Kids don’t WANT to be engaged – do they?

April 16, 2013 By 3 Comments

Originally written for this week’s Generation Next NewsletterToilet engaged

Whilst in Denmark last week I had the chance to meet and share ideas with different schools and organisations around the concept of student (and staff) engagement.

Over breakfast with the Department of Pedagogy at the University of Aarhus, one researcher told me of his study that showed that – whilst many teachers and thinkers (myself included) are suggesting students should be allowed more autonomy in education to find their passions and develop goals around their areas of interest – students report not wanting this.

These 16 and 17 year-old students reported wanting in fact needing to be directed as to what they should be doing, even as far as to what they should be passionate about!

So does this mean that those like myself who are pushing for more autonomy in schools are wrong?

You could argue yes.

But I’d suggest that this research could serve as a wake-up call.

Here we have teachers trying to engender and develop intrinsic motivation in their students, and the students are rejecting it.

What becomes of these students when they leave school.

Will they find the same support networks in the workplace or tertiary education?

My experience says no, they won’t.

Intrinsic motivation is an essential component of engagement. If we are genuine about wanting engaged students in school, then we must encourage autonomy from an early age before they become conditioned to having everything done for them.

Even their thinking.

Filed Under: Education, Engagement & Motivation Tagged With: , , ,

3 things I learnt about success from Mountain Biking

April 3, 2013 By 6 Comments

Last year, as part of the Yr 11 PDHPE Preliminary Course, I took twenty Year 11 students on a mountain biking camp. Doing my thing!

We rode through the Stromlo Forest in Canberra by day, and camped in sub zero temperatures by night.

For anyone interested in doing similar, I cannot recommend Will & the team at MtnBike.com.au highly enough! (Tell him I sent you!)

It’s only in the last couple of months that I’ve really appreciated some of the analogies I could draw between by experiences mountain biking and success in pursuing your goals – whatever they may be.

1. The harder the climb, the bigger the thrill

I love snowboarding. The thrill you get from carving it up down the slopes is amazing, and the thrill of racing down a mountain on a bike is similar – but different. Because with mountain biking, you really earn the thrill. Whilst when snowboarding you sit in a chairlift to reach the summit,  mountain-biking  requires considerably more effort. A 10min race down the mountain, may require a 50mins climb. The climb is hard, it’s hot and you need a breather when you get to the top. But that’s when the fun really begins!

When pursing your goals, the more challenging the goal, the more satisfying the achievement. When I’m talking to students, I throw out the following, and whilst not a universal truth it certainly acts as a provocation.

If something seems too hard, it’s probably worth doing. If something seems too easy, it probably isn’t.

2. Momentum is Your Friend

In mountain biking, you need to navigate particularly treacherous terrain. Often you need to slow right down to handle the toughest parts. But don’t stop – even though your initial instinct may be to do so! As soon as you stop, you lose your balance and over you go! (Often to the amusement of your companions!) Momentum helps you maintain your balance, and slowly but surely helps you overcome whatever challenges the terrain presents.

When pursuing your goal, sometimes the road may appear blocked, or obstacles in your way may seem insurmountable. But again, momentum is your friend. Keep moving forward, no matter how slowly. Any progress is good progress because as soon as you stop, you fall.

3. Keep Focused on Where You Want to Go

On a bike, your path is determined by where your eyes are looking. On a hair-pin bend you need to be looking “through the corner.” That is you need to be focused on where you are going. Not necessarily where you are. If your gaze is only on the track directly in front of you, or worse, down towards your pedals (which is the natural reaction) you’ll find yourself sliding off the track – and in the case of the Stromlo Forest down a mountain side. When we rode along fallen tree trunks over streams, again you had to fight your natural instincts to stop (see above) and look down. You could only have eyes for the end of the tree trunk, or you’d be getting wet!

When pursuing your goals, you have to keep your eyes on the prize. Where you’re trying to get to may seem a long way off. It may be a matter of years before you’ll achieve what you’ve set out to do. Regularly reminding yourself of what you want to achieve – and why – will help to reinvigorate your desire to keep going.

Filed Under: Engagement & Motivation Tagged With: , , , ,

Do other schools think more of you than your own?

December 4, 2012 By 8 Comments

When I’m in schools, I always recognise that the teachers I’m working with are the experts on their school.expert

As well as being expert educators, they understand the idiosyncrasies of their colleagues, leaders, students and wider community.

However, what I’m finding more and more is that within schools, teacher “expertise” is often not recognised outside of their perceived domain.

In other words, teachers limit ourselves and each other by our job title. We are there to teach our subject(s), do playground duty and write reports. There is little attention paid to actively recognising and nurturing innovation, collaboration or creativity.

Up until a few years ago this meant that people just got on with what they were paid to do and thought little more of it.

However, with the advent of social media, and Twitter in particular, this has changed.

Online, I regularly see PE teachers from one school collaborating with English or Drama teachers from another. Sharing their ideas, experiences etc. Maths teachers developing innovative ideas with art teacher.

Yet when I ask about such collaborations taking place within the walls of their own school, very often there’s not much doing.

Which led me to ask this question (on Twitter obviously!):

Which led to some interesting debate on Twitter over the weekend… here are the picks…

So with these thoughts in mind, I sought the opinion of school leaders who I KNOW value and actively encourage autonomy, creativity and innovation in their staff.

Ben Jones – Head of Teaching & Learning in Public School in Western Sydney

Stephen Harris – Principal of Northern Beaches Christian School

And to finish with, I couldn’t go past this one… I LOVE the sentiments expressed by John his tweet.

John Goh – Principal of a Public Primary School in Western Sydney

Amen…

Filed Under: Engagement & Motivation, Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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