Motivation is the key topic in this week's discussion. Motivation "is the drive and energy we put into accomplishing something we want to do. We cannot see or touch it, but it is ever present in our thought and action" (Merriam & Bierema, p. 147). Most see it as the 'reason' people the things they do. People go to work to earn money so they have the means to support their family with housing, transportation, food and basic necessities. Many, therefore, are motivated to work by necessity. The desperation to avoid hunger, abandonment, or negative societal judgement are all motivations to attain financial security, which is why people work. But, once these basic needs are met, why do people look for rewards, work harder than their coworkers or want move into leadership positions?
Your approach looks at motivation in two ways: intrinsic and extrinsic. The intrinsic form is derived from self-desire. Extrinsic motivation is motivation derived from the situation or from others. Building on what has been covered, it is important to think about this from an employer/leader's perspective. How can organizations or teachers use motivation to inspire their employees to perform at a desirable level? Abraham Maslow addressed the theory of motivation and what makes humans do what they do. This short video shows an overview of Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid and how organizations can use it to increase employee motivation.
This video breaks down Maslow's need pyramid into five categories: Physiological, Security, Belongingness, Esteem and Self-Actualization. As the video shows, people must have a lower-level need met before they are satisfied enough to pursue their next need. For employees to pursue greater achievements and goals at work, they must have their needs met first, according to Maslow. The one critique of this overview is the 5-layer pyramid. Maslow initially created the 5-layer pyramid, however, the pyramid has since been expanded into an 8-layer pyramid, which I covered in a previous blog. As a reminder, the 8-layer pyramid goes: Physiological, Security, Belongingness, Esteem, Cognitive, Aesthetic, Self-Actualization and Transcendence. The image below gives a description of the expanded model from Maslow.
Maslow's operates on the assumption that 'learners would not be motivated by things that already satisfy basic needs and requirements, but rather by the higher order needs" (Merriam & Bierema, p. 150). So motivating employees is different for those on different levels. As the video pointed out, employees need attention by management to determine what level they place at in the work environment. After determining they're level of satisfaction, employers and leadership begin meeting the employees higher-level needs to increase production and efficiency.
References Merriam, Sharan B., and Laura L. Bierema. Adult Learning: Linking Theory and Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2014. Print. MgmtJourney. "Improving Motivation witMgmtJourney. "Improving Motivation with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Oct. 2014. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.h Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory." YouTube. YouTube, 10 Oct. 2014. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
In the early 1960’s
Howard Y. McClusky, a Professor of Educational Psychology and Community
Adult Education at the University of Michigan set out to find ways to help adults uphold an optimistic view
of life. McClusky’s Theory of Margin was pertinent for understanding adults,
especially as they aged and faced increasing demands or pressures.
McClusky believed that adults faced continuous growth and transformation
and with this growth and transformation a steady effort had to be made
to use the energy available to meet ordinary living responsibilities. However, because adults have no control over many issues of their lives, they
must discover ways to prepare themselves to meet erratic emergencies or
predicaments as they arise.
McClusky theorized that the main factors of
adult life are the load the adult bears in living, and the power that
is on hand to bear the load. Margin was considered a formula to
communicate the relationship between the load and the power. According
to McClusky load is "the self and social demands required
by a person to maintain a minimal level of autonomy…. [Power is] the
resources, i.e. abilities, possessions, position, allies, etc., which a person can command in coping with load"[1]. In this
formula for margin (M), he placed designations of load (L) in the
numerator and designations of power (P) in the denominator (M = L/P)
However, the formula suggests that the greater the power in relationship
to the load the more margins will be available. For instance, in our
daily lives, the load-power ratio changes and adjusts throughout the
adult years with changes in any of the power or load factors
Spare or excess power provides a cushion to better deal with load
requirements. Margin can be increased by reducing load or increasing
power. In simple terms, the more margin an adult has, the more equipped
he or she will be to deal with the source(s) of the load. The less
margin an adult has, the chance of dealing productively with the
source(s) of load decreases.
Load factors can include such external
things as family, career, and socio-economic status as well as internal
things such as goals, future expectations, and desires. Power consists
of external resources such as family support and economic abilities. It
also includes internally acquired experiences such as coping skills and
personality.
Thus, according to McClusky’s Theory of Margin, an adult must have
some margin of power as an available resource in order to engage in
learning or meet other life demands.
McClusky, H. Y. (1970). An approach to a differential psychology of the
adult potential. In S. M. Grabowski (Ed.), Adult Learning and
Instruction. Syracuse, NY: ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Education. Video - Laura Eng. (2013). Theory of Margin.
In a recent, Oscar nominated film, Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the legendary Sherlock Holmes in the BBC's Sherlock, takes on the role of Cambridge mathematician Alan Turig, who was hired in 1939 by the British intelligence agency MI6, to break the Nazi Enigma code - which many cryptographers believed was unbreakable.
Source: www.cineblogit.com
"Enigma", itself, was not a code but an enciphering machine that the Germans used to send some of their most top secret messages.
What made the Enigma machine so formidable was that its constantly twirling rotors meant that the code needed to decipher the messages changed from day-to-day, and even message to message. These moving parts meant that the code was not generated using some sort of static, predictable alphabet, therefore, Turig and his colleagues had to create their own machine which would follow Enigma at every turn. What worked to decode one message was useless to understand another.
Mechanisms of Motivation
For anyone trying to figure out the code that unlocks human motivation, the frustration mirrors to some degree what these British codebreakers experienced. Chapter 8, in a sense, describes the individual psychological "rotors" that, in an intricate, interconnected way, produce a message to the brain that makes a certain task a priority. From the classical motivational theories of Frederic Taylor, Elton Mayo, and B.F. Skinner, to the more recent speculations of Howard McClusky, Malcolm Knowles, Raymond Wlodkowski, Margery Ginsberg and others, the race has been on to solve the enigma that is human motivation. While one could argue that the fate of the world does not hang in the balance, the efficacy of political, economic, military, and educational policies may well be at stake..
Educational Implications
For me, as a teacher educator, the implications of motivational theory for the classroom are enormous. Policy makers have come to finally realize that external changes in the schoolhouse alone will not result in higher test scores. As Chapter 8 contends, extrinsic and intrinsic motivators - which are tied closely to societal, cultural, and family norms - spin together and create a specific yet transient code for action. As Alfie Kohn has made a career writing about in such books as Punished by Rewards, candy, trips to the class treasure chest, extra points, and other forms of bribery, though they might make a difference in the short term, have failed to motivate students in the long run. The ever-changing hierarchy of needs and constructs that are at work in the student mind do not lend themselves to surface level tinkering and are not decipherable on high-stakes, #2 pencil-driven tests. The rewards have to be constantly increased, like a drug, to achieve the same result. Of more concern to teachers is that their students develop a love of knowledge and its applications that is internal and self-generating - not bound by considerations of what reward will be in the offing. As Merriam and Bierema point out in Chapter 8, McClusky's Theory of Margin, for example, has specific relevancy for teachers (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, pg. 155). Much as a load bearing wall can only stand so much load, piling too much on a learner, particularly through a "traditional, authoritarian stance" that is indifferent to student opinion or experience, can bring the entire educational structure to the ground (Merriam & Bierema, 2014, pg. 155).
Motivation in the Workplace
Beyond education, I see the implications of Chapter 8 extending into business and social institutions where those in charge of others are faced with "breaking the code" that will yield satisfied and highly productive workers. Like Alan Turig, we stand before the twirling cylinders of motivation trying to figure out the combinations. Regardless of what field we are engaged in, the task at hand is to be mindful of the personal, professional, and social variables at work within those we work with and train. Only then, can we have any hope of cracking the enigma of motivation.
Reference:
Merriam, S. & L. Bierema (2014). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
The most
intriguing part of the chapter for me was defining motivation.The difference between intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation is interesting to me. Extrinsic motivation is related to doing a
task that has a means to an end, a reward, such as a pay raise.If you are extrinsically motivated you are
influenced by outside factors when completing a task.If you are intrinsically motivated your
desire is rooted in challenge, curiosity, and mastery.Intrinsic learners are motivated from within
and are usually motivated by trying to achieve mastery in what they are doing.In my opinion I believe that the most
successful people are those who are intrinsically motivated.I think that these people are more likely to persevere
when things get tough because they are motivated from within which is a much
harder motivation to break then a motivation grounded on something that can be
taken by someone.If you are motivated
by external factors and those factors suddenly disappear someone is more likely
to stop trying without the incentive no longer in front of them to chase.
Daniel Pink talks about motivation
as well and discusses terms such as autonomy, mastery, and purpose.I love these three words that he associates
with motivation and the definition attached to them.Autonomy is yearning to direct your own
life.I think this is vital for any
adult learner.I think as an adult
learner you need to have control over your own life in order to learn.The next term used was mastery, which is the
compulsion to progress and improve around things that matter.I think to achieve mastery you have to be extremely
intrinsically motivated, because mastery takes a long time to achieve and there
will be setbacks along the way.The final
talking point was purpose, which encompasses working for something larger then
oneself.The idea that if you put others
first you will in turn be rewarded is a very real thing.
It seems to be only in the Western, rational mind that walls are essential. We construct them in our personal, social, political, religious, and even educational habitats, at times shedding considerable blood to defend them. As Patricia Williams pointed out in her post, the price we have paid in education is the severing of crucial connections between the learning process and the mind, soul, and physical being.
In his best-selling and somewhat controversial book, The Book of Learning and Forgetting, Frank Smith, a Harvard educated professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, links this obsession to behaviorist conditioning. "The evidence for almost all of the great superstructure of behavioristic theorization has come from the study of caged animals," Smith writes, " . . . in experiential situations with activities . . .that are meaningless even for the animals. When the theory is applied to humans outside the experimental laboratory, in schools for example, it routinely fails, in which case blame is attributed, naturally to the teacher" (Smith, 1998, p. 58). In American education in general, and in secondary education in particular, learning is segmented on many levels. Concrete, brick, mortar, and steel physically divide the disciplines into separate classrooms and wings, teacher's lounge and cafeteria cliques create the "two cultures" that C.P. Snow abhorred, and, despite claims to the contrary, state curriculums discourage interplay between areas of thought through obsessive adherence to an objective model of teaching and assessment in which memorization rules. Dividing learning into leak-proof containers has become the job of the teacher, and it is as far removed from what we know of how the human mind is wired as possible. Smith says what we in the class room all know - teachers should not function "as the instructor who organizes the learning that students are supposed to do but as the guide who makes what we would like the student to learn interesting, comprehensible, and accessible" (Smith, 1998, p. 80).
Zen and the Art of Teaching and Learning
Source: www.cnn.com
Some schools have tried integrating the mind and spirit into learning through what some would term as radical approaches such as yoga. In San Diego a few years ago, parents filed a lawsuit against the school system for requiring 30-minute yoga classes for all students. As reported in Education Week, the parents maintained that yoga is religious in nature and runs afoul of the separation between church and state.http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2013/02/yoga_doesnt_pose_well_for_some_calif_parents.html.
Deterred by legal actions such as this other educators have substituted "meditation" and "mindfulness" for "yoga". The reaction from state and local officials, focused on the worth of any educational approach as measured by test scores, has been predictable. I cannot say that I am ready to go as far as adding yoga to the school day. The last time I wedged my chubby legs into a "lotus position" they swelled and required crowbars to be unhooked. However, both in schools and in the workplace, we are "clapping with one hand" if we do not incorporate concepts of embodied and spiritual learning. Just as the coal miners in our text were trained to sense if something was wrong, we can train our students and coworkers to think broadly and critically so that they can smell academic, political, social, and/or cultural bull excrement before stepping in it. The workplace has been quicker to see the benefits of connecting mind and body health than has their educational counterparts. Many businesses now have gyms, exercise centers, and even meditation at the disposal of employees. Leadership courses and seminars tout viewing the "worker" in less mechanistic terms and more as a complete being with needs and potential that is only fully accessible through a more enlightened approach to management.
Another Brick in the Wall
Source: www.mcm.fr
Bleached largely by the industrialization of America and the assembly line process, the image of the Renaissance man or woman, who embraces all kinds of knowledge and their applications, has faded significantly. Some see this societal shift as being perpetuated by those in the corridors of power who benefit from people making as few connections ("connecting the dots") as possible. In education, at least, this means making students, and even ourselves as teachers, just another brick in the wall, as disturbingly illustrated by Pink Floyd.
I will leave discussions of power and politics to Michael Apple and others and return to my original starting point. Categories and partitions, whether physical or intellectual, may serve certain noble and rational purposes. However, as Frost warned, we should ask what we are walling in and what we are walling out.
And who will be imprisoned within.
References:
Frost, R. (2007). Mending wall. Retrieved from: http://www.english.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/frost-mending.html.
Smith, F. (1998). The book of learning and forgetting. New York: Teacher's College Press.
The Wall (1979). Pink Floyd Another brick in the wall [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0LEV1ul2dxWY1sAuZNXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA3lmcC10LTU1NQRncHJpZANKaHNrdGouTlJTU0JlcDRrTkZvcUtBBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwMwBG9yaWdpbgNzZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMwBHBxc3RyAwRwcXN0cmwDBHFzdHJsAzM5BHF1ZXJ5A3lvdXR1YmUgdmlkZW8gYW5vdGhlciBicmljayBpbiB0aGUgd2FsbAR0X3N0bXADMTQ1NzMxNDQ0Mw--?p=youtube+video+another+brick+in+the+wall&fr2=sb-top-search&fr=yfp-t-555&fp=1
The connect between mind and body is often overlooked. The standard
expectation is for learning to occur in sitting position. A recent study
conducted at an elementary school in Fort Worth, Texas found that more recess
time increased student’s focus and problems solving abilities, their ability to
follow directions, and reduce disciplinary issues [1]. Thus, it can be said
that more physical movement aids in learning.
Another group that supports the idea of learning and
movement is Brain Gym International. They teach 26 physical movements that are known
to increase learning, curriculum, and provide teacher certification. These movements
have been shown to increase
Concentration
and Focus
Memory
Academics:
reading, writing, math, test taking
Physical
coordination
Relationships
Self-responsibility
Organization
skills
Attitude
[2].
I have taken a class with a Brain Gym Instructor. From
my experience it makes learning feel more energizing. It has taught me to make
sure my students have ample opportunity to physically move during class. It also has taught me the importance of taking
movement breaks when studying for my own classes.
1. Pawlowski, A.
(2016, January). Want kids to listen more, fidget
less? Try more recess... this school did. Today.
Retrieved from http://www.today.com/parents/want-kids-listen-more-fidget-less-try-more-recess-school-t65536
2. Brain Gym International. (2015). What
is Brain Gym?. Retrieved from Brain Gym International website http://www.braingym.org/about
Body & Spirit in Learning: As Part of Holistic Education
Introduction
In chapter 7 of their book Adult Learning. Linking Theory and Practice, Merriam S. & Bierema L. (2014) point out that to acquire knowledge the Western school of thought has given preeminence to the rational mind approach, neglecting other important aspects like the "emotional, relational, physical, intuitive, and spiritual ways of knowing" (127). However, new researchers have decided to add to the important rational mind aspect, the study of the other approaches to learning, giving importance to all aspects as part of what is now considered holistic education or holistic learning.
Definition
In the introduction to Holistic Learning and Spirituality in Education. Breaking New Ground, John P. Miller (2005) follows the idea of Merriam and Biereman in regards of how our present culture is interested to "train students to compete in a global economy" (42) by putting more attention to the rational mind. Today's education has become, so much "obsessed with acquisition and achievement" that the school systems are more preoccupied with "teaching and learning to "standards" that are easily measurable" (37). In this approach, the learner, in the words of James Hillman (1999) is "an objective observer (...) This characterless abstraction runs corporations, constructs the International Style of architecture, writes the language of official reports. He enforces the methods of scientific research, prefers systems to people, numbers to images. He defines the educational programs and the standards for testing them. He has also succeeded in separating the practices of law, science, medicine and commerce from the character of the practitioner... (238-239).
Miller contrasts this educational approach with how people from the antiquity emphasized in "educating the whole person" (42). He says, "human wholeness is an ancient one. It can be found in the cultures of indigenous peoples as well as in the ancient cultures of Greece, India, and China" (37). In recent years this very old approach to education has gained relevance. Based on this, Miller defines holistic education in the following terms:
... holistic education attempts to nurture the development of the whole person. This includes the intellectual, emotional, physical, social, aesthetic, and spiritual. Perhaps the defining aspect of holistic education is the spiritual (46).
Purpose
The purpose is to awake in the person the "sense of wonder. This can involve deepening a sense of connection to the cosmos" (49). The point of this connection is that learning is an integral process that involves not only the intellect but also the other aspects mentioned before to comprehend that beyond math, history, and grammar, there are other aspects that are as important as learning those subject matters, like caring for our neighbors (humans or non-humans), caring for the world we live in, and for what is beyond our visible world. The point of this approach is to shift the importance of the already mentioned "objective observer" to this "whole person" that cares. Miller describes "three basic principles of holistic education: connectedness, inclusion, and balance. Connectedness refers to moving away from a fragmented approach to curriculum toward an approach that attempts to facilitate connections at every level of learning. Some of these connections include integrating analytic and intuitive thinking, linking body and mid, integrating subjects, connecting to the community, providing links to the earth, and connecting to soul and spirit. Inclusion refers to including all types of students and providing a broad range of learning approaches to reach these students. Finally, balance is based on the concepts of the Tao and yin/yang which suggests that at every level of the universe there are complementary forces and energies (e.g., the rational and the intuitive) that need to be recognized and nurtured. In terms of education this means recognizing these complementary energies in the classroom. Generally our education has been dominated by yang energies such as a focus on rationality and individual competition, and has ignored yin energies such as fostering intuition and cooperative approaches to learning" (58-59).
It is up to us, as adult learners, as teachers, as parents, as sons or daughters... as human beings to connect the intellect to the other aspects like emotions and intuition to connect with whatever we are learning and connect that knowledge with what is beyond our own beings... The purpose is to care and learn and share our knowledge... We should not forget that we are more than flesh, we are part of something bigger than us, and as part of that, we should strive to enrich all aspects of our being.. In the end, what really matters is to be HAPPY!
Sources: Ebert, J. D. (1999). Twilight of the Clockwork God Conversations on Science and Spirituality at the End of an Age
Merriam, S. B., & Bierema, L. L. (2013). Adult learning: Linking theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons.
Miller, J. P. (2005).Holistic learning and spirituality in education: Breaking new ground. SUNY Press.
