Personal Essay
Rachel Monroe
Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation in Today’s Classroom
“Ms. Monroe, can I get a ticket for picking up the papers on the floor?” A student turns to me with a questioning look. I know the response they are expecting. “Sure! Thank you so much for your help.” But instead, I would much rather say, “Thank you for your help, it is our job to help keep our classroom neat and tidy so that everyone can learn.” The first response is onea student in my school hears too often, thanks to our ticket reward system that is used to motivate students to show good behavior and help others.This ticket system was put in place in hopes that students make correct choices in the classroom, since they know they will gain an automatic reward when doing so. Their reward comes in the form of little paper tickets. A silly idea to most; however, the more tickets students accumulate for good deeds, the more of a prize they can trade these in for at the Ticket store. This seems like a perfectly simple, positive behavior incentive and most would agree that it seems fair and efficient. After all, many schools around my county use these same types of program with great success. It seems this way at first, but the problem I began to notice that the more my students had been exposed to this system for behavior and work motivation, the more they begin to expect a reward for every task they complete. I noticed that I was finding it hard to motivate my students to work on something that really interested them, and lose their self in this work—it had to have an outside reward instead. This is when I started to question the real motives of our constant need for extrinsic motivation in the school environment.
To understand my issue with the system,you have to understand the motivating concept behind this ticket idea. The ticket store for our school is open every four weeks during the year, or in teacher language—right around progress report time. This “store” is held in the teachers’ workroom, and has tables filled with pencils, stickers, mini notebooks, water bottles, plastic toys and other trinkets that can be “bought” with tickets students have earned through good behavior, out-of-the box thinking, work ethic, etc. It is a regular playground of rewards for students at the elementary level. The teachers have noticed the items in this store really seem to motivate the kindergarten through 2nd graders; but every year we end up having to increase the loot for the older students. They quickly lose interest with the ticket items after several “store” sessions, or find that these items are not enough to satisfy their need to have bigger and better prizes.
“Ms. Monroe, these prizes are stupid, I’m not using my tickets this time.” “Why do they always have the same things?” This is common response I hear each year around December, after we have visited the ticket store for the second time. The teachers are usually sent an email around this same time, from our principal, asking for more ideas on whatto add to the store to maintain student motivation and interest. Since I am an upper grades teacher, I know how tough it is to keep and hold their attention once they no longer see how an incentive applies to their lives or makes a difference to their personal goals. Our school has since increased the loot of ticket items. We have included cans of soda, free computer time, and even gone as far as to give fifth and sixth graders catalogs to find items they would like to have as part of the store; items that would motivate them to earn tickets. Sad isn’t it? I have to bribe my students to do the very thing that school is supposed to give them the innate sense to do. So how did this store come to be such a popular school idea? It came from the birth of an idea that students will be motivated to learn and improve behavior by rewards and thus; these rewards would make classroom management easier for all teachers. It is an idea that has been in practice for years, yet most teachers quickly learn it does not help us where we need it most---helping students to become intrinsically motivated to learn and interested in academic topics that will help them aid society.
From a teacher’s perspective, this system of ticket rewards seemed like a great, easy idea for motivation and managementwhen it was first pitched at a faculty meeting. I mean who does not want students jumping at the chance to participate in lessons and help others? We were going to reinforce positive behavior with an incentive that really caught the students’ attention, and all we had to do was tear off a ticket and hand it to the child. We were told this would cut down on behavior issues in the classroom, help peer-to-peer relationships, and would increase student attention and motivation during instructional time. They would be motivated to learn more and to act correctly if they knew they were instantly praised for doing so. We were even shown research studies that suggested students who were working toward a reward would be more likely to pay attention in class and were more motivated to achieve.
I must admit the first couple of weeks with the program were amazing. The students were behaving, helping others, and raising their hands more often. It looked as though the system had finally gotten it right! The more tickets we gave out, the more motivated the kids seemed to become. However; the problem quickly became, what EXACTLY was I motivating them to do? I began to realize that the ticket reward system had actually increased academic drive to complete tasks, BUT only if a ticket was not provided. “So if we finish this and try this, could we earn a ticket?” “But I answered first, doesn’t that earn a ticket?” I could not believe my ears. At the beginning of the year I had made it an expectation that it was all of our jobs to participate and create a happy learning environment. “He has more tickets because you gave him more chances!” I started to feel as if the tickets were all that mattered now, not the learning and experiences gained. Once again, K-2 students seemed to continue to do well with the program, still had motivation to achieve, but 3-6 students soon turn to a competitive drive to outdo each other in ticket accumulation. “I have 24 now, how many did you get?” The next questions turned into, “What can we get for these again? When can we go to the store?” I knew I was slowly losing the high expectations and positive inner growth I was hoping to gain this year.
The question that began to cross my mind was not when we could go to the store next, but how this was helping my students to have good behavior and achieve in the classroom? Did I really want my students to ask for a reward every time they did the right thing? As an adult, did I expect an extrinsic reward each time I knew I was doing my job or helping out someone that needed it? I knew that these rewards did help to motivate, but I knew it was not exactly the kind of motivation I had hoped for. I began to think that maybe I had created a monster, or the school as a whole was creating a monster. I want my students to PUSH themselves to succeed and learn about many topics of interest. I want students to treat others well, and care about the world around them. What was I willing to sacrifice for that? As an educator, my main goal is for these behaviors to become part of their inner self, so they become a quality citizen and successful adult. I would never want them to stick out a hand at someone after completing a task and say “What do I get for that?” Since I began to question this program and many like it that other schools use, I began my search for more knowledge on this topic to see if other teachers were experiencing the same issues. Was this a normal incentive for schools everywhere, and what are some alternative strategies that promote intrinsic motivation for learning and achieving?
When researching how classrooms have used intrinsic motivation to create lifelong learners, I was impressed with Malone and Lepper’s (1987) definition and ideas. They describe intrinsic motivation simply in terms of what people will do without external inducement. They state that intrinsically motivating activities are those in which people will engage for no reward other than the interest and enjoyment that accompanies them. Oh wow, doesn’t every teacher yearn for this!Intrinsic motivationcan encourage a student to attend class, to explore, and desire knowledge without any external incentives or what can also be identified as bribery. As I read these words I immediately stopped and thought. Was I bribing kids to learn? My stomach sank because I knew this was actuallytrue, in a way. My students didn’t want to learn because it was important to them and made a difference in their lives; they wanted to learn and participate to earn that reward. Malone and Lepper also discussed the topic of having “Heart” for learning topics. Heart is the passion, it is the drive, and it is the pursuit of something bigger than oneself. It is not self-seeking; it is concerned only with the success of the project and the people that are on board with the vision. This is what I wanted for my students and felt was an important life-lesson. The creation of a program or plan that was self-seeking only in the fact that it helps students to complete tasks and search for further information because it makes a better learner.
I wanted more information about how others schools were handling the revelation I had just made. I found a site about John Shilder, author of Transformative Classroom Management, where he devotes an entire chapter of his book to extrinsic motivation techniques that are common in schools. The most prevalent of these are grades. He discusses that we give grades as a representation of quality performance and as an incentive for later benefits. I had never thought as grades as an extrinsic motivator, but I guess that was because many students at my school did not seem to mind when they were falling below A’s and B’s. He went on to say that many schools at the elementary level use: tokens, stickers, stars, and other incentives; much like the one that is currently in place at my school. The quote I most identified with from his research was that teachers are telling the students, “If you (the student) do something that the teacher has determined is good, you will get something that you should like.” This is exactly the way I felt in my classroom on a daily basis, especially when we are asked to constantly overuse our extrinsic motivation efforts. Shilder does not suggest doing away with all extrinsic rewards, nor does he say that they are all bad. He does, however; suggest that teachers are using them ineffectively. He gives these questions for teachers who are hoping to assess whether the extrinsic motivation tactic to reinforce good behavior leads to intrinsic factors in the long run:
1. Is the motivation to perform the behavior increasing, or just the motivation to obtain the reward?
2.Will the schedule of reinforcements be sustainable? Or will a greater amount of reinforcement be needed in the future (see discussion on weed pulling later in the chapter).
3.What is ultimately being learned?
4. Are we replacing an internal source of motivation with an external one, and as a result extinguishing our students’ intrinsic motivation?
These questions really aidedmy assessment of extrinsic rewards at my school. I had never considered grades as a major motivating factor, unless it was for students who are high achieving and needed affirmation of their performance. I now realized that all children use these as anextrinsic gauge of performance, whether it becomes a positive or negative source of motivation for that student. We hope they see a bad grade and are then motivated to work harder and earn a better grade, or hope that students feel pride in earning good grades. I began to use Shilder’s questions and information to give our school a “grade” on how much we use extrinsic motivation as our way to make students do what we think they should.
We have another class incentive besides tickets, made of “turtles,” our school mascot. These “turtles” are given in the hallway, cafeteria, or other areas of the building by any number of adults. Teachers, specialists and administration hand out these “turtle” as reinforcement of good behavior or setting a good example for other classes around the school. Each class collects these turtles outside their classroom door on a sheet to reach a class goal and incentive for good behavior in the building. Once the turtle amount is reached, students then receive an incentive that was voted on by the class. There are even more examples of this throughout our school. We have an incentive every nine weeks for low absences, tardiness and office referrals. We have incentives for students who bring in money for the charity cause we have adopted that month or week. We have incentives for reading—a school wide AR goal, incentives for honor roll, incentives for Terrific Kids, the list goes on and on. I was starting to feel the heavy burden of this “extrinsic motivation” issue that has been plaguing me since I began teaching. Some of these motivations disturb me more than others. Do I not want students to read because they enjoy it? Do I not want students to donate money and supplies because it helps someone feel better or helps support them, not because it gives me a tangible reward back? Do I not want students to do well in school because it is important to them? I was beginning to think that the institution of school had created this idea and ran with it, because it was easy and safe. I am not sure if I will be able to escape all that we do to motivate children by external factors. My main concern is what my students will do when they become part of the real world and are faced with challenges that may not bring about rewards; but are necessary for growth and change during adulthood. How will my students function and how will I have helped them survive in this environment? Have I helped them to gain strategies and problem-solving methods that will be effective in these situations?
These ideas were starting to take a different shape and remind me of a personal experience. I was reminded of a familiar scenario of my life post-college and pre-teaching. So many people were using the term “millennial” in my pre-service workshops and complaining about how MY generation was one that expected immediate feedback, praise, reward, and incentive; just to complete normal job duties. During my first year of teaching, I was bombarded with how much we as teachers were going to have to change our teaching due to these “Millienials” and how much students were going to expect from their education experience. Students were going to want it their way, with a cherry on top! Many teachers discussed how “we”(my generation) would never complete a task we did not see a reward from and thus should expect to have many different jobs during the course of our lifetime. It always made me shudder to hear coworkers and administrators discussing a group that I know I am part of. I knew I love to work hard at my job and always see a task through to completion; otherwise it is not worth doing. However, I did see where I took my job less as my life, whereas other generations may have had to focus on it for survival. I also knew I expected to see progress or affirmation of a job well done so that I knew I was effective.Was I a product of the same system that I was forcing on my students? This scary thought forced me to cringe. We currently live in an age where so many people find themselves “entitled” to rewards, property, feelings, etc. We also live in a world that tells us we can do even the craziest things, and someone is going to appreciate them or reward them for it—I think immediately of the various reality shows. It might be somewhat of a stretch, but maybe our schools are not only aiding this issue, but also providing opportunities for students to learn these nasty habits.
So why do schools use extrinsic motivation?What can I do to betterunderstandintrinsic motivation and it’s approach toacademic/behaviormotivation with my students? The research states that schools feel extrinsic incentives are a “quick fix,” a Band-Aid that will help improve efforts for a while. The hopes are that students will be motivated to listen and participate, engage and understand,while they have this carrot dangling in front of their nose (a reward). But the bigger question is, how long until they get bored with the reward?Much like my students, the research finds that students are left wanting more. While researching this topic, I found tons and tons of studies that show this effect. This type of extrinsic motivation actually undermines the learning process. The students see the prize as their goal, not that any of the learning taking place in the classroom is useful or helpful for daily life. Students who are naturally curious, when faced with an extrinsic reward, do generate questions; but these questions have little to do with the content the teacher wishes to convey. Instead the questions are of the nature of: "How can I bend the rules to win the game?" or "What's the least amount of effort I can put in and still satisfy the teacher?" I see this all the time in my classroom. Students rush through work just to complete it, do as few amounts or give forth the least amount of effort to complete the project. I think this incentives and rewards program only aid this work ethic and behavior. So now, I have to realize and use what I know is most important.