Motivation and Literacy

This morning I read a fascinating story in the Weekend Australian Magazine entitled "Magic is probably the most honest art form in the world" (27th-28th September) about a young magician in the tradition of David Copperfield by the name of Paul Consentino.


He is an Australian super star on the rise. Recently he performed at the Singapore Grad Prix alongside big names like Jennifer Lopez and Robbie Williams. However, this success wasn't indicative of his formative years as a young person at school. He struggled to read, in fact it wasn't until year three that he read his first word.  In the article Paul recounts the embarrassment he experienced as a 12 year old being chosen to read aloud  in front of his year 7 class at a prestigious school in Melbourne. He recalls the secret inner voice that said, "Please don't pick me, please don't pick me." After reading aloud and laboriously stumbling over the words he sat down to nurse his deflated self-esteem.

In our society it is perceived as a shameful and humiliating thing to be unable to read. Paul's embarrassment echoes the experiences of thousands of our young people today, who struggle with reading. Fortunately, Paul's fortunes changed, he was interested in magic and came across a book about this topic in the library. He was fascinated by the pictures of magic tricks but was reluctant to read. His mother helped him to analyse the words. He reported, "It was a very different approach to the rote learning at school... but I had to do the learning my way."

 At this point Paul believed that his motivation to read changed. It wasn't that Paul had not been motivated in the past. All behaviour is motivated and goal oriented. Children generally are not unmotivated. It would seem that Paul was motivated to avoid reading until he found something he was passionate about.

According to Ryan and Deci there are three vital elements to motivation: competence, autonomy and relationship. It is evident that this third element linked to his interest and passion was the basis for building Paul's reading competence and reading autonomy. It would seem evident that the relationship of reading to his interests was the key element while the support of a significant person prepared to invest time and believe in him was also important.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1991). A motivational approach to self: Integration in personality. In R. A. Dienstbier (Ed.), Perspectives in motivation. Nebraska symposium on motivation (pp. 237-288). Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press.

Corporal Punishment in Our Schools: Should we blame the victim?

In my last blog, 'Equity - the real issue in falling education standards.' I proposed that as our society becomes more unequal we can expect that the standards in education will continue to fall. One simple but ill informed approach is to blame the teachers or the quality of teacher training. An even worse tendency is to blame the learner for the failings in the education system. For example, often a failing student will be labelled as being 'unmotivated', 'lazy' or even 'uninterested'. Many of these students quickly become frustrated and give up trying to achieve in school. They develop self-protective behaviours: they learn that it is better not to expend effort when failure is the expected result. Some students misbehave in class to avoid doing activities that they believe will lead to failure. The disruptive behaviour not only helps them avoid failure but it also protects their self esteem by gaining inappropriate attention from other students. Traditionally a common response was to use corporal punishment in the form of the cane or the strap. Another typical response for continued disruptive behaviour is suspension from school. 

Recently Kevin Donnelly, the co-chair of the Australian Federal Government's national curriculum review has suggested the use of corporal punishment for disruptive students as long as the local school and community support it. This view by a prominent educationalist has sent shock waves throughout the community. Most people understand that using the cane does not address root causes or problems and will more than likely reinforce inappropriate behaviours. Donnelly's statement  seems to indicate some very outdated views which are not in line with current thinking and research findings. According to Jacqueline Maley, (parliamentary sketch writer for the Sydney Morning Herald) in her newspaper article 'Kevin Donnelly on hiding to nothing' (19th July, 14) Donnelly  is "... a critic of political correctness in schools, and he advocates the restoration of more traditional ways of learning and curricular subject matter; he is big fan of Shakespeare, the classic novels and phonics. He is a strong critic of the post-modern, theory-based lens through which literature and history is sometimes taught in modern schools." Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/kevin-donnelly-on-a-hiding-to-nothing-20140717-zu81z.html#ixzz37u3X43uS

In terms of suspension, Linda J. Graham, in her commentary in The Conversation entitled"Help disruptive students, don't just suspend them." proposed .".. that academic difficulties lead to task avoidance which leads to teacher-student conflict which leads to the use of time-out, which is followed by an escalation in disruptive behaviour, which is met by repeat long-suspension, leading to further escalation, and eventually referral to special educational settings." Read more: http://theconversation.com/help-disruptive-students-dont-just-suspend-them-28919

Simple responses such as corporal punishment or suspensions tend to blame the victim rather than addressing their complex academic, social and emotional needs. Good teachers who know, understand and spend time interacting with their students can make a difference. Trevor Cairney, in his recent blog Thursday, July 17, 2014), stated that, "Good teachers change children as they develop love and respect for their students and want the best for them. It seems to me that this is the starting point for effective teaching and parenting not corporal punishment. Read more: http://trevorcairney.blogspot.com.au

Why some children can't spell and spelling tests won't help?

There was an interesting discussion on spelling in 'The Conversation' recently. This should be of interest to all especially for those of us who have children who struggle with spelling. It was written by Dr Misty Adoniou, Senior lecturer at the University of Canberra. It explains why many children have difficulties with spelling and why some methods do not work for children who have ongoing problems in this area of learning.

She asks, "Are all children learning to love words from their very first years at school? Are they being fascinated by stories about where words come from and what those stories tell us about the spelling of those words?" This statement highlights the central role of meaning and context. However, the common practice of weekly drilling meaningless lists of words and then testing them at the end of the week merely widens the gap between those that normally do well and reinforces the perception of constant failure for those that normally do not spell well. This process lowers their self-esteem and inhibits their desire to do better.  Thus, the habit of drilling and testing are inefficient learning methods, particularly for those who struggle.

There was an interesting comment by Giles Pickford, which I have included below:

"It is worth remembering that neither Keats nor Shakespeare were very good at spelling, but they could write. Good spelling is definitely desirable, but a bad speller is not necessarily a failure. There has to be some tolerance and balance in the judgement."Giles was on to something here because he demonstrates that people can be very successful even though they are not good spellers. 

Spelling is very important but it should not cloud our judgement. For a struggling speller there is nothing more degrading to the human spirit than to find that your best efforts earn you the opportunity to stay in the classroom and write every mistake 50 times each while your friends are playing in the playground. Likewise, red lines drawn through every fourth or fifth word in a creative writing activity reinforce the notion that it is better not to try than to try and fail. 

There are many ways to teach spelling that focus on meaning and the joy of using written language to communicate, express creative ideas and encourage a desire to improve.