I was just talking with another teacher who is having a terrible problem with senior apathy. The seniors just don't seem to want to do anything in class. Students who previously came to class on time, turned things in regularly, and volunteered in class are all of a sudden like different people.
I recently read Daniel Pink's new book Drive, and it's made me think a lot about how we motivate students. Pink asserts that for complex, open-ended tasks, extrinsic motivation fails as an incentive. Intrinsic motivation ("for the love of the game") is much more effective, and of course as an institution we strive to foster intrinsic motivation in our kids. Yet, in a place where grades and class rank seem incredibly important, and we are surrounded by high achieving kids, one has to wonder if the tasks we are putting before our kids are, in fact, sufficiently complex.
So why do we have senioritis? I think the biggest problem is that for the first time, the main motivation for most students completely changes around this time of year. I do believe that most of our students are motivated by extrinsic factors such as grades, class rank, and college admissions. Now, most of our seniors are beyond that. For the first time, perhaps since middle school, grades don't matter. When you remove grades as a motivator, where does that leave you?
I try to involve seniors in project-based learning in the spring semester. I am purposely trying to replace the traditional motivations of grades and test scores with different motivators: pride in creating something, empowerment in the learning process, the drive to be a leader. My colleague remarked that trying to teach seniors is like pulling a steamship -- it's immensely heavy and difficult, and you wear yourself out.
I try to look at it this way. Why tire yourself out pulling the ship? Find out where it's going, and as long as it's not going somewhere dangerous or illegal, let it take you for a ride. You might both get somewhere you least expected to go. And the pull of creating something, inventing something, can be a wonderful, exciting draw. The structure of how we teach seniors doesn't have to be the same all year. We can acknowledge the change in motivation once college admissions are done, and change the structure of how we teach to accommodate that.
I recently read Daniel Pink's new book Drive, and it's made me think a lot about how we motivate students. Pink asserts that for complex, open-ended tasks, extrinsic motivation fails as an incentive. Intrinsic motivation ("for the love of the game") is much more effective, and of course as an institution we strive to foster intrinsic motivation in our kids. Yet, in a place where grades and class rank seem incredibly important, and we are surrounded by high achieving kids, one has to wonder if the tasks we are putting before our kids are, in fact, sufficiently complex.
So why do we have senioritis? I think the biggest problem is that for the first time, the main motivation for most students completely changes around this time of year. I do believe that most of our students are motivated by extrinsic factors such as grades, class rank, and college admissions. Now, most of our seniors are beyond that. For the first time, perhaps since middle school, grades don't matter. When you remove grades as a motivator, where does that leave you?
I try to involve seniors in project-based learning in the spring semester. I am purposely trying to replace the traditional motivations of grades and test scores with different motivators: pride in creating something, empowerment in the learning process, the drive to be a leader. My colleague remarked that trying to teach seniors is like pulling a steamship -- it's immensely heavy and difficult, and you wear yourself out.
I try to look at it this way. Why tire yourself out pulling the ship? Find out where it's going, and as long as it's not going somewhere dangerous or illegal, let it take you for a ride. You might both get somewhere you least expected to go. And the pull of creating something, inventing something, can be a wonderful, exciting draw. The structure of how we teach seniors doesn't have to be the same all year. We can acknowledge the change in motivation once college admissions are done, and change the structure of how we teach to accommodate that.
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