Intro

I was really surprised to read about how Harlow discovered intrinsic motivations by giving a puzzle to lab monkeys. I thought that intrinsic motivation would have been a bigger influence back then than it is today because our country is so much more materialistic. I also think extrinsic motivation is the reason many people don’t like their current job. I feel like people today are more likely to go into a field for the money rather than for the love of what they do. I actually had the same idea when I started college because I started out in nursing. Throughout my first year, I decided that it would be more beneficial for me in the long run to be doing something I love rather than just doing it for the money, so I chose education. It was really tough to make the decision because I knew that some of my closest friends and family would be upset with my decision, and I didn’t want to disappoint them.
I am interested to read about the ways I can adapt different things from this book to incorporate into my classroom to motivate my students. I think rewarding students is an important part of the classroom environment because it is something that makes students want to be in class and gives them something to work toward. Both of my favorite classroom teachers growing up had a great reward system, and that is one thing I want to put in place in my classroom.