The other night my wife and I came home from a date, and our babysitter was up working on an assignment for school. She's an undergrad studying to be a teacher. Next year, she starts her student teaching.
As she chatted with my wife about how the night had gone, I got distracted by the pile of books she had on the table. One of them was David McClelland's The Achieving Society, this gnarly looking theory book from the 1970s. The table of contents was fascinating — “The Achieving Motive: How It Is Measured and It's Economic Effects” — and so I started falling down the rabbit hole.
“What are you working on?” I asked.
“I've got to do research and decide what my theories of learning and motivation are. It's due Thursday.”
Here's what blows me away about assignments like this in undergrad teacher ed courses:
1) I didn't start getting serious about theories of learning and motivation until I was about ten years into my career, and even then it was only because I started needing ways to talk and think about the deeper questions I was asking about my classroom and classrooms around the world. Prior to this, I had zero inclination toward theories or philosophies. Before a swimmer thinks deeply about her stroke, she must thoroughly learn how not to drown.
2) Our babysitter is bright, passionate, and kind. She's exactly the kind of person I want teaching in every classroom possible. But if she doesn't get practical, competency-oriented help with classroom management and sustainable lesson planning and curriculum design,* she's at risk of becoming another teacher attrition statistic.
My point is just that it's probably not helpful for our babysitter to have to figure out her theories of learning and motivation by Thursday.
I'm thirteen years in, and I'm still figuring out mine.
*Wise schools will remediate for these practical skills with on-the-job help. This looks like explicit instruction in the work that matters most and then deliberate practice around that instruction (e.g., “Here is how to hold your body authoritatively when giving instructions. Now you try.”).
jnolds says
Would it help to have better studies of the history of theories and practices in education? To build the knowledge base a bit more for those incoming teachers? To borrow from a classic book title, theories have consequences.
I’m with you Dave, I’m still figuring my out my theories of motivation and learning–at about double your years of teaching. I’ve read Jedi Masters with double my experience say the same thing. Yet there are some good clues that I hear about best practices and theories for different contexts, and I thank you and others for working through those clues and contexts.
John
pflevy says
I, too, am still refining my theories on this whole motivation and learning thing and I have recently retired after 44 years of teaching.
Yet, I do think it might be a valuable assignment in that it gives novice teachers something to think about as they enter the field and begin their teaching. Teachers need to understand that this is an ever evolving career they are entering and the more they teach the more likely they are to have changing theories. In my blog I wrote about the importance of change and a teacher’s willingness to accept it as part of the evolution of a strong teacher.
It is important for our students’ development to keep an open mind and look at what current research and literature says about best practices in teaching. These ideas evolve as we become more experienced teachers, but we cannot let our experience stand in the way of important mind shifts that make learning more attainable for our students.
Make a change in your approach to teaching: a new theory about student motivation, a new reading protocol, a new strategy, or add a new approach to content. It may help you see your students in a new light.
So, the assignment your babysitter was working on may be the start of her knowledge path and she will, hopefully, reflect on it and modify it many times throughout her career as an educator. This will certainly make her the kind of teacher we want in every classroom.
N.Andre says
Hear! Hear! I have to say I agree with what is stated here. Having some philosophical understandings of the underpinnings of learning and motivation start someone on a path of thinking about these things. While the basic protocols of behavior management and lesson-planning are the nuts and bolts, I believe the best educators are those who are ever- searching for meaning and understanding of the deeper issues of our craft. What concerns me is that the book she was reading was a textbook from 1970, that’s the bigger issue. Hey Dave, why don’t you give her a copy of your book – that will really set a good foundation for the nuts and bolts!
Ica Rewitz says
I think our schools would benefit so much from very basic classroom management coaching for all new teachers. It has taken me so long to even feel like I am half-way competent in this area. It was one of the biggest things that made it difficult for me to decide whether or not I wanted to continue teaching. I studied education theory in college, and it has been helpful, but I definitely didn’t have the background knowledge to fully understand what I was studying at that point.
jnolds says
Good point Ica!
As an occasional mentor, I find that new teachers need such effective classroom management coaching. It gets really messy when there’s no coaching, consensus, and support for effective classroom management. Looking back, I certainly would have benefited from this as a new teacher–my earlier students would have too. I find that a fuzzy sense of “relationships” tends to substitute better thinking and practices for classroom management.
Also, much thanks for the other postings that our helping us interrogate this topic!
John
jnolds says
I really wish we could edit our replies for typos!
diannespinoza says
Classroom management is the bane of my existence. I have always thought, as the wife of a union electrician, that teaching should be a 5 year apprenticeship. How wonderful would it be to teach alongside a seasoned veteran who really knows their stuff when it comes to classroom management? I’m still trying to figure it all out 7 years in. The Student Motivation Course was awesome and I began the year all gung ho to implement the wonderful ideas but got bogged down in the mess of sassy students, preparing lessons on the fly and stress from family difficulties. I’m wimpy when it comes to figuring out the routines and sticking to them in the craziness. New teachers need more support than someone who comes in once a month and does a check in.
Dave Stuart Jr. says
Diann, I hope the Classroom Management Course (http://www.davestuartjr.com/cmc) has helped!