This is not the first time I have taken courses toward a master’s degree in education. Following completion of my undergraduate degree in business administration, I enrolled in a teacher-preparation program whose coursework was at the graduate level. I finished all of the licensure coursework and in the fall of 2007 was enrolled in the final class which required the research of and paper to be written on a topic applicable to the mathematics teaching of middle school students. I enthusiastically submitted my topic by completing the first assignment, an annotated bibliography, and then I did not finish the course. The topic I had chosen was motivation in the middle school math classroom. My advisor provided me with feedback that it was not an appropriate topic to fulfill requirements for the course. Fast forward 16 years. In her book Rigor by Design not Chance: Deeper Thinking Through Actionable Instruction and Assessment, author Karin Hess discusses the role of engagement in cognitive rigor.
Citing her 2009 research into the topic, Hess summarizes that emotional engagement is the foundation of the cognitive engagement of students with academic content. “(It) begins with emotional engagement when students make personal connections that answer such questions as, Why do I want to learn this? Or How is this relevant to me?” (Hess, p. 21). Additionally, Hess includes an overview of brain research and summarizes that the emotional climate of learning, whether enjoyable or stressful “really does make a difference in your level of engagement and in how much you actually learn and are able to remember” (Hess, p.17). I am excited that the importance of motivation has begun to be researched and documented in a variety of ways. The chapter noted that providing students with project-based learning (PBL) opportunities allowed them to explore their interests and connect them to classroom content. Interested in linking more resources and tools that could be used to share this information with colleagues, I looked to Lucas Education Research, the research arm of the George Lucas Educational Foundation made possible by imaginative movie maker George Lucas.
The PBL briefs assembled can act as a resource for any educator team who is trying to make a case for integrating PBL into their grade-level team or school curriculum. In an age where students are formally assessed multiple times, my district took both the i-Ready Diagnostic battery of tests and the Ohio Department of Education Restart Readiness Benchmark tests in addition to teacher-assigned exams, project-based learning gives students an opportunity to explore real-world problems and make their classroom learning more relevant. One of the briefs, The Evidence is Clear: Rigorous Project-Based Learning is an Effective Lever for Student Success endorsed the use of a free on-line tool: https://sprocket.educurious.org/ for any teachers or schools trying to implement PBL.
Though rigor is not limited to factors of engagement and motivation, teachers must consider their students when designing classroom instruction. Gone are the days when teachers could teach the same content, to the same grade-level, for multiple years without deviation. In order to get classrooms of students ready for participation in and financial power in a 21st century economy we must engage our students so that they are free to think and connect with academic content in a meaningful way.
Hess, K. (2023). Rigor by design, not chance: Deeper thinking through actionable instruction and assessment. ASCD.
Lucas Education Research.(2021). Research briefs. George Lucas Educational Foundation. https://www.lucasedresearch.org/research/research-briefs/
Created in order to participate in the Lake Erie College course: Models of Effective Teaching and Planning (EDM 517), Fall 2023
Sunday, October 22, 2023
I Knew Motivation Mattered! (Ch. 1 - Laying the Foundation for Deeper Learning)
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Student Metacognition and Reflection meets Creativity (Chapter 6)
Chapter 6 of Karin Hess’s book Rigor by Design, Not Chance Deeper Thinking Through Actionable Instruction and Assessment describes the...
Hi Kathryn. I love that after 16 years something you wrote about that was not considered an appropriate topic, is now a very strongly discussed topic throughout education. From chapter one you selected an idea that also stood out to me: how important motivation for students is to get them connected to rigor. I know we have all been there where we are taking a class/course that has nothing to do with what interests us, or that we can connect with. You find yourself daydreaming and not paying attention to the content, putting in minimal effort when asked. We have to think this same scenario for our students. If we are teaching content that they cannot make a personal connection to, why would they try and give any effort to the class. Taking the curriculum we are given to teach and turning it into something that our students can take a role in and connect to in their own personal ways, allows them to fully engage and care about what they are learning. I love that you mentioned Project Based Learning. I think that is an awesome way to teach content but allow students to have a choice in their learning. I do at the end of the school year and Animal Research Project for my first graders where they get to select an animal to research and present on. They absolutely love it because they are picking an animal that they are interested in and taking the guidelines I give them into their own.
ReplyDeleteKathryn,
ReplyDeleteBefore coming to your blog, I discuss project-based learning in my reply to Katie's post, so that's a cool connection that we have made! Project-based learning is something that was heavily emphasized in my undergraduate program at Kent State University and it is something that is very important to me as a teacher. In another course I am currently taking, I learned about the importance of making sure instructional decisions are made based on students' readiness, interest, and learning profile. I also learned about how instruction can be differentiated through content, process, or product. I thought about this concept as I read your blog post because it made me think about how the process of project-based learning can be differentiated based on students' interests. Through project-based learning, students often feel motivated to learn because they are given the opportunity to explore topics that are relevant to them.
Making personal connections is also an important concept I noticed from your post. When students are able to connect their learning to their own personal experiences, it allows them to become more motivated because the content becomes more meaningful to them. Students love to talk about anything and everything related to their own personal lives. Why not use our understanding of students to create learning experiences that are more meaningful and relevant to them?
Furthermore, I love that you chose motivation as your topic. As a fellow educator, it is something that I also recognize is a struggle for students today. It is also something I have noticed that it is something that is increasingly becoming more of a problem. I have been teaching for 2 and a half years now, plus many semesters of field experience/student teaching and I definitely have noticed that every year, students are showing that they are less and less motivated to learn.