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2.4 Discussion Board II: Motivation (Required to earn certificate)
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Posted by CUNY Mindset Initiative on March 11, 2024 at 10:58 amđź’¬ Discussion:
- To effectively promote learning mindsets to students it is helpful to adopt them & use them in your own life. When you learn how to make value connections in your own work, the easier it will be for you to assist students.
- Think of a time when you had to do something you did not want to and were successful. How did you navigate that challenge? By what means did you transition from, “I don’t want to do this.” to “I want to do this.”? Where did you find the motivation? How did you stay engaged?
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The answer below is for the following prompt:
Think of a time when you had to do something you did not want to and were successful. How did you navigate that challenge? By what means did you transition from, “I don’t want to do this.” to “I want to do this.”? Where did you find the motivation? How did you stay engaged?
There are quite a lot of times when I needed to do something I didn’t quite want or like, either since that required action didn’t interest me, contradicted some belief I had, required an approach that I didn’t like to use, had a scheduling conflict with another action that I was supposed to cancel because of it, or due to pure laziness on my side 🙂 I am not perfect and never claim to be one 🙂 For the sake of this discussion, I’ll use the example of studying for an exam in an undergrad class that wasn’t closely related to my major (Computer Science).
In general, what I’ve found out was the most motivating in situations when I didn’t want to do something was the understanding that, if I hadn’t performed the action that was expected from me, I would disappoint or hurt someone who is important to me. When understanding that someone I love and cherish will suffer from negative results of my refusing to do an action, or just be sad or disappointed, I proceed full-force to performing that action, regardless of how much I dislike it or have something more important to do. Specifically, for the example of a course, I wasn’t especially interested in, the fact that not only my parents but, surprisingly, also the instructor of the course would be disappointed drove me to do my best and study for the class. I was smart enough to notice the effort that my undergrad instructors put into teaching their classes and the instructor’s true wish to have their students succeed, which led me to understand that doing badly in class will result in the disappointment of good people, which I tried to avoid as much as I could.
From these experiences, I deduce that the interpersonal communication that the instructor has with their students, in its own right, decides whether students will be motivated in the class or not. If the instructor respects their students, shows how they love their subject of study/research, and expresses how important it is for them that their students succeed, the students will ‘catch’ on to this positive attitude and will be motivated to study the subject.
I think my resistance in learning or trying out something on a job as fear and ego. Since I am a career changer twice over, I usually point to an example of when I was asked to take on teaching Math for students with IEP’s at the High School level. I had a fear of Math that went begin in 9th grade when the Math was becoming more abstract and had many more steps to it. My teacher at the time had a low voice and even though I sat in the front of the class I missed some key concepts. Years later when I was asked to pilot a Math program for learners with learning disabilities I had to really buckle down and examine my fears. I was one step ahead of the students in the textbook. My boyfriend at the time tutored me and he was amazing because he had dyslexia and math was his strength. I not only went on to teach the class successfully, but when the boss left, I was able to go back to my chosen subject.
I share this with my teacher candidates when they come down on themselves for failing the Math portion of the teacher’s exam multiple times. Some of them use the term, ” Not a Math person”. I remind them that they have not had this Math for a few years and simply taking a little study course (free by our School of Ed) can help them. If they still cannot pass it, I give them more resources. Nine times out of ten (now I’m using Math), they find that a little bit of openminded-ness and a little bit of elbow grease helps.
Wow, this hit me hard. I have definitely been avoiding the discussion surrounding AI, which is not going to benefit me in the long-term, or my future students! It’s challenging to realize that my approach towards AI has not reflected a growth mindset. Maybe you could share some resources for learning more?
Thanks for sharing your experiences! I teach math and encounter so much mental resistance to engaging with math content – especially more abstract concepts! Many students tell me, “I’m just bad at math”. I think for students like these, overcoming their fears and getting motivated to learn is really half the battle. I often tell students on the first day that one of my goals is to help them see that they can do math, and that by the end of the semester they would even consider voluntarily taking another math class in the future! Thankfully, I have seen that negative attitude change in many – though not all – of my students by the end of our time together, and that is always rewarding to see.
In various personal and professional situations, I’ve experienced initial reluctance towards certain tasks, only to achieve success ultimately. The fear of the unknown or failure often held me back. To overcome these fears, I invested time in fully understanding the project at hand and set specific, measurable, and achievable goals. Seeking guidance from experienced individuals or mentors proved incredibly beneficial, providing me with the motivation and inspiration I needed. Engaging in self-reflection helped me transition from reluctance to a mindset of capability as I tracked my progress toward my goals. Additionally, receiving constructive feedback from mentors and peers significantly contributed to this change in perspective. Internal motivation, the satisfaction of achievement, and external incentives derived from potential outcomes or the impact of my efforts on myself and others were critical in maintaining my engagement and determination.
One of my course requirements in graduate school was neuroanatomy. I did not feel like it was relevant to my research interest on neural development and I was much more focused on my actual research than my coursework at the time. I tried to do the minimum just to pass the class and satisfy the requirement, but I ended up failing the class. I initially asked my program director if he could waive the requirement since it was not relevant to my research but he said he couldn’t. Therefore, I asked my instructor to recommend a tutor who walked me through the course by my side as I retook it. My tutor was amazing and I had a great rapport with him and I ended up loving neuroanatomy and doing really well in the course. In retrospect, I think about how my tutor was able to get me to love something I initially didn’t want to do. He broke up the complexity into tiny manageable steps and made sure I was able to grasp each step before moving on. Sometimes students think there’s no point to making an effort because something is “impossible” to understand. I will share my neuroanatomy lesson with my students as a way for them to see the purpose in getting help.
In high school, I struggled with the preparation for the standardized math test (non-US context). After weeks of procrastination and self-doubt, I remember committing to a set of study sessions and actually being able to complete them. One of the reasons that helped me stay motivated was recognizing that I did pretty well on some of the topics which helped me believe that I can also then do better on the areas that I struggle with if I dedicate time to them. In other words, recognizing my relative success in a related area helped me stay motivated and believe in my ability to grow in another similar area. I try to do that for my student as well. Help them recognize that they have already grown in some areas, which means that they can also grow in others.
There are a lot of things that I have done (and do) that I didn’t want to do (or don’t want to do). I’m not sure I can pick one. As several others have commented, anxiety is a daily obstacle, one that I have learned to navigate. Determination or persistence gets me through, and so does an understanding of a larger purpose or good that serves me and/or my community. A desire for something to work well or serve the world better. That desire is something that I have always had, for better or worse. I sometimes see it is students, too.
This is a very useful skill! I had been trying to identify with students who have trouble getting work done. We professors were almost always studious ourselves, so it’s hard to imagine. Finally, I realized that my procrastination around working out was not good for my health. I learned a kind of “self-helpy” trick to talk myself out of talking myself out of workouts. That is, when the excuses start, “It might rain,” or “I’m a little tired today,” I would just interrupt the thoughts by by counting backwards: 5-4-3-2-1. It worked. Or sometimes, I would make a joke to myself, make my hand into a little beak and mock my whiney voice, “It’s raining, poor me….” Ha ha. I have less troubles with working out consistently now. Also, reminding myself how good I feel when the workout is done is helpful. I tell students to just sit down, open their books, and work for fifteen minutes, then ask if they want to stop. They say this helps quite bit. Think about the first step, then the second, not the hours of work. That helps too. I do it myself: just put your running clothes on.
Think of a time when you had to do something you did not want to and were successful. How did you navigate that challenge? By what means did you transition from “I don’t want to do this.” to “I want to do this.”? Where did you find the motivation? How did you stay engaged?
I got mad at philosophy in high school because the teacher scolded me for talking too much. Of course, it wasn’t philosophy’s fault, but in undergraduate studies, I was terrified to take that class, but I had no choice because it was required. My fear disappeared with the instructor and classmates I had. The professor made everything look easy, and working in groups helped me immensely. I loved it from the beginning and convinced myself I could do it.Truth to be told, end of the semester grading always feels like a daunting task. If there was an olympic category of procrastination, I’d win every time! Hardcore grading is something I don’ always want to do. The way I have overcome this challenge is by breaking up the task into smaller chunks of realistic time and goals, followed up with mini-awards after I hit a grading goal. I also envision how happy I will feel when grading is completed and I pay attention to the joys of seeing students’ progress throughout the semester, which is inspiring. So in a nutshell, tapping into how finishing the goal will make me feel and reminding myself of how this assessment process is an important component for supporting my students.
As a PI on a grant there was a lot of paperwork to submit that I didn’t want to (receipts, reports etc.) At first much of it seemed to be unnecessary or superfluous. However, I realized that the funders had their own reports to write and it was necessary to make sure money was not misspent. What really helped me to change my mind was to focus on the good things that were coming as a result of the grant and see the paperwork as the necessary oil in the machine that allowed those good things to happen. When I focused on one thing at a time and broke it up into smaller chunks over time, that helped me to stay engaged with it and complete it. That also meant I had to learn to not wait until the last minute!
Yes, I think we all feel daunted by grading. Your overall approach of focusing on the big picture and breaking the task into chunks is very similar to my approach. I will have to adopt your mini-awards as well as that sounds great.
As a student, I started off in a group project that eventually became an individual task. Initially, I felt it was unfair that all the responsibility fell on me, and I was reluctant to tackle it. After discussing my concerns with friends, I received valuable feedback that helped boost my motivation. I chose to view the project as an opportunity to hone professional skills for my future career. To stay motivated, I engaged supporters who reviewed my work and provided feedback, serving as sounding boards for my ideas. This experience has become my go-to anecdote when working with students because the project proved to be a valuable talking point in later interview discussions.
I recently had to review dozens of applications for an arts organization. Though I knew what I was supposed to do, I had never been a grant reviewer before. I was shocked to realize it took me much longer than the organization suggested it take for me to review the applications. Because I was overwhelmed with the now enormity of the task, I started procrastinating and not wanting to review the applications. I transitioned from “I don’t want to do this ” to “I want to do this” in several small steps. First, I blocked time in my planner to work on the applications. Next, I gave myself targets for how many applications I wanted to review in a given amount of time. Then, I looked again at the guidelines and created questions to help me focus on the specifics of an applicant’s materials with respect to what the organization valued. Finally, I talked with a colleague who had done this type of work before to get suggestions on strategies that worked for them. Each step helped me be more efficient with the scoring and discerning with the applications to give meaningful feedback to the applicant. As I saw the number of applications decrease, it gave me motivation to keep going and complete the task.
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