Motivation in Schools - Student Motivation

Motivation in Schools

The topic I originally planned to look into for my Action Research Paper was the affect of reward systems on a student's academic performance. My idea was that a student's performance could be influenced by the presence of a reward system. I was interested in seeing if certain subject areas were more likely to use such systems than other subject areas. I strived to see if a student's academic performance could mean more than just their exam scores and ability to complete assignments. I wished to see if a reward system could change the way a student was motivated in the classroom; to see if their overall attitude could be changed. I also thought to look into their attendance in classes where motivation was present. I wanted to see if they were less frequently absent and if they participated more. And lastly, I thought it would be interesting to see if students felt they could in turn change their "destiny" in education, or if they simply believed they are predestined for something else.

As I was looking further into my topic at hand, I decided to go a different way with my paper. I got away from the "reward system" and decided to look into student motivation as my topic, focusing on the teacher-student relationship. In high school, I can remember one teacher that changed the way I saw science and it affected me greatly. Before this teacher, although I was always in advanced science classes, I never achieved high grades. I always struggled to keep up with other students, and when I performed poorly on exams, my previous teachers never thought to why I had done so. She approached science in a way I had never seen before, and she offered recognition and praise. She set up the classroom in such a way that I never felt I was being left behind, and she encouraged us always to work up to our potential, and then some. I was motivated to do well and in a way I had never cared for before.

I chose to look from the student's point of view, instead of talking only to teachers. I thought it would be more useful to see what the students thought, as I am pursuing my graduate education in Secondary Education. My ultimate goal, to be a teacher, could only benefit from the research I was setting out to collect. I wanted to know what circumstances student's felt most comfortable working in. Also, I wanted to see what made them "tick" inside the classroom.

I had the opportunity to use some of the readings I had to complete for my SED 213 class for this paper. In that class, we used two textbooks which I felt fit my topics needs. The chapters on motivation proved useful to my paper, and even gave me ideas to look further into. In the chapter, it discussed a student's need for affiliation and approval. By wanting to be a part of a group, a student might be motivated to perform in a certain way, in order to gain entrance to that group and in turn gain their approval. The idea of achievement motivation was also brought up, in which students need to excel only for their own sake without external rewards.

I found that Alfie Kohn, author of Punished by Rewards and many other books on education, feels that achievement motivation is most important to a student truly learning. He feels that authentic experiences in the classroom can only occur when the teacher leaves out all words of praise and punishment. He feels that praise can often be empty in nature, and in turn could actually do more damage to a student than good. Punishments are also damaging, because students could be turned off to learning because they constantly feel threatened by the teacher. He feels that if we want students to take responsibility for their learning, it is up to us to give them responsibilities. They will in turn learn to make good decisions by having the opportunity to decide what happens to them every day, and not by following someone else's directions.

Kohn also feels that traditional grades turns student's creativity off and causes them to lose interest in what they are learning. He also feels that they lead students to avoid challenging tasks. He made a point of noting that most students feel the point of going to school is to get A's, and not to really learn. It is this need to perform that poses a threat to the education of all students, and traditional grades are the ultimate cause. There is more to memorizing the right answers; because teachers haven't completely done their job if the students don't understand why those answers are the right ones.

Greg Michie's book, Holler if you Hear Me, took the opposite approach to what Kohn proposed. He not only offered his students praise when he felt they deserved it, but he took the time to empathize with them. He knew nothing about their cultures, and in time he came to learn many things about them. In the courses that he taught he always sought to find the best way to relate the material to his students. He often had them read about people from their cultures to serve as motivation that they could be more than the neighborhood expected of them. He also motivated his students by keeping his ears open to them, he listened when they talked, which was not always the case with their other teachers.

I initially planned to gather my research primarily by interviewing at least 10 high school teachers, varying in their subject areas. I also planned to look further into the differences in advanced versus regular classes when it comes to motivating students to perform. I looked forward to observing first hand the ways in which a teacher uses a reward system during my school visits. After changing my initial proposal, I also decided to revamp the method I was previously going to use to collect my research.

Instead of interviewing 10 teachers, I decided to go right to the students, and I surveyed 30 students in two different classes. I was placed in Uniondale High School for my observations for another graduate course, and I thought I would use my time there to my benefit. Uniondale High School is in Nassau County. The school has about 1400 students in grades 9-12. There are 93 teachers in the school, with 27 other professionals and 24 para-professionals also on staff. The students are 77% African American, 19% Hispanic and 4% White and other. The average class size is 23 students.

I decided to ask my cooperating teacher if she would allow the students to take my survey. After looking one over, she gave her approval and I set the stage for the surveys. She allowed me to be involved with them, instead of just observing in the rear of the classroom, so that made it easier for me to ask them to help me with my research.

I waited until my second day of observing to distribute the surveys.