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Rose is a full-time freelance writer who frequently writes about education, special education, DIY projects, food, Milwaukee, and more.

When I was finishing my undergraduate degree, cell phones were fairly mainstream but texting was still a brand new feature. We did have some class discussion about topics such as personal phone calls in front of students and answering cell phones in meetings. However, there are a wealth of new potential areas for disaster in the world of education that were not present when I was an undergraduate, such as teachers "friending" parents on Facebook that should also be addressed.

I've included a combination of modern age etiquette tips for teachers and other general advice for teacher etiquette with other teachers, non-teaching staff, administrators, parents, community members, and students.

General Professional Etiquette Tips

All of these tips are appropriate for any work place setting. The world of education is no exception.

Etiquette with Other Teachers

Using improper social media etiquette can affect your job | WISN 12 News

Etiquette with Non-Teaching Staff

Respect. Teachers or not, everyone who works in a school plays an important role. You never know when you'll need to ask for a favor from the secretary, lunch ladies, or janitorial staff. Make sure that you know how much you appreciate their work with your students and around the school in general.

Discretion. Just as it's important to use discretion when talking with the teaching staff, it's important to use discretion with other staff members. The same rules apply.

Social media communication. The same rules apply that did with fellow teachers.

Etiquette with Administrators

Respect. Even those who have great teaching positions will most likely encounter one or two administrators during their teaching careers who they really don't respect or just don't get along with very well. Regardless of any differences, it is still important to treat your administrators with respect both directly and with your other co-workers.

Communication. Learn how your administrators like to communicate. Within a single system, there may be differences, such as how the principal communicates with staff vs. how the superintendent communicates. Some administrators appreciate a quick phone call or e-mail to give a heads up about an issue, even if it may require a longer discussion later, while others would rather talk it all out in person. If you're new to a school system and aren't sure how to begin, get tips from your co-workers.

Maintain an appropriate relationship. Even if a principal or superintendent does not have the power to fire a teacher, they are still on a higher rung in the chain of command. They are not your friends. Thus, it is not appropriate to be friends with your administrators the way that you can be with your fellow teachers.

Avoid cliques. I have seen schools where certain groups of teachers would get an "in" with a principal and purposely leave other teachers out of important school decisions. Principals are as much at fault as teachers are for allowing this behavior to take place. It's important to get a read on the kind of issues that these teachers are bringing to the principal. If they aren't vital, don't even let them bother you. If they are, do what you can to involve the staff as a whole instead of allowing a single group to hold the power. Regardless, do not get sucked into an "elite" group that purposely excludes other teachers.

Parent Teacher Conference gone wrong...so true.

Etiquette with Community Members

Discretion. Just as you shouldn't discuss budget cuts or layoffs with parents, you should discuss them with random community members either. If you get questions at school functions such as science fairs or school dances, refer people to your administrators or the appropriate parties. Stay away from anything that you can't disclose and keep topics in a positive light whenever possible.

Role model. As a teacher in the community, it's important to maintain a public image as a good role model for your students. This means making smart choices when you're in community places where you may run into students and staff (grocery store, library, etc.) and in public forums online such as Facebook. If you go to a bachelorette party out of town, don't post a lot of drunk pictures of yourself on Facebook the next week. Keep your private life private.

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

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Teacher Etiquette Tips for the Modern Education Professional

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This article is about professionalism in education. It provides teacher etiquette tips for the modern professional. There are general professional etiquette tips as well as tips about teacher etiquette with other teachers, non-teaching staff, administrators, parents, community members, and students.

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@RadTeacherDeziH

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I want to reflect on increasing student sense of community with a focus on taking responsible risks.  --- In other words, increasing internal student motivation.

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On sharing personal stories and using reading circles to create strong bonds in the classroom and to help every student find their voice.

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For many years, my son Daniel disliked math. He simply found the subject boring. He struggled with his homework problems, and we both became increasingly frustrated.

He certainly wasn't developing a love for math, and every technique we tried felt counter-productive. It was taking a toll on our relationship.

Then, one day, an idea popped into my head which I believe was one of my best parenting moments ever. I recalled a scene from one of my favorite movies, Contact, in which extraterrestrial life forms send a message to Earth. The only way for humanity to interpret the message was through math.

Knowing Daniel was fascinated with space and UFOs, I explained to him why math was so important. I could see the mental shift occurring as I explained, if he ever met an alien, math might be the only way for them to communicate.

It was perfect. He was highly motivated ... albeit for a week or two.

In that moment, I experienced what it felt like to have an intrinsically motivated child, and it was wonderful.

Imagine if your child or students had high expectations and very clear goals. Imagine if they understood why everything you asked them to do-studying math, learning to write properly, eating healthy, helping around the house, etc.-was important to them attaining their goals and dreams.

No tricks or extrinsic motivators like money, rewards or grades necessary! Children would think and act based on an understanding of their potential for growth and positive impact on the world. This would surely make teaching and parenting easier.

We all benefit from motivations that come from within and are connected authentically to who we are. However, this can't always be reality, and there's no instant gratification when building intrinsic motivation in students.

Techniques to Instill Intrinsic Motivation in Children

1 - Make the Future Matter!
Years ago, research on a concept calledtime preference emerged in the educational world. This concept describes how far ahead someone looks when making a decision. The findings showed that the average teenager would think 12 to 24 hours ahead when making a decision.Their decisions were made based on the perceived positive or negative consequences that would occur within the next 24 hours or less.

This is instant gratification-centric thinking. As an example, when faced with the option of quitting school or staying enrolled, the idea of no homework tomorrow would play a larger role in the decision than the long-term negative implications of not graduating.

The same study showed that if you could push their time horizon out even a few weeks, they were much less likely to make life-changing, catastrophic decisions like taking drugs, quitting school, or committing a crime.

Take every opportunity to envision the future with your children or students.

Move the future from abstract to something almost tangible by discussing where they see themselves in one, five, or ten years.

2 - Success Begets Success
Have you ever watched a child playing a sport? I've found that the highest levels of engagement and motivation come after some sort of success, whether it is a home run, touch down or goal scored.After my daughter scored her first soccer goal, her love for the game increased dramatically. Nothing begets motivation quite like success.

Humans need gratification and that feeling of accomplishment to stay motivated. Setting big goals is great, but we often lose steam when we experience minor setbacks or are daunted by the task at hand

Teach your children to have big dreams but to break them down into smaller goals that will allow them to experience quicker positive feedback and success.

Recognize the little accomplishments that add up to extraordinary achievements.

3 - Find Them Doing Things Right
There is a philosophy on motivating children called theNurtured Heart Approach. T his is the practice of focusing on the things they're doing right.

Zeroing in on their mistakes or shortcomings, something that can be very demotivating to young people.

There are many case studies on principals and educational leaders who have transformed academic cultures by putting this practice to work.
Look to recognize the positive things your students or kids are doing.
Recognizing the absence of bad behavior can accomplish this. The feeling of success and positive energy is a wonderful source for motivating them in the future.

4 - Give Greater Hope
When you change the way people view themselves, their environment, and their future, you change the decisions they make in the present. In our early work teaching entrepreneurship, our greatest successes were with inner-city drug dealers and gang members.

They were already quintessential entrepreneurs. Their natural inclinations were to build networks, manage processes, and make money. Our programs gave them a healthy and legal outlet in which to use their entrepreneurial skills by providing hope for a better future

The Possible Selves Theory teaches that by guiding individuals to perceive possible "future selves," we help them become more optimistic and function better socially and emotionally.

Teach your kids to dream big and make sure not to harshly judge a dream. The fact that they're dreaming is what matters, not the dream's content.
5 - Let Them Tell Their Stories
I once heard Erin Gruwell speak about her organization Freedom Writers. I was so moved by the power that was unleashed when her students transformed their lives through the process of telling their own stories.

As one of her students put it, "Writing in the diary allowed us to look at our lives objectively and gain perspective. Somehow it gives us strength and resolve, and it cleanses us ."

By taking a step back and finding our stories, we find meaning in our lives, see what matters and inspires us, and organically re-frame how we look at the future.

When you encourage students to find and share their stories, they build self-esteem, make stronger connections, gain inspiration, and often inspire others to do the same. They find themselves in their stories, and this leads intrinsic desire and motivation to expand within them.

6 - Use Video Metaphors
One of the best ways to instill knowledge and perspective is through the use of metaphors.

One of the most powerful tools we have today is the proliferation of online videos that share inspirational stories. A quick search of YouTube, Vimeo, or Dailymotion will result in hundreds of videos with great positive messages. Many of these are stories of people just like your students with many of the same issues, struggles, and obstacles.

Videos are both engaging and relevant. They inspire and broaden perspective, opening up new possibilities for students who see proof that they are capable of success beyond their current thinking or perceived limitations.

The videos can also demonstrate in real terms what success looks like and what is required, which is a great springboard for fostering intrinsic motivation.

There is amazing content everywhere that can inspire your children, engage them in life and motivate them to think of what they can become.

7 - Use Extrinsic Rewards ONLY to Drive Intrinsic Behavior
There is a great cookbook written by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife) called Deceptively Delicious. In it, she provides recipes for things like chicken nuggets, pancakes and other items kids typically love. Her trick is mixing in healthy components while maintaining the kid-friendly taste. She adds cauliflower to the chicken nuggets and bananas in the pancakes, so the kids are eating what they love while she gives them what they need.

I try not to use extrinsic motivation with my children because it feels (to me) more like bribery than parenting. But is it?

We're all trying to build good habits in our children. Habits come with practice, so we need to facilitate activity that grows into good habits.

Extrinsic motivators CAN be used to help with this.

The next time your child gets a good grade or accomplishes something, provide a reward. Instead of celebrating the prize, celebrate the person they became to get the reward. Put the attention towards the growth.

If you give your child an allowance, throw in some new tasks like demonstrating self-discipline, keeping a gratitude journal, or being creative by using problem-solving skills. You could also give them a bonus for putting effort into improving themselves such as by reading a book, practicing an instrument, or practicing a sport. Like Jessica Seinfeld, give them the pancakes, but make sure they're getting what they need.

There are no silver bullets, nor is there instant gratification when it comes to building intrinsic motivation in youth.

These techniques are effective tools that will get results when executed over time. Stay focused.

The greatest gift we can give our children is the ability to thrive without us, and intrinsic motivation is the fuel that will allow it to happen!

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For many years, my son Daniel disliked math. He simply found the subject boring. He struggled with his homework problems, and we both became increasingly frustrated. He certainly wasn't developing a love for math, and every technique we tried felt counter-productive. It was taking a toll on our relationship.

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Common Ground: Teaching Kids the Benefits Of Working Together

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Common Ground: Teaching Kids the Benefits Of Working Together

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Side by side, seven-year-olds Anna and Frances work intently on a storyboard in which they are plotting out a book:

Anna: What will we call it?

Frances: How about The Mean Girls Club? Look, I can draw them with mean faces.

Anna: Why are they mean?

Frances: I don't know. Maybe someone was mean to them.

Anna: Let's make them be nice -- first mean, then nice.

Frances: Then what will happen to the club?

Anna: It will be the Nice Girls Club. Look, on the title page we can put a line through mean and write nice above it!

Just then, their teacher, Mrs. Geni, flicks the light switch, signaling that it is time for students to wrap up their writing projects and gather in a large group. Frances and Anna, knowing they can pick up on their project tomorrow, clip their notes and sketches to the storyboard and put it on the shelf.

Anna, Frances, and the other second graders in Mrs. Geni's classroom, in Evanston, Illinois, are learning not just reading and writing but also essential skills for success in the twenty-first century: collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and innovation.

What were once called "soft" skills in the workplace are now essential, key to the success of the business enterprise and the individual worker: working on teams, taking responsibility for one's piece of a larger project, planning for the future, and completing the plan -- these are the gears that will drive their personal and professional lives. All involve cooperative learning.

In cooperative learning, students are organized into small groups and the teacher announces a common goal.

During the course of the assignment, the children work together for a shared benefit, realizing that all members share that goal and the rewards of achieving it. Cooperative learning goes hand in hand with social and emotional learning (SEL). Briefly, the two approaches help develop a number of skills, including

self-awareness: recognizing feelings and identifying interests, strengths, and weaknesses.

self-management: managing feelings and behavior to control impulses and persevere in achieving important personal and academic goals.

social awareness: understanding the needs and feelings of others, while appreciating similarities and differences among individuals and groups.

relationship skills: maintaining positive relationships with others.

responsible decision making: making good choices and contributing to one's school, one's community, and the world.

Studies of cooperative-learning strategies regularly report an increase in engagement and active participation in the learning process, which in turn increase student motivation, time on task, and retention times and improve cognitive reasoning and the ability to see from others' perspectives.

Some teachers feel uncomfortable with cooperative learning because it requires that they assume more of a facilitative role than a direct instructional one. And students occasionally complain about not being able to work with friends or being unfairly assessed because one student in the pair or group doesn't do his or her share.

So, how do we make cooperative learning work?

Professors David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson, codirectors of the University of Minnesota's Cooperative Learning Center and authors of more than 400 research articles and book chapters and 40 books on cooperative learning, are international leaders in the study of the topic. In a research synthesis of 550 experimental studies on cooperative learning, they identified essential elements of effective cooperative learning. One of these factors is just how the groups are put together: How do you balance skills and roles? Developmental strengths and needs? Gender and ethnicity? How long should a group stay together? What is the right number? Who will be the group leader? Skilled classroom teachers take all these issues into account as they choose and prepare individual children for cooperative-learning groups. (See " Cooperative Education: Making It Work.")

One important point: Groups may be fluid, becoming larger or smaller in relation to the instructional goals. For instance, Anna and Frances are a writing team during one two-week period, but they separate for a later science project. Positions within the group can also change.

Mary Tavegia, principal at Cossitt Avenue School, in LaGrange, Illinois, emphasizes the need to match students and roles: "The teacher must ask 'What, developmentally, do we expect of kids at this age? What can I expect of this particular child?' You don't take a student who has trouble communicating and set him up to fail by making him the group's discussion leader right off the bat."

Johnson and Johnson say teachers must quickly establish the rules and procedures around working in a group. They point to the importance of each person supporting and encouraging their peers in their roles so that together they are able to achieve something none can do on his or her own. Teachers should also structure the task so that each student's contribution is important to the whole, and so that each has the chance to promote the others' success by helping, encouraging, and praising one another's efforts. No one is dispensable in cooperative learning.

A class debriefing and discussion should follow the group work. Students can then reflect on whether their group's goals were attained, whether they got along during group work, and what other strategies they would use next time. Through this process, students come to understand that the success of their group, and therefore their individual success, depends on each person's full participation. Debriefing is instructional for the teacher as well, providing useful feedback for shaping the next cooperative-learning project.

Tavegia also emphasizes that cooperative learning should be seen as an "instructional and learning opportunity, not a grading opportunity." This perspective, she adds, eliminates the concern that cooperative learning is "unfair because only a few might do all the work, while everyone gets the same grade. Everyone is unhappy when it is used for grading."

Cooperative learning provides opportunities for group learning that, sadly, are declining outside the classroom. Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, contends that in light of declining opportunities for free play without adult supervision and meaningful ways to contribute to their communities, American kids are getting worse at cooperation, at being able to work things out and control their impulses. "You can't blow up in a group and get away with it," he says. "The group exerts a pressure, a force for helping a child want to learn to get along with others. It's a wonderful place to learn emotional intelligence."

Getting along with others, being able to see another's point of view, and managing one's own emotions help students stay on task and maintain positive peer relationships to achieve group goals. It also turns out that children who have these capabilities are better at paying attention, taking in information, and remembering what they read and hear. SEL programs teach such skills intentionally and experientially; cooperative learning provides opportunities for practice and reinforcement.

Small Part of a Bigger Picture

Many instructional methods are based on cooperative learning and SEL skills. For example, in the academic-controversy approach, teams of students research and present first one side of an issue and then the other. Then they work with an opposing team to develop a report that combines the best points from both perspectives.

Another example is called the jigsaw, in which each student takes responsibility for preparing and presenting part of a lesson to the others in a group. Even though each child prepares only part of a lesson (a piece of the puzzle), all receive the entire lesson (the entire puzzle) because of the complementary roles of teacher and learner they have assumed.

Cooperative group learning using SEL skills is also central to project-based learning, where a group of students studies a real-world problem using original documents and data. (See "New Skills for a New Century: Students Thrive on Cooperation and Problem Solving.") The group work results in a report, which is often presented to families and the wider community and may include practical recommendations on ways to address the problem. Project-based learning gives students an appreciation of the complexity of real-world problems and the intellectual and SEL skills needed to solve them. This is also a powerful source of feedback and student learning.

Cooperative-learning groups are a key supporting instructional method used in teaching SEL skills. Although the sophistication of the SEL instruction will vary with children's developmental level, the characteristic feature of cooperative learning -- working together to achieve shared goals -- is the same regardless of grade level.

In the early elementary grades, for example, class meetings are a setting for cooperative learning of self-awareness, assimilating perspectives, and group problem solving. Children greet each other by name, share how they feel and perhaps present a favorite object from home, participate with their peers in a noncompetitive activity, and perhaps monitor progress on a classwide project.

In cross-age mentoring, a cooperative-learning method used in the upper elementary school and middle school grades, students of different ages work together over an extended time on academic or service-learning projects in every subject area imaginable -- language arts, social studies, and art assignments, as well as science, math, and technology projects. (Both older and younger children first learn and practice in the classroom the SEL skills they need to work well together.) Such projects offer rich opportunities to use and develop one's strengths, listen to and give feedback on alternative approaches, and resolve interpersonal conflicts.

What about the adults in the building? They, too, can benefit from cooperative learning that builds on their existing SEL competencies. Faculty and staff who participate in joint study, instructional planning, and teaching initiatives are energized, rather than overwhelmed, by all the new information coming their way every day. Changing the school climate as an individual seems herculean; reforming it as part of a cooperative venture becomes not only doable but also gratifying. Moreover, teachers who are engaged with other adults in the building in supportive and respectful ways are more likely to stay on the job and less likely to burn out.

Benefits Explored

Johnson and Johnson's research revealed that cooperative learning is consistently more effective than either competitive or individualistic learning in promoting student enhancement of intrinsic motivation and effort to achieve, material retained, the quality of interpersonal relationships, reasoning skills used, psychological health, and academic achievement. These learning outcomes held across various content areas, grade levels, countries, and decades.

Cooperative learning yields benefits whether students work together for only a few minutes in ad hoc groups to summarize and reflect on the key points of a lesson or are members of a yearlong study or a project-based-learning group. Even socially isolated students and emotionally disturbed adolescents learn SEL skills better and are more likely to interact appropriately with others when taught in cooperative-learning situations as opposed to more traditional ones.

Cooperative learning not only supports academic success but also teaches students that their own success is not dependent on opposing that of others. This is healthy preparation for participation in the complex and conflicted world of the early twenty-first century.

John W. Payton, Susan Munro, Mary Utne O'Brien, and Roger P. Weissberg work at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Common Ground: Teaching Kids the Benefits Of Working Together | Edutopia

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Side by side, seven-year-olds Anna and Frances work intently on a storyboard in which they are plotting out a book: Anna: What will we call it? Frances: How about The Mean Girls Club? Look, I can draw them with mean faces. Anna: Why are they mean? Frances: I don't know.

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25 Ways to Cultivate Intrinsic Motivation

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25 Ways to Cultivate Intrinsic Motivation

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Let me just GET OUT OF YOUR WAY.

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Saga Briggs is Managing Editor of InformED. You can follow her on Twitter @sagamilena or read more of her writing here.

In the context of learning, intrinsic motivation is motivation that stems not from external factors like grades and status, but rather from genuine interest and ambition. Like altruism, it assumes no reward. But - like altruism - it is difficult to corroborate. Even if Sally, your best student, completes the Extra Credit assignment out of pure enjoyment, it doesn't mean she isn't expecting external rewards like approval and attention.

Some psychologists go so far as to claim that intrinsic motivation doesn't exist. Professor Steven Reiss at Ohio State University believes that human motivations can't be forced into one category or the other and labeled as good or bad.

"We are taking many diverse human needs and motivations, putting them into just two categories, and then saying one type of motivation is better than another," he says. "But there is no real evidence that intrinsic motivation even exists."

The argument is that people should do something because they enjoy it, and that rewards only sabotage natural desire.

Reiss disagrees.

"There is no reason that money can't be an effective motivator, or that grades can't motivate students in school," he says. "It's all a matter of individual differences. Different people are motivated in different ways."

But is this still true in the 21 st century?

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation: what's the most effective persuader?

Dan Pink, business management consultant and former speechwriter for Al Gore, thinks not.

"If you look at the science," he says in a TED talk from 2009, "there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does. And what's alarming here is that our business operating system - think of the set of assumptions and protocols beneath our business, how to motivate people how to apply our human resources - it's built entirely around these extrinsic motivators, around carrots and sticks.

"That's actually fine for many kinds of 20 th century tasks, but for 21 st century tasks, that mechanistic, reward and punishment approach doesn't work."

The same can be said for operating systems in learning environments. Good grades and test scores may get a student into university, but then what? Where will the ambition and creativity come from when the right answer no longer cuts it? When a graduate must no longer find a job but invent one? True, we are all motivated by different things - mostly external factors, to be fair - but it's the desire to keep trying when no reward is offered that makes intrinsic motivation such a powerful force, because at that point, shortcuts don't exist. Quality is the only player.

So how can we cultivate this trait in our students? How can we help the bored students become engaged, and urge the extrinsically motivated to operate independently of rewards?

Ways to cultivate intrinsic motivation in students:

1. Rethink Reward. Science has proven that for simple, mechanistic tasks, reward incentivizes students to perform well, but for tasks that require thinking outside the box, reward leads to poor performance.

2. Atlassian Autonomy. The Australian software company Atlassian holds "FedEx Days" where engineers are expected to work on anything they want for 24 hours, then report back to the group. Many of their most lucrative ideas are born in these "overnight deliveries" of creativity. Try something like this with your students.

3. Make Mastery Cool. As Ashton Kutcher revealed to us all in a recent Teen Choice Awards speech, "The sexiest thing in the world is being smart."

4. A Higher Purpose. Students who feel that they are working towards the greater good, or something larger than themselves, may have an easier time staying motivated.

5. Make students feel like education is a choice, not a requirement. You know the bunch of non-engaged students. As simple as it sounds, remind them that they are making the right choice by showing up and working hard.

6. Don't use fear of punishment as a motivator. Despite what you read in The Prince, fear is not always the best motivator, especially for learners. The fear of failing a subject certainly has its place but should not be used as a substitute for intrinsic motivation.

7. For learning management, expect self-direction, not compliance. It happens - classes get out of hand. Even online ones. But motivating students to follow the rules by threatening or goading won't help your students in the long run. Help them become more self-directed, so that they end up complying as a result of their own genuine efforts.

8. Visualize and Conquer. Have your students visualize a moment in their lives when they felt very proud of themselves for an accomplishment. Then let them loose on a task.

9. Make every student feel capable. This may be a simple point, but it's surely one of the most important. Some students feel incapable of completing a task before they even try it. The power of "You can do it" has perhaps been diluted over the years. Try "You're capable," which speaks not only to the task at hand but to the student's sense of self-worth.

10. Cooperation and Competition: Intrinsic motivation can be increased in situations where students gain satisfaction from helping their peers and also in cases where they are able to compare their own performance favorably to that of others.

11. Help students trust themselves to succeed. When students trust themselves to succeed at a task, they are more likely to challenge themselves in other situations. Be sure to recognize student achievement in terms of personal worth and not just success on a particular assignment; this will encourage the student to carry that confidence into other learning situations.

12. Make the attainment of goals probable but uncertain. Everyone is motivated to complete easy, reward-based tasks. It's the more difficult ones, often accompanied by delayed gratification, that make us want to give up before we begin. On a day to day basis, aim for goals that are achievable but require just enough work to keep students engaged. It's a fine line between interest and disengagement, but it's this tension that keeps us all motivated.

13. Give accurate and authentic performance feedback. A large part of continued motivation is feedback, but be careful not to make it personal. They should change their behavior, not their self-worth, as a result of constructive criticism.

14. Relate achievement to students' self-esteem. One teacher tells her students she "likes how they're thinking" every time they provide a good response. This not only motivates her students to keep getting the right answer, but also to keep seeking praise for the way they use their heads.

15. Stimulate sensory curiosity by making abrupt changes that will be perceived by the senses. Change the learning environment around mid-way through the semester. Paint the walls a different color. Students will respond to the new environment and be inspired to think outside the box.

16. Stimulate cognitive curiosity by presenting a problem or question as a puzzle to be solved. Pose questions not as opportunities for reward or humiliation but as puzzles to be solved. Draw out the "right" answer by asking multiple sub-questions of different students, asking students to respond to each other's answers, and making the conceptual investigation feel like a game or a riddle.

17. Make clear the cause-and-effect relationships between what students are doing and things that happen in real life. One way to do this is to always illustrate the concept at hand in another context after the students have fully grasped it in the current context. This is partly what word problems in math are for: How many ounces of cinnamon are in the muffins? But you can also point out that conversions are important for road trips in foreign countries, foreign currency calculations, and figuring out how much you get paid per hour as a freelance photographer!

18. Enable learners to believe that their work will lead to powerful effects. Students won't remember everything you teach them - such is the limited capacity of the human brain. But the point is not to memorize every fact and concept. The point of school and homework is to cultivate an academic work ethic of sorts, so that someday, that million-dollar idea won't be so hard to realize.

19. Allow learners to freely choose what they want to learn and how they will learn it. Ask students to fill out a survey detailing how they would like to spend the school day, what they would like to learn more about, less about, and what kinds of lessons or projects they enjoy the most. Better yet, hold a discussion on the topic.

20. Connect games and learning. You'll agree that learning is fun. That's why you are a teacher! But how do you expect Marcus to feel that special little thrill you feel when you sit down in front of your morning crossword or watch Jeopardy at night? The truth is, he does feel the thrill - when he gets a new personal best in the 800 meter dash. Try to connect his motivation on the track with his motivation in learning. Acing the test may not make him feel quite as good as winning the championship, but the two drives are related.

21. Encourage students to compete against themselves. Just as a runner, jumper, or thrower not only competes against others but also tries to achieve a new personal record, intrinsically motivated students are always hoping to better themselves.

22. Help students navigate the continuum of motivation. Intrinsic motivation isn't built in a day. Help extrinsically motivated students move from lacking motivation completely to integrating an intrinsic attitude into their work to performing well for the sake of performing well.

23. Talk about it. Have your students heard of extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation? Simply making them aware of the difference might spark some useful discussion or thought.

24. Introduce "soft opening" between peers. In a controlled study, Kitsantas, Zimmerman, and Cleary (2000) found that girls (ages 14 - 16 years) who watched a person throw darts perfectly 15 times in a row were not as motivated as those who watched the person improve their skills over successive trials. The girls who had watched the person improve were more likely to attribute their successful shots to strategy (rather than ability), and this attribution led them to their experiencing greater self-efficacy and intrinsic interest. What is transferred that stimulates intrinsic motivation is not simply behaviors, it is the mental process of engaging with the challenges of an activity.

25. Model intrinsic behavior yourself. Educators' demonstration of how they approach work, their expectations, values, and beliefs can be transmitted to students and facilitate their intrinsic motivation.

Saga Briggs is an author at InformED. You can follow her on Twitter@sagamilena or read more of her writing here.

Tags: extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, intrinsic factor, intrinsic motivation theory, intrinsic reinforcement, intrinsic rewards, motivation, motivation in psychology, motivation theories

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25 Ways to Cultivate Intrinsic Motivation | InformED

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Saga Briggs is Managing Editor of InformED. You can follow her on Twitter @sagamilena or read more of her writing here. In the context of learning, intrinsic motivation is motivation that stems not from external factors like grades and status, but rather from genuine interest and ambition. Like altruism, it assumes no reward.

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27 Ways To Promote Intrinsic Motivation In The Classroom 

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27 Ways To Promote Intrinsic Motivation In The Classroom 

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Linking Schools and Communities

McDowell County, West Virginia, has ranked last in education in the state for most of the past decade. But it is not just educational challenges that the community faces. The area was once a booming coal community, with over 100,000 residents. Today, there are just 22,000. Many are unemployed (72 percent of students live in a household without gainful employment). McDowell has limited medical services, inadequate access to technology, and substantial drug and alcohol abuse.

Yet those in the community care deeply about it. And everyone agrees that McDowell's children deserve every opportunity for success. So under the leadership of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the West Virginia State Board of Education, a public/private partnership was born. Reconnecting McDowell is a long-term effort to make educational improvements while addressing all of the community's complex problems.

The project launched in December. So far, the AFT has already begun providing professional development to teachers. The West Virginia state legislature has passed an "innovation zone" bill that allows McDowell County to participate in a teacher-in-residence program with a local university, allowing promising young talent to enter the teaching workforce. The schools have begun comprehensive breakfast and lunch programs; they are hoping to start a dinner program as well. First Book has donated an age-appropriate book for each child in the school system, and Imagination Library is providing books for younger children in the community. The West Virginia AFL-CIO has provided funds to help run water lines to a new housing development.

While the work has just begun, this engagement effort is already showing what can happen when schools and the community commit to working together.

Coordinating Resources in Urban Ohio

In the early 2000s, Cincinnati Public Schools learned that they had the worst school buildings in the nation. They needed to pass a levy to raise money for improvements, but one hadn't passed in a number of years. To garner community support, they proposed that the renovated schools would serve as centers of the community, remaining open on nights and weekends to provide services. The levy passed, and the Community Learning Centers (CLCs) began.

Each CLC is different, based on the needs of the community in which the school is located. Annie Bogenschutz told Celebration attendees about the CLC at her school, Ethel M. Taylor Academy, where 100 percent of students receive free or reduced price lunch. The school is open from 2:15pm to 6pm and offers a hot dinner, tutoring and mentoring, enrichment, parent and family engagement activities, and more. On site, students and families can access mental health and dental services. Next year, Taylor will open a school-based health clinic. These services, and the many others that are offered at the CLC, require no new funds. Instead, the school's partners reallocated their spending.

And they have seen results. Taylor was formerly labeled as one of the worst schools in the state, but is now recognized for its "Continuous Improvement," with increased attendance, standardized test scores, and parent involvement, as well as decreased behavioral incidents.

How Do You Get Started?

The first question asked by the audience after hearing about Cincinnati's CLCs: How do you get started on a family and community engagement initiative?

As Dr. Joyce Epstein (Director of the Center on School, Family and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University, who spoke at the Celebration in a different session), pointed out, while we all know that home, school and community partnerships are important, and most of us even know what quality home, school and community partnerships look like, we often fall flat in one key area: how to get them.

She suggests those serious about engaging families and communities begin creating an Action Team for Partnerships. That team should include the principal, two-three teachers, two-three family members, and others in the school or community important to the school's work with families (a counselor, social worker, business partner, and so on, depending on the school context). At the high school level, she believes the team must include at least one or two students.

Based on the school improvement plan, that team should choose four goals (two academic goals, one behavioral, and one focused on improving school climate) on which it will focus its efforts. It should then write and implement a one-year action plan, with activities carefully linked to their goals, monitoring outcomes and continually adjusting the plan as needed. (There are many more details on how such teams should work available on the National Network of Partnership Schools' website).

Bogenschutz offers some additional thoughts as to what is necessary to start the work:

1. A culture shift. Those on staff must sincerely recognize the value of the partnership, or it will never succeed.

2. A third party. In Cincinnati, each school has a lead partnering agency to assist in connecting with the community. She believes that third party helps ensure the community is comfortable sharing its true hopes and concerns about a school.

3. Meeting the community where it is. If you send home a flyer asking the community to come to a meeting at the school, it won't show up. Ask the "neighborhood grandmother" where the meeting should be held -- a church, a restaurant, wherever the community gathers -- and go to it.

The bottom line: Family and community engagement is a vital part of a truly successful school. But it rarely just happens -- it must be intentionally designed. When it is present, we should take the time to celebrate it and learn from it.

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The Importance of Community Involvement in Schools

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McDowell County, West Virginia, has ranked last in education in the state for most of the past decade. But it is not just educational challenges that the community faces. The area was once a booming coal community, with over 100,000 residents. Today, there are just 22,000.