1. Gregariousness - the need to belong
2. Autonomy - the need for independence
3. Status - the need to be important
4. Inquisitiveness - the need to know
5. Aggression - the need to assert
6. Power - the need to control
7. Recognition - the need for acknowledgement
8. Affiliation - the need to associate and belong
Instead of reading my opinions on how this is important, let's hear it from Lavoie himself (please ignore the spanish captions, that is unless you speak spanish...)
Even though Lavoie is an engaging speaker, his descriptions of traits of the eight forces of motivation in the book are much more informative and helpful. At first, I thought the survey that you can give to students would be useful, but the analysis is very lacking both in methodology and substance. The greatest asset our school has is the knowledge and expertise of the teachers. Our own diversity allows us to share insights for what motivates individual students.
ReplyDeleteWe also often naturally engage as “praise partners”, praising a student for an accomplishment or grade in subject other than the one we teach including extracurricular activities. Praise in all forms is an important tool for motivation and one often forgotten by adult to adult interactions in education. Despite the dysfunctional relationships with parents that some of our students have, I am still encouraged by students who want me to call home and let their parents know they are doing well or “had a good day”. By praising their child, it opens doors of communication that have become worn from relaying the negatives.
More challenging for all of us is the child motivated by power. In part, their yen for power stems from their inability to change their environment at home. Ongoing verbal power struggles described in the book are always given as errors that teachers make of engaging in the argument. I do not think this happens as often as portrayed in didactic lectures to teachers. What does occur is manipulative behavior that needs to be managed by a team-not just the teacher. Even the most problematic student will respond positively to being given responsibility in the classroom; especially those responsibilities usually performed by the teacher. But when students are disruptive in class and do not respond to different techniques, they should be removed from the classroom to emphasize that it is not in their best interest or the other students’ interest for the behavior to continue.
I agree Chris, we have a lot of students who would fall into the power category. I try to be creative about how to let those students demonstrate some sort of power in a positive way. Some of the things I have tried is allowing a student to record focus repsonses, take attendance, or even by being the answer key.
DeleteThis becomes a challenge when there are several students who want to be dominant.
I wish I had time to make more positive phone calls home. After all the negative phone calls I have to make weekly, I feel I have little to no time to make good phone calls - which is where the planner has helped! It is easy to put a note in my students' planners about a particulary good day that student had. It also lasts longer than a phone call!
I believe many of our students are power driven also. But I think it is because of low self-esteem. I feel the students have feelings of helplessness and inferiority at home. The same students want to exert power in any way that they can, whether it be positive or negative.
ReplyDeleteI also love to praise my students and honestly had not thought about notes home in the planner as per Chelsea's suggestion. Thanks Chelsea!
I agree with the power driven student comments..but I also think many of the bad behaviors we see are also driven by the desire to not be embarrassed or to "save face." As I was listening to his comments, I was thinking of a few of my "regulars" and in just about every situation where they are either sent out of class or storm out of class, I can see that they may have been embarrassed by their lack of knowledge OR by their perceived "differences" from the other students which in turn triggers the acting out behavior to mask their embarrassment.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the "power" section of this chapter. I believe that most of our kids actions are based out of a need for power. Due to the lack of stability their home life has leads to the lack of power at home. The constant stability that they recieve here is great & they want to be a part of that, but don't have the skills to know how to. So, in turn, it comes out as power struggles with adults in the building.
ReplyDelete