1. Motivation
TE 301

2. General Announcements
Memo #3 is due at 11:59pm today.
Reference Project Presentation/Interviews will be scheduled for Wednesday Dec 1. Let Rich know if you must be scheduled between 9am-12 noon. Reference projects will be due on this day.
Rich will return to the States tomorrow. Please let him know if you have additional questions regarding your assignments

3. Caveat
Like all of the topics addressed in this course, but perhaps even more so, there is tons and tons of research, theory, and writing in the area of motivation. We are really just scratching a little bit of the surface. We encourage you to continue studying this area throughout your career.

4. Brainstorming
What are some situations wherein you have been motivated to read or write?
What are some factors that make you unmotivated? 4

5. Motivation
The Literacy Dictionary (Harris & Hodges, 1995, p. 158) defines motivation as, among other things, “the forces within an organism that arouse and direct behavior, as internal sensory stimulation, ego needs, etc.”
In the context of schooling, we often talk about motivation to learn, which Brophy (1998) defines as “the tendency to find academic activities meaningful and worthwhile and to try to get the intended learning benefits from them” (p. 12).

6. Literacy Motivation
In literacy, we often talk about motivation to read and motivation to write.
Reading motivation is defined as “the individual’s personal goals, values, and beliefs with regard to the topics, processes, and outcomes of reading” (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000, p. 405).

7. Why is motivation important?
There is a correlation between reading motivation and reading achievement. Writing motivation is also related to writing achievement.
Engaged reading is related to reading achievement, and engagement may also compensate for factors which typically contribute to a poor performance in reading such as low income and poor educational background (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000).

8. Why is motivation important?
Struggling literacy learners are often unmotivated to read. Thus, it is important to get them engaged with reading and writing.
Students who are more motivated around reading generally read more and students who read more generally have higher reading achievement (Guthrie, Wigfield, Metsala, & Cox, 1999). 8

9. Motivation and Literacy
Motivation is a fragile commodity.
Motivation tends to decline over the years.
Teachers recognize the need to focus on motivation because it is related to achievement. 9

10. Motivation as Situational
Many people think of motivation as a fixed characteristic of a person, as in ‘she is really motivated,’ but it is more accurate to think of motivation as largely situational. That is, any given person can be very motivated, not at all motivated, or somewhere in between depending on the situation. For example, a reader might be very motivated to read a favorite comic book outside of school, but not at all motivated to read an assigned novel inside of school.

11. Expectancy X Value Framework
The effort a student is willing to put forth for a given task is directly related to two factors:
The belief that he/she will be successful
The value of the outcomes gained through successful completion of the task
(Feathers, 1982)
Video Clip

12. Different Kinds of Motivation
There are many different kinds of and ways to think about motivation. The following are some popular concepts and distinctions:
Competence motivation (White, 1959): humans want to be to be competent at the things they do, and are naturally motivated to develop competence (though there are many things that can interfere with or enhance that).
Self-efficacy: One’s belief about one’s capabilities to accomplish a goal, and of the various actions accomplishing that goal requires. Self-efficacy impacts what goals or tasks one takes on, their motivation, their effort, the attributions they make when they succeed or fail, and so on.

13. Different Kinds of Motivation
Intrinsic motivation: Intrinsic motivation has a range of definitions. Most broadly, it is motivation that is not result of external inducements. Included in intrinsic motivation are things like personal interest, curiosity, a desire to learn and know, enjoyment of a feeling of mastery and accomplishment, and so on.
Extrinsic motivation: Motivation deriving from external factors such as grades, rewards such as money or prizes, recognition by others, and so on.

14. Motivational Orientations
Learning-oriented versus Performance-oriented (Dweck, 1989): Roughly speaking, being learning-oriented is being more motivated by the kinds of things listed under intrinsic motivation. Being performance-oriented is being more motivated by the kinds of things listed under extrinsic motivation.
In general, in the long term, a more learning- oriented, intrinsically motivated stance results in greater learning. If extrinsic motivators are used, they should generally be followed by intrinsic ones.

15. Attribution Theory Perceived cause of an outcome
Person’s explanation of why a particular outcome turned out the way that it did.
Students typically attribute their success or failure to ability, effort, task difficulty, the teacher’s mood, luck, etc.
Source: (Seifert, 2004)

16. Attribution Theory
Students who believe their own efforts influence their learning are more likely to exert additional effort in the future.
Students who believe that they fail due to a lack of ability may develop negative feelings of self-efficacy and give up (Wang & Palinscar, 1989).

17. Achievement Goal Theory
This theory posits that students achieve because they are pushed by certain goals (either mastery, task or performance goals).
Mastery goals seem to be more linked to intrinsic motivation. Those who are pursuing mastery goals have more cognitive development in mind. “They believe that effort is the cause of success or failure and intelligence is malleable.” (Seifert, 2004, p. 142). They also are more interested in challenge, are strategic, and are metacognitive.

18. Volition
Some researchers and theorists emphasize the importance of volition, which can be defined as will, persistence, tenacity, continued self-efficacy. One conceptualization is that motivation influences initial decisions made about actions, but volition mediates the degree to which those decisions are enacted and sustained (Corno, 1989).
For example, in reading or writing, a student may be initially motivated, but may lack volition and thus abandon the reading and writing task before it is complete (Park, 2007).

19. Motivation is a Teacher’s Hardest Job
Finding out what is motivating for a child can be the hardest thing you do, but is often the most rewarding
Quick write time:
Did you do the reading for today? Be honest! What did you read and why? What motivated you to do the reading? From week to week, what do you find motivating about the readings (or not).

20. Teachers and Motivation
Sometimes people think motivation is innate, or that it comes entirely from the home, but research suggests that teachers can have a huge impact on students’ motivation, in literacy and beyond.

21. Teachers and Motivation
Brophy (1987) created a list of what teacher can do to motivate students:
Model interest in learning.
Induce curiosity and suspense.
Make abstract materials more concrete and understandable.
Make learning objectives clear.
Provide informative feedback.
Adapt academic tasks to student interests and provide novel content as much as possible.
Give students choices between alternative tasks.
Allow students as much autonomy as possible in doing tasks.
Tasks should be moderately challenging.

22. What are we having kids do in the classrooms?
One study (Turner & Paris, 1995) found that students were more likely to be more motivated as literacy learners if their teachers provide open tasks rather than closed tasks.
In open tasks, students are in charge of both the process and the product.
Meanwhile, in closed tasks, either or both the process or product have been determined. 22

23. Teachers and Motivation
Across a series of case studies of highly motivating primary grade teachers, a group of researchers (Pressley, Dolezal, Raphael, Mohan, Roehrig, & Bogner, 2003) found each teacher using at least 40 different mechanisms to motivate students that have been identified as effective in the literature!
Video Clip 23

24. Assessing Motivation Classroom Observations Reading Journals
Open-ended questionnaires
Interest Inventories
Attitude Surveys
Elementary Reading Attitude Survey
Motivations for Reading Questionnaire
Reader Self-Perception Scale
Title Recognition Test
Adolescent Reading Attitudes Survey 24

25. Instructional Strategies
As the teacher, you need to be a reading role model!!!
Bring in other adult role models.
Provide time for recreational reading.
Consider the kinds of incentives you provide to students for reading
You need to provide incentives that are related to what you are rewarding.
Consider literature circles or idea circles. 25

26. The 6 Cs Challenge Choice Control Collaboration
Constructing Comprehension
Consequences 26

27. Activity
In small groups, discuss some examples that you read about in the Chang book that address the 6 Cs.
What are some things that you gleaned from the text that help you think about how to create a motivating environment for your students? 27

28. Reminders Memos #3 are due tonight
Time is running out, please make sure you are getting the child assessments necessary for your child study.
Call or me with questions regarding assignments.
See you all soon,
Rich HR.