Name of Proposal
Page ii
Commercial in Confidence © Cambridge Education (LLC)
The Motivated Classroom Model
Contents Page
· How we influence other people’s self-motivation: the “external drivers”· Relationships and power: the “two dimensions”
· The “classroom climates” model
· Working in the sunny classroom: moving up “the gears”
· Moving from a “secure” to “sharing”: the most crucial step to take? / The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught but that every child should be given the wish to learn.
Peter Senge
It’s what teachers think, what teachers believe and what teachers do at the level of the classroom that ultimately determines what kind of learning that young people get.
Andy Hargreaves
We keep our children too
dependent for too long,
denying them the opportunity to exercise their considerable capacity
for initiative and responsible action
Margaret Donaldson
Teachers lack a shared language that allows them to share the wisdom of the profession and to be clear and precise about what they know works.
David Hargreaves (2003
This handout is based on the work of Alan McLean, whose book The Motivated School was published by Paul Chapman Publishing (London) in 2003. ISBN 0 7619 4384 6
The Motivated Classroom Model
Motivation is…
· What literally “moves” us into action: either towards something by striving for it or away from something by avoiding it.
· Why we start, why we go on, why we stop, why we give up.
· A marshalling of enthusiasm, confidence and persistence.
· An internal process or external incentives that spur us to satisfy a need.
· A response we make to challenges and threats in situations where success and failure are possible.
Seven Principles of motivation
1. True motivation comes from the self: it is locked from the inside out
2. We are all born with intrinsic motivation to learn, naturally inclined towards mystery and exploration
3. Although young people can only unlock their own motivation from the inside, they need help from adults to do it.
4. Our natural motivation to learn needs to be nurtured and stimulated rather than controlled.
5. Our thoughts, positive or negative, have a big influence on our motivation, especially our ideas about progress and ability
6. Schools’ and teachers’ own motivation is “downloaded” to their students.
7. Homes, schools and classrooms can strengthen or weaken students’ natural self-motivation.
The Motivated Classroom Model
How we influence other people’s self-motivation: the “external drivers”
Traditionally, schools have sought to influence young people’s motivation from the outside by either punishment or reward. Ironically, teachers often also lament the fact that students are not self-motivated and unwilling to take responsibility for their own learning. Alan McLean argues that by far the most powerful motivation comes from the inside and that young people need to be self-motivated. However, teachers and parents must face the challenge that young people cannot do this on their own. They need help from adults who can have a strong influence on their motivation through what Alan McLean calls the four “external drivers”:
1 Showing we care (engagement)
When we get to know and take an interest in children and young people and have high expectations of them; we encourage them to be all they can be but we also value and accept them for who they are. Students say it’s about being interested in them as individuals; believing in them; not ignoring them; being willing to listen and understand; being informal
2 Establishing expectations (structure)
Early on, we provide young people with a secure and safe environment where they know where they stand and what is expected of them, but they also know what they want and how to achieve it. Students say it’s about:
· being firm but fair
· being “strict for you”
· consulting them
· not humiliating them or being superior
3 Empowering them to learn (stimulation)
We get young people actively involved in their learning; we design interesting and enjoyable activities with the right level of challenge, which arouse their curiosity and make them think. Students say it’s about:
· being interested in the subject
· using humor
· being open minded, listening to your opinions
· not being boring
4 Giving support (feedback)
We talk positively with young people about what they have achieved and help them to evaluate their own performance; we praise and reward appropriately, but we are also honest, accurate, realistic and critical. Students say it’s about:
· noticing when you have difficulties
· telling you how you are doing
· encouraging you to do better
· helping you when you are stuck
The Motivated Classroom Model
Relationships and power: the “two dimensions”
The social dimensionRelationships / The political dimension
Power
People relate to you and show they value you as a person / You are in a secure environment where you know where you stand and it’s clear what needs to be done
(Engagement) / (Structure)
You get feedback which is honest and accurate: critical as well as affirming / You are involved in something that you care about and interests you
(Feedback) / (Stimulation)
Motivation is an extremely complex area in which each one of us has two balancing, contradictory motives: to be the same as other people and to be different. We are naturally social animals who want relationships with others but we also want control over our own lives. These two motives are at their most extreme in young people, particularly in the teenage years.
So the four drivers – engagement, structure, stimulation and feedback
– can be seen as operating along two dimensions: relationships and power. Young people become empowered through stimulation and structure and find affirmation in engagement and feedback. Both dimensions have a huge impact on young people’s motivation but Alan McLean believes that the teacher-student relationship is the vital component in the motivation to learn.
The two dimensions overlap. For example, feedback can be empowering and learning together in an area of mutual interest builds relationships. However, the two dimensions reflect the apparently conflicting needs of relating to other people while still retaining independence and personal autonomy.
Most people will instantly recognize the importance of relationships in motivating other people, but many have difficulty with the concept of power. But, thinking about it, there is a power dimension in every relationship, certainly that between an adult and a child and especially between a teacher and a class. The power dimension not only applies to how behavior is regulated in the classroom, but also what is to be learned and how.
The Motivated Classroom Model
What is the climate like in your classroom?
Alan McLean uses these two dimensions to create a model of four types of classroom climate. The relationships dimension is on the vertical axis and the power dimension is on the horizontal axis. He describes the climates in the different classrooms, pointing out that like the weather these climates can be changeable and hard to predict.
Indeed, the first point teachers make when asked about the climate in their classroom is that it depends on a whole range of factors, from the chemistry of the class to the weather. Whether it is a wet play time is a favorite example and even the phases of the moon have been mentioned!
These are fair points to make, but research shows us that the one factor that influences classroom climate more than any other is the teacher. You just need to follow a class around a secondary school for a day to realize that. The question really is when you look at the descriptions overleaf which one describes the climate in your classroom on an average day?
The Motivated Classroom Model
The “classroom climates” model
The Protective ClassroomHumid
· High support and low challenge
· Students are hot-housed: overprotected and dependent
· There are low expectations
· Empty praise is handed out: rewards may be overused
· Negative feedback is avoided
· Students don’t take risks
· They do enough to get by
· Academic achievement can be reasonable / The Motivating Classroom
Bright Sunshine
· High support and high challenge
· There is autonomy within structure
· Students are trusted and made accountable
· Creativity and humor are evident
· There is encouragement and genuine praise
· Students feel valued
· They take responsibility for their own behavior and learning
· The focus is on self-improvement
· Students achieve more than most of them believe
The Destructive Classroom
Cold
· Low support and high challenge
· Students are dominated and forced
· There is little sense of fun or enjoyment
· There is blame culture: the focus is on correction
· Students may feel they are not respected or trusted
· They become passive, disaffected and submissive
· They focus on avoiding failure
· Academic achievement can be good / The Insecure Classroom
Stormy
· Low support and varying challenge
· There is a constant battle for control: frequent confrontations
· Contaminated praise: “Why can’t you do that all the time?”
· Some students push the limits
· Some students feel threatened, others neglected
· All feel uncomfortable: they don’t know where they stand
· Academic achievement levels are low
Cambridge Education 6
The Motivated Classroom Model
Working in the “sunny classroom”
The descriptions of classroom climates make sense to the vast majority of teachers. But many quite understandably find the concept challenging. This was well expressed by a beginner teacher who pointed out that, according to the diagram, there are three ways to get it wrong and only one way to get it right. She badly wanted to achieve the sunny climate but, at the moment, that seemed like nirvana. How could she go about it?
This of course is the crucial question. But before dealing with it, we need to point out that Alan McLean suggested that most teachers on a good day are operating in a sunny climate for most of the time. He likens the classroom to a car with three forward and three reverse gears. The three reverse gears are humid, cold and stormy, which are all potentially counter-productive. The stormy classroom is the worst. All teachers want to avoid it if they possibly can yet very few go through their career without getting into it at times. Most will use one of the other reverse gears to avoid the stormy classroom for, although these gears are not ideal, they are preferable.
But, according to Alan, the classroom also has three forward gears and these translate into three kinds of sunny classrooms, the secure, the sharing and the self-motivating classrooms. Most teachers on an average to good day have their class in the secure classroom where students know where they stand, respect the teacher and do what they feel they ought to do. This is classically what beginner teachers are advised to strive for first and where many teachers spend most of their careers as successful professionals.
What Alan is arguing, however, is that if we want students to be self-motivated and take more responsibility for their own behavior and their own learning, we must move up the gears with our classes from one to two and from two to three if we possibly can. But this depends on our ability to let go and trust our students. The step from first to second gear can be the hardest and the most crucial to make.
Cambridge Education 6
The Motivated Classroom Model
Moving up the “gears”
Gear 3 The Self-motivating ClassroomTeacher aims to develop self-motivation by:
· empowering students
· affirming them
How the classroom operates
· the teacher knows students well and values them
· the teacher makes students feel responsible for their own successes and progress
· students have autonomy: they set their own goals with help
· students are self-regulating: they devise and keep their own rules
· there is flow: students are involved in open-ended problem-solving, decision-making and creative thinking
What motivates students to learn
· they want to for themselves
· they feel the teacher empowers them and helps them to bring out the best in themselves
Gear 2: The Sharing Classroom
Teacher aims to develop self-confidence by:
· emphasizing trust and accountability
· having positive expectations
· being an encouraging adult
How the classroom operates
· rules are negotiated
· focus is on progress
· goal setting is a process shared with students
· students are challenged to the limits of their ability
· outcomes of learning are negotiated and there is opportunity for curiosity and enjoyment
· teacher goes beyond praise and rewards to encouragement
What motivates students to learn
· they admire the teacher
· they are involved in activities that interest and engage them
Gear 1: The Secure Classroom
Teacher aims to develop self-discipline by:
· being authoritative, assertive and fair
· giving conditional support
· focusing on conformity and correction
How the classroom operates
· the teacher sets clear and possible goals for students
· there are a few rules which are explicit and clear
· the teacher”s responses to infringements are predictable
· learning is directed and the outcome usually predictable
· the teacher uses praise and extrinsic rewards
What motivates students to learn
· they feel they ought to or should
· they respect the teacher, believe he/she cares about their progress and gives them effective support
Cambridge Education 6
The Motivated Classroom Model
Why is the sunny classroom motivating?
Because in the sunny classroom, young people’s basic psychological needs are met
As well as needing food, clothing and shelter, all of us have basic psychological needs. When these needs are met young people will feel good about themselves as learners, will he happy and do well in school and in life.
Being more aware of what these needs are helps adults to help young people learn and also helps young people themselves to have a more positive attitude to learning, especially when learning is difficult….and everyone finds learning difficult at times.