Action Plan

The Right Question

Written by Kristen Richardson

At a recent department meeting, the question was posed to us whether we would like to have been students in our own classrooms. As I pondered that, I also started to wonder what it would have been like to teach teenage me… The answer I came to was not pleasant- I think teaching myself would have been hard for a lot of the same reasons that I find some days teaching challenging, be it that I was a mark-driven student, or that I often sought the black-and-white answers to more complex questions. I was a rigid learner and I played the school game very well. Fast-forward a few years, and I am looking to help my students embrace the fluidity of learning, but still finding myself seeking “right answers” in my own learning.

 

One of the biggest pet peeves I’ve found has to do with that dreaded question “Is this for marks?”. I know they don’t mean to drive tiny little needles into my heart… but that question does just that! I wonder though if students (and I’m counting myself in that student category, too) have just been well-trained to associate marks and grades with being right, so the higher the grade, the more right they are, and if you want to go places in life, you have to be right to the people who matter. Having been a grade-giver now, rather than only a grade-receiver, I know that’s not exactly how it works, but the external motivator of having someone else approve of your work and say it is right has been a driving force in a lot of their lives and I found that idea a little uncomfortable.

 

So, suddenly my goal and my question were going to be a whole lot less about feedback or trying turn off the mark motivator, and more about a student finding the desire to do the best they can, not to be right, but with the goal of sharing a cool idea, concept, or product that they are proud of for their own sake.

 

That was really hard.

 

I think this dilemma I’ve grappled with is part of the beauty of my experiences in Cohort 21 thus far. There really aren’t any right answers; maybe good questions are a component, but the answers haven’t come into play. As much as that has been a challenge for me, seemingly subconsciously so, I’m really grateful to have to have slowed down enough to appreciate the process of asking questions of myself and to empathize with those students who want to rush to the right answers, too (which we know does not happen and is often a big turn-off in English!).

 

In a lot of ways, I think my experiences in trying to create a question have in turn guided the wording of my question (are you still with me here?). I had a hard time trying to come up with the right question, but at the heart of it, I needed to embrace the fluidity of the question and really consider the value of the process of not being right and seeking the best question to explore for the sake of me and my students. So, with the help of @ckirsh moving me along (thank you!), now I am looking to understand “How might we increase the internal motivation in grade 10-12 English?” and see if I can make some changes with different models like integrative thinking, inquiry-based learning, passion projects, and incorporating more student voice and choice.

 

I get it. Now I’m hoping to see if my students and I can both undo some of the seeking “rightness” and push ourselves through the uncomfortable process of doing our own ideas justice for the sake of doing it that way.

 

7 thoughts on “The Right Question”

  1. This is so profound and so much of what I found myself asking myself last term. I took a course in current issues and did a lot of research on creativity and was coming over and over to the same point again that in order to be creative we have to be OK to be wrong and as a student, I don’t know I would have been OK with that idea. I have students who are not OK with it but are coming to terms with the being wrong leading to better ideas, uncovering of misconceptions and really learning for the sake of learning. That being said, they are still very mark driven across the hall with their other class. Interesting how they even compartmentalize their approaches to learning and not just the subject areas.

  2. @krichardson it was interesting to read your post! I am a primary teacher and I find whenever I’m talking to high school teachers, the topic you discussed is a constant struggle for them: how to promote intrinsic motivation. They often discuss their students as mark driven and nervous to take risks or share their work. It would be interesting to see some data about how this evolves as students progress through the grades. In primary, many students are blissfully unaware of their marks on their report cards, barely glance at a level when they do receive them, and are always jumping over each other to share their work with each other. However, we do have issues with intrinsic motivation in terms of following classroom routines and appropriate behaviours. It’s interesting because I’ve been at schools where no reward systems were allowed. They wanted to promote intrinsic motivation instead of extrinsic. I get this philosophy and see it’s value, but I have also used behaviour trackers and points in other schools I’ve been in. They have been extremely beneficial at encouraging positive and responsible behaviour. I mean don’t we all like to be recognized when we do something well? I continue to struggle with this- wanting to promote intrinsic motivation, but seeing the value of some extrinsic rewards.

  4. @krichardson,

    You have hit upon the educators nerve. Or nervousness. My own evolving conclusions to this perennial problem are fascinating to me. I have found myself on both sides of the mark/no mark fence more often than I care to ponder. I stand by hybrid models because I don’t believe any silver bullet solutions are out there to solve this issue. Student need both intrinsic AND extrinsic motivators. Seemingly so, and because of the top-down system we are in, senior students rely on extrinsic motivators to judge their worth. This is not necessarily their fault. Its a fault of the system. They are playing the same game we played.

    My feeling is that any attempt you make at breaking down these illusory walls of qualitative value will be beneficial. The more we allow students to follow their own line of questioning as well, getting them to develop the capacity and permission to inquire, the more these numbers will fade into the background. I have found recent success with a methodology called SOLE (Self Organized Learning Environments). I know @lwest has also been experimenting with this process in her senior drama classes. Happy to chat more this Friday. Make sure to introduce yourself.

    Cheers,
    Eric Daigle

  5. Wow, what a wonderful and important discussion you’ve inspired @krichardson. And, of course, this is an extremely noble endeavour. I love how you’ve framed Cohort 21. Indeed, I believe the cohort experience positions us exactly where any great educator/innovator should be – as a learner, one who explores questions as opposed to promoting answers. There are no answers, just deeper understandings.
    The grades discussion is a great one and perhaps desperately in need of our inquiry and innovation. I’m confident in suggesting you won’t find any great research to substantiate a perceived correlation between intrinsic motivation and grades. Though I’m also not certain that means we should be entirely advocating for a complete absence of grades. For instance, as @edaigle suggests, there may be great value at times in extrinsic motivation – perhaps as a pathway towards discovery intrinsic motivation? The real issues may be in how grades are arrived at and then communicated to students.
    So much to talk about! Thank you again for this. There are many eager to find a time to talk about this very subject on Friday. Let’s make sure that happens!

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