As others have mentioned, seeing your students effectively apply concepts from the classroom in practical or personal settings is very extrinsically motivating. Having a student report back to you that your teaching actually helped facilitate the learning of some idea is very rewarding.
In the classroom I am intrinsically motivated by the desire to be my own best self, and to constantly improve; to have a deeper understanding of subject matter, and to deliver information more efficiently.
I feel good about helping students learn..And I am rewarded by seeing them do well and improve.
What intrinsically motivates me to be effective in the classroom is my natural passion and curioisity for nature, how the mind works and how to apply these to career opportunities for my students. Students need to have a secure environment and to become involved with their learning process to complete tasks and achieve goals. The method, structure and content of the lesson greatly affect how the learning process takes place.
what extrinsically motivates me to be an excellent instructor is enhancing student security believing they have the ability to perform assigned tasks and autonomy control over their learning process. As a facilitator of education I must emphazise the revelance of the lesson, provide supportive feedback, a variety of methods, active learning activities, overview, summary and effective time usage.
Great perspective!
That was a very personal commentary, and one that helped me better understand the difficult concepts between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and how they might relate to my students and own teaching.
Ernest, how has your passion as a student translated into your passion and skills as an instructor?
James Jackson
Intrinsic: A long held love of teachers and teaching. A passion for learning for the sake of learning. The only role I enjoy more than being a teacher is being a student.
Extrinsic: The opportunity to observe students excitement as they begin to truely engage in learning and progress to higher levels of understanding.
Robert, can you share any of the techniques you use for your students to think of you as a good instructor?
James Jackson
Thomas, what are YOUR intrinsic and extrinsic motivators?
James Jackson
Lori, you will find that your intrinsic motivators are the things that students take away most from their experience with you and your classroom. It is hard to fake it if you are not truly into your course materials and your students. The extrinsic motivators are always there but will be more a result of your intrinsic behaviors.
Regards,
James Jackson
I have always been intrinisically motivated regarding my subject matter...law, national security, and national defense strategies. So, I'm internally driven to learn more and share that learning with others. Although I wish I could say that my only extrinsic motivation was that the word of mouth on my courses and/or instruction blocks are so well-received that people fight to get into them, but I must be honest and say that I also enjoy the personal ego stroke which comes from people saying that I'm a good instructor.
Intrinsic motivation is the most important to students.... they need to love the subject....if not then they will not achive success in the course!
What intrinsicaly motivates me to being an effective instructor in the classroom is pride in knowing that I've done an excellent job. Pride in myself that I accomplished a goal/task set before me. If it is my duty to make sure that students feel as though their questions were answered in a manner in which they could understand, then it makes me feel proud of myself and my abilities. It makes me feel proud that students learn the material and have an understanding of the material.
What extrinsically motivates me to be an excellent instructor is the compliments that I receive from students who have gone on to be successful in thier careers. At my school, the students score us on our abilities in the classroom in an after course seminar. Those scores can weigh into our raises; thus, financial gain is also a motivating factor to me.
Richard, what techniques are you utilizing to be able to track your students as they enter into their careers? I really like this concept and am interested in how you continue to remain in contact.
I am interested in what others are doing to track any student outcomes and student feedback post the teaching and learning relationship.
Regards,
James Jackson
Intrinsic:I want to be able to see the value of my teaching in the successes of my students careers.
Extrinsic: The success of my students will ensure that I can continue teaching a particular course.
Bobby: I feel the same way about what you said your intrinsic motivation is. I am a practicing attorney who enjoys tremendously what I do. Both in and out of the classroom. I think that motivates my students to want to learn the material.
As for extrinsic motivation, sometimes I offer them extra credit in order to help them. Another motivational tool is allowing them to do old assignments with a late penalty. Sometimes the students personal lives just do not allow them to do the material. As long as they are in contact with me I feel that they should be "rewarded" and allowed to make up the material.
I think it is also true in my case, I have always loved to bake and I love cake decorating equally as well, so that is my intrinsic motivation, to share what I know and what I have learned being a bakery owner, pastry chef, but it becomes an extrinsic motivation when I want to see my students get their dream jobs as pastry chefs, or cake decorators and become known and famous through the skills they learned at school.
My intrinsic motivation is the excitement that I experience when working with students, passing on to the students the knowledge and data that I have collected over the years gained while working in the court system.
Now as a teacher in that field, my class plans cover every aspect of the field. At present they are learning, testing, and preparing a final product that other professionals can utilize while working with their clients. I have seen them grow and gather information along those lines, and they are now semi-professionals producing the same. They have gained a lot of confidence along the way pertaining to their personal work product.
Extrinsic motivation is knowing that I have helped them transition through this process, guiding them in the right direction, and knowing that they are capable of passing the state exam and will be a confident, responsible professional along those lines.
Thanks for sharing Greg. Your comments brings back a great learning moment for me when I was participating in a training conference provided by Dr. Joe Pace of The Pacific Institute. Dr. Pace talked about how the teacher will appear when the student is ready. The meaning was to train instructors that their message may not always get through to a student at the moment is it given but the knowledge is still valuable as it will become more important to the student during a time of reflection by the student and the student is ready to take in the knowledge you have provided. It is important from time to time to remember that students have many things taking place in their lives and the moment of your instruction may not always be the best moment for their internal reflection. By keeping with the intrinsic motivation of what you are doing makes a difference will keep you moving forward with making a positive impact on your students.
Regards,
James Jackson
My intrinsic motivation stems from the belief that what I'm doing is valuable to the students. The more I know about the subject, its background and amplifying data, can be the difference between a student who understands the information and one who actualizes the information. I owe my very best to them as I expect their very best when they leave.
My extrinsic motivation stems from the belief that what I am doing is recognized as valuable. My preparation and delivery will, hopefully, influence those around me to increase their capacity. Its not about rewards but credibility and influence. Together, we can make it better and more effective.
Regards,
Greg
Thanks for sharing Curt. I agree and feel we are similar in our intrinsic motivation to see our students actually apply what we have taught them in the real world. I also get a real kick when a past student contacts me and shares their story of how they went on to accomplish some great achievements and attribute some of their success to what they learned in my classroom.
Regards,
James Jackson
