Click on the picture to see all the words - I couldn't get it to fit in the post. It ties in perfectly with Chapter Ten!
After reading Chapter Ten, which is about motivation, I decided to evaluate myself to try to find out what my motivators are.
I believe that I am very motivated by performance goals. According to our textbook, a performance goal is the intention to seem competent or perform well in the eyes of others. One way of seeming competent is to get good grades. Throughout high school, I was extremely motivated to get good grades. My parents expected me to get good grades, and did not reward me with money or treats for getting A's. I pushed myself to get all A's so that I would not let my parents down.
Now that I am in college, this has changed. I still am motivated by performance goals, but to a lesser extent. I'm ok with getting a B in a class (although I would still rather get an A). I know that I just need to do the best that I can, which is almost like a mastery goal. Our textbook defines a mastery goal as a personal intention to improve abilities and learn, which leads students to seek challenges and persist when they encounter difficulties.
My goal this week: Work ahead as much as I can so that I can enjoy Thanksgiving Break instead of doing homework during the whole break.
1 comment:
Laura, first of all I just want to say I love the cartoon you posted! I, too, have been thinking about motivation lately. I was definitely in a similar situation to you in high school; earning A's was a priority. Still, I believe these grades were so important to me because I believed they reflected how much I had learned and improved, which would therefore make my goals of receiving A's both performance and mastery goals. I know you understand what I mean by this. It will be a certainly be a challenge for us as teachers to really motivate those students are not motivated either by performance or mastery goals, or by extrinsic or intrinsic motivation. However, I know you're up to the challenge, and I hope I am too!
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