Motivation and Autonomy in the Elementary School

I have been thinking a lot about motivation lately. During spring break I read Daniel Pink's book Drive.
Pink writes about the science behind motivation, citing a number of studies by various behaviourists. He also looks at some modern business practices that he says help motivate people and are paying off for those companies who have adopted those practices. For example, he talks about 3M and what he calls 20% time or time for employees to work on projects of their own choosing.

According to Pink, the more autonomy individuals have in their workplace the more motivated they are and happier to show up for work. As an educator I wonder how we can give our students and teachers more autonomy?
We all know of students who given the choice of what to do will choose play or research a topic totally unrelated to the course content, so how do we increase autonomy while still meeting curricular outcomes?

Maybe we can have 2 Friday afternoons a month devoted to time for students to explore topics of their choice. What could that look like? One school I worked at for a time had a half day each cycle where students would work with a staff member on something that staff person and the students were interested in. We had some students explore art, drama, music, cooking, various crafts, geocaching and dance. The idea was to help students connect with a staff member at the school in a way they wouldn't otherwise, and to build a sense of belonging so as to reduce student absenteeism.

Did teachers feel more autonomy? Did the students feel more autonomy? I don't know. Was this the goal? I wonder what it would look like if we revisited this idea with even more options. How would we give more options? If we surveyed students and staff about autonomy and motivation before and after having this time to explore what would they say about autonomy and motivation? Would it be different?

Looking at school as a whole, until high school most students have no choices in subjects, time they must do those subjects or what they will do during that learning time. I wonder what an elementary social studies class would look like if students could pick the time period or events they wanted to learn about? Could teachers invite "experts" to visit the class? What would it look like if students were to choose what they would create to show their learning?

How would we motivate teachers to plan for this kind of teaching? How do we motivate teachers to plan their day, week, month and year now? As a teacher what motivates you to plan interesting lessons for students? How do you include student voice and choice in your lessons? What does autonomy look like for teachers in elementary schools? Choosing when to teach ELA or Math? Choosing when to teach writing or the topics in the social studies or science curriculum? How you arrange your classroom, what you are able to hang or use to decorate your room with?

I don't have any answers at this time, but I do have lots to think about. I will keep reading and talking with my colleagues about motivation and continue to share here.
Let me know in the comments what you think about motivation and autonomy for students and teachers. How do we assess motivation and autonomy? Why is it important? Is it important?

I'm Back

I haven't posted in a long time, however because of a book I'm reading for work, I've decided it is time to revisit my blog and maybe make some changes along with a commitment to blog weekly.
I'm reading George Couros' book The Innovator's Mindset  and he speaks about being willing to do what we want others to do as well as the power of blogging.

Spring Break

Had a lazy day today. Took Ballou for a walk  in the same woods where the Boxer attacked her. We saw a woodpecker and then met up with a Chocolate Lab and a Shitzu. Bear and Yogi! Ballou was afraid of Bear at first, but when she realized he wasn't like the Boxer she was okay.

Japan Quake

Can't stop watching the news from Japan. It is terrible! Makes worrying about flooding seem minor by comparison.

Vicious Boxer

The days are longer and it was warmer today so when I got home and it was still light I decided to take Ballou for a walk. We have a nice natural area near us that in the winter is a great place to walk a dog off leash. We usually meet one or two other dog walkers while out and the dogs all sniff and say hello then we go our separate ways. Today was a different story, the boxer came up sniffed and then attacked. She had Ballou on her back and was trying to get the jugular. Ballou was yipping and yapping, I was trying to pull the Boxer off, but couldn't get a hold on the collar so I started hitting it with the leash to no avail. Finally the owner pulled the dog off. I was livid! I told the owner that if a vet visit was necessary as a result they were paying and made her give me her name and phone number.
I think she thought I was over reacting.
Ballou is actually fine, thank goodness, as for me I didn't enjoy the last half of my walk and was still shaking when we got home.
Good thing Len wasn't there or the Boxer might have turned on him when he planted a few kicks on its head.

Pileated Woodpecker

While walking Ballou at Assiniboine Park yesterday we saw a Pileated Woodpecker. He (I am pretty sure it was a male) was beautiful. I don't remember ever seeing one before. After doing some research on the internet I have learned that Pileated Woodpeckers do not migrate and Winnipeg is withing their range, so I am hoping to see him again, maybe with a mate, and hopefully when I have a camera, or better yet Len has his.

Psoriasis

I wasn't going to blog about psoriasis but I have reached my limit.
Every one who knows me is aware that I have this dreaded condition, one that is so dreaded that Star Trek used it to scare prisoners into confessing and behaving. A fact that my loving sons' thought was hilarious! LOL!
So in the past years I have tried many things and now have embarked on a new "miracle" drug. Enbrel is part of a family of drugs known as biologics. It works by binding with the proteins that attack the skin to cause enbrel. By binding up the proteins they are unable to attack my skin and so it clears up. All good so far, but there is a cost. Enbrel is VERY expensive and my private insurance company keeps blocking me. Before starting on this drug, Enliven, a patient support service provided by enbrel, and I called my insurance company to get the low down on how they would pay for the drug or if they would pay for the drug. They said that they would cover 80%, that they would pay immediately, that I didn't need a letter from a doctor, nor any other letter and that there was no cap on how much I could claim. Then I put in my first claim and they denied it. Enliven called and yelled at them and they sent me a check. Now my second claim went in and they have decided that there is a cap, so we have to yell again. The big issue here is that I have to pay and then submit, so I am sitting with a huge balance on my credit card because the month has gone by and they didn't send the check like they were supposed to. I haven't identified my insurance company but I would really like to as I am sooooooo angry with them. All this stress is not good for my psoriasis or anything else either.
Well I must say maybe blogging is a good way to get the stress out. LOL