Motivational Lessons at a Starbucks Counter

So, here I sit at a Starbucks counter, pondering the next blog entry. To be honest, I am less than motivated. However, there may be something to learn in my state of sloth.

Why am I not motivated?
Well, first of all, I am quite sleepy. Yesterday was my 24th wedding anniversary. My wife and I went out to dinner, and I stayed up a bit later than I should have. Secondly, I'm feeling no pressing need to get anything done. Nobody is going to tap me on the shoulder and tell me to get moving. Third, I'm not feeling that my work has any immediate relevance. Anything that I accomplish today will not be implemented until September at the earliest.

I wonder if students ever feel this way. They probably do.

I am sleepy.
I know for a fact that many of my students are groggy when they arrive before 7:30am (no bankers' hours for them). Others seem to fade as the day goes on, becoming gradually less productive. I'm not sure what the solution to this problem is, but it seems a good starting point to acknowledge it as reality. Yet, some things are beyond my power to control; some students will not get enough quality sleep and will be groggy at school. Silly entry music and humorous surprises seem to have a positive effect but are by no means the solution to this motivational problem.

I'm feeling no pressing need to get anything done.
A colleague once told me that if you give students a week to complete a week long task, most of them will complete it in a week, but if you give them two weeks, most of them will take two weeks to complete that same task. I think this is accurate within reason. Deadlines, or at least target dates, can be a motivator for some students. I know that I would not even consider avoiding this blog if my boss was checking in each week and evaluating my progress. Some would argue that target dates should not be a part of a customized program and that students should be allowed to work at their own pace. I agree in part. However, my students have shown me that their "own pace" adapts to the task and expectations at hand. Therefore, deadlines will continue to be a part of my customized program, though still without the "death" of past due penalties and definitely without the "sudden death" of acceptance cut off dates.

I'm not feeling that my work has any immediate relevance.
Immediate is the key word there. I don't think students are as dismissive of school content as adults would prefer to believe. For the most part, students seem to accept that at some point, something as trivial as grammar may prove useful to them. So, it's worth learning just in case. However, it's often the immediacy of that usefulness that is lacking in school. Let's face it, it's tough for us humans to do work that will not reap rewards until some time in the distance, unforeseen future. Much school content is not designed to benefit students in the short term. Rather, it is designed to be a means of reaping future rewards. For some students, that's simply not going to cut it motivationally. Here's where Learning Target Projects may prove beneficial. Culminating, student-centered projects that require students to apply prior learning should give some students the motivation to tackle the preceding, and sometimes less interesting, lower level prerequisite learning. In short, "Do this, because you need it to be able to do the next thing." It's a bit of a simplistic strategy, but isn't that how the world often operates? You learn the rules and features of a video game in one way or another, so you can meet the goals in the game. One could call this Object Based Learning. Regardless of it's label, it is a means of adding relevance to a temporarily irrelevant task.

Success!
And so, I've done it. I've written my latest blog entry despite being unmotivated. How did I do it? Well, first I acknowledged that I was sleepy, so I set myself up with a Grande coffee instead of just a Tall. (A short term solution to be sure, but a solution nonetheless.) Secondly, I motivated myself using a self-imposed target date. I'm trying to maintain a schedule of one blog entry per week. Having routinely met this target for months, it is giving me a bit a of nudge to keep the ball rolling. Finally, I found the relevance to this task. I realized that I was experiencing a phenomenon similar to that experienced by some students. In short, this was an opportunity to learn lessons about motivation. The lessons are learned, and the entry is finished. I wish the same success for my students!

Comfort for the 21st Century Teacher

I'm yet to meet a teacher who doesn't agree that every student should have his/her academic needs met in the classroom. However, trying to meet those needs using a customized approach can be a scary proposition. One reason for this is grounded in the false perception that every student needs to have a 100% unique educational experience in a customized program. This is simply not true.

In many ways, educational programs are like cars. As in the pizza analogy from my previous entry, people tend to favor cars that are more customized to their needs and taste. For the right price, one can now buy a car that is highly customized, or at least customizable. You want to save the planet? Buy a hybrid. You want to know where you're going? Buy a car with a built in GPS. You favor security? Buy a car with built in remote security support. You hate parallel parking? Buy a car with an automatic parking system.

Yet, despite all this customization, cars are still cars. They still have power systems, transmissions, steering mechanisms, braking devices, and of course, they still have wheels.

The same is true for educational approaches. I have seen that a greater level of customization leads to a greater level of engagement. (As long as students are engaged in the right things, this is a fantastic outcome.) This, along with my recent survey data, indicates that students favor more customized approaches to learning. Students favor varied forms of assessment, readings within their individual instructional range, a pace of learning that is not boring yet is reasonable, the ability to switch content within a class period, and other aspects of customized learning. Yet, despite all this customization, learning programs are still learning programs. Students still listen to lectures, read, write, make projects, play games, work alone and with peers, receive feedback and guidance from teachers, and of course, they still are learning (though hopefully more than in a traditional "one size fits all" program).

In other words, teachers can make their educational programs more customized while still applying the traditional methods from their training and experience. The learning activities in a customized program simply don't need to be much different from those in a traditional program. (Though, they can be very different.) The key is to identify and/or develop ways to make traditional activities available in a more customized way and to tweak those activities to enhance their suitability to individuals. An example of this is the use of on demand video lessons. Another example is the use of electronic classroom management tools like Moodle and Studywiz. Customized learning tools are either out there already or waiting to be developed by innovative teachers.

While it is true that there is a customization continuum, teachers can take comfort that their profession is currently moving in the direction of greater customization, and 100% customized learning is not the short term goal. The latter would be a transformational result and may come some day, but for now, a worthy goal for teachers should be to add more customization to their classrooms each year and pay attention to what happens. A customized car is still a car, a customized learning approach is still a learning approach, and when it comes to learning approaches, experienced teachers already know more than they realize.