What Motivates Us To Do Our Best?

Dan Pink, author of Drive, The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, offers us all much to think about regarding autonomy, mastery and purpose as the key motivators to innovation. By design, the independent school model thrives on all three. The nature of independent schools compels us to develop our own curriculum and we offer teachers the autonomy in the classroom to teach the way in which we as schools feel is most effective. Of course, mastery of our program and curriculum is essential. And mission driven schools have a "built-in" purpose, which drives all decisions. The mission of a school is the wellspring of vision and energy for the school. It captures the values and aspirations of the founders, the board of trustees, and the school's leadership and faculty. It helps guide decisions; it helps set standards for assessing the school's curriculum. This just doesn't seem to be enough. We all agree that Dan Pink's theory on motivation is in alignment with the nature of independent schools. But then why does sustaining the motivation for both faculty and students prove to be so difficult? So often we get bogged down with the details of everyday life, we tend to forget what we value most about independent schools. Fortunately for us, Pink reminds us. What if we paid better attention to how we motivate others? What if we spent valuable time discussing the true meaning of autonomy, mastery and purpose? But how? A faculty committee? Focus groups? Hearty discussions at faculty meetings led by our all-star faculty members? We could host Fed-Ex Days, support examples of successful motivating strategies, and offer faculty and students incentives along the way - to name a few. I offer the video below and encourage you to share your ideas with us and your colleagues. This is such as important topic for our schools; developing innovative ideas that keep us motivated should be a priority for us. Let's keep the conversation moving ...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc&w=480&h=295]

The New Age of Rigor

Schools often speak of a "rigorous" program, but mostly we fall short of defining our meaning of the word  and how it manifests itself in our schools. We neglect to ask the question, "how does our definition of rigor further our mission?" All educators can take a more precise look at what we teach in our schools, and more importantly, how we teach it. Tony Wagner, a 21st Century educator, touts the necessary skills students will need to be successful in the 21st Century. In this particular article, Rigor Redefined, he analyzes it rather nicely. Here is a quick excerpt introducing his "seven survival skills."

"Today's students need to master seven survival skills to thrive in the new world of work. And these skills are the same ones that will enable students to become productive citizens who contribute to solving some of the most pressing issues we face in the 21st century."

Read on. Enjoy.

I just returned home from my daughter's soccer game. I was along side hundreds of parents and kids playing, watching games and loving the weather of a beautiful fall October day. I must admit I loved it, too. Here was the best part: my son and I were having a football toss before the game. Jake is six and has acquired the best spiral I have seen in a long while. I taught him how to step into the pocket like Eli Manning, protect himself, find his target and let it fly. He did it beautifully! I was so proud. He threw me a perfect pass that was just a bit outside of my extended reach. It fell at my feet and settled on the ground. Besides being a bit embarrassed that I missed his best pass ever, he then taught me a lesson. He said, "Dad, you have to move towards the ball!" I have been telling him this for what seems like forever, so having him return the favor was a bit of karma surprising me in a delightful way. Hearing his words out loud and from his little, angelic voice gave the lesson a whole new meaning.

I thought of you, the reader. I thought of us, the learner. And I reminded myself to move towards the ball. I hope you can see this blog, all blogs and all catch basins of information as the metaphorical ball. I see all information as the ball. And I move towards the information to become a better teacher, a more dynamic leader, a more complete learner. We should seek out learning. We should seek out opportunities to learn and better ourselves. We should see ourselves as lifelong learners -- an overused but very relevant term. We should read books on topics that interest us. Read articles. Watch videos. Tweet. Seek out people who make us think and then surround ourselves with them. We should ask them to challenge us and, in turn, challenge them as well.

Be well, and move towards the ball.