The Motivation Myth

I want to thank the Church of St. Paul for having me speak at their Home Education Ministry meeting this morning.  It was gratifying to finally share all the reading I've been doing in the last six months with parents who understand and want to inspire their kids.  What a wonderful group you have!

If you are curious about the talk, there are four parts:  Motivation, Mentoring, Mindset and Methodology.  The gist of the talk is that we can't motivate anyone for the long term.  Extrinsic motivators really don't work.  I think, deep down we all understand that.  Moreover, understanding that human beings, made in God's likeness and image, do not like to be controlled or manipulated.  We do our kids a disservice telling them that they have to do things "because I said so."  That's motivation (extrinsic), and in the long run, it just doesn't work.

Speaking of mindset - For the HEM group:  I spoke about Brainology, which is an online class kids can take to help them move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.  Right now, Brainology is available for $39.95 through homeschoolbuyersco-op.org  which is 50% off the retail cost.  My kids have started it and after just a few classes have seen a difference in themselves.  I have seen the difference, too.

I could have spent another two hours talking about how the book clubs, spelling team, Junior Classical League (Latin Club) and our on-line co-schooling have motivated my kids.  However, I ran out of time!  Just remember that as our kids grow older, they need fellowship (as do we).  That fellowship, working on a common cause (book club, co-op class, etc.) might just be all the motivation our kids need.    Social contagion, the scientific term for people doing things because others are, can be used for good.

I will, over the course of the next few months, feature some of the books that I loved reading regarding this topic.

Jesuit Method of Memorization

As many of you know, I really love Google Books.  After giving my "This Old Schoolhouse" talk in February, a very good question came up at the end.  While the purpose of the talk was showing the similarities between the homeschool mom and School Marm, I also talk about how the one room schoolhouse pupil had a superior education.  One of the method the School Marm used was memorization.  You see, even the one room schoolhouse followed a classical education model.  The question that came up was, "What were the Catholic Schools doing at that time?"  Well, that question led me to looking for books from around 1900 to see how the Jesuits did it.  I found the book  Jesuit Education: Its History and Principles Viewed in the Light of Modern Educational Problems (Saint Louis, Missouri: B. Herder, 1903) by Robert Schwickerath, S.J.

 The nineteenth rule of the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum, or Plan of Studies prescribes the regular recitation of memory lessons. These frequent practices of the memory in Jesuit schools have often been censured by modern writers. But renowned teachers as Dr. Arnold of Rugby, in fact, all educators that are not mere theorists, strongly insist on the necessity of these exercises.

Why should we exercise the memory of the pupils? The answer to this question in general is: because we must train the whole man. An old adage has it "Tantum scimus quantum memoria retinemus." [“We only know as much as we retain by memory.”] Boyhood is the best season for memory work, and also the time when that faculty should be thoroughly drilled. Professor Schnell, quoted by Father Kleutgen, says, "The school of the second period of childhood (10 to 14) is before everything else a school of memory, and during it more will and must be given to and absorbed by the memory than during any other period of life."

Notice, they did not believe that elementary school was the school of memory, but what Neo-classical pundit call the "Logic Stage".

 And Father Pachtler observes: "The lower the class the more is exercise of the memory to be insisted on." Again: "The mental power which is first developed is the memory. It is the strongest in boyhood and in the first years of youth, and decreases gradually with the development of the body, until, in old age, it is confined to the impressions produced in youth, and is remarkably weak in retaining impressions fixedly.**  We must strike the iron whilst it is hot, and so make use of boyhood for the acquisition of those subjects which require the most memory, the learning of grammar and the languages which are the foundation of a college career."

 ** New studies show that our brains are relatively plastic well into our middle ages.  It can go well into old age.  Read Aging With Grace about the Nun study showing how religious women seldom develop Alzheimer's disease or dementia or Brain Rules by John Medina for more on brain plasticity.

If it is asked what should be learned by heart, it is not easy to give an adequate answer.  This much is certain that the more important rules of grammar must be committed to  memory; then choice passages from the best authors in English and Latin, and a few from the Greek. Among the finest loci memoriales in Latin are the orations of Livy, v. g. that of Hannibal to his soldiers, the exordia of the orations of Cicero, striking passages from Virgil, some odes of Horace, the account of the "four ages" from Ovid's Metamorphoses, etc. In Greek it will be well to have the exordia of the Odyssey and Iliad learned by heart; Greek gnomes are also chrousa epê, truly "golden words"; they may serve to fix easily certain important rules of syntax in the mind of the pupils. At the same time, they well illustrate — as in fact the adages and proverbs of every nation — the most common ethical and every day life principles.

Notice that difficult memory work is not associated exclusively with the elementary school years – the Sayers “grammar stage” but with what we would consider middle school age. One of my favorite books on Classical Education, Trivium Mastery by Diane Lockman, makes the same assertions.  She demystifies the goals of a Classical Education and what is really required for a great Classical Education.

It is not necessary the work be English. The only requirement is the selections should be worth remembering, be it from the ethical, aesthetical, poetical, or historical point of view. The most beautiful and most elevating thoughts from the world's literature, treasured up in the memory, will also afford considerable help for the writing of essays.

A few suggestions may be added about the manner of learning by heart. Passages from good authors are to be known word for word. The same will ordinarily apply to the rules of grammar; the precepts of rhetoric and of poetry may either be gotten in the same way, or the sense simply may be exacted. The matter which is to be committed to memory should be understood.
It will be most useful to instruct the pupils how to memorize. They should not try to learn the lesson as one whole, but rather they should memorize one or two lines at a time, a sentence, or a clause; then the second sentence or line of poetry. After two are well known they should be repeated together. Then a third sentence is learned and again united with those learned previously. The principle of the old Romans: Divide et impera, [divide and rule] will here be applied. These suggestions may appear minute, and it may be objected that each individual has a way of his own which is just right for him. However, a little questioning of pupils will show that their method of memorizing is very frequently erroneous, and that instruction on such matters will be far from amiss.

In The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, deep practice is defined by error-focused, repetition, going over a short or small amount to mastery.  Once a small amount is mastered, more is added, stopping at errors, correcting the errors right away, until mastered.  Learn a small amount, correct errors, master it, repeat adding a small amount each time.

One great mistake of students is to try to learn by heart when their minds are bothered and distracted. Memory work is best done when body and mind are quiet; impressions then made are deeper and will last. This is the fundamental secret of the various much vaunted systems of memory which have been paraded about in different times. Concentrate the mind, is their motto, and then you will memorize with ease and tenaciously. Very few people, boys or not, have the self-control to concentrate their minds when they are disturbed. This is one of the reasons why it is best to learn by heart in the early morning, before the thoughts and feelings of a new day crowd upon one. Father Sacchini recommends the pupil to go over his task when walking or alone, the same principle, as is clear, being involved.

When should the lessons be recited? By looking into the Ratio, in the second rule for the several classes, we find that the beginning of both sessions is set aside for the recitation of memory lessons. On Saturday the lessons of the whole week are to be repeated. Father Sacchini speaks of monthly and yearly repetitions by heart. He adds an exhortation to the professor never to omit the recitation of memory lessons, and to exact them to the letter.  It is hardly possible, in this case, to hear everything from everybody, so the professor may call on a few only, or ask but a part from each. It is very useful to have, say a whole exordium, or an entire description, thus repeated. Another such recitation is held when a whole speech or book has been seen. This public recitation is to take place from the platform; it might be made an item in the entertainments given one another by the different classes. It is incomparably more advantageous to the pupil to deliver thus by heart and declaim with the pomp and ceremony of public elocution a masterpiece of literature which he has been taught through and through, than to fit gestures and modulate his voice to some half-understood and often inferior composition which he has not had the time, nor the patience, nor the ability to make his own.

This is similar to the Suzuki graduation from one level to the next.  A Suzuki student does a public performance of all the music they have memorized from the beginning to the end of the book.  They may also include previously memorized pieces.

It seems very important that the pupils should be directed to be careful to give their memory lessons according to the sense and feeling; in reciting poetry attention is to be paid to the quantities and, above all, to the caesuras; then the lines will sound like music.  This is unquestionably the surest way of making good speakers, and is far superior as an elocutionary practice to any weekly or less frequent class of elocution. It is also for this reason of the utmost importance that the professor should read the authors well, and see that the pupils read according to the sense of the passage.

Lastly, Father Schwickerath emphasizes the importance of learning in context and with understanding, not the mere ability to recite accurately.  That is a fault I find with programs like Classical Conversations.  Memorizing for memorizing sake is not a good use of time.  We should choose carefully what we have children memorize rather than turning into Schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind from Dicken's Hard Times.

Learning to Mastery

 

First of all, my apologies for my long absence.   I've been working on a presentation called "The Motivation Myth" that I will be doing for a homeschool group on April 20.  After reading about fifteen different books, I've put together a presentation that talks not only about Motivation, but also Mindset, Mentoring and Methodology.  Sorry.  I couldn't think of any other M to go with that other than Methodology.  That section is about ways to inspire.

If that wasn't enough, I've been doing research about right-brain learning and how the brain works in general.  I'm particularly interested in how right-brain learners have difficulty memorizing things. I'm trying to bridge the gap between what I know is required in a Classical education and that which right brain learners are capable of doing.  They don't match up.  So, I've been doing a tremendous amount of research on memorization.  Not just regular memorization, but memorization to mastery.  I'm especially keyed up about it since recent studies on the brain show how important memorization is for our kids.  Books like The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, Brain Rules by John Medina and The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk all support how very important memory work is for everyone.  And then other books like Right-Brained Child in a Left-Brain World, Upside-Down Brilliance, Teaching for Two Sides of the Mind and The Gift of Dyslexia say how hard it is for right-brained kids to remember things, especially words for which it is difficult to find a picture.  So, for my right-brained kids at home, I'm trying to bridge that gap. I was a very strong right-brained learner in elementary school.  School trained it out of me.  I now test as a whole-brain learner, which means I don't have a side preference any more.

Do you have a struggling learner?  One who has trouble with things like reading, memorizing, attention?  Chances are they aren't struggling.  They are just right-brained.   I'll be writing a lot more about right-brained learning next week once my deadline is over for my next talk as well as the Jesuit method of memorization.

The 8th Grade Panic

I know many others (including myself) who are experiencing something I call the 8th Grade Panic!
If you homeschool and have children approaching high school,  you realize that it is approaching quickly and you worry that because you homeschool, there might be gaps in their education.  Bearing just wrote about this in a post called Deficits in the Homeschool where she answered a commenter's questions about gaps in education.  Bearing summed it up nicely:

I know it's a bit cliché to recast a deficit as an opportunity -- but in the case of the homeschool it strikes me as really true.  We are preparing these young people for life as a human being in the world.  The world is full of barriers, and human beings are full of deficits.  Learning to come up against them, and either work our way around them or live, constrained, with acceptance and humility, is a good thing.

I know, while I had great opportunities in high school, I didn't take advantage of them.  I had gaps of my own.  I should have taken Grammar and Biology, but I was allowed to take American Lit and Ecology instead.   Am I a worse person for it? I don't think so.  I dissected more things in my elective Anatomy and Physiology class than I ever would have in Biology.  And, I really did (and do) believe that reading good literature helps develop an understanding of Grammar.  I have no regrets for the choices I made in High School, but that is because they were my choice.  Bearing was right on that, too:

 Anyway, my thought is that as you are approaching eighth grade and the start of high school, it is time to have a frank discussion:  What does the young person want to learn?  What external requirements must be met?   What can the homeschool provide?  What are its strengths and weaknesses?  How can the strengths be channeled best, and the weaknesses compensated for?  What resources does the homeschool have which remain untapped?  Where can the parent and the young person work together to bring them to fruition? 

Whatever your approach, please take your kids' opinion into consideration and take it to prayer.  Yes, I know your kid's education is your job.  But, one thing we know about motivation is that if you want a kid to participate in anything, they have to have buy-in, especially at that age.  And, it's important to be honest- honest about what you can do and what is realistic. This year, I realized that I cannot have as large a co-school teaching load.  Next year, I can only teach one class and that will be Latin.  This year, I teach Latin 3x a week, two Earth Science classes, a Composition class and a Religion class.  It's not that my older kids are suffering.  They are getting a ton of my attention. My younger kids are getting the short end of the stick on this. My sweet eight year old daughter has been relegated to watching the little kids while I teach and that is not fair to her, two times a day, four days a week.  (Don't tell her, but she's getting a big thank you at the end of the school year!  Summer school! No, just kidding.)  But it also means I can't necessarily help them when they are stuck on something. 

I have at least five friends experiencing 8th Grade Panic this year, besides myself.  What is so fascinating to me is the different paths those friends are taking when we have always seemed to be on similar paths, used the same curriculum.  One family has decided to send their daughter to a wonderful Catholic Classical High School affiliated with a great Catholic Church in our area.  Another has opted to take a very laid back approach, following TJEd advocator Andrew Pudewa's advice to continue homeschooling, perhaps adding in PSEO in the last two years.  Another mom is looking at on-line options to keep herself and her daughter accountable, though they are both two of the most accountable people I know.  Another family is enrolling their kids in Seton for high school.  Yet another is still on the fence,  carefully looking at all her options. 

I happen to be one of those people, too.   I have been researching.  I know what my kids and I would like to see on their high school transcript, but finding a good fit seems impossible some days. That is leading me down a different path than many of my friends and it makes me a little sad.  But that is the way it goes.  How to handle high school is just as personal a decision as choosing to home school.  What I do suggest is that you not go it alone.  Ask others you know who've done high school at home.  Attend seminars in your area about homeschooling through high school.  I know there are several in this area this Spring.  Check out the high school co-ops.  Find a friend to Skype with on a topic or class.   It seems now the solution for me is to look to those who have gone before me on this path, get their advice but in the end I need to figure out my own path. 

Excellent video: "Changing Education Paradigms"

UPDATED:  I removed the video from my blog.  When you view it via Youtube as I had originally posted it, there are "suggested videos" that appear on the screen afterwards.  One is bothersome.  So I have replaced the video with a link.  The video is directly on TED.com, so no offensive recommendations come after it.  I apologize.  I have no control over the recommendations made by Youtube.

Have you ever heard of TED.com?  TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.

It has grown and now there are 900 on-line presentations that are fascinating!  For example, my first visit to TED was based on a Google search about math and origami.  Up came a great video by Robert Lang looking at a new approach to origami that is rocking the Science world with new solutions to big problems.  And then, as usual, I went down rabbit holes and came up with other treasures, like this:

Sir Ken Robinson - Changing Education Paradigms - Totally worth 12 minutes of your time

Not only is he right, but my question for you is:  Should we go back to our agarian methods of education or something totally new?  I think it is a combination of both.  We need to step off the conveyor belt and rethink our approach.  Ah, the beauty of homeschooling is that we are not stuck on their conveyor belt.  But how has your conveyor belt education hampered your job of educating your children?

And - the presentation style is absolutely fascinating!  I wish I could do a presentation like that...I would have to work on my drawing skills!

Gone Fishin'

My 6 year old has a way of keeping me on my toes.  He does not want to do school anymore because it's "no fun."  So, it was time to get creative.
He got a cheap dollar store fishing pole with a magnet for a hook from his sister for Christmas.  Inspiration!
I got out his flashcards and had HIM put paper clips on each.  (Great skill for developing fine motor skills.)  Before hie could completely finish, enter two year old.  She found the fishing pole and WOULD NOT give it back.  She had "gone fishin'" for his flashcards.  He was LIVID.  The scene he created was loud.
The result of the ruckus?  Enter four year old.  "I want to fish, too" he declared.
I ran out to the garage and grabbed the two kiddy fishing poles we had.  I cut the hooks and managed to tie slip knots on the line.  I added a couple of magnets to the lines.
Four year old and six year old now were putting paper clips on Disney Princess Math flashcards for the two year old.  She switched to fishing for princesses instead of reading words.
Four year old and six year old casted and fished for reading words, with four year old trying to say the letter names or sounds and six year old reading the words.  Two year old was still picking up princesses.
In the end I used:

• 3 fishing poles (kiddie or play type with magnets on the line)
• box of paper clips
• flashcards

Result:  three happy kids under 7, fine motor skill activity, gross motor activity (fishing), reading, letter recognition and PRINCESS recognition (don't all two year old girls need that?)  :-)
What have you done for fun lately?  Leave some creative ideas here.  Help us all out.

Some excerpts from other books on Motivation...

Quick tips from some other books I'm perusing:

• Some kids are not motivated to achieve in school because they do not value the outcomes of school, nor do they enjoy completing the homework.  To reverse underachievement that stems from an apparent lack of motivation, educators must first determine how to build task value into the student's scholastic experiences.
• Students must believe they have the skills to perform a task before they will attempt it...The term self-efficacy is the individuals' judgment of their capacity to perform specific activities.
• The way in which parents and teachers compliment students has an impact on how successful students perceive themselves.  (Read Mindset for more help on that one!)  Try "Good work!" rather than "You are so smart!"
• If a child attempts a task and fails, they may determine, after that one attempt, that they can never succeed at that task.  This logic occurs because they fail to recognize how abilities are developed.
• Biblio-therapy can be great for kids who lack motivation by reading stories about famous people who have overcome hardship.  (Also from Mindset.)
• Believe it or not, the lack of motivation may stem from the opposite problem - lack of intellectual stimulation.  This does not mean piling on MORE work.  This means finding work that is challenging and of intellectual interest to the child.