Role of Play in Creativity, Empathy and Learning

Motivation

Motivation is not only vital in a student's success in the classroom, but also in the teacher's ability to teach.  When I look back at my schooling, the teachers I remember were the teachers that loved their jobs.  I remember them because they had a passion for school, and a passion for really TEACHING their students. Simply put, they enjoyed their jobs. They were the teachers that just 'got me'.  I think student motivation isn't just based on what is inside the student, it is also is based on what is inside the student's teacher. Rebecca Saxe mentioned all people are equipped to 'read each other's minds' (Saxe, 2009)  Some are better equipped than others.  I believe the best teachers out there have the ability to understand our students and what they are thinking.  If we are able to understand what the students are thinking (an 8th grade mind is a scary and confusing place to be), we can better provide for our various students.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi had some really great inside to pure enjoyment.  He referred to this pure enjoyment as the ‘FLOW’ (2004).   Flow is a term that Csikszentmihalyi used to describe the feeling anyone gets when they truly forget the world and immerse themselves in joy.  He had found no matter the person or their profession, they describe their happiness very similarly (Csikszentmihalyi, 2004)  . He also mentioned that under these conditions, people usually perform MUCH better than those who are extrinsically motivated by money.  He had discovered that material wealth does NOT create happiness (Csikszentmihalyi, 2004).  This relates to education greatly.  The reward of getting a good grade does not motivate students. Daniel Pink also touched upon this in his TED talk. He mentions extrinsic motivators like bonuses and commission rarely work for anything other than narrow and specific tasks (Pink, 2009).  This is also the case with grades.  The promise of a good grade does NOT motivate the student to actually learn. Pink goes on to state that the higher the reward, the less the subject’s desire is to complete the task. I have seen this in the classroom.  I used to threatened to grade something in order for kids to complete the assignment.  This didn’t work with a large number of my students. I have learned from this and created assignments where the students have a choice.  My results from those assignments are usually much better.  Pink’s description of google and their innovative days.  The workers at google are given a period of time to ‘do what they wanted’ while at work. Many of the workers created some of the most popular aspects of google (Pink, 2009). This just shows that when students are able to pursue what makes them happy, they are more successful. Pink then goes on to state how business (and education) operate goes against the science that is out there on motivation (Pink, 2009). Alfie Kohn agrees with Pink.  He states that the more you reward a student, the more they lose interest.  He believes we have a failure to understand motivation (Kohn, 2009). I think the focus is too much on test scores and grades, and little attention is given to a student’s enjoyment of learning. Fostering an environment that allows students to enjoy learning can help students stay motivated.

As a history teacher, it is really hard for me to intrinsically motivate a student that has no interest in history.  I try to make the subject as enjoyable as possible.  I love it more when I am teaching and the whole class is captivated than when they all get good grades on a test. I have found that they can better recall my historical performances than specific dates and facts that they had to memorize. They can recall it better because they enjoyed my animated teaching style.  Csikszentmihalyi states that  “the concentration of the flow experience -- together with clear goals and immediate feedback -- provides order to consciousness, including the enjoyable condition of psychic negenthropy” (Csikszentmihalyi, 2006).  He believes that true happiness is comprised of various aspects.  These aspects include clear goals, and immediate feedback (Csikszentmihalyi, 2006 ).  As teachers, we can provide this structure that allows students to be happy.  Students want to understand their goals in the lesson and also provide support and immediate feedback.  As the teacher, I can provide this for them! I am generally a very happy person in the classroom. I can see enjoyment in their eyes when I praise them, and mean it.  There have been several times this year when myself and the students were so into a lesson, we were both surprised when the bell rung.  I often hear, ‘Man this period went fast!’  After reading Csikszentmihalyi’s thoughts on happiness, this made me smile. Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as an “experience that, when it lasts, one is able to forget all the unpleasantness aspects of life” (Csikszentmihalyi, 2006). I realized that my students were ‘in the flow’.  I see this on occasion, but I would like to see it more with my students.  The assignments this week will help me get there!

Mindsight is a skill that is vital to a successful teacher.  Knowing what each individual student needs, helps them to learn.  Providing every student with the same standard and the same path to get there greatly hinders learning. I think our school system has gone down the wrong road by requiring ALL students travel the same path to meet an arbitrary measure of ‘high standard’.  What is one student’s high standard, might not be anothers.  I think it is silly to measure all students the same.  Our students don’t think alike, and don’t have the same set of skills. Why should we expect them to take the same test, and have the same measure of ‘success?’ Not only do we expect students to all meet the same standard, we also force the same methods to a goal on them. I don’t think it should matter HOW they get there, just that they do! I know that there is a vast difference between my students.  I have high level, 8th grade Algebra II students that will end up being accepted to Harvard, and students that are struggling to understand a text on a 3rd grade level.  I recently used a metaphor in my classroom.  I described the American Patriots in the Revolution to a festering sore on a leg of the British. I had some that were able to get this instantly, I also saw a handful of very confused faces.. Patriots? United States? Festering sore?  Once the metaphor was explained, most of the students understood where I was getting at. Each student ended up understanding the comparison, just some needed an extra push.  Honestly, watching their light bulbs go off was priceless.  Each student has a varying toolbox of skills.  If the toolboxes are not equal why should we expect them to reach their standards the same way? Each child’s brain is different, and presents different skills and weaknesses.  It is our job as teachers to understand what they need and to provide them with opportunity and support to get them there.  I think understanding our students, provides teachers with the ability to motivate their students.  If we can tap into that mind, we can unlock what they enjoy doing and their intrinsic motivation.

References

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (Presenter). (2004, February). Flow, the secret to happiness. Lecture presented

   at TED 2004, Montery, California.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2006). From flow: The psychology of optimal experience. In G. Marcus (Ed.),

   The Norton Psychology Reader (pp. 210-222). New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company. (Original

   work published 1990).

Kohn, A. (2009, January). It's bad news if students are motivated to get A's [Video file]. Retrieved

   from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQt-ZI58wpw

Pink, D. (Presenter). (2009, July). The puzzle of motivation. Lecture presented at TEDGlobal2009,

   Oxford, England.

Saxe, R. (Presenter). (2009, July). How we read each other's minds. Lecture presented at TEDGlobal2009, in Oxford England.