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I closed the book, and my mind started spinning. At least, it was spinning in a good way this time. Daniel Pink’s “Drive” had confirmed many ideas I had about being a parent and an educator. While the “old school” ideas of motivation through incentives are still present in education (and let’s face it, adult life too), it’s clear that intrinsic motivation is the holy grail that adults should be searching for to unlock potential in children.
Some of these ideas are straight from “Drive,” while others are adapted to my work and experience with children.
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“Drive” talks about helping kids to see the big picture, and it’s clear that the high stakes testing environment leads us away from the purpose of education. Children must learn that there will be performance expectations, however, the concept of a one-shot, summative performance just doesn’t exist in the adult world. While we are evaluated or given feedback for performance, it’s not a “one and done” kind of situation (at least more often than not).
So….. why do we put pressure on children to perform on a one-shot test?
Why do prep for a month going into the test?
It goes without saying that this distorts children’s view of educational reality and is a true waste of educational…
