvement was the goal. The medal was simply the ultimate reward for achieving that goal."

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    1. I love the idea of "genius" time...!

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    2. I agree that students want to know what they get if they win. At the high school level, we often are asked whether an assignment will be graded. I learned to never answer that because students will not do the work if I responded no. It is frustrating because students are clearly struggling seeing the value of the work. How do we help students see that the assignments they find meaningless actually have a lot of value?

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    3. Dawn, I wish I knew the answer to your question. I think the answer from the District would lie in the use of Learning Targets and letting the students know why they are learning what they are and what the goal is. However, it is still OUR goal for them and I find that 5th graders really don't care about the learning targets...

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  3. I will now admit that I was not thrilled with the first section of the book, but I really enjoyed this second section! I found myself thinking that we as schools do all of this wrong, but then I would see how we do some things right.
    I am intrigued by the 20% theory. I try to give students choice as much as possible, but it is not always possible. I think there is more to the 20% than just free choice. When I think about my own life and career, I don't see the 20% time really possible at work. I see my 20% outlet in outside activities I choose to participate in, and I wonder if that is enough for the students too. I think we need to have them look at life - and expectations - differently. I have been interested in motivation, and looking for answers, for quite some time. I am looking forward to reading the last section of the book, the Toolkit! I am hoping that there will be some strategies that will work for my kids!

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    1. I like the 20% theory too. I think we need to help students through the choices though. For example, the senior English project is all about choice. While I feel students struggle coming up with what inspires them at such a young age, I find because the project is linked with English class that several shut down or are looking for the easy way out. If a student's inspiration is dance then this person should not be creating an artistic scrapbook, but they should be dancing live in front of the panel. I think students enjoy the choices and open ended idea of the project, but once they read the full requirements, they struggle fitting their ideas into the project. With that said, some self-motivated students take this project and go above and beyond. I can't help but think of a boy a few years ago who made a 3D item to display in his home to remember his father who died in front of him prior to his senior year. This boy stated his inspiration was technology; however he showed that his father was his inspiration and that technology was an interest to him, and he combined the two to create one amazing product!

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    2. The 20% theory was very interesting to me and I struggled to come up with a way to apply it to students. Even in the early grades it is challenging for some students to make choices without significant guidance and support. I also was thinking about this idea of giving employees this 20% time and letting them work on a project of their choice. I know that our schedules would not let us take this amount of time out of our normal week, but I would love to see us take a meeting every week to develop our own groups and create solutions to the challenges that we see as most important. If we could have these frequent meetings and maybe a conference day to work for a longer time period, I think our staff could do some great things. If given this time throughout the year, I would be very excited to present our ideas and work at a second conference day. I think that if allowed to work on projects such as these, that it would give us a sense of autonomy, develop overall engagement, and focus us on our purpose of helping children.

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  4. I am presently on Chapter 5, Mastery, and I am thoroughly enjoying the book. I find myself thinking a lot about what our natural default is and how autonomy, mastery, and purpose are the key ingredients to intrinsic motivation. I loved the graph on page 124! The asymptote is a perfect analogy to mastery since mastery is really an illusion and not attainable. I know I cannot reach perfection, but it is extremely important to me to work my very hardest to produce the best work that I am capable of. I never want to cheat myself, by not working to my potential. That is the message we need to convey to our students. I always told my students and my own children that I never expect perfection, but I do expect them to use the God given talents that they have been given to do the very best they can. Anything else is just selling yourself short and what is the sense in that!

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    1. I agree, and it sounds like the same spiel I gave my own children. What I hear from students (and even occasionally my own students) is the idea of "good enough." A 70 is indeed good enough if you worked hard and that was the best you could do. However, if you barely studied, did not put forth any effort...how good is that 70? This is extremely frustrating and sadly, I hear it often. Going back to Dweck...how do we change this mindset? Is it by giving students autonomy and choice as Pink suggests?

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  5. There was so much in this section that resonated with me. I found myself doing a lot of highlighting! And, I think I may have found my retirement career....home shoring sound right up my alley! But I digress....

    Like Mrs. Postilli, I found myself zeroing in on the section about autonomy. I agree that it is in our basic nature to be "curious and self directed" (87). Having worked at the kindergarten and first grade level I remember their relentless curiosity and excitement about learning. Not sure what happens, but will giving students autonomy and choice help them regain this love of learning? I loved the quote on page 106, it gave me hope:

    The course of human history has always moved in the direction of greater freedom....it's our nature to push for it. If we were just plastic like some people think, this wouldn't be happening. But somebody stands in front of a tank in China. Women, who've been denied autonomy, keep advocating for rights." Have we just strangled the autonomy out of our students?

    With regard to the section on mastery, I was taken by the author's discussion of the "Goldilocks tasks." How did this fit in with the discussion of autonomy? On page 117 the author states: "...frequent mismatch between what people must do and what people can do. When what they must do exceeds their capabilities, the result is anxiety." How does this align to our practices in education?

    I also like how the author introduced the concept of purpose as being the third led in the Type I tripod...great visual. In this section I was intrigued by two points. The first was the concept of the MBA Oath. Not sure I buy this...I am curious as to how many MBA types have pledged this? I think it is a wonderful concept, but I am wondering how many graduates embrace this concept? But I loved the discussion of the concepts of "we vs they"...in the pronoun test. I think it is a rare administrator that can bridge the we vs they mentality. But, jeez is this ever important!

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  6. I find that it is interesting that autonomy is a big focus in this section. Over and over again in the high school, I feel that I hear that teachers are fearing losing their autonomy. The push for all to take the same assessments, PLC work, and curriculum writing worry many people. Is this a concern at the younger grades too? This book seems to show the opposite - that all work should be individual to try to increase individual motivation. I feel it is missing the point that sometimes one must do work that they dislike. Where does motivation come for that?
    I apologize if I am negative, as it is not my intent at all. I am just eager to improve as a teacher, and I want to help my students as best I can. I find that as the years pass that it is more and more difficult.

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    1. I am on the same page as Dawn...at first I was thinking of autonomy in regards to how we approach educating students, but there is also the concept of autonomy in instruction as well. Good point.

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    2. Dawn,
      In response to your question about younger grades fear of loss of autonomy is something big as well.

      Coming from a charter school setting in which all my lessons were scripted Brockport seemed to allow a lot of autonomy in comparison. After hearing many colleagues fears, I better understand about the feeling of loss of autonomy in relation to this district. Feeling pressured to do the same thing as your neighbor teacher or department peers is difficult, it feels personal, and change is hard. We need leaders who tell us that they trust in our decisions we make for kids and who still give us the autonomy to take the changes and implement changes in a way that works for our teaching style and our kids needs while maintaing integrity of the changes. We also need leaders who can foster a culture in our buildings that allow for acceptance of change.

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    3. Kristin,
      Yes, we should come together as a district to work on keeping our autonomy. I think the idea of finding a leader who trusts us is key. Thank you for sharing the information from the younger grade levels.

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