Something I was a little confused about what the locus of control. I had learned about it in a previous class and had come to understand that an external locust of control was kind of a grumpy, negative person. However, in the chapter it didn’t seem to be the case. I was wondering what the real difference is between external and internal was, especially in regards to teaching.
Extrinsic motivation is using rewards to encourage certain behaviors. I think it is beneficial to use this type of motivation because it can be the final push to get someone to do something. In a classroom setting, students may be interested in reading a book but they don’t really have the motivation to do it. If there is a reward, maybe a cool bookmark or a sticker for a book report competition, it can be that final push for the student to pick up the book and realize that they would have enjoyed it without the prize as well. I think for younger students, collecting stickers are a reward can be a good method as long as the stickers are given out sparingly, allowing the students to strive for them but not have all their focus be on the stickers. In an older student setting, honor roll and gpa can be great extrinsic motivators, because they can push the student to do a little more because they have that extra incentive.
I think extrinsic motivation could be dangerous when it makes students pay so much attention to the rewards, that they aren’t really doing the proper work to get it. This can include cheating and shortcuts in order to receive the best grade in the class or to get extra points. I remember when I was in elementary school, there was a program that if you read 6 books and wrote a short summery of them, you would receive a ticket to Six Flags Great America. Basically what happened is that no one read the books, but just copied the summery found on the back pages of the book. I guess the competition didn’t really read them or didn’t notice, since the kids still got the tickets. This is teaching children that there are ways to get around actual hard work in order to just receive a reward.
Also, in relation to the Dweck article, I also think praise as extrinsic motivation can be dangerous if it is overused or fake sounding. If everyone in the class was constantly praised, it isn’t really a reward anymore; it is just words without meaning. Students would think that they don’t have to really do anything extraordinary to receive it, since everyone gets it. And if it sounds fake, then students don’t believe it, and it doesn’t merit any positive effects and could make the student care less.
The difference is basically what you think most controls what happens to you.... are YOU in control (internal) or are others/external factors controlling what happens to you (external). We will talk more about this next week. A person might be super grumpy if they have an external locus because they believe that they can't control any of the bad things that happen to them. This makes someone feel helpless and frustrated. Within a classroom, it's always better to feel in control (internal). For example, if a student fails a test, and they attribute (oh no, I'm going into attribution and that's next week!) that failure to something they can control (I stayed up late last night, I didn't study), that gives them power to change that outcome. If they attribute it to something out of their control (the teacher doesn't like me, the test was unfair) then they have no power and can't improve, which isn't motivating. Does that help? It's always important to help students think about which factors in their learning that they can control and to change those factors and perceive the results.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that a lot of people are recommending a new form of education that is completely interest driven (children look up online information about something they want to know, etc), it's important to realize some benefits of external motivators like grades/rewards. Another grad student and friend of mind made a similar point to yours, that a lot of the GREAT papers he's written or work that he's done wouldn't have happened if he weren't forced to do it by something external. So, following your interest is great, but it's true, sometimes being forced to do somethign can push both the amount of work but also the quality of the work that's done when interest isn't enough.
You make a very good point in how when students have the goal of the bare minimum to get the reward, they don't quite care about the path to get there.... If their goal and interest is not the reading itself, but the minimum, the piece of paper required to get the reward, they will find the quickest most efficient way to make that happen (they are intelligent!) Not all extrinsic motivators might do this, but its a great reason to make sure that you are clear about what is required for a grade or reward, so taht students CAN'T skip steps.
I agree that praise can be easily overused. I think that is a very important important line we have to set as teachers. If students come to expect watching a movie just before a holiday break, or receiving free time after some work in class, they grow to expect it and will not be completely satiated by the small concessions we give to them. But teachers cannot be completely authoritative figures either. Therefore, I think surprising students with praise can be successful in keeping teachers in this middle ground, between too soft and too authoritative.
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