1. Motivating High Ability Students
Watson School of Education
Angela Housand, Ph.D.
housanda@uncw.edu

2. angelahousand.com

3. Motivation
To be motivated means to be moved to do something

4. Poor Student
Motivation
• Disinterest
• Lack of engagement
• Off-task behavior
• Negative impact on achievement

5. Underachievement
• Lack of motivation
contributes to
underachievement
• 20-50% of gifted
students
underachieve
• 38% of Black students
underachieve

6. Reasons Students Expressed…
• Uninteresting curriculum
• Not personally meaningful
• Not culturally relevant

7. Internalizing Motivation
(Deci & Ryan, 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2000)
Amotivation
Intrinsic
Motivation

8. Internalizing Motivation:
External Regulation
ExternalRegulation
Externally
motivated
Punishment/
Reward
Compliance
Introjection
Act to gain
approval
Do not fully
understand
purpose
Identifcation
Behaviors
become
personally
important
Itegration
Behaviors
become
central to
identity
(Deci & Ryan, 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2000)

9. Internalizing Motivation:
Introjection
ExternalRegulation
Externally
motivated
Punishment/
Reward
Compliance
Introjection
Act to gain
approval
Unknown
purpose
Identifcation
Behaviors
become
personally
important
Itegration
Behaviors
become
central to
identity
(Deci & Ryan, 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2000)

10. Internalizing Motivation:
Identification
ExternalRegulation
Externally
motivated
Punishment/
Reward
Compliance
Introjection
Act to gain
approval
Do not fully
understand
purpose
Identification
Behaviors
become
personally
important
Integration
Behaviors
become
central to
identity
(Deci & Ryan, 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2000)

11. Internalizing Motivation:
Integration
ExternalRegulation
Externally
motivated
Punishment/
Reward
Compliance
Introjection
Act to gain
approval
Do not fully
understand
purpose
Identification
Behaviors
become
personally
important
Integration
Behaviors
become
central to
self-identity
(Deci & Ryan, 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2000)

12. Internalizing Motivation
(Deci & Ryan, 1995; Ryan & Deci, 2000)
Amotivation
Intrinsic
Motivation
ExternalRegulation
Externally
motivated
Punishment/
Reward
Compliance
Introjection
Act to gain
approval
Do not fully
understand
purpose Identification
Behaviors
become
personally
important
Integration
Behaviors
become
central to
self-identity

13. Interests

14. • Tied to Student’s
Identity
• Personally
Interesting
• Integral to the
Student’s Vision
of the future
• Viewed as
Useful
(Eccles & Wigfield)

15. “From the standpoint of the
child…he is unable to apply in
daily life what he is learning at
school. That is the isolation of
the school - its isolation from
life.”
John Dewey

16. • Student-centered
• Increases active
engagement
• Authentic inquiry
• Requires connections to
prior knowledge
Interest-Based
Learning

17. How does one engage
students authentically?
Present students with real-
world challenges that require
them to apply their relevant
skills and knowledge.

18. How does one engage
students authentically?
Have students engage
problems in the same ways
that professionals in the
associated fields do.

19. Facilitating Authentic
Investigation
1. Assess, Find, or Create
Student Interests
2. Conduct Interviews to
Determine Interest Strengths
3. Problem Finding and
Focusing

21. Interest-A-Lyzer

22. Sample Items…
Imagine that you can spend a week job shadowing any
person in your community to investigate a career you
might like to have in the future. List the occupations
of the persons you would select.
1st choice ______________________
2nd choice______________________
3rd choice ______________________

23. Sample Items (Secondary Interest-A-Lyzer)…
If you could conduct an interview with a man or
woman you admire, past or present, who would it
be? What 3 questions would you ask him or her?
1. ____________________________________
2. ____________________________________
3. ____________________________________

31. Facilitating Authentic
Investigation
4. Formulate a Written Plan
5. Work with Students to
Locate Resources
6. Provide Methodological
Assistance (Like the Pros)

33. Project Description:
What do you hope to
find out or learn?
Timeline:
•Start Date
•Completion Date
•Progress Report
Dates

34. Intended Project(s):
•In what ways will you
share your work?
•How, when, and where
will you share and
communicate the results
of your project with other
people?
What Format Will Your
Project Take?
What will your product
be?

35. Facilitating Authentic
Investigation
7. Help Students Choose a
Question
8. Offer Managerial Expertise
9. Identify Final Products and
Audiences

36. Facilitating Authentic
Investigation
10. Offer Encouragement,
Praise, and Constructive
Criticism
11.Escalate the Process
12.Evaluate

38. Research Tells Us…
When the learning environment provides:
Complex tasks that extend over time, allow
for variation in expression style, and
integrate multiple processes, both cognitive
and procedural
Students Engage in Learning

39. Complex Tasks
Give students a purpose for the task
During the process
For completion
Require student reflection
Progress
Process

40. -Thomas Edison
The first requisite
of success is the
ability to apply your
physical and mental
energies to one
problem without
growing weary.

41. Independent Projects
• Ask the question:
– Will you be able to stay interested in
this topic for an extended period of
time?
– If you start to loose interest, how
might you make the topic interesting
again?

42. Autonomy

43. Autonomy
The more autonomous (self-determined)
a person believes their behavior to be
the greater the personal satisfaction and
enjoyment from engaging in that
behavior.

44. Competence…
The state or quality of being
adequately or well qualified.
The ability to be successful.

45. Self-Efficacy
An individual’s personal judgment of
his or her own ability to succeed.

46. Self-efficacy influences:
 What activities we select
 How much effort we put forth
 How persistent we are in the face of
difficulties
 The difficulty of the goals we set

47. Increasing Self-efficacy
 Past performance
 Vicarious experiences (observing others
perform)
 Verbal persuasion
 Physiological cues

48. Control

49. Research Tells Us…
When the learning environment provides:
Choice and volitional control over processes,
timing, challenge level, and outcome or
product of learning tasks
Students Engage in Learning

50. Volitional Control
Provide structures that support
autonomy
Goals set in advance
Set clear expectations
Classroom structures that provide
access to materials

51. Blocks to Feeling in Control
• Motivated self-deception
– Denying a state exists to reduce anxiety
– “Oh, that is not due until next week.”
– A month long project
• Inaccurate verbalization
– Convinced they feel something the do not
– “I hate school!”

52. Blocks to Feeling in Control
• Accessibility difficulties
– More processing required to form an attitude,
more apt to lose track of what the attitude is
– “I used to be good at math, but the teacher is
giving me a bad grade so I obviously am not good
at math.”

53. Student Ownership
• Require students to own
their feelings
– “I feel angry” vs. “You made
me mad”
• Verbs instead of adjectives
to describe feelings
– “I am successful because I am
smart.” vs. “I am successful
because I work hard.”

54. Influence
On a clean sheet of paper, list the past five
years vertically (2010, 2009, 2008…).
Next to each year, list the most important
event that occurred in your life during that
year.
Estimate the percentage of control or
influence you had over each event.

55. Significant Influence
When you reflect on your experience, do
you find that you had more control than
you thought?
Students may feel that external forces
control their lives.
Modify the exercise:
Last five months
Last five weeks

56. Research Tells Us…
When the learning environment provides:
Opportunities for students to participate in
the processes of goal-setting, tracking
progress, and evaluating their own work
Students Engage in Learning

57. Goal Setting
Challenges students to give their efforts
a preplanned direction
Take responsibility for the key events
that give form to their experience
Provides opportunity for reflection

58. Unrealistic Goals
 Goals set by other people
 May be in conflict with student values, beliefs, or
desires
 Insufficient Information
 Need realistic understanding of what is being
attempted
 Always Expecting Best
 Focus on raising student’s average performance
and increasing consistency

59. Insufficient Goals
 Fear of Failure
 Fear prevents risk taking
 Failure is a positive: shows where room for
improvement exists
 Taking it “too easy”
 Will not achieve anything of worth

60. Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-bound

61. What Kind of Goal?
 Attitudinal
 Academic
 Behavioral
 Educational
 Artistic
 Family
 Physical
 Social

62. Goal Attainment is not luck,
it is work and it takes time.

63. Attainment
 Measure and take pride in the
achievement of goals
 Demonstrates forward progress
 Celebrate and enjoy the satisfaction of
achievement
 Set a new goal

64. Goalforit.com

66. Self-Reflection
 Did I accomplish what I planned to do?
 Was I able to stay interested and
focused for the duration of the project?
If not, what did I do to motivate myself?
 Did I plan enough time or did it take
longer than I thought?
 In which situation did I accomplish the
most work?

67. Student keeping a
record
Student tracking
progress
Student assessment of
goal attainment
Higher order thinking &
metacognitive
strategy use

68. Student reflection on
reading
Student participation in
assessment and
review
Explicit strategy
instruction
Purpose for reading and
goal setting
Efficacy building via
specific feedback

69. Individualized Attention

70. The Question of Equity
Equity, the quality of being fair, is not about
offering the exact same thing to every
student, it is providing individuals with
suitable challenges and experiences that
will enable them to be successful and grow
beyond where they are now or where they
have been before.

71. • Intrinsically motivated
• Keen sense of interest
• Highly motivated
• Task committed
Gifted Student
Characteristics

72. Extinguishing Motivation
Intrinsic
Motivation
Amotivation

73. Avoid
Rewards !

74. What is your personal definition
of success?

76. Equal Opportunity
Be systematic
Encourage shy/quiet students
Provide opportunities for written
responses or idea generation
Provide different kinds of leadership
roles

77. Honor Diversity of Style
Help students find ways of working that
fits their “style”
Encourage them to develop their own
systems
Allow trial and error: Have patience to
give system ideas a fair chance

79. Research Tells Us…
When the learning environment provides:
Opportunities for help-seeking from
resources, peers, and teacher (e.g. small
group instruction and differentiation)
Students Engage in Learning

81. Teachers Make the
Difference!

82. Even highly
motivated
students…

83. Even highly
motivated
students…
…need support!

84. Environment

85. Person Environment Fit
• Person / Environment fit is the degree to which
a person or their personality is compatible with
their environment

86. Good Environmental Fit Occurs When:
A person adjusts to their surroundings
AND
Adapts the environment to fit their needs

87. Infrastructure

88. Infrastructure

89. One
Laptop per
Child

92. Infrastructure

93. Infrastructure

94. Infrastructure

95. (Eduventures)

96. Enable NOT Disable
Technology Should...

97. Teachers
Parents Students
Administrators
Varied Experiences

98. EMPOWER STUDENTS

99. Questions?

100. Thank You!

101. Individualized Education

102. School of One

103. School of One

104. School of One