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DRIVE!!

9/16/2015

3 Comments

 

What motivates you? Is it money or maybe self respect? This is something that I had not thought a lot about before "Drive". No not the kind of weird movie where Ryan Gosling says a total of 3 lines.

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This Drive

Now I know what you are thinking: "I hate reading books for school". Well this is a book that you need to give a chance.


I am not going to go through and sum up the book but rather talk about some things it made me question and examine in myself.  The biggest was the same question that I asked you: what motivates me? There are many personal things that I find joy and motivation in life like family, food, movies, and music, but the big thing that motivates me is my love of competition and trying to make sure my work is the best around. There is always better work out there but at the end of the day I love knowing that I put everything into it especially in sports. This concept of intrinsic motivation is huge in Drive. Pink shows studies of how people who are intrinsically motivated will overtime out-perform those who are extrinsically motivated. The NYTimes even wrote an article on intrinsic (internal) motivation titled the "The Secret of Effective Motivation" and how it produces better long term results than extrinsic motivation. This is contradictory to popular thoughts of if we reward people they will perform better.

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"But I love gold and money! I am not going to do something I don't like and not get paid for it"


Well Bilbo that is interesting that you say that. Yes, we all have our extrinsic motivators that get us through some tasks in life. But if these motivators are taken out of the equation, the quality of work is severely depleted.
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"Wow that is a really good point...I never thought of that. Well if that is the case how can I become someone who is intrinsically motivated?"


Great question Bilbo and it is probably the biggest thing that I took out of this book. Pink talks about how a Type E (extrinsic motivation) can become a Type I person when they have autonomy over the four essentials: task, time, technique and team. Now we all know that you cannot always control every facet of your life and these essentials. However, it is "our" time and we can make the most out of it using "our" techniques. Because when it is "ours" we can own it be intrinsically motivated to make "ours" the best.

Teachings from this book can be applied to the classroom, office and life in general. While this is an education blog, this book is much bigger than that and should be left for you to decide where you can use it best. 
3 Comments
Mary Beth
9/17/2015 08:10:39 am

I truly enjoyed how you incorporated Bilbo (and the hobbit), into your blog. That is my second favorite series behind HP! But I digress. I feel you honed in on a very important fact. If you are currently extrinsically motivated, you can become an intrinsically motivated person. Through the 4 main areas, anyone can make the switch. MY question would be, can you reach everyone with this approach? AKA, how do you reach the kids who do not make the switch from E to I?

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Nick Robinson
9/20/2015 08:15:19 pm

I had the same experience reading Drive; it really got me thinking about things in new ways after I read it. Super creative approach to discussing this book too!

I have the same thoughts as Mary Beth, it is a big task to get some students truly interested in the topic at hand. I really like the idea of crosscutting concepts in the NGSS; to show students the applications of science in contexts outside of the field. Any ideas on what you will use for your chosen subject?

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drann
9/22/2015 05:02:18 am

Love how you infused your love of film into your blog post. Films are part of your motivation in learning material. I often see you relate what we are discussing to a particular movie. You link the course material into your cognitive schema (constructivism).

How will you use films as an intrinsic motivator for students? You won't be one of those teachers that takes up a whole class period (or two) to show a film the students have most likely seen (e.g. Jurassic Park, etc) as a reward for good behavior, getting work turned in, etc. will you?

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