By Sam Arrieta
Step 1: Identify a MEANINGFUL goal.
Motivation does not exist without a goal or consequences. For any career, assignment, or adventure, people must identify a goal - a goal that a person CARES about. Examples of this could be: to have fun, to earn a diploma, to move into a new house, to get a new job, to learn a new language, etc. In order to do this, a new learner must answer the following question:
Question 1: The most important goal for me in my life right now is ______________________. (Avoid materialistic goals such as cars and instead focus on an over-arching goal to be pursued throughout your lifetime.)
Step 2: Identify the level of interest in learning new information.
Student and Teacher Motivation Levels
As a seasoned educator who has taught several demographic populations and in various socio-economic areas, I believe there are a 4 levels of student motivation. Granted, these are entirely based on my own personal experience, but I believe they hold true across the board. Curiously enough, I believe teachers can be categorized into these levels of interest as well - of course, those who fall under the level 4 classification typically quit and move on to other careers. However, my interest is to develop a project guideline that allows people to self examine and identify their goals, hindrances, strengths, weaknesses, and then create an individual pathway to success. As Crane tells us, “The self reflection model proposes that the strengthening of [academic] resilience is a process of experimental learning… through reflection…” (Crane, Et Al.).
Level 1:
Students who strive to get the highest grade possible and are intrinsically motivated to succeed academically (Well liked and effective teachers).
Level 2:
Students who work hard enough to pass all their classes with satisfactory grades, but academics do not seem to be at the forefront of their priorities (Teachers who fulfill their responsibilities but run a typical classroom setting).
Level 3:
Students who put plenty of effort into classes they are interested in, but fail to complete their work in classes that are irrelevant to their life interests (Teachers who do well in some aspects, but fall short in other responsibilities. They often complain about students’ lack of interest and share their unhappiness with others).
Level 4:
Students who are genuinely uninterested in any school work and loathe the authority figures that “force” them to attend. These students can display signs of anger, depression, aggressiveness towards educators, drug use, disconnectedness, general disinterest, lack of manners, and other at-risk behavior (Teachers who decide to leave the profession and look for another source of income).
In order to properly identify a pathway to our goal(s), I have developed an assignment based on self reflection applicable to all subject areas.
Step 3: Create a visual representation of the following characters using your abilities, talents, and technology available to you (Adobe programs, pen and paper, sculpting, photography, etc.).
HERO: Identify and write down what your strengths are. Create a main character based on your identity. Consider your ethnicity, culture, interests, appearance, career choice, and any other characteristics that are important to you.
Strengths: Competitor
Hard Worker
Strong
Motivated
VILLAIN: Identify and write down what your personal weaknesses are. Create a visual representation of what an adversarial character that represents those shortcomings may look like.
Weaknesses: Lazy
Easily Distracted
Financially Undisciplined
Easily Bored
OBSTACLES: Identify and write down various obstacles in your life. Create a visual representation of each of the main obstacles in your life.
Obstacles: Poverty
Divorced Parents
Trouble-maker Friends
Long Work Hours
ALLIES: Identify and write down the things that help you get through those obstacles. Create a visual representation of them.
Allies: Sports
My Best Friend
Art
Music
GOAL: Recall your ultimate goal and create a visual representation of it.
Goals: A Happy Family
A Successful Career
Becoming a Homeowner
Financial Freedom
Step 4: Create a children’s book using your characters complete with dialogue. Use technology at your disposal or level of expertise. Finally, present it to your peers in a public setting or upload it on to social media. Give it a proper title and be proud of your story.
Overarching Concept: Self Psychological Analyzation
The important part of this assignment is not the final product, but rather the self reflection that occurs in the process of making it. By self inflicting mental stress while thinking of our own shortcomings will help build academic resilience. Crane reminds us that, “Exposure to stressors, and even potentially traumatic events [increases] resilience to future stressors (Crane p.1). In addition, this is a great way to have students who are in the 3rd and 4th levels of academic motivation to share with their instructors (and with themselves) their motivators and hindrances to learning. They can identify internal and external factors that are keeping them from their goals.
Crane M.F., Searle B.J., Kangas M., Nwiran Y., (2019) Anxiety, Stress & Coping. Jan. 2019, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p1-17. 17
Character Artwork from http://www.mostro.com.mx (no longer functioning).
Active learning
Active learning classrooms (ALCs) are learning spaces intentionally designed to promote student-centered, collaborative, and technology-enhanced instruction and learning (Metzger & Langley, 2020). In this blog, Sam Arrieta has created a very active activity for students and teachers to reflect on their goals. It is very active because students and teachers start with making personal goal statements. Students and teachers then can create a visual representation of their strengths, weaknesses, obstacles, allies, and goals. Once the visual is created they will create a children's book using dialogue. This activity has students and teachers actively thinking about themselves in a very creative way.
Trait versus state
A state is a condition brought on by a situational stimulus or process, whereas…
Sam Arrieta explores motivation through meaning in the article Building Motivation: Create a Psychoanalytic Children’s Book Starring You! (Arrieta, 2021). In this article, Arrieta (2021), explores the steps it took to create a motivational experience for learners that would help them to overcome personal barriers to success and to reach their goals. This article highlights motivational factors that are like those found in an article published in the eLearning Industry Blog called 7 Instructional Design Tips Proven to Boost Learner Engagement (Andriotis, 2018). Below, the learner will take a deeper dive into the connections between the two pieces of text.
The Power of Learning Through Storytelling
Stories are a tried-and-true way to engage anyone in learning. A good story-teller…
Meaningful goals
Allowing the student to choose a meaningful goal in this assignment activates what Reiser and Dempsey (2017) called intrinsic motivation. This is a motivation that is based upon internal factors and not a result of the expectation of an external reward. Goal setting creates a clear and decisive space in one’s mind and allows them to see the bigger picture, in many cases, will lead to creating a focused and structured game plan for that goal. The children were encouraged to choose a goal that they found meaningful which produces self-motivational actions and participation because it is not someone simply telling them what needs to be done but is the student making a conscious choice. A choice they…
Motivation with Goal Identification
The purpose of this assignment is to identify the student's goals and uses a specific technique for self evaluation. Motivation to learn is prompted when the knowledge to be learned is perceived to be meaningfully related to one's goals (Reiser, Dempsey, 2017). Relevance can also be achieved by creating meaningful challenges, especially for people with high needs for achievement, and giving them a measure of control over setting their goals and the means of accomplishing them (Alschuler, Tabor, & McIntyre, 1971; McClelland, 1984). This particular assignment revolves around not just the goals, but the strengths and weaknesses that the individual faces.
Volitional Strategies
The mental stress of the self evaluation helps the student to be engages.…