To B satisfied or not to B satisfied, that is the question

On my last official day of class one of my professors ended by telling us this: "You may receive a B+ for the class and do nothing, or you may write a 3-4 page review for each of the 3 books we've read and possibly improve your grade." Now I, being a student who always kind of took the easy road and was satisfied with a B+, had to stop and think about this option. Some in the class were a little annoyed and determined to get an A, but I had to weigh the options. Do I stick with a B+ (a fairly decent grade for just reading and participating occasionally), or do I work my brain and write a paper. He did give us 2 weeks to complete this assignment, which is pretty generous.

This got me to thinking about what I would do in high school and even undergrad. I definitely would have taken the B+ no questions asked. I mean hey, it means I don't have to do jack...right? There are many students out there that think just like I did. Their motivation is lacking and they would always rather do what takes the least amount of effort. Of course there are exceptions to this, but I'm pretty sure a majority think this way.

So how do we correct this lack of motivation? In my spring semester course we discussed how motivation is not created by the teacher, it is inborn. Motivation is the condition within a person that affects their readiness to do an activity. I believe most students have a motivation but just don't let it kick in all the time. This is where differentiation would come into play, but I'll leave that for another post. A teacher has to make sure they do not stifle that glimmer of motivation, but instead they must feed it.

So what is my answer to my B satisfied question? I'm not going to sit back and take the B+. I've decided that I've reached a point in my life and career where I have to be more proactive in my learning and start setting the example that I want my students to follow. I also figured I should show my professor I'm not just some young blond student named "Chris" who he would pick on. Even though I didn't have much to say about the political, economic and social issues in the curriculum class (yes the class took a complete tangent away from what it should have been), I will show him that I have an understanding of what we read and that I am a great student. How's that for motivation?