Inspiring Student Motivation: External Rewards & Creativity

Ever wish your students were more motivated? If you’re like most of us, you have tried an array of rewards and punishments to motivate kids. There’s only one problem: it doesn’t work. At least it doesn't work well enough. People (yes, even students) aren’t motivated from the outside so rewards and punishments only work to a point. We are internally motivated. That’s why it's essential to engage and inspire students to be motivated to succeed in school (and life.)

If you’re ready to move beyond the reward/punishment model and embrace a whole new way to understand motivation, I encourage you to come back regularly. It’s time to challenge the status quo and create schools and classrooms based on what really motivates behavior.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

External Rewards & Creativity

IBM’s Institute for Business Value recently conducted a study involving 1500 chief executives to determine the most important leadership competency for the future. The result: creativity. (http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2010/id20100517_190221.htm?link_position=link4) Think about that for just a moment. Research repeatedly suggests that the reward/punishment model stifles creativity.

When we work for an external reward, we are motivated to do exactly what you want. That’s compliance. It’s not creativity. If we’re serious about having students be “college and career ready,” and if we want to promote excellence in leadership, we need to foster creativity rather than snuff it out.