1. FROM CARROTS, CROWBARS, AND CANDY TO
OPTIONS, OPPORTUNITY, AND OWNERSHIP OF
LEARNING: PRINCIPALS OF MOTIVATION &
ENGAGEMENT
Jennifer McCarty Plucker, Ed. D.
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Middle School
2013

2. Learning Targets
 I can examine the importance of increasing
student engagement in text.
 I can dialogue about strengths and areas of
need in my current practices in relation to
engagement.
 I can reflect on the principles of engagement
and apply them to my instructional practices.

4. What does
engageme
nt look like
in our
classroom
s?

5. Opening Anticipation Guide
 On your notes page 1, complete the
anticipation guide by deciding
whether you agree or disagree with
each statement.
READING
some motivation required

6. Influences

7. Guiding Principles
1. Meaning and Mastery are
Motivating
2. Learning is Social
3. Self-Efficacy
4. Interest/Relevance
5. Control and Choice
Adapted from J.T. Guthrie (2008)

8. Our dilemma as educators
 Majority of students do not read for pleasure
 Students are unmotivated, apathetic, resistant
to reading school content
 69% did not read for enjoyment (a signal for
intrinsic motivation)
 2010 international survey-U.S. ranked 34th
out
of 36 developed countries in reading
engagement

9. Importance of reading
engagement
 Engagement & motivation contribute to
achievement in reading
 Interest in reading correlates to reading
comprehension
 Reading engagement connects more strongly to
achievement than home environment
 “Today, more than ever, valuable classroom time
presents the best opportunity-often the only
opportunity-to turn kids on to reading” (Gallagher,
2009).

10. Meaning and Mastery are
Motivating

11. Principle #1: Meaning and Mastery
are Motivating
 Have you ever offered incentives in class to
produce a desired outcome?
 Candy for quiet reading time
 Games on Friday
 What incentivized programs have you
experienced?
 Health club discounts

12. Principle #1: Meaning and Mastery are Motivating

13. Special circumstances where “carrots” won’t hurt, and
might help.
If assignment doesn’t inspire deep passion or
require deep thinking, rewards can help. BUT:
 Offer a rationale as to why the task is
necessary.
 Acknowledge that the task is boring.
 Allow students to complete the task their own
way.
Principle #1: Meaning and Mastery are Motivating

14. Essential Requirement for Extrinsic Rewards
“Any extrinsic reward should be unexpected
and offered only after the task is
complete. In other words, where ‘if-then’
rewards are a mistake, shift to ‘now that’
rewards.”
(Pink, 2009, p.
66)
Principle #1: Meaning and Mastery are Motivating

15. What is motivating our students?
 Show good behavior
 Complete an assignment
 Extrinsic rewards
 get a good grade
 Outperform others
 Look smarter
 Understanding text—not
important
 Understanding is most
important
 Argue, analyze, debate,
explain, organize,
connect, defend,
conclude…
 Not isolated, connected
to “big picture”
 Short or long-term
Performance Goals Mastery Goals
Principle #1: Meaning and Mastery are Motivating

16. Mindse t
“After seven experiments with hundreds of children, we had some of the clearest findings I’ve ever seen:
Praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance.” by Carol Dweck

18. 7 Practices of Mastery Motivation
1. Provide mastery goals
2. Make tasks relevant
 Relevance vs. Entertainment
1. Use hands-on activities
2. Transform text to meaning
3. Scaffold mastery motivation
4. Provide re-teach opportunities
5. Reward effort over performance
Principle #1: Meaning and Mastery are Motivating

20. Turn and Talk
 Share with a neighbor your reflections on what
you’ve just heard or ideas about how to apply
Principle #1: Meaning and Mastery are
Motivating.

21. Learning is Social

22. Principle #2: Learning is Social
1. Open discussions
2. Student-led discussion groups
3. Collaborative reasoning
4. Arranging partnerships
5. Socially constructing the
management
6. Scaffolding social motivations over
time

24. “I Can because I think I Can” (Self-Efficacy)

25. Principle #3: Self-Efficacy
1. Recognize the gap
2. Match the text to the reading levels of students
3. Establish initial confidence
4. Individual students set realistic goals
5. “Grade the learning, not the knowing” (Harvey
& Daniels, 2009)
6. Student value-added assessments

27. Self-Reflection
 DIY report cards
 Goal setting & reflection prior to teacher
feedback
 Use of learning targets
 Reflect on peer models and self
Principle #3: Self-Efficacy

28. Interest/Relevance

29. Principle #4: Interest/Relevance
1. Making real-world connections
2. Personalizing with questioning
3. Extending intrinsic interests
4. Self-expressing
5. Puzzling (working through inconsistencies in
text)

30. Reflect
Pause and Reflect
What are you doing WELL? Which of your
instructional practices align to these principles?
Where have you been challenged? What needs
to change for your students and your teaching?

31. Control and Choice

32. Principle #5 Control and Choice
Seekto balance teachervs. student centeredness
Practices that cultivate motivation:
 Ownership of text
 Options for how to learn
 Autonomy with Accountability
 Input into curriculum
 Self-selection of knowledge displays
 Fed Ex Day
 Voice in standards for evaluation
 Inquiry projects

33. Who is in Control?
 “Excessive te ache r-centeredness is more
disengaging than we imagine. At the
same time, excessive stude nt-
centeredness may be unproductive. Our
goal is to move from teacher overcontrol
to student empowerment.”
Eng ag ing Ado le sce nts in Re ading , p. 35
Principle #5 Control and Choice

34. Closing Remarks
 Professional Book Studies
 We are motivated by the same 5 principles!
 “We may have taught them the skills, but
without the desire to use those skills, where is
the benefit? In many cases it will be what
happens or doesn’t happen in school that is
going to make the difference” (Layne, 2009).