The average registration for a teaching conference costs around $200. After paying that, you typically need to arrange and/or pay for travel, and release time, and substitute teachers, and so on. Once the conference is over, you're often encouraged, but you leave with only your notes and (if you're like me) a strong dose of cognitive overwhelm.
The Student Motivation Course, on the other hand, offers a competitive value:
- Once you register, you have everything you need. No added costs, no subs, no travel. In fact, the price of registration includes a really cool book called These 6 Things: How to Focus Your Teaching on What Matters Most. (It's by this guy Dave Stuart Jr., who I hear is pretty great.) As soon as Corwin releases the book this July, I'll be mailing a free, signed copy to everyone who registers for this Summer 2018 session of the course. The book isn't just about motivation, either — that's only the second chapter. These 6 Things, then, is a significant add-on, giving you a clear sense of how I treat motivation in light big value educational goals like knowledge-building, critical thinking, literacy and mastery.
- Due to its all-online, drip-delivered format, this class is sustained, embedded PD at its best. While I do believe one-and-done PD formats can be transformational for teachers — after all, I deliver keynotes and all-day literacy workshops around the USA, and I wouldn't do that if I felt it was a waste of a schools' time or resources — this online format increases the odds that you'll gain deep, lasting understandings about student motivation, and that you'll be able to apply these understandings to your work over the long-term.
- The course material is designed to apply to all types of learners. Title 1 students? Yes. Gifted and Talented youngsters? Yes. “At-risk” kids? Yes. Advanced Placement students? Yes. Students disadvantaged by the achievement gap? Yes. If your school has initiatives targeting a certain student demographic or group, the course material can inform those efforts. As you will come to see, the five key beliefs are operative in just about any situation involving the need to get human beings to engage, and the research is clear that these beliefs are malleable.
- It's made for people with busy schedules. Lesson videos are 2-8 minutes in length, followed by 5-10 minute reflection application exercises.
If you have any further questions about the course, head to this main page or be in touch at dave@davestuartjr.com.