Teacher Talk

Hello! This is my first blog post in a new series that I am entitling "Teacher Talk Tuesdays". Now these might not occur every Tuesday, but from time to time they may appear. Consider yourself warned. :)

The Inspiration: While living in Mexico I have been missing traditional professional development, so here is my effort to share some thoughts, struggles, triumphs (etc.) and seek advice and ideas.

Today's topic is: Intrinsic Motivation.

Tonight over dinner Ruby, Hope and I struck up a conversation about this topic. Wouldn't it be a dream if every student was intrinsically motivated? That is just not the case, but as a teacher, what do I do about it? I want to intrinsically motivate my students to work hard, value their work and be excited about learning. So I do things like this...

Making Chinese Scroll Tapestries to accompany our study of Chinese art in the Medieval World.

(They insisted on a picture with their scrolls on their heads. They crack me up!)

The kids loved this entire project. They were excited, enthusiastic and had pride in their work. And they also learned something along they way. :)

But what happens when I sense a slip into the land of bad attitudes and half-hearted effort? There are some days when I work so hard to plan an interactive lesson that is relevant and incorporates multiple learning styles. Sounds like it should be a winner! I am excited to teach the lesson and have fun with my students... but they are uninterested and apathetic. As a teacher, this can be very frustrating. I know that there is only so much that I can do and ultimately the student has to make the choice on their own (thus the "intrinsic" part of the motivation), and if they choose to slack off and complain then there will have to be consequences (and then we are entering into external motivation). But I would love to hear any suggestions that you may have for helping to intrinsically motivate your students.

As I am typing this I realize how much of a hypocrite I am. I talk about bad attitudes and half-hearted efforts, when in reality, how often am I that same way towards God? In my Bible study this week I put the lesson off to the last minute and had to rush through it to get it finished on time. My effort was lacking. I do not have pride in my work because I know God desires more from me. God has given me everything I need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), and yet so often I choose the path of laziness. The consequence is missing out on a great time of intimacy with my Creator because I chose to watch a movie instead. Praise the Lord he is quick to forgive and he never stops loving me, even when I fall short. I love him!

So teacher talk led to God. Isn't that how it goes? If we pay attention we can see all things lead back to God, all things point to their Creator.

Leave some thoughts about intrinsic motivation and remember to sign up for my giveaway!

Hasta Manana!

Jess