Chapter 1: The Rise and Fall of Motivation 2.0

Chapter 1: The Rise and Fall of Motivation 2.0

     

     I remember looking up the word “elephant” in the encyclopedia for a third grade project, by the time I was in sixth grade I remember using a computer program to look up words and now I often find myself using Wikipedia to find information, from biographies to movies and even information about the common cold.   Now I use free information dispensers, mainly Google, daily for both school and non-school related searches.  Before reading this, I never thought about the costs involved to distribute this information, including why my mother’s dust covered Encyclopedia Britannicas cost so much and why the instant Google or Wikipedia search engines are free.  After doing some research (on Google) I found that many contributors of Wikipedia had the desire to share information and have the belief that it should be shared with as many people as possible for free.   This directly relates back to teaching for me, as the main desire for becoming an educator to share knowledge with younger generations in order for them to grow and reach their goals.   While teachers do receive payment for “dispersing information” of a specific content area, they don’t receive any physical payment for inspiring students, helping them gain confidence, being a role model, finding new ways to reach students who otherwise “wouldn’t have a chance” according to others as well as many other hats that a teacher is constantly juggling.  This for me similar to those contributors, they share knowledge for the same satisfaction, which gives them the motivation and desire to keep sharing knowledge.

      

     Going more into depth about motivation was the discussion of Motivatio n 2.0, which is I noticed right away as being out dated.  Unlike today’s student, Motivation 2.0 is what motivated me when I was younger; I sought reward over punishment, which for me motivated me in high school- I didn’t want to be punished at home for bad grades so I got good grades.  As I’ve gotten older I can see my motivation has changed somewhat, however there is still some of the same underlying motivation.  In college my drive to do well comes from wanting to succeed in life, putting it in the simplest form good grades will ultimately result in getting a job which in turn will help with having a happy or “good” life.  That being said, since today’s students don’t share my motivation the obvious solution is to find what motivates them.