Motivation to Learn Brian Edwards University of New England

Motivation is a topic that is subject to much debate in the academic community. There are many theories that have been formed due to research conducted on student motivation. The five theories listed in Classroom Motivation by Eric and Lynley Hicks Anderman are Self Determination theory, Attribution Theory, Expectancy-Value Theory, Social-Cognitive Theory, and Goal Orientation Theory. Self determination theory discusses student motivation as it relates to how a student feels about their learning process. According to Anderman and Anderman, self determination studies three student needs: the need for autonomy, the need for competence, and the need for relatedness. From the limited knowledge and exposure that I've had to the theory, I believe self determination theory relates to what students need to feel about their school work in order to be properly motivated. If a student doesn't feel that they are driving the learning process, that they need to know the material, and that the material has some application in the 'real world', they will not be motivated to learn. From my own personal experience, I find this theory to be an accurate assessment on student motivation. If I meet these three needs for a student, I will have a much harder time motivating them to take an active interest in the class. Attribution theory is founded upon the question of 'Why?'. Theorists study student responses to why something happened in the classroom. How students analyze why something occurs can be very powerful. For example, if a student wonders why a particular unit is challenging to them, they could either suppose a negative answer, such as they are 'dumb' or not particularly good at the task, or they could suppose a positive answer, such as prompting the student to ask more questions and do more research on the topic. Theorists say that attributions are reliant on three ideals: Stability, or whether or not the reason their situation occurs is permanent or temporary, Locus, or whether the situation is caused by the student themselves or external factors, and Control, or if the student can control the cause of their situation. I think this theory is really powerful because if a student thinks that every situation is completely out of their control, they will be very unmotivated in their work. I look forward to analyzing how this may be impacting my students. Expectancy-Value theory is reliant on two different question; "Do I expect to succeed at this task?, " and, "Is this task of any value?" Researchers suggest that in order to be motivated, students must answer yes to these questions. From my own experience, I completely agree. In school, I always tried harder at things that I was good at and things I found worthwhile. On the other hand, if I didn't think I was good at it, or if I didn't think the task had any value, I would immediately discount the task as something that I didn't want to do. I hated these moments so much that I would completely shut down

and refuse to do anything if I was faced with these obstacles. I know firsthand that this theory has merit and I am planning on thinking about this more and more as I plan for the future. Social-Cognitive theory is a theory that brings a lot of different frameworks together. Anderman and Anderman attribute this work to Albert Bandura who said that a human's behavior is influenced by his or her personal attributes, environmental characteristics, and behaviors. He also stated that all three of those influences are directly influence by one another. He also states that students are motivated to engage in behaviors that they see in others. I agree with this completely. I have a student in my room now who is very adept. He is also someone whom my other students respect. The days when this student is working hard and on task, you can literally se the motivation spreading across the room. If this student is having an off day, you can also see that ripple through the room and things become more difficult for me to manage. Another important aspect of social-cognitive theory discussed is the concept of self efficacy. This states that if an individual thinks they have the ability to do a task, they will have more success than a student who thinks they have no chance at the task. As stated in the text, self efficacy levels pertain to an individual's assessment of their own attributes. Students with higher self efficacy will usually have greater successes in the classroom and teachers can go a long way towards shaping self-efficacy in students. Social-cognitive theory is a complex theory with many variables but I believe that with hard work done by the teacher to promote self-efficacy, create a positive environment, and promote good behaviors, the social-cognitive theory can be used to shape highly motivated students. Goal orientation theory deals with a few different aspects of why students approach school work with different levels of motivation. Goal orientation states that students approach work from either a mastery or performance standpoint. Students who work with mastery in mind want to master the content of the classroom for themselves. Students who work from a performance standpoint are more interested in comparing their work to the work of others. Now, both types of students can come from either an approach or an avoidance standpoint. For example, students who are mastery-approach students want to learn the content for the point of learning something new while mastery-avoidance students want to learn the content only to avoid misunderstanding the material. I find this concept of approach and avoidance fascinating because I was always an avoidance student. Depending on the class, I was either a mastery-avoidance or a performance-avoidance student. I was always concerned with misunderstanding the material or not doing as well as other students in my class. Until I read this, I never really assessed how much that impacted my learning process. In my experience, being an avoidance learner made schoolwork very stressful for me, but I was highly motivated because I wanted to avoid looking like a fool. I am looking forward to seeing if my teaching leads students to be approaching or avoiding learners. All five of the theories listed have their own strengths and weaknesses. What I have taken from the reading so far is that there are many ways to motivate students. Even if some of the schools of thought differ, the end goal is shape students into being motivated learners who have an interest in their education. I look forward to using these theories to make my instruction more effective.

References Anderman, E. M., & Anderman, L. H. (2010). Classroom motivation. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education.

Dear Parent/Spouse/Family Member, My name is Brian Edwards and I am a Social Studies teacher at Attica Correctional Facility. As you are aware, ______________ has recently been enrolled in academic classes at the facility. I am writing you this letter to explain to you some of the goals of the program and some details about my philosophy on education. Being a adult man in a correctional facility is a situation that very few are prepared for. Upon arrival at the facility, if a person does not have a G.E.D. or a high school diploma, they are immediately enrolled in school. Usually this is the last thing anyone wants to hear when they arrive. Going back to school as an adult is a daunting task, especially if an individual has been out of the classroom setting for many years. Things have been forgotten, ideas have been lost, and strategy has washed away. Many students enter my classroom thinking that they will not be able to accomplish their educational goals. Some students believe that they cannot do it. According to Self-Determination theory, an educational theory on motivation, students need to feel that they are capable of performing a task before they can be motivated to succeed. What I am aiming to do in the classroom is give my students the skills necessary to feel confident in their own abilities to succeed. I think this is very important because, as is the nature of the correctional setting, many men here have lost hope. They lack the confidence that they can accomplish great things. By reinforcing this theory in the classroom, I hope to instill in these men the confidence that is necessary to be a motivated learner. The facility environment is something that can be very stressful for students in my class and all individuals incarcerated here. According to the Social-Cognitive educational theory, environmental characteristics can play a large role in someone's behavior. I can assure you that my classroom is a very positive environment for my students. Not just in the decorations or the lighting, but in the attitude. First of all, my classroom is a safe haven for my students. They can feel comfortable to say what they are feeling and they will always have an ear to listen. Also, my classroom environment is a relief from the concrete and metal of a cell-block. Using this theory, I aim to use the environment of my classroom to not only create more productive learners, but also it to relieve stress and foster productive behavior from my students. A lot of the struggles that my students have academically can be pinpointed to the fact that they are less willing to take a risk because they have been let down many times in their educational careers. This can create what Goal Orientation theory refers to as 'avoidance' learners. This means that students want to avoid misunderstanding a topic and they want to avoid being compared to other students because they are afraid they will look foolish. In my classroom, there are many different things that I will do to have students stop avoiding and start approaching. Through different group activities and assignments, hopefully we can start seeing men approaching their schoolwork with eagerness rather than trying to avoid failure. Hopefully, this trend will also overlap into other areas of their life. Feel free to contact me at anytime if you have any questions and I will be sending you frequent reports of ________________ 's progress.

Sincerely, Brian Edwards Social Studies Teacher Attica Correctional Facility