In chapter 4 of The Art of Changing the Brain (Zull, 2002), James Zull describes the links between evolution and motivation. Our brain first evolved to strive for two goals: safety and happiness. Later we developed cognitive thinking, which further allows survival by thinking, planning and surviving. As educators, based on the evolution of our brains, learning and emotion are inextricably linked.
One part of this chapter that particularly resonated with me was Zull's discussion of extrinsic rewards. I often hear only one side of the debate, which is that extrinsic rewards provide short-term at best, and can even be potentially damaging. Zull provides a good point that extrinsic rewards can be beneficial in two instances: to start a new task and to persist through challenges.
I was working with a kindergarten teacher who had a lot of behavior challenges going on in her classroom. She had devised a group points system that she seemed to be over-relying on, and she would give tally marks throughout her lessons to tables that were on task. From my observations, it seemed like students were almost acting out so that when they stopped they would get a point. At first I was going to suggest to this teacher that she should stop using this system altogether, but after reading this chapter we came up with a different plan. She would keep the group points system, but it was now a system to keep track of transitions from the carpet to tables. When students went from the carpet to the table she set the timer for one minute. At the end of the minute, groups had one opportunity to earn one point, if they had gotten started on their task.
It's only been about a week, but so far the change is working. Students know that their goal is to get started on their task, and if they do they earn a reward. Once they have started, the teacher is now using different strategies, such as nonverbal reminders and individual conferencing, to redirect behavior.
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