Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation

Here are two stories about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In both cases, I had different relationships with my teachers and was therefore affected by their feedback in very different ways, and I was also influenced by different combinations of external and internal motivating factors.

First, an event where I was inspired to perform:

 
I am a Spanish teacher, and chose this career path 100% because of my high school Spanish teacher. I was fortunate to have her from grades 8-12 (I went to a small school), and learned so much from her that I was almost fluent by the time I graduated. I remember attending the first day of all of my classes in 8th grade: biology, algebra, English, Spanish, etc. and not knowing what to expect from any of the teachers or subjects. I have a very clear memory of going home that afternoon, feeling that my Spanish teacher was the warmest, most understanding, caring, and motivating teacher I had ever had.

As a student who cared about my GPA and my academic performance, I had a lot of intrinsic motivation. (In fact, I had probably too much. I would later drop two college classes when I discovered I was on track to get an A-, rather than an A.) I did well in classes, and knew I was a good student, and would get frustrated with teachers on the rare occasions that they criticized me or offered me feedback. Wasn't it enough that I was getting all A's?! I was not at all open to hearing how I could better myself or how I could learn from my mistakes...that is, until Spanish class. Up until that point, I got good grades just for the sake of getting good grades, but when I got to Spanish I, my teacher made me realize that I could do well on something because I wanted to do well on it. I started doing my work because it was satisfying and rewarding to work through a difficult piece of grammar, or write a page-long story in Spanish...that made sense! And when my teacher gave me feedback, I could tell by her delivery that she was motivating me to dig deeper and produce something even better than I thought was possible, because she actually cared and believed in me.

A specific time that I remember her inspiring me to perform was when I chose to complete my Senior Project (a children's story book) in Spanish. She became my adviser for the project, and challenged me to create something that was complex, creative, and personally meaningful. In this case, I was inspired by her belief in my abilities and her patience and constructive feedback.

In my final year of Spanish with her, she gave me the Spanish award, which she called the "you-can toucan." This award, she explained, was for those students who always persevered, and pushed themselves to do their very best.

Of course, I was also inspired to succeed in Spanish class due to external motivating factors. My school had a "study abroad" program in Mexico City, and after I participated during my sophomore year, I realized that the language had a real world application. Even though I was getting good grades and enjoyed what I was learning in class, I realized how unprepared I felt when I had to use Spanish for even the simplest of tasks, while in Mexico. This experience made me realize how valuable, and personally relevant, the content I was learning in class was. Unlike some of my other classes (ie. chemistry, math, biology), I could see exactly how I could use what I was learning in the real world, and that helped motivate me to actually want to learn it.

And now an event where I was completely deflated and I lacked the intrinsic or extrinsic motivation to get myself out of my slump:

When I was in high school, my chemistry teacher was not the most sympathetic teacher, especially to those students who clearly didn't show an interest in the subject. He had his clear favorites, and didn't seem to put out too much effort with the rest of us who weren't science people.

One particular instance where I remember feeling deflated was when we had to do a large, independent project on an element from the periodic table of elements. I had zero interest in the subject, could see zero relevance to my life, and felt like my teacher was going to give me zero motivation to succeed. And so...I didn't succeed. It is the only time that I can remember failing something in school. Although I wasn't motivated to do the project, the bigger problem was that my teacher did not provide us with checkpoints throughout the project, so he could make sure we were on-task and headed towards success. The way I remember it is that he assigned the gigantic project...and then several weeks later, it was suddenly due. I remember being completely caught off guard.

I was so embarrassed, I talked to my mom, who suggested I meet with the teacher, to see if there was anything I could do about the "F." We met, and he explained that he didn't get the impression from me that I cared at all about the class. I explained that I didn't find it interesting and that I couldn't see how I was ever going to use any of it once I left school. He   offered to let me choose a topic that did interest me (from within Chemistry), and complete a smaller project for half credit. All of a sudden, things were might be sort of interesting, now that I thought about it. He then explained that I could choose how to deliver the information: paper, poster, booklet...and all of a sudden, I was almost interested in the project. It was that easy: let me make the topic personally relevant and interesting, and give me choice, and all of a sudden I'm a different sort of student.

Of course, experiences like these greatly influence what kind of teacher I am. 

I begin every single unit by having students relate the vocabulary to themselves. This unit is about championships, contests, and competitions, so I had the students pick out ten words from their vocab list that apply to their lives and make a connection (write the name of their coach next to the vocab word, "coach,"). Tonight, for homework, one of their tasks is to find a picture or object that relates to the vocabulary. Tomorrow, we will be using the props in vocabulary games. I know, from previous units, that my students LOVE any chance to talk about themselves and share with their classmates and friends.

I also try to provide them with choice, whenever possible. Letting students be in control of some aspect of their education makes them more willing to participate and more excited about becoming involved in the learning experience.

I make sure that I connect with each student, every day. While my students are doing their warm up activity, I go from desk to desk, handing back papers and projects, answering questions, and generally just "checking in." I make sure that I provide oral motivational feedback, compliment a student when they have remembered to do their homework or when they got a better-than-expected grade, etc.
And lastly, I try to make each student determine why they should do well in Spanish. For some students, it might just be to pass the foreign language requirement, so they can get into a state university. For other students, it might be so they  can communicate better with their Spanish-speaking relatives, or to get into AP Spanish, or study abroad.

Teaching and Learning Styles

My name is Anna, and I live in Huntington Beach. I am currently pursuing my Master's and Single Subject Credential in Spanish. I spent three years teaching Spanish at the elementary and middle school level at a private school in Costa Mesa, and have been a long term substitute Spanish teacher at a public high school for most of this school year. Languages are my passion, and getting to share them with students is the best. I am energetic, creative, and try to make class fun for everyone.

All of my classes are made up of diverse student populations, and it can be a challenge creating activities and implementing a plan that works for everyone. The key is differentiation (and time management). I think that I intuitively knew to differentiate instruction, even before I knew that "differentiation" was a word. It just makes sense to expose students to content material in a variety of ways.  In my classes, we learn through singing, drawing, writing, acting, speaking, and listening. My current classes are block periods, and are 100 minutes long. That's a lot of time to spend trying to engage high school students! Because of this, I make sure to divide the period up into social and individual activities, movement games and seat work, speaking and reading, using multimedia and drawing. Hopefully, by the end of each class, I have provided an opportunity for each individual student to work with the material in a way that makes sense for him or her.

I don't really like taking personality tests, because I feel that my responses change depending on what I'm talking about. For example, I am social when I'm in front of my students, but tend to be more of an introvert as soon as I'm off the clock. I DO, however, see the value in comparing my teaching style to my students' learning styles. For example, I do not learn through music, but I know that many of my students do, so I need to make sure I don't teach only in the ways that are comfortable/helpful to me.

Metarasa Personality Test

According to the various personality tests, I am surprisingly well balanced, which I would imagine is a good thing in a teacher. I am either an ESTP or a ESFP, but my answers fall right along the center line, meaning I am not an extreme of either option. As an ESTP, I am an "action oriented problem solver," and "enjoy getting things done, and taking action to solve practical problems," whereas as an ESFP, I am an "action oriented people person" (Team Technology, 2017). Both of these descriptions make sense for teaching; teachers need to be flexible, action-oriented, but also have people skills. I had similar results from the other surveys.

This year, I have a lot of high achievers and low achievers in my classes, with a relatively small percentage of my class lying in the middle third. I also have a lot of boys, so the energy level is pretty high. Due to this, I need to make sure I include activities that are action-packed and let students use their bodies and socialize. I also have a lot of studious, focused students, who are detail-oriented and crave structure. For these students, I need to make sure that I use graphic organizers, present the agenda every day, and show charts and graphs. Although my personality test indicated that I am fairly well-balanced, I do think that I tend to work better with the energetic boy personality type. Therefore, I need to make sure that I also provide structure for my students who don't learn the same way as these boys. I am also more action-oriented, rather than someone who thinks for awhile about something before acting. However, many of my students need time to contemplate an assignment before beginning. I can cater to these students by mentioning an assignment well in advance of the actual due date, so that these students can think and plan. I am also open-minded about assignments, allowing students to take an idea and run with it in whichever direction they prefer. However, I have a lot of students who are uncomfortable with this, and would rather just have black and white instructions, so they know exactly what I want and expect from them. To help with this, I can create assignments that offer choice, with detailed expectations for each option, and then also include a "make-your-own" category for those students who are comfortable thinking outside the box.

The most important thing I learned from thinking about how my personality will affect my relationship with my students and how I teach is that I need to be flexible and make sure I don't only teach in a way that matches my particular personality.


References
*Team Technology (2017). Metarasa personality page. Retrieved from https://www.metarasa.com/mmdi/questionnaire/

MAT674 Introduction- Differentiation

My name is Anna Drakulich, and I teach Spanish. I'm originally from Massachusetts, but have been in California for a little over ten years. The area I grew up in is pretty culturally- and linguistically- homogeneous , so I have really been enjoying the diversity Southern California has to offer. My Bachelor's Degree is in Second Language Acquisition, a major I created so I could trick my school into letting me spend my time doing exactly what I wanted, haha.  I speak Spanish and German, and love travel and learning about other cultures. I participated in several study abroad programs in high school and college and my love of languages and culture grew, but it wasn't until I taught English as a Second Language in Costa Rica that I realized I should put it all together and become a teacher. I taught Spanish for three years at a private elementary/middle school here in California, spent last spring subbing in various districts, and will be spending December through June doing two back-to-back, long-term Spanish subbing positions at a public high school in Huntington Beach.

I love teaching, adore my students, and really enjoy creating fun and interesting lessons. I learned a lot from teaching elementary and middle school, specifically the value of keeping my lessons varied and engaging. Where I currently teach, classes are 1 hour and 40 minutes long, so providing interesting, differentiated lessons is extremely important, so that my students don't become bored or antsy.
A typical day in my Spanish classroom involves a variety of activities that cater to a wide range of learner styles and abilities.
We do:

 Project-based learning: For every unit, I do a project so that students can relate the material to their own lives and the real world. For example, when my students were learning about travel vocabulary and terms, I had them make a "suitcase" and fill it with clothes and items they would need for a trip, and then produce a written piece describing where they would go, what they would bring, and what they would do on their trip.


Pair and group work: We spend a lot of time working in pairs or small groups. Sometimes, I let the students choose their groups, and at other times, I choose.

Use Mini White Boards for pictionary, vocab and grammar practice, hangman, quizzing partners...

Integrate art and music: For Spanish words and concepts that are hard to remember (such as verb conjugations), we watch YouTube videos and listen to songs. I recently ran into a student from my first year teaching, and she was still able to sing the song we learned about conjugating verbs!

Play games

Use multimedia and technology

Use graphic organizers to provide structure and help us organize our thoughts

Have a say in how we want to demonstrate our knowledge

Do activities that allow us to get up and move 

Make videos, audio recordings, and act out our own scripts

Talk, write, listen, draw, sing, play.

After taking this course, what can I add to my knowledge of myself?

What can I add to my knowledge of my content area?

I'm not sure my knowledge of myself has changed much because of this course. Most of what I learned in this course has, instead, affected my knowledge of my teaching area, specifically in terms of expanding my instructional strategy toolbox. I really, really enjoyed that I was required to explore blogs and make a website, and that I was encouraged to choose creative, not standard, expression when it came time for assessment. I played around with blogging a little bit, years ago, but not recently, and have never made a website, although I've always wanted to. I'm glad this class made me try it. I now feel more confident about assigning blogs and website creation to my students, and I also now see the possibilities of using such tools to create a class site. I also appreciated being given the option of how to demonstrate that I understood the material. I have always been a big fan of providing students some choice in assessment, but have never really been given the chance, myself, to actually try it. Every single time, I was relieved that I didn't just have to type up a standard paper, and found that I was way more willing to do the assignment when I got to choose either ablog, PowerPoint presentation, or Prezi, instead. I think it's very important for our National University courses to demonstrate and model what they are teaching us, and for us then, in turn, to model and demonstrate the same for our students.

I also appreciated having to pay close attention to pre-, ongoing-, and post-assessments. I of course knew I should always be doing them, but having to actually plan out a unit plan with them, specifically, in mind really helped. I had to pause and think about if they contributed any value, if they accurately measured what I wanted to know, and if they allowed students to sufficiently practice material before the final, summative assessment rolls around.

Spanish Pre-Assessments

Intro: 
I enjoyed this assignment, as it made me really think about the purpose and effectiveness of my selected pre-assessment. However, it was difficult to implement a solid pre-assessment, in a realistic, authentic environment, due to the fact that I do not currently have my own class. This week, I subbed one block of a Spanish I class, which was a mix of 7th/8th/9th graders, where I was able to select four students who finished with their actual classwork early enough to help me with my assignment. I explained the purpose of the assignment and gave them the instructions: they needed to choose five things, which would be: people, animals, places, or objects, and then list adjectives to describe them. I gave them prompts to get them started, saying they could look around the room for an object they knew they they could label and describe, or they could use friends, pets, someone famous, family members, etc.

Results: 

Interestingly, the 4 students who I worked with all chose their family members and pets. After reflecting on the assignment later, it occurred to me that my actual instructions didn’t entirely make sense for the unit that it was a part of. The adjectives the students were to theoretically have just learned in the previous lesson were ones which are used to describe people and/or pets (timid, social, daring, tall, short, fat), and can’t really be used to describe places or things. No wonder they all chose people and pets!

Reflection and Adjustments: 
I originally planned on using the pre-assessment only as a means of checking that students had digested the new adjective vocabulary they had learned the previous day. The lesson that would follow this pre-assessment would teach the students the grammar rules about matching adjectives and gender, and the lesson would conclude by having the students go back and correct the original pre-assessment using their new-found knowledge.
Because the students I used weren't actually my own students, though, and hadn't actually done my planned lesson the day before, I ended up getting results that differed from what I was expecting!
Because the students I used for the assignment had learned different vocabulary words and phrases to describe people, I was able to see how I could actually use the same pre-assessment at a later point in the unit (after they presumably have learned the gender grammar rules), as a way to check student understanding and to determine what I might need to reteach or further practice. For example, out of the four student samples I procured, I can see immediately that every student made at least some spelling mistakes (some more than others).  Additionally, while most students seemed to understand how to change adjectives to match the subject's gender (ex. a boy would be gracioso, while a girl would be graciosa), every student still made at least a couple gender mistakes, and three out of the four students didn't remember that the word "deportista" is an exception and stays the same regardless of the gender of who/what it is describing. I saw that I can learn, just from this simple pre-assessment, that I would need to review gender rules and exceptions, and also Spanish spelling rules (specifically which letters get doubled and which don't, and where and how to use accent marks).

Beyond the original "check for understanding" uses that I had foreseen, I realized that it could also serve as the first step in a bigger project either in the same unit, or in later, more advanced, units. For example, the textbook my school used for middle school had me teaching a unit on table settings (plates, tea cups and saucers, spoons, napkins, etc.). In an attempt to make the unit more exciting, I had the students create comic/cartoon characters out of the items. 
It occurred to me that I could use a similar pre-assessment in the table setting unit, which would require students to use creativity to assign characteristics to their made-up characters. Maybe Carlos el Cuchillo (the knife) is daring and intelligent, and Matador el Tenedor is timid, anti-social, and non-athletic. If I used the pre-assessment in this way, it could actually also double as an opener for a short writing piece. First, students brainstorm adjectives to describe their characters, and then they build on it bit by bit and eventually complete a larger writing piece with descriptive sentences, and potentially even likes/dislikes, action verbs, etc.         

Reflection and Adjustments: 
After the students finished, and after I realized they were familiar with more grammar rules than I had expected, I reminded them that, in Spanish, adjectives need to match what they're describing, in terms of gender. I asked them to work with a partner and see if they could locate and talk about any instances where they may have forgotten the rule. We spent a minute or so going over it and making sure they understood. I also pointed out how fantastic it was that they had thought to include things I hadn't even asked them for, but which they knew how to say, such as describing hair and eye color.

Conclusion: 
I went into this assignment thinking about the pre-assessment I had chosen as just a warm-up and as a way to make sure that students had retained information about what they had learned the day before. What ended up happening, however, is that I discovered several other uses for my original pre-assessment. What I particularly like about it is that the format involves very little prep (all I have to do is make the template once and just copy it) and it can have several uses. By providing the 5 columns, I can have students brainstorm information in a variety of ways: sorting vocabulary into categories, describing different characters in a story, listing facts about different Spanish-speaking countries, etc. And for assessment, it can be used to check for understanding, to see what I need to reteach, to check a student's progress, or to allow students to revisit and correct/add later, after learning new information.

When I was in 4^th grade, I partook in a pen pal program with students in Japan, and my mind was just blown by the fact that there were entire countries filled with people who spoke and did things differently than everyone I knew in the U.S.  This experience was the beginning of a lifelong love for foreign languages and cultures.  During my sophomore year of high school, I took advantage of my school’s one month study abroad program in Mexico City, and was hooked.  The following year, I spent a semester in Austria, where I learned German and got to visit a number of countries in Europe.  Senior year, I visited England during Spring Break.  I then spent a month backpacking through Central America, learning to love the Spanish language and culture even more!

Hiking Cerro Chirripó, the
high point of Costa Rica,
during my Central America
backpacking trip.

Now trilingual, I decided to double major in Spanish and German at college, but I was disappointed by the programs, so ended up creating my own major: Second Language Acquisition, which combined child development, psychology, education, and language pedagogy into one big focus. As part of the program, I spent a semester in Costa Rica, interning at an English language school, assisting in ESL classes for students ages 5-18.  This was my first real taste of teaching, and I loved it. Almost everyone in my family is an educator, so I guess a teaching career was inevitable, although it took awhile for me to make the choice.  A few years later, I moved to Mexico and spent almost a year there, improving my Spanish, enjoying the culture, and teaching private ESL classes to people in my town.

Celebrating the holiday, Las Posadas.

Four years ago, I was offered the opportunity to teach at a private school in Costa Mesa, CA, and I spent the next three years teaching Spanish to students, Kindergarten through 8^th grade.  Although the experience was incredible, I wanted to grow, professionally, so decided to leave and pursue my California Single Subject Credential in Spanish. I will hopefully be continuing on with the Master’s program, upon completion of the credential component. I am currently a substitute teacher at Orange County School of the Arts, and within the Huntington Beach Union High School District. I recently was offered two almost back-to-back long-term subbing positions at a local high school, and will be teaching Spanish there in December/January and then again from March through the end of the school year.

Some of my elementary students,
celebrating "Day of the Dead."

How did your personality affect your choice of content area?

My personality test results have me labeled as an ISTJ. I don’t usually agree with these types of tests though, because they do not allow people to select how they are or how they act in different situations. For me, work is work, and play is play.  I am one way when I’m at work, but when it’s “me” time, I have different personality needs. For example, I am an introvert when I am not at work: I tend to prefer to spend time alone or one-on-one with someone.  But, this is partially because I get my social fulfillment from working with students. I am not at ALL an introvert when I’m teaching.  I am very energetic, sociable, warm, funny, caring, and supportive, and am comfortable interacting with my students.  I am not quite as caring and sociable when I’m not at work, because I’m tired, I’ve exhausted my “caring” supply at school, and am ready to be selfish and take care of “me.” I also think, plan, and work sequentially when I am doing school work or lesson planning, but I am very spontaneous when I travel. 

Perhaps due to my personality as an introvert, I always really enjoyed studying grammar, and learning new material on my own.  My ability to plan, set goals, and work diligently towards meeting them means that once I set my mind to a task, such as learning Spanish, I worked until I had accomplished it. My love of travel feeds into the desire to be able to communicate with people everywhere I go. I spent three months traveling around Europe last year, visiting 13 countries, and made an attempt to learn at least some things in each language I encountered.

How does or will your personality affect your relationship with your students?

In the same way that some people are social butterflies at parties, or other people get a rush from negotiating high stakes business deals, I come alive when I'm in the classroom.  I truly enjoy working with kids, and they can tell.  I use a combination of humor, warmth, and structure to keep my students engaged, feeling successful, and on-track.  The fact that I am organized and punctual means that I am always prepared, and can model these behaviors for my students.  
People with ISTJ personalities can get frustrated when other people are inconsistent or irresponsible, so this is one thing I have to watch when I am with my students; students are OFTEN inconsistent and irresponsible, and showing frustration won't help at all, and would actually likely make things worse. I will have to be sure to be extra patient, encouraging, and supportive, and help students develop self-regulation and self-discipline in their learning.
Additionally, I tend to create a divide between work time and "me" time. When I am at school, I am 150% there, enthusiastically engaged in what I'm doing.  When I taught elementary and middle school, though, there was very little need to stay after school and attend events, so once my day was done, my day was done. Teaching middle/high school will be different, though, as teachers are encouraged to attend school events, such as plays, concerts, and athletic events, as a way to demonstrate school spirit and to make connections with students.

How will your teaching and learning style affect your teaching and your students’ abilities to be successful?

Regardless of a teacher’s specific personality or learning style, it is our responsibility to recognize that our students need a variety of learning opportunities, and therefore differentiate our instruction to cater to their needs. I am a visual learner, as are most people, so I incorporate a LOT of visual activities into my classroom.  I make use of graphic organizers, use color coding for grammar and vocab, and teach a lot of grammar concepts through using charts. I also try to incorporate a lot of kinesthetic or hands-on activities in class, giving students the opportunity to move, use their bodies to learn, and work with the material with their hands. Although I personally do not learn well in group/social settings, I know that many students benefit from this style, so I try to incorporate pair or small-group activities into most lessons. I was surprised to learn that most people are not verbal learners, even though lecture or direct instruction lesson formats are extremely common; due to this, I will try to limit direct instruction to just a small part of the lesson.