Here's a piece on Community Building I wrote and used when leading my Teacher Ed Program in Boulder...It may be of interest to those of you teaching kids.......
MOTIVATION and ENGAGEMENT
CONTENTS
About motivation, and…….
A motivation teacher checklist – then examples of motivation and engagement strategies, starting with
- The story of the cottonwood star
- Picasso in a bag
- Everyone has a story to tell
- Filtering your thoughts
- Reading The New York Times
- Building a marble run.
- Building a bridge.
- Building a tower.
- What to do with blank index cards
- Make the world’s smallest boomerang.
- What to do with picture cards
- Sharing time: What’s in the Treasure Chest?
- What’s in the tin?
- Collecting wishbones
- The wishing rock
- Capture the moment – forever.
- The sea star story
- Inspiring teachers
- The paper crane ritual
About Motivation
Motivation is critical for learning, Learning does not take place without a motivational event (Girmus, 2008).
Motivation has been divided by education researchers into two components, intrinsic, and extrinsic.
Intrinsic motivation represents the inner drive or passion students have to excel in class.
Extrinsic motivation represents the drive to achieve rewards, such as colored stickers or candy. There’s a consensus that both play a motivational role in classroom settings.
This booklet concentrates on intrinsic motivation and describes a variety of strategies (aka protocols) that I use to engage students in the processes of learning.
'Every classroom, like every community, has its own distinct culture, values and rules. By building a community in the classroom, teachers create a common and predictable cultural experience that helps students feel connected to others.
A community is a place where individuals share common values, goals and activities. In communities, everyone does not do the same thing at the same time, but groups work together to achieve common goals.
A community is a place where social bonds are established and individuals can flourish.‘
(Bredekamp and Rosegrant, 1992)
First, a Motivation Checklist
(After Girmus, 2008, adapted 2010)
The classroom environment
Check | Focus | Description |
Books and other resources for learning | Are the classroom books and resources well displayed and accessible?Is there is a wide range of topics and levels of difficulty? | |
Environment | Is student work prominently displayed?Do bulletin boards feature the current lesson focus? | |
Classroom furniture | Are the tables and chairs well placed for student collaboration, allowing easy access to all resources? |
The classroom’s atmosphere
Check | Focus | Description |
Positive atmosphere | Are the students welcomed at the door?Is the atmosphere warm and respectful? | |
Conveys expectations | Does the teacher enjoy being with students and want them to succeed?Does the teacher expect students to learn, achieve and work well with each other?Do the students know the classroom expectations – and those for behavior? | |
Conveys effort and participation | Does the teacher emphasize the importance of student effort and participation? | |
Conveys collaboration and support | Does the teacher emphasize the importance of working with and for each other? | |
Conveys encouragement | Does the teacher provide consistent encouragement for good behaviors, learning successes and classroom helpfulness?Does s/he provide immediate and constructive feedback? | |
Encourages risk-taking | As making mistakes is part of learning, does the teacher encourage students to take chances? | |
Encourages persistence and independence | Does the teacher discuss the importance of persistence in accomplishing learning goals? | |
Models interest and enthusiasm | Does the teacher share genuine interest inlearning and academic matter? | |
Student choice | Are there opportunities for student choice in learning? |
Instruction
The teacher…….
Check | Focus | Description |
Attention to school work | Communicates its importance. Checks and corrects all schoolwork. | |
Encouragement of student understanding and reflection | Monitors student understanding. Encourages self-correcting. | |
Clear directions, goals and objectives | Gives clear directions and sets realistic goals and objectives. Communicates the value of learning. | |
Concrete activities | Uses hands-on activities, encourages students to create and explore. | |
Connections | Relates lessons to other lessons and the real world. | |
Collaborative learning | Uses collaborative learning strategies. | |
Critical thinking | Helps students to develop critical-thinking skills by modeling and explaining. | |
Curiosity and suspense | Stimulates curiosity and builds suspense by using authentic engagement strategies | |
Games | Uses games/playful activities | |
Home-school connection | Communicates with families and integrates them into the learning experience when possible. | |
Lesson Planning | Is well planned and organized. Uses manipulatives/artifacts to teach lesson concepts. Scaffolds/models to assist struggling students. | |
Stimulates cognitive and creative thought | Provides lessons that promote higher-level thinking - encourages students to be creative. | |
Value of education emphasized | Communicates the value of learning and how it can impact the quality of one’s life |
Classroom management
The teacher……
Check | Focus | Description |
Appropriate pacing | Monitors the pace of lessons for students with differing abilities. | |
Classroom adult helpers | Has parents and other adult helpers to assist all students | |
Classroom rules | Has clear and negotiated classroom rules posted for all to see. | |
Explains decisions | Discusses reasons behind activities, rules, procedures and routines. | |
Intrinsic motivators | Has a range of strategies to introduce the day, the lesson, the activity. | |
Group work rules | Has students working in groups, have assigned roles. | |
Positive management strategies | Uses positive, constructive and consistent management strategies.Consequences are appropriate.Devises rules, procedures, policies and routines that provide smooth transitions between activities/lessons. | |
Self-regulation | Provides mechanisms for students to monitor their own learning and transition independently between activities/lessons. |
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
PROTOCOLS
that motivate, engage and
build community
John Paull (johnpaull2011@gmail.com)
Learning is social.
We inevitably learn through and with others, even though what is finally understood is our own mental construction (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 1999).
Cooperative Learning…..………
..............transforms the classroom from a collection of individuals to a network of groups. That alone alters the social structure of the classroom from one of being an audience (collection of students) focused for long periods of time on the performer (the teacher), to a social system comprised of interacting groups.
(Shlomo Sharan)
(Shlomo Sharan)
ABOUT PROTOCOLS
I’m privileged. For over 14 years I regularly visited 40 classrooms in 14 schools and worked with over 400 aspiring teachers and master teachers. I saw how they built involved and motivated communities of learners through a range of authentic and engaging activities and rituals while teaching a content-based curriculum. I saw how they valued students’ interests and passions, and I saw how the teachers created a classroom ethos that encouraged students to work collaboratively.
These teachers:
- Know that it’s important to capture student interest and involvement by beginning a teaching session with an engaging story or activity that models the key point of the ensuing lesson.
- Know that students ask questions about stories, artifacts ,and activities that interest them.
- Know authentic discussion and inquiry are fun and enjoyable; and it matches what we know of how students learn
- Know that most students have a need to chatter about what they see – as talking, it seems, aids their understanding.
- Know that such interactions encourage students to collaborate with each other, AND have a settling, brain-break effect.
- Know that an atmosphere of learning may be achieved by encouraging students to bring things into the classroom and talking about them during meeting time.
- Know that once students are involved practically, group/class discussion will usually raise new and interesting problems, so that one inquiry leads to another, and the work continually develops.
- Know that when students use their own efforts to discover for themselves, the flash of insight seems to give them special satisfaction, which affects their attitude towards other activities.
- Know that writing is a process better understood by students if there’s a real point to it.
- And, they know that displaying students’ pictures and words around the classroom completes the record of ‘work’ done and acts as a reference, a resource, and a stimulus for others.
When I teach, I often start with an authentic story that links with the day’s/lesson’s goals – invariably, experiences I have away from school, at home, in my garden, on a morning walk. I also have something in my pocket or in a tin to show my students (for example, a rock that I have found). I show it and I talk about it – where and when I found it.
This and other strategies help my students unwind and feel comfortable - and help me engage and build my community of learners. I also use them as frequent ‘brain-breaks’ and to:
- create group activities that involve everyone;
- ease transition from one activity to another; and to
- focus attention on the seminar/lesson/session ahead.
This booklet describes some of these strategies.
Some strategies are specific to the start of the day or to various parts of a presentation or lesson; some provide a focus for group activity, or to celebrate and close our time and our work together.
You may find them helpful in your teaching. I certainly hope so. Please feel free to adapt and adopt. JP
1. COTTONWOOD STARS
During weekend walks, I collect the twigs that have fallen from the cottonwood trees. I break them at the growth scar. If I’m REALLY lucky, I find a beautiful star inside the twig. I then collect as many as I can and bind them in threes and give them to my students, telling them the Native American legend that all stars in the sky come from the earth below our feet.
The first time I met a class of pre K-8 students or teachers or university students, I used the cottonwood star protocol to celebrate each learner. I told them how I was looking forward to everyone shining like a star!!
The Secret of the Star…..
Some Native Americans believe all things come from Mother Earth. They believe that stars form in the earth and search for the roots of the magical cottonwood trees.
They finally come to rest in the small twigs at the end of the cottonwood branches.
Here, they wait.................until they are needed. When the Spirit of the Night Sky decides that she needs more twinkling, beautiful stars, she calls on the Wind Spirit to shake all the cottonwood trees.
The Wind Spirit blows and blows, and as the cottonwood twigs break off, the twinkling stars are released and race up to a special place in the Night Sky.
If YOU want to add a new star to the night sky, find some secret cottonwood twigs, wait for a clear night, and hold up your twigs to the sky - and SNAP!
Then, look up into the night sky again.
Can you see YOUR star twinkling?
Imagine - you have added a beautiful new star to the night sky kingdom......
2. Picasso in a bag!!
I used this protocol when I taught a new class, and I heartily recommend it to you as something to use at the beginning of a new academic year – elementary and middle school especially.
It’s easy to resource and easy to put in action. All each student needs is a large paper bag, a marker pen, and a sheet of white paper.
I model the process by putting my paper inside the bag. Holding my pen in hand, I rest it on the middle of the paper and let the bag cover my hand. Then I look at a person next to me, and without looking inside the bag, I proceed to draw his/her face.
It only takes a couple of minutes. Then I ask the students to look at the person closest to them and do what I did – draw the person’s face, resisting the temptation to look in the bag! The room goes quiet as the students draw, and then erupts into laughter when the results are shared. The drawing then becomes page one of each student’s journal.
3. EVERYONE HAS A STORY TO TELL
I often began a Monday morning class by asking what happened over the weekend.
Someone always had an experience to tell that drew everyone’s attention.
4. FILTERING out all those thoughts
Students come to classes with a lot on their minds. They need time to transition from there to here or here to there.
I ask my classes to take the time, no more than ten minutes, to write some of their thoughts on a filter paper, and thus filter out what’s going on inside their head.
Each student writes on his/her filter paper and then shares with another person. When the time is up, it’s time to move on with the lesson.
- READING THE NEW YORK TIMES
Tuesday’s edition of the New York Times has a science section. My wife, Jeannine, glances through the science section over breakfast, choosing one topic to share with her students during science time. She tells me how that motivates discussion and science activity with her students.
6. THE MARBLE RUN
I challenge my class to work in groups of two to use the materials supplied (sheet of card stock, strips of paper, adhesive tape, and a marble) to build a marble run. I challenge my students to:
- Make a vertical marble run.
- Make a vertical marble run that takes 20 seconds for the marble to complete its travels.
I challenge my class to work in groups of four to build a paper bridge that links two tables together AND is able to support the weight of a brick at its center point.
I supply a complete Sunday New York Times for each group – and a roll of tape.
6c. BUILD A TOWER as high as you can from 6 sheets of typing paper – and a roll of tape!
Can it support a glass of water at the top?
Sometimes I leave 10 cards in the middle of each classroom table. I challenge the class to build a structure as high as they can WITHOUT tape! I end each of these team-building activities with a discussion focused on:
7. BLANK INDEX CARDS
I use blank index cards for a variety of community-building strategies - and for data collecting. I also use the cards for literacy.
My thinking/writing/feedback prompts for using the blank cards include:
- What I don’t want to write about………..
- What I like and what I dislike
- My fears and my hopes
- What I want and what I got
- I liked this lesson because…………………..
- I didn’t quite understand …………………..
8. Use a blank index card to make the world’s SMALLEST boomerang!
I give every student 1 index card and a pair of scissors and challenge him/her to make the world’s smallest boomerang!
I also give them these instructions/guidelines:
Cut out a 1” square from one of the file cards
Draw and cut out a small boomerang
Use the other card as the launching platform. 
Balance the boomerang on the edge and flick with your finger.
And the challenge?
Can you get the boomerang to return and land on a launching pad?
9. Picture Postcards 
I collect pictures from newspapers that
I think are interesting and provocative. Sometimes I use them in class. I also collect interesting black and white art cards from a local bookshop.
I give each student and ask: Can you think of a caption?
The students share their captions with a colleague.
10. SHARING TIME: What’s in the TREASURE CHEST?
I start this daily first-thing-in-the-morning protocol by putting my very special piece of amber inside a treasure box. I found my amber on the beach when I was five. When my students are sitting in a circle around me, I open the treasure box and take out my amber. I show the class and tell them its story. At the end of the day, I invite my students to bring in something special to them and place it in the treasure box. At our next meeting/circle time, they take out their ‘treasure’ and tell the class about its history.
11. What’s in the OLD TIN?
This is my favorite and a protocol I use at the beginning of another year’s work with a new cohort of teacher candidates/class of students.
I take an old tin from my pocket. I open it slowly. Inside is a small artifact. I describe it and tell the class why it’s important to me.
12. THE WISHING ROCK
This is one I use to engage a class either in the classroom or when I’m on a hike. I find a smooth, round pebble, hold it in my hand, and then wrap my fingers around it. As I do, I tell the group that I’m thinking about someone very important Then I give the students an empty tin (usually an old, rusty one) and ask them to take their tin home and fill it with artifacts that reflect some part of their lives. 
The next day they share with a small group.
Tins have many other uses, too, and can be great mini shadow boxes, displays and/or pocket museums.
13. WISHBONES
I collect chicken wishbones. I clean and bleach them in hydrogen peroxide. I use them to make wishes for the group’s success in working together, and bring closure to the protocol by telling my students about the scientific interest in chicken wishbones:
The FURCULA is the V shaped bone that we call the wishbone. Discoveries of the last few decades have shown that the wishbone is a characteristic of bird-like dinosaurs (theropods), thus a major link to the modern bird.
14. CAPTURE the MOMENT
This requires some creative thinking!
Quarter fill a plastic bottle with water. When your classroom is buzzing with students involved in some inquiry, stand in the middle of the room. Turn the bottle upside down over a bowl.
Take off the top. As the water runs out, the air and the atmosphere of excited learning rush in!
Take off the top. As the water runs out, the air and the atmosphere of excited learning rush in!
Think about what you’ve done. You have captured the time and the moment, the smells and
the sounds……forever!
15. THE SEA STAR STORY
the sounds……forever!
15. THE SEA STAR STORY
Illustrations by Ms. Jeannine’s class
I tell this familiar story to celebrate teachers and the impact they have on their students.
Resources: A small sea star pin for each student.
One bright morning, just as the sun was peeping over the horizon, an old man walked across a sandy beach. Looking across the beach, he spotted a young man running towards the waves and throwing something into the deep blue sea…………..
He watched the young man turn, bend over, and pick up a stranded sea star and throw it as far as he could into the sea………..
The old man gazed in wonder as the young man, again and again, threw more small sea stars from the sandy beach to the sea. The old man walked up to the young man and asked him why he spent so much energy doing what seemed a waste of time……….The young man explained that the sea stars would die if left in the bright morning sun………
But there are thousands of miles of beaches and millions of sea stars. How can your efforts make a difference?’
The young man looked down at a small sea star in his hand, and then threw it to safety in the sea…………….
Well, sir,’ he said, it sure makes a difference to that one……………’
16. THE TEACHER WHO INSPIRED ME…
