Mark and Jozsef conducted a 39 minute discussion about The Handbook of Competence and Motivation edited by Andrew Elliot and Carol Dweck. The book was published in 2007. The MP3 download is 26 Mb in size. After listening to this conversation, please make sure to leave Jozsef and Mark a comment or question before Dec 5th.
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6 comments:
Mark & Jozsef-
Very good conversation! I liked your discussion about teaching with diversity in the classroom. I was especially intrigued by your comparison of US classrooms (European Americans - it is internal motivation - all about you) whereas other groups such as in Asia may look at where they fit into the family/social structure. Studies that you cite help us become better teachers. Whereas Western culture has internalized intelligence - Eastern cultures have ideas of fitting in (you cannot be intelligent if you don't know how to fit in). Social adaptability is not valued the same in our culture. You mentioned that effort is rewarded more in the East than in the US, but somewhere along the line my Asian students have channeled that effort into trying to achieve good grades (again, as you stated, a way to make the family proud).
I also liked your discussion about racial stereotypes in education and was, frankly, a bit taken aback at how sensitive and fragile race can be in education. As educators we need to be cognizant of how race may impact test scores. I am heartened to hear that the method of using small groups of cultural diverse students can overcome the stereotypes - once you are confronted with another with the same intelligence but another color, you cannot keep the same stereotype. As you said so aptly, Perception (of racial stereotypes) can be trumped by being faced with the reality of the situation.
Bravo!
Hi Jozsef and Mark,
I really enjoyed listening to your conversation, especially when you mentioned that sometimes cultures influence student achievement and/or expectations.
In my culture education is held at very high value and it has always been ingrained in me by family members that someone can take any material possession from you but they can never take away the knowledge that you have. I have seen a lot people that immigrated to the United States from India to provide a better lifestyle for their families. The children of these immigrants are always reminded of this and most often feel pressure to succeed in school to make their families proud. It seems as though these students may not be initially motivated to learn but some may value it and become intrinsically motivated.
Great conversation!
Mark and Jozsef,
Sounds like an intense book. I think it’s great that we begin a discussion of mastery and thank you for brining it up Jozsef. Mastery comes in different forms and so often we gloss over topics. We “covered” that doesn’t embrace mastery usually. One area I struggle with is how to assess mastery versus assessing what I have covered or hoped to convey. Mark, you bring in the topic of diversity, and sometimes that in itself changes the sense of mastery. Further, with diversity we have different perspective.
It’s interesting to hear you talk about the issues that come up with simply bringing up race, because it does come up so very often. I know that in the school my children attend it’s a source of pride that there is a lot of diversity (racially, ethnically, familialy, and economically). It seems that race is a point of discussion at many times, and that presents pride (my son is one of only two Jewish children in his class and loves for me to come in at the holidays), but also make some uncomfortable (perhaps a child might feel like the token minority).
I was intrigued by your discussion about aging… it does seem that the workplace, as Jozsef said, can be forgiving with people changing careers, but it can also be an intimidating process I would imagine. Also, I think teaching becomes the option for many as they think of changing… the idea, “I did that as a student, so I could probably do it again as a teacher.” Or, “I just love what I did and burned out so now I can teach others how.” This can be a great reason and some will excel, but there is so much more to teaching then the knowledge you relay and if the passion and skill is missing, then it can be a disaster.
Mark, I appreciated your comments about process versus product. I know that it makes a huge difference to acknowledge student effort. I see this with my children, and even noted it this morning in my yoga class. Just recognizing someone’s effort in the process can encourage… not a meaningless effort, but a true effort – otherwise it’s just wasteful and condescending.
What a powerful and courageous conversation! You two presented the information in such an honest manner. In truth, there were times that I became uncomfortable listening to the conversation because it was so honest and real.
Addressing culture is something that we teachers battle every day in very diverse classrooms.
Goals seem to be apart of everything and incredibly useful to student progress. It is a shame that we don't apply them more often - we seem to dwell on normative feedback.
Nice transition into age too!
Josef and Mark,
Great conversation. I really appreciated listening to your thoughts about motivation in contexts other than education. Your conversation regarding motivation and aging activated my prior knowledge about crystal and fluid intelligence. It was fun to personalize your conversation in a context other than my role as an educator.
I don’t have any specific questions but I really enjoyed thinking further about some of the topics you discussed and the effects of such on personal motivation. Specifically—social intelligence; culturally responsive teaching; stereotyping; and academic self-concept. The book sounds like a lofty but excellent resource.
Hi Mark and Josef,
This was a great conversation to listen to and made me more deeply consider how I perceive the many cultures and 50 year age span of my students in any given class.
On a lighter note, your comments about crystalline intelligence and about intelligence changes over the life span made me think about the movie "Grumpy Old Men." Now, I think the real reason they always fished in the ice house was they had fixed intelligence and over time lost site of what they could attain, until their new neighbors showed up and burst their stereotypes!
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