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Allegra this is a fantastic post! I love reading your description of how the students interact with the material outside of class and how satisfying that is for you and their teacher Nancy. I think your point about how lessons engage students interest and build intrinsic motivation is spot on. It’s interesting to think back to my public elementary school experience because while we still had grades it’s strange to break down my motivation as a 6 year old as being motivated for a good grade. While that’s maybe oversimplifying it a bit I definitely was aware of being a “good” student versus a “bad” student and that was often linked to how smart you are or how much praise you got from your teacher.
For the students that do graduate to the middle school next year, I wonder if their intrinsic motivation to learn will carry them through the challenges that come with external motivational factors. I think it’s so awesome that you’re gonna return to Prairie Creek next term and continue to be a part of their educational development.
Hi Thomas,
I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I think your discussion on tracking and the role (even if inadvertent) that academic support centers such as the SSC, TORCH, and the credit recovery center play in perpetuating the negative effects of tracking is super interesting. As you say in your title it is very much a chicken and egg situation. I have definitely felt discouraged when working with a student that is behind who is more interested in finishing the assignment than the quality of what they turn in or the process of learning something. It can be challenging as a tutor to not just start a discussion with a student on a topic if the goal is to help the student finish the assignment. I think there needs to be a new way to incentivize students to learn. This may come in a change in the curriculum to make it more relevant to them or just having more opportunities to be graded on their discussion/learning process rather than assignments turned in.
Arlo, your explanation of the lesson plan and in class observations are fascinating! I think it’s super interesting how your previous experience in AP Psych align with your observations of the class. I really appreciated your discussion of how Mr. Stevens intentionally made the lesson more interesting by bringing in pop culture references. Just because it’s an AP class being taught to the test doesn’t mean that they can’t have some fun while also building in unique ways to allow the material to stick. I completely agree with you that students taking AP classes may already be intrinsically motivated given that AP classes are a lot of work. I will say based on my preppy high school experience that I knew a lot of kids who took a bunch of APs but didn’t seem motivated by learning in the same way. They took APs to improve their transcripts not because they loved the classes they were taking. I would be curious to know how AP tests and classes play into students intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to succeed.
I also found your examples of student responses in the Global Studies class super cool. I haven’t really gotten to observe any of the students assignments on a large scale so it was really cool to see a whole class of responses to a very open ended question. I think it’s really cool that Northfield High has a Global Studies class and that students are learning about issues like immigration. I would be curious to read your blog post next week how issues of equity and diversity have come up in class, both in the subject matter and in the classroom politics.
I really liked your description of how Mr. Wiebe incorporates arts and crafts projects into the classroom. I remember it was always really nice in high school when teachers built in the arts into the academic day. My high school even had coloring books and markers in the library which anyone could use as a destressing activity. I think art projects in a non-artistic art setting helps students feel more motivated to work hard because it’s not like a chem teacher is going to say your coloring technique is poor B-. Instead you’re graded more on effort and understanding rather than quality of the final product. In this way coloring can be both operant conditioning as well as an opportunity to motivate students internally.
I definitely get what you mean about the difficulty in observing gender in the classroom. Even in an English class where the students should have more freedom to express themselves, most of the students aren’t super active participants. Most of them just respond rather straightforwardly to the question as opposed to really expanding or explaining how they arrived at an answer.
I also completely relate to your point about relating to the student’s level of understanding. It’s very easy for me to be in a classroom and to feel motivated and excited, but not every student feels that same level of engagement. The students in the class I observe are about to start writing a 5 paragraph essay and it’s very easy for me to think this is too basic but then I remember the times I heard write 5 paragraphs and felt overwhelmed. It’s great that you have been so perceptive of not only the class but how you are responding to the actions of the students and teacher.
Isaac I really appreciate how you explain what it means for you to be identity achieved. I think one concept I’ve been struggling with in all of these theories of stage development is the absolute black and white nature of all of them. I really appreciate your explanation of how part of your identity achievement in gender and sexuality is accepting the fluidity and unresolvedness of them.
Michelle’s explanation of how the students are more anxious after not socializing for a year makes a ton of sense. This summer working with students I was given files on all the kids before I met them and almost every group had at least one or two kids who were dealing with anxiety issues. When I spoke with their parents at the beginning of each trip they mentioned how they were so excited for their kids to get to be in a in-person group because the pandemic had really taken a toll on their ability to socialize. I definitely agree giving students more opportunities where there is less pressure to be right will give students more confidence.
Chris! My ZPD example was also about learning cuts in ultimate! Crazy!
I really appreciated your discussion on working with kids who had fallen behind on assignments. Last week I was also working with students in Mr. DuBe’s class who needed to write a paragraph and hadn’t finished reading the short story yet. When I asked one of the students what they thought of the story they said it was boring. Hearing that along with the fact that Mr. DuBe says that most of the kids don’t read outside of school makes me wonder that they haven’t found something to read about that their interested in. I do think that Mr. DuBe giving them extra time to read on Fridays may improve their reading comprehension as well as spark an interest to continue reading outside of school. Personally I wasn’t a particularly bookish kid in elementary school but I was lucky to have parents who read out loud a lot and could help me with my homework. This combination ensured that I didn’t “fall behind” but I wonder what other solutions could exist for everybody. I think providing as much time as possible to apply the skills you learn in the classroom– while still in school would be extremely helpful.
Prairie Creek sounds like such a fun school! I can totally relate to your reaction about how your school felt nothing like the one you went to. It’s really interesting how personal our school experiences are and how we continue to carry them with us wherever we go. The pencil scavenger hunt activity is such a great example of students building observational skills and how the stage of concrete operational is actualized. I also appreciated your discussion of how the students were able to think abstractly and would therefore would be classified as formal operational. I would be curious to understand the distinction between imagination in pre-operational and abstract and hypothetical thinking in formal operational.
