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?

Diving Into Technology

So here begins my new adventure into the blogging community. My inspiration for starting this came from my summer grad classes. In one class we've been discussing class differences and all the elements that cause the gaps between the rich and the poor. One topic of discussion was that when our students leave school and return home they are inundated with so much negativity from the media. This made me think that if I want to try to do something about this then I have to explore more avenues of technology and media. Then in my next class the idea of blogs came up in discussion as a form of professional and personal development. What a great parallel! So here I am exploring technology while networking.

Speaking of media, I would just like to share a commercial that cracks me up and makes me smile. I have mentioned this commercial to some of my friends but they just haven't really caught on to the humor. I'd like you to take note at :16 (that is by far my favorite part) as well as the cow at :18.



On a more serious and productive note, one solution my professor gave to the dilemma of students receiving negativity from the media, he gave me a fantastic idea that my colleagues and I will be implementing in our curriculum next year. He said that if he were still teaching he would make every Friday a movie day where he would show a classic like "Schindler's List" or "To Kill a Mockingbird" and then have a discussion about the moral implications of the movie. As a middle school teacher this may be difficult to find appropriate movies content and age wise. I do feel that when this comes together we will be able to valuable discussions that not only teach morality but also will teach proper use and appreciation of media. If a curriculum is formally drawn up I would be happy to share it with others. I welcome suggestions for topics and movies, so please share if you have thoughts.