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Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation: Daniel Pink Gets It Right


Courtesy of Google Images

The question of performance rewards for teachers and studentssurfaces from time to time. Do you remember the neighborhood kids whose parents  paid for allAs on a report card?

Most of us think that money talks when it comes to motivation.Daniel Pink is telling us it doesn’t and why. Pink writes in Drive that the best way to encouragehigh performance is to allow people to take charge of their own work, toinitiate and create, and to improve. Amazingly, this results in highsatisfaction as well.

Pink’s research is irrefutable. Get rid of the carrots andsticks and give people an environment in which they can create and explore. Weall want to be part of something bigger and greater than we are. Move overDilbert! Look out Charlie Brown! Give students the tools they need - not Summerhill,but Mountainbrook (Google’s headquarters.)

New Hierarchy of Student Needs:

Autonomy: People want to have control over their work.

Mastery: People want to get better at what they do.

Purpose: People want to be part of something that is bigger than they are.

For more information read:
 http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332958091&sr=1-1

Watch the TED Talk:http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html



Year-Round-School


When I think about it, no other plan makes sense, so why have Americans been dragging their feet on year-round-school? Dr. Matthew Lynch, Assistant Professor of Education at Widener University and  author of three books, believes that year-round-school would be disruptive to families. His concerns are valid, but I believe that there is a solution for each of them.


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All advanced nations have more school days than the U.S. Will we be a nation of innovators and leaders, or a nation of waiters and housekeepers? President Obama believes we need to lengthen the school day or year to help our students be better prepared.


“We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day,” Obama said. He continued to say “That calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy.”


The alternative to increase student achievement is to reduce time in PE like Bucks Couty, PA, will do. This is not a solution, nor is a longer day. Children need to be children, not with 10 weeks of summer vacation, but with time during the day to assimilate knowledge, explore and create. With the proper foundation this can be accomplished through year-round-school. 


Are you willing?


Read the full article at: 
http://www.educationnews.org/k-12-schools/matthew-lynch-the-disadvantages-of-year-round-schools/


and President Obama's appeal:
http://www.eduinreview.com/blog/2009/03/obama-proposes-longer-school-days-extended-school-year/

BFFs No More


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Teachers in three cities in the United Kingdom are banning BFFs (best friendsforever) reports Harry Hawkins of The Sun. It sounds like something outof a sci-fi novel. 

Psychologist Gaynor Sbuttoni, who doesn’t appear to supportthe measure, explains the attempts to ban best friends are being done in theinterest of the children.

"They are doing it becausethey want to save the child the pain of splitting up from their best friend.But it is natural for some children to want a best friend. If they break up,they have to feel the pain because they're learning to deal with it,"clarifies Sbuttoni.


If best friends are banned can chocolate be far behind? What else will people who "know better" take away?

Read the full article and many comments at: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4203460/Schools-ban-children-making-best-friends.html