Drive: What Motivates Us?

As we begin our journey down the Smaller Learning Community path, our teachers and school leaders have had many rich conversations about how to improve student engagement, attendance and achievement. We see all three factors as critical to student success. One area that has triggered very spirited discussion and more questions than answers revolves around the idea of homework and grades. How do we ensure that our homework is meaningful and relevant? How do we inspire students to do their homework? How should we grade homework? What should we do about students who don't do their homework? The traditional view is that homework is an important way to reinforce academic content. However, recent research does not really back this up. In fact, the only subject where homework seems to improve achievement is Math. Homework advocates argue that homework is a very effective way to teach responsibility and discipline yet some students appear to have a great deal of trouble finding the motivation to do their homework. It's a complex topic with passionate arguments on both sides of the debate. In the spirit of inquiry and furthering our collective thinking and understanding, we'd like to share an RSA Animate based on the work of Daniel Pink, the author of several provocative, bestselling books about the changing world of work. According to his web-site, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, is based on 50 years of behavioral science to overturn the conventional wisdom about human motivation and offer a more effective path to high performance. The RSA animate is about ten minutes long and well worth your time. We hope you enjoy it!