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On Motivation, Schools, and Post-Its: New Books for 2010

Posted on Jan 05, 2010 - 08:33 AM by Dana Bennis in The Landscape

Happy New Year! It's 2010.

What better way to embrace the optimism and hope of the beginning of a new year than reading inspiring books?

I recently picked up two new books that speak to heart of why and how education ought to be more democratic. They carry a great deal of wisdom and practical ideas for schools and learning, and they both connect the value of greater voice in learning to the creation of a more vibrant society.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel H. Pink (2009: Riverhead Books), throws out the underlying assumption of most businesses and schools: that people need to be controlled by rewards and punishments in order for work to get done or...

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The Plans of Mice and Men

Posted on Jan 11, 2010 - 08:04 PM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve

My friend and partner, Khadigah Alasry, in the fight to make education real again, developed a vision for a model of reform last year. We started presenting this model within the U.S. and over the internet. We've been invited to present in Dublin, the Cayman Islands, Hawaii, Dubai, Paris, and other places but due to our lack of funds and now time, we have had to kindly decline.

We developed this model for educational reform while I was out of the classroom for a year and Khadigah had just graduated from undergrad with her newly minted teacher's certificate. For a nine minute synopsis of our model, watch our video:




This video summarizes my vision for my return to the classroom. My...

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Lessons from Piano Lessons:  Musings on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivators

Posted on Mar 10, 2010 - 11:17 AM by Kristan Morrison in democracy.edu

I am going to deviate this month in my blog from my usual teacher perspective and instead discuss things from a student perspective. Why? Because I have recently been inhabiting the role of a student and it is making me re-examine some assumptions I have had about motivation to learn; specifically - are extrinsic motivators wholly bad (as somewhat suggested by Alfie Kohn in his book Punished By Rewards)?

I have always wanted to play the piano - especially after seeing the movie The Piano (don't get me started on Harvey Keitel - hubba hubba, rrrrhrahwrrr). I finally told my spouse that for a holiday gift I would like piano lessons. So, he bought me ten lessons with a local teacher. I...

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Internal Motivation is Like North Dakota

Posted on Mar 17, 2010 - 09:01 PM by Ammerah Saidi in The Learning Curve

Paul, one of my friends in high school, proclaimed that North Dakota didn't exist. He'd ask, "Have you ever met anyone from North Dakota? What's ever come out of North Dakota? We've read about it--but have you ever been there?" I've never really stopped wondering about North Dakota being a conspiracy to validate South Dakota's existence, but Paul's words have been louder than ever in my head since I've taken on my new teaching job as a literacy intervention teacher.

Last semester, I was thrown into a teaching position wherein I had 150 students to tend to--and that experience was more an exercise in control than in instruction or teaching. This semester as explained in my last entry...

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‘Cause It’s Like Democracy….

Posted on Apr 29, 2010 - 10:02 PM by Alison Bagg Brink in ImprovEducation

Students began choosing the delivery method for new information at the beginning of the month. I discussed this in "Maybe Kids Should Have a Say in How They Receive Information?"

The experiment is going so well that we have increased the control the kids have in the daily lesson planning. Every day there is bell work, but that is the only set event of the class period. I have the day's activities arranged in three or four different orders. The students vote for the arrangement they believe fits their needs. Each option includes the same work, but the order is different.

So how is it going?

From my perspective, pretty good. I am not seeing as many springtime behavioral issues as I have...

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Dan Pink - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us (RSA Animate)

Posted on Dec 16, 2010 - 03:08 PM by Shawn Strader in Resources

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Self-Determination Theory

Posted on Dec 17, 2010 - 12:37 PM by Shawn Strader in Resources

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Self-Determination Theory surveys

Posted on Jan 20, 2011 - 01:48 AM by Shawn Strader in Resources

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Best Motivation Video Ever

Posted on Apr 01, 2011 - 02:00 PM by Shawn Strader in Resources

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