#AEE412 Weekly Investment: Changing the World through Autonomy and "You Matter"

Autonomy is key.

This week’s readings took me back to my summer book, Drive by Daniel Pink. The most important of the three psychological needs, autonomy is reached when people have choice over the four T’s: their task, their time, their technique, and their team. If we want our students to be able to successfully contribute to our world, then they must be encouraged to think outside the box and then actually be allowed to think outside the box. Both the article from this week and Drive discuss a concept called “20% time”. Basically, students spend 20% of their time in school learning about and creating things that interest them. Personally, I think this concept is pretty neat and I would want to set up days throughout the school year for students to share out what they have learned/created. Even if you can't do a 20% structure, you can include autonomy in learning activities, projects, and laboratory experiments. Also, as a teacher, it would be essential for you to be engaged throughout the entire 20% time process and encourage student reflection to ensure learning is occurring. This can be accomplished through asking effective questions, student reflection worksheets, and one-on-one meetings with students about what they’re working on. Honestly, the 20% time concept reminds me a lot of what SAEs are supposed to be all about. Students directing their learning. So let's make sure we're bringing that into the classroom, too.

You must tell students they MATTER.

The TEDx talk titled “You Matter” was very inspirational and moving. It was all about the notion that noticing and making sure people know they matter can change the world. As teachers, this is so important to understand and act on. I mean, that’s the real reason we are or are working on becoming teachers, right? To help people matter. This also makes me think back to the book Drive by Daniel Pink. One of the other essentials to motivation is PURPOSE. So by truly believing in your students and telling them they matter and have a purpose, they will rise to those beliefs and believe them as well. One thing that I would like to take into the classroom someday is beginning each lesson off with “You are a genius and the world needs your contribution”. Not only does this tell students they matter, it is a call to action. For some students, we may be the only people all day to tell them that we notice them and that they matter. Let's not let them down.


These are the two videos that were part of our Weekly Investment this week. Check them out!

References:

Cornell University Center for Teaching Excellence. (2015). Using Effective Questions. Retrieved from http://www.cte.cornell.edu/teaching-ideas/engaging-students/using-effective-questions.html

Pink, Daniel. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. New York: Penguin Group.

Dyer, J.E. (n.d.) Effective Questioning Techniques. Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC08400.pdf

National FFA LifeKnowledge. (n.d.) Coaching Session Quick Reference Guide. Retrieved from https://www.ffa.org/myresourcedocuments/coachingguide/Basics_of_Coaching/coaching_Guide/Lesson02/pdf/Individual-Coaching-Session-Quick-Reference-Guide.pdf

Pursue Passion: Demand Google 20% Time at School

Tweak Your Teach: Dr. Tae's Building a New Culture of Teaching and Learning

#AEE412 Interest Approach Lab Reflection

This week's lab was all about creating a desire within our students to want to learn about a particular lesson/topic, or in other words, the interest approach. Prior to this semester, I was confused about what an interest approach was, so I was really excited to try my hand at developing an effective one. This coming spring I will be teaching a unit on Application of Biotechnology, so I decided to create an interest approach for my first lesson of that unit titled "What is the Green Revolution?". After watching my lab, here is one gem and one opp that I took away:

GEM from my Interest Approach Lab:

The video I showed truly caused an emotional response from my "students".

Causing an emotional response was one of my primary methods of capturing my students' interest in this topic. According to Lancelot's Primary Principles of Interest, "A subject is interesting if it affects us, others around us, or humanity at large." The Green Revolution occurred because people were concerned about the rising population and widespread hunger and malnutrition occurring in the world. Currently, we are facing a similar situation so by showing students that connection, they would hopefully be more interested in learning what the Green Revolution is and how it helped save over 1 million people from starvation.

OPP from my Interest Approach Lab:

I did not manage my time as effectively as I wanted to.

I feel like I should have been able to accomplish my interest approach in my 10 minute lab. But I think I took too much time on the bell-work which caused me to try and cram in my interest approach towards the end. And that didn't work. Next time, I need to make sure I tell my students as they begin their bell-work to alert me when they are finished so I know when to move on (ex. put pencil down and look at me).

#AEE412 Weekly Investment 4

Objectives at higher cognitive levels requires teaching at higher cognitive levels.

The cognitive level of your objectives must align with what you teach and must align with assessment. This was a focus of the weekly readings and it's something I want to always work on and continue to improve on throughout my #TeachAg Journey. The idea makes sense. Why would you expect high levels of learning from your students, teach them at a low cognitive level, and then assess them based on your objectives? It is a recipe for frustration and giving up. Thinking back to the article we read by Fink (2003), one way to ensure this doesn't happen is to "analyze the situational factors, formulate the learning goals, design the feedback and assessment procedures, and select the teaching/learning activities." Remember, begin with the end in mind.

Cooperative Learning, when purposefully planned, provides multiple developmental benefits.

This week's readings also discussed group teaching techniques and seemed to focus on cooperative learning in particular. We participated in cooperative learning in many of my high school classes, and I have experienced both the good and the bad. One particular point that was made about how to make cooperative learning effective is how you group the students. Size definitely matters; for example, if a group is too large, students can hide and get by without having to contribute. Reading about cooperative learning made me remember my Educational Psychology class I had a few semesters back. Our professor taught us an effective way to split students up into groups that promotes learning for every student. It was all about making groups with heterogeneous skill levels so that each student benefits from the cooperative learning. But with that being said, as a teacher I think you really need to ensure that each student is participating and there isn't just one student in each group doing all of the work. There is a reason I'm not a fan of group projects in college myself, so I'm determined not to have any of my students feel the same way. According to Groseta et al., the solution to that is staying engaged throughout the entire learning process by using the three steps of monitoring: observation, intervention, and evaluation.

Do you have any strategies you use to promote effective cooperative learning? I'd love to learn more!


References:

Fink, L.D. (2003) A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Retrieved from http://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf

Groseta, K.J. & Myers, B.E. (2006). Using cooperative learning in formal and conformal education. Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WC/WC06200.pdf

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Whittington, M.S. (2005). Writing objectives in secondary agriculture courses that challenge students to think. Agriculture Education Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.naae.org/profdevelopment/magazine/archive_issues/Volume77/v77i5.pdf

#AEE412 1st Day Lab

It's the first day of school. The Goal: teach the first 10 minutes of your "first day" lesson plan. This lab was beneficial in multiple ways. First, I got to think through what would be a good way to establish classroom procedures right away, create a welcoming environment, etc. Second, I had the chance to teach for 10 minutes and practice classroom management skills with my cohort members who had transformed into students with various personalities. After watching my video, here is one thing I did well and one thing I can improve on for next time!

Gems: things that went well with my lesson.

Going over objectives and having them written on the wall/board: 

I believe it's important to go over your objectives for each lesson. This all goes back to the first domain of teaching and learning: Organization and Structure of Content Matter. Students learn better when they are aware of the structure of the content as well as see how everything their learning contributes to the end goals. Going over the objectives also helps you as a teacher remain business-like and on task by reminding yourself of what you want your students to be accomplishing during the class.

Opps: Opportunities for improvement in future lessons.

Giving clear directions and ensuring students are paying attention/understand: 

I realized while I was watching my video that students asked me to repeat directions and/or had questions about what I just asked them to do. This means that either I'm not giving clear directions and/or I did not have their attention. So, going forward I want to make sure I thoroughly plan how I want to give directions and then also make sure I ask my students to repeat back the directions after I give them. That will hopefully help my directions be more clear and ensure that students were paying attention.


I'm looking forward to practicing more during next week's lab on interest approaches! Thanks for following my blog, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

#AEE412 Weekly Investment 3

Objectives are CRUCIAL.

Objectives (along with assessments) are the guiding force of instruction. Newcomb et al. states, "in writing instructional objectives, teachers make definite decisions about the content of the problem area. The force themselves to establish parameters that in turn help define and limit the scope and content of the problem area. ... they provide a basis for evaluation" (pg. 91). We learned this week that your objectives and your unit assessments should influence each other. This makes sense because like I said in last week's blog post - begin with the end in mind and everything needs to connect. I found it interesting to learn about the three domains of learning that objectives can fall into.

1. Cognitive - objectives that deal with the acquisition of facts, knowledge, information, or concepts.
2. Psychomotor - objectives that deal with using the mind in combination with motor skills.
3. Affective - objectives that have to do with attitudes, values, aesthetics, and appreciation.

I had never heard of affective objectives before, and found it to be a very interesting concept. My methods book (Newcomb et al., 2004) stated that the most difficult area of objectives to include are affective. I believe this, but after reading some examples and learning what they are I would argue that they, too, are very important to include. I think one of the main purposes of education is to grow up leaders and people with good morals and values, so including affective objectives is one way to work on this. I can definitely see myself including some affective objectives into the Biotechnology & Food Science class that I get to teach in the spring!

Interest Approach - Say What?!

Before this fall, I was always confused about what an interest approach was and why they were important. Over the past couple of weeks I've begun to get a better sense about what interest approaches are all about. Newcomb et al. discusses a variety of ways to go about creating a desire in students to know more about a topic. I think that developing interest approaches based on students' SAE projects is a neat idea. If students can personally connect with the interest approach the WHY of the lesson will be so much clearer.

However, in a research article I found concerning interest approaches in Agricultural Education, the researchers found that the use of an interest approach at the beginning of a lesson had no effect on the students knowledge/learning or student attitudes. But, the data did show that student engagement increased with the use of an interest approach. They did state that more data needs to be collected to further analyze the results of the study. I would be interested to hear what other ag teachers think about interest approaches!

References:

Johnston, T. L., Roberts, T. G. (2011). The Effect of an Interest Approach on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Engagement of High School Agricultural Science Students. Journal of Agricultural Education, 52(1), 143-154. Retrieved from http://www.jae-online.org/attachments/article/1537/52.1.143.Johnston.pdf 

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of Teaching Agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

  

#AEE412 Weekly Investment 2: Designing and Planning Instruction

Maximizing learning and planning instruction. Planning instruction was (and still kind of is) daunting to think about. But, after gaining some new insight through the readings this week, I think I'm beginning to get a better understanding of how these unit plans, assessments, and lesson plans are supposed to fit together. Here are some major takeaways!

You have to know where you want to end up if you want to develop an effective plan to get there. I believe this thought is essential to effectively planning instruction. This ensures that everything you are teaching in your class aligns together and thus promotes deeper learning for students. So before you start planning your first Soil Science class you need to stop and think, "What do I want my students to be able to do by the end of this class/unit?" Realizing this was very helpful because the other day I was staring at my computer at a loss of how to begin writing my first lesson plan for student teaching. According to the framework by Mctighe et al., first start by identifying desired results, then determine assessment evidence, and finally plan learning experiences and instruction. I really appreciated that the framework takes the time to discuss different types of assessment - performance tasks and other evidence such as traditional tests and quizzes. While I think there is a time and a place for both types, the most important thing is to make sure that everything aligns and nothing is slipping through the cracks. Now, I'm quite excited to try out what I've learned on the unit/lesson plans I'll be writing in the coming weeks!

I know I briefly mentioned this above, but this was a really important area of discussion in all of our readings for this week. When I was in high school, I never really took much thought into why we learned things in the order in which we learned them. All I knew is when I was learning and when I was completely lost/bored. But now as I'm working on writing unit plans, lesson plans, and assessments for my student teaching experience, my mind is a little overwhelmed. There are so many ways we must look for alignment and connection. Whether it's making sure the scaffolding is actually building up towards a specific skill to making sure the assessment is evaluating what we actually taught. But as Reardon et al. state in Strategies for Great Teaching, "Learning happens when brains are connecting in meaningful ways with the subject matter. It occurs when learners make patterns based on existing schema as they seek to understand new content".

References:

Fink, L.D. (2003) A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Retrieved from http://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf

Mctighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (2012). Understanding by design framework. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Reardon, M. & Derner, S. (2004) Strategies for great teaching. Chicago, Illinois: Zephyr Press

West Virginia University, (2010.). Bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved from http://community.wvu.edu/~lsmong/Articulate%20Blooms%20Wheel/blooms_wheel.html

Come Check Out Penn Manor!

I'm really excited for my upcoming student teaching experience at Penn Manor! Want to learn more about their Agricultural Education program? Check out the video I made below, I'd love to hear your comments!

#AEE412 Weekly Investment: Effective Teaching is Essential

There are two types of teachers that I will always remember from my time in school: the really good and the really bad. As I'm continuing on my #TeachAg journey to becoming an Agricultural Educator, I am realizing more and more just how much work and dedication it takes to be a good teacher. And while this is indeed a little daunting to think about, it's also exciting too.

1. Becoming an effective teacher takes time. But, it's ok to be an amateur. 

Well this certainly wasn't what I wanted to hear when I know I will be teaching people's children in approximately 15 weeks. And yet, what a relief it was to hear and read this. But, I'm still not sure I fully believe it (that being an amateur is ok). How can it be ok to not feel completely prepared when you go to teach your first real class, knowing that you are molding and teaching real students? I'm not sure, but I think my best bet is to give it my all and to do like Kayla Hack and Janae Herr told us at our student teacher workshop: trust the process. I've had the honor of meeting and being taught by so many effective, rockstar teachers. It's easy to forget that they too, started where I am now. This thought takes me back to my summer book Drive by Daniel Pink. In the section on Mastery, he talks about how the road to mastery is a pain and while you can approach mastery, it can never actually be reached. But when you have purpose, the hard work and challenges associated with mastery is all worth it. Realizing this was a comfort to me because I know my purpose. It's the same purpose all of us as teachers have: to positively affect and touch the lives of our students. Suddenly, the road to becoming a "master" teacher seems exciting and well worth it. 

2. Learning is directly related to the effectiveness of teaching methods that are put into practice.

All of the readings this week discussed this in slightly different ways, but it was definitely a common theme. Talk about pressure! From my experiences as a student, though, I would definitely agree with this. I can't think of a class that I enjoyed and truly learned in that wasn't taught by an effective teacher. And yet, I remember discussing this week in one of my classes about growth mindsets and how students have to choose to learn. So... how can both of these statements be true? Well, I think it's because that as teachers, the methods we utilize should create an environment that motivates and causes students to make that choice to learn. That is an important distinction to make. Teaching isn't just presenting information/skills to students in varied ways and then sitting back and letting students choose to learn or not. It's about engaging students and fostering autonomy, mastery, and purpose (in the words of Daniel Pink), creating a growth mindset culture, and as Wong states in The First Days of School "exhibiting positive expectations for all students" (the list could go on). 

3. Community is essential to being an effective Agricultural Educator.

The necessity of positive community relationships seems to be everywhere I look, and for good reason. To be an effective Agricultural Educator, I truly believe that your community is key. The community is a laboratory of the instructional program (Newcomb et al., 2004). I really liked this statement from my Methods of Teaching Agriculture book. By developing positive relationships within your community, you will have all kinds of experts in agriculture that want to share their knowledge with your students. How awesome is that?! Not only that, but they also help you continue on your journey as a life-long learner and ensure that what you are teaching is up-to-date with what is going on in the Ag industry. Community can also be thought of as your teaching community. From other Agricultural Educators to experienced teachers of other subjects, building positive relationships with your colleagues will help you become a more effective teacher through advice and feedback.


Thanks for following my journey so far, I'm looking forward to seeing where the rest of this semester takes us!

References

Newcomb, L.H., McCracken, J.D., Warmbrod, J.R., & Whittington, M.S. (1993). Methods of teaching agriculture. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Pink, Daniel. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. New York: Penguin Group.

Wong, H.K. & Wong, R.T. (2009). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher (4th ed.). Mountain View: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.

Perk of being an Ag Teacher: Summer SAE visits!

I wasn't in an Agricultural Education program growing up, so when I decided to major in Agricultural and Extension Education this whole 3-circle Agricultural Education model was completely new to me. As I was trying to learn all of these new acronyms, SAE was one that caught my eye. The concept of Supervised Agricultural Experience was mind blowing. Absolute genius.

Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE) is a one of three key components in an Agricultural Education program, and is intended for every student participating in Agricultural Education. At its core, SAE is experiential learning. Students get to plan, manage, and keep record of a project that exposes them to careers within Agricultural, Food, and Natural Resources industries, connects to what they're learning in the classroom, provides career/college preparation, and takes place in a real-world environment. Another important part of SAE projects is teacher supervision, hence the SAE visit.

SAE visits allow the Agricultural Educator to check in with the student and provide supervision, advice, as well promoting student reflection on their experiences. On July 10th, I had the opportunity to accompany Mr. Fellenbaum on three SAE visits around the school district!

Madison with her pigs she is raising for her SAE project

Maddie, Swine Production, Entrepreneurship SAE

At 9:00am Mr. Fellenbaum and I drove to visit Maddie at her home, where she is raising three pigs for the fair as her Entrepreneurship SAE project. The first thing we did when we got there was talked to Madison about how everything was going. Mr. Fellenbaum asked Maddie what she has done or learned about raising her pigs since his last visit. One of her pigs was recovering from an illness, so she noted that it has been important to make sure that pig was still growing and making up for the weight he had lost.

Preparing to weigh the pigs

I really enjoyed hearing what Madison had to say about her experience and see all of the hard work she was putting into raising her pigs. I have no experience with pigs, so this was all new to me! Next, Madison weighed all three pigs using a scale that Mr. Fellenbaum had brought along. After some coaxing and maneuvering, all three pigs were weighed. Then, Madison used their current weight and her records from the last time they were weighed to determine each pig’s rate of gain! Can someone say real world math?! All of this information was then recorded into Maddie’s AET record book. Maddie’s mom was present through the whole visit and shared with us how much time and hard work Madison puts into her SAE project. With the pigs happily playing with a new toy (a basketball) it was time to say goodbye and head off to our next visit.

Kenny showing us the ins and outs of his family's sprayer

Kenny, Diversified Crop Production, Placement SAE

Our 10:30am SAE visit was with Kenny, an incoming senior with a well-developed Placement SAE project. Kenny works on his family farm, where this summer he spent approximately 5 weeks spraying his family’s corn crop. He showed us his sprayer, which has an awesome built-in GPS system. He had me climb up in the machine and explained how the GPS system works as well as how it benefits both his family business by saving them money and time. Kenny informed me that he has his pesticide applicator certification and showed us how he safely prepares pesticides for application. Kenny was so knowledgeable about how to operate every part of the machine and its function, which was awesome to see. He obviously learned a lot this summer, and he even talked about how what he has learned on the farm connected to things he had learned in class! Mr. Fellenbaum didn't have to ask many questions during this part of the visit as Kenny was eager to share all about his experiences and what he's learned. I know I definitely learned a lot from Kenny and really enjoyed hearing him speak with excitement and confidence about what he does on his family farm. 

Kenny with one of the piglets

Then we went down to the barn where we looked at the pigs Kenny is raising for the fair. Kenny showed us how he takes care of the pigs and told us he has begun to walk them in preparation for the fair. Mr. Fellanbaum and Kenny also looked through his AET record book, and Mr. Fellenbaum answered a few questions Kenny had. After getting to hold a piglet and saying goodbye to Kenny, we left to go eat lunch.

Ryan showing us his tomatoes and eggplants.

Ryan, Vegetable Production, Entrepreneurship SAE

Our last SAE visit for the day was at 2:30pm with Ryan, a recent graduate of the Penn Manor Ag Ed program. Ryan’s Entrepreneurship SAE project was truly a sight to behold. Ryan owns and manages a large and growing produce business. He grows over 30 tomato varieties as well as bell peppers and eggplants on approximately 7 acres near his home. He manages all aspects of his business, which is quite impressive. He hires friends and migrant workers to help pick the produce, and pays them an hourly rate. The harvested produce gets picked up by a truck each week and is sold to companies like Blue Apron, Four Seasons, and others in the Maryland and New Jersey area. 

Ryan also works on other produce farms, which is where he learned much of what he knows now about produce farming. Ryan said he also utilizes his uncle, who is an agronomist, and Penn State Extension for advice. With years of experience and taking advantage of valuable resources available, Ryan was excited to talk to me about what he has learned. He confidently answered all of the questions I had about growing vegetables such as indeterminate vs. determinant plants, as well as various pests and how he manages them. Ryan has no intentions of stopping his SAE project and plans keep growing the business. While at our visit, Mr. Fellenbaum asked questions about what Ryan's plans for the future now that he has graduated and talked to Ryan about applying for his American Degree in the coming years.

The rewards of hard work - Bell Peppers!

I thoroughly enjoyed my day of SAE visits and getting to see more of the school district. It was great to meet Madison, Kenny, and Ryan and see how much they've learned through their SAE projects (as well as learn myself!). I'm really excited to student teach at Penn Manor and have the chance to work with students on their SAE projects in the coming year!

What Next? How to put Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose to Action. - Summer Reading Reflection 3

The whole way through Drive: The Suprising Truth About What Motivates Us I kept wondering, “Ok this is great and makes sense, but how do I use this new knowledge??” I think I felt this way because while Pink kept saying that these three elements of motivation were the key to performance and satisfaction in every aspect of our lives, most of his examples took place in the business world.

It was during my reflections that I was able to stop and really think about how I could promote autonomy, mastery, and purpose into an Agricultural Education program and even into other areas of my life. Discussing what I had read with Mr. Fellenbaum was also very beneficial because he provided examples from his own classroom and gave me another perspective.

Daniel Pink must have known that people would be reading his book and thinking “OK but HOW?” because I flip the page to begin the 3rd part of the book and it’s titled "The Type I Toolkit". Pink starts off by saying, “This is your guide to taking the ideas in this book and putting them into action”. Here are the key takeaways I took from Pink’s toolkit that I can use to bring autonomy, mastery, and purpose into my own life and into the classroom:

1. Reflect, and keep asking the important questions.

“A great man is a sentence.” - advice from U.S. Congresswoman Clare Luce to President John F. Kennedy.

Something that really stuck with me from this section of Drive is that one way to hone in on purpose is to think about “your sentence”. Pink gives the example, “Abraham Lincoln’s sentence was: ‘He preserved the union and freed the slaves.’” Forming your sentence and keeping it in the back of your mind seems like a good and relatively easy way to stay motivated, especially when things become frustrating. So - what’s your sentence??

The next step to staying motivated is to reflect each day and ask yourself “Was I a little better today than yesterday?” This helps you see progress and to not get frustrated when you don’t achieve something as quickly as you’d like.

While this can definitely be used in your individual life, I also think this tool can be used at the beginning of the school year. You can have your students write down their major goal for the school year and every day on their ticket out have one component be to answer one way they have improved from yesterday. It would be interesting to see if that improved student motivation and thus their performance/engagement in the classroom.

2. Engagement, not compliance, is key.

The second major concept I got from Pink’s toolkit is how important it is to engage your students. By promoting engagement instead of compliance you are bringing those three crucial elements of motivation into your classroom. Homework is one area I feel that this concept especially applies.

I remember when I was in high school I would spend most weeknights doing homework all evening. Literally all evening, from the time I got home to the time I finally let myself go to bed (with a break for dinner). While some of that homework was engaging and actually helped me learn, a great deal of it, in the words of Pink, “stole my free time in the service of a false sense of rigor”. And some of it was just pointless and time consuming. I say all of this because when I am a teacher I want to make sure any homework I give has a true purpose and is engaging, and not just something my students complete because I told them to complete it. Here is a three-question test for homework to help determine if the assignment is actually worthwhile:

1. Am I offering student any autonomy over how and when to do this work?
2. Does this assignment promote mastery by offering a novel engaging task?
3. Do my students understand the purpose of this assignment?

3. Motivation won’t magically appear over night.

I think it’s important to keep in mind that you can’t expect to make a change in how you run your classroom or your own life and expect the results to be immediate. It’s also good to remember that the changes don’t have to be huge and/or occur all at once. Even a small step in the right direction is important. All of Pink’s examples talk about how employers resisted at first and how it took some time for everyone to adjust, but once they did things improved and pretty much everyone was happy with the change. This is something I definitely want to keep in mind though the coming year, and when I have my own classroom someday.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It challenged my thoughts, provoked discussions and reflection, and ultimately changed the way I see motivation. I’m looking forward to using and sharing this knowledge in the fall as I prepare to student teach!