Module 5

Module 5: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation, Responding to Student Answers, Journals

Summary:
Woolfolk explains on page 463 that Intrinsic Motivation as "the natural human tendency to seek out and conquer challenges  as we pursue personal interests and exercise our capabilities." and Extrinsic Motivation as "when we do something to earn a grade, avoid punishment, please the  teacher, or for some other reason that has very little to do with the task itself."
Reflection:
When we read the article from Kohn regarding the use of rewards one of his statements stuck in my head that as we grow older our intrinsic motivation decreases. For me, as an inspiring P.E teacher (hopefully in a secondary setting) I would like to get the most out of my students but have them give their most from within. I am not a huge fan of offering a reward in order for students to "snap into action". The more we as educators swing the preverbal treat in front of our or students they will expect the same thing every time and may not respond to you as a teacher. Therefore in my classroom and in especially physical education, I would like to push my students to be the best they can be and to show them that hard work and "grit" do pay off at the end. I'm not saying that teachers can't make their class fun by implementing some extra credit opportunities, but they shouldn't make a habit out of it.

Summary:
"Feedback is essential for learning, especially active learning when the students construct understanding. Simply put, feedback is information about how the student’s current performance relates to the learning goal (Van den Berg, Ros, & Beijaard, 2014)." (pg. 571).
Reflection:
Woolfolk on-page 571 goes further by giving us some scenarios "If the answer is correct but hesitant, give the student feedback about why the answer is correct"" If the answer is quick, firm, and correct, simply accept the answer or ask another question.""If the answer is partially or completely wrong but the student has made an honest attempt, you should probe for more information, give clues, simplify the question, review the previous steps, or reteach the material." and "If the answer is partially or completely wrong but the student has made an honest attempt, you should probe for more information, give clues, simplify the question, review the previous steps, or reteach the material.  If the student’s wrong answer is silly or careless, however, it is better simply to correct the answer and go on". All of these scenarios I most definitely will try to implement into my classroom. Too many times you see teachers who completely abuse the "OK" or "not-quite" response by giving some sort of feedback. For me, it is very important to make sure students get that reinforcement no matter right or wrong, and that all starts with how we as educators respond to our students.

Summary:
Woolfolk explains on page 603 how "Journals are very flexible and widely used informal assessments. Students usually have personal or group journals and write in them on a regular basis."
Reflection:
Also on page 603, Woolfolk speaks to "Teachers who may use journals to learn about their students in order to better connect their teaching to the students’ concerns and interests. But often journals focus on academic learning, usually through responses to prompts". In physical education, journals can be used in multiple ways just as Woolfolk stated. In one of my middle school classes, we had a teacher make us keep a daily journal on what we learned for the day, one thing we liked the most, one thing we didn't like, and (what I found intriguing) we had to answer the question how are we feeling today? I thought this was a great idea because he didn't put students on the spot where they may fell out of place, but rather let his students express themselves through words. I would like to use the same kind of method in my classes. While I believe journals help students retain information, they can also give us some light into our student's lives and better understand what may be happening at home.