Rick Lavoie Motivation

Rick Lavoie Many reasons for lack of motivation including: learning disabilities, school disappointments, fear of failure, frustration, and mismatched approaches. Rick points out three myths of motivation on Motivation Breakthrough. 1) Nothing motivates that kid. The truth is – is that all human behaviour is motivated. Perhaps a more accurate statement is that the child is not motivated to do what I want them to do. 2) One day he’s motivated, the next day he’s not. The truth is – behaviour and progress may change, but motivation is consistent. ***BIG IDEA*** Performance Inconsistency I really liked his analogy to three different clocks set to three different times, and moving at three different rates. Even those three clocks will be in synch some of the time, and move back out of synch some of the time. *** BIG IDEA*** We know what to do with kids when they have a bad day – provide supports, etc….What do we do with kids when they have a good day – we punish them. We say you did it today so you should be able to do it everyday. When they have a good day – we should celebrate with them! 3) He’s so lazy, he won’t even try. The truth is he probably isn’t lazy but has ‘learned helplessness’. They have the same behaviour but for different reasons. Teachers need to be more adept at differential diagnosis and at reminding students to give the chain a tug. Strategies we use to motivate: 1) Rewards We give rewards because it is easier, but rewards only work if the reason he is not doing the work is because he is not motivated to do that work. There are a number of other reasons for a student not do their math work for example. Maybe the student doesn’t understand the directions, doesn’t understand the math facts, is having trouble at home, is having executive processing problems or doesn’t have good study strategies/ Rewards will not improve the students motivation to get the work done in any of the above circumstances because motivation is not the problem. 2) Punishment does not disseminate behaviour – it only represses it models aggression does not generalize only effective as long as threat of punishment exists 3) Use of competition to motivate Lavoie discusses Maslow’s idea that primary needs must be meet in order for kids to be motivated. Primary needs include: Hunger Thirst Air & Rest Elimination of Waste Escape from Pain Mel Lavine describes adolescence as a 24/7/365 battle to not be embarrassed. An adolescent would rather be labelled as bad than dumb. Lavoie considers our secondary needs – or psychological needs as our motivators. He outlines 8 of them: 1) Status – need to be valued and feel important 2) Inquisitiveness – need to know 3) Affiliation – need to feel connected to something bigger than you 4) Power – need to be in control 5) Achievement – need to be recognized 6) Aggression – need to assert 7) Gregariousness – need to be with others 8) Autonomy – need for independence Which of these needs motivates you most? Which of these needs motivates your students most? Just like not all adults are motivated by the same things, not all children are motivated by the same things. One of teachers big mistakes is that they try to motivate students with what motivates the teacher. Lavoie talks about ways to motivate students: Praise Prizes Prestige Projects People Power ***BIG IDEA*** Which method you use will vary from child to child and is based on their motivation. Kids motivated by power are often argumentative. Lavoie shares a story where a mentor teacher told him,” You need not attend every battle which you are invited.” Very profound, yet very simple.. He states that we should incorporate three strategies with power-motivated students: 1) Ownership – ask them what they want to study 2) Minor choice – power driven child doesn’t want your power – they want their own 3) Get a commitment Lavoie speaks of the damage using disappointment does. He pronounces that disappointment is too powerful. Lavoie leaves us with another myth. If he’d only try harder, he’d do better. Lavoie argues if he’d only do better, he’d try harder. Our students have success deprivation. ***BIG IDEA*** The amount of effort put forth rarely translates into amount of success ***BIG IDEA*** Students are looking for approval, praise and success What a powerful message – all educators should watch this!