Maslow, Motivation, and Me.

Last year at Teachmeet North East, Darren Mead recommended I read a book by Geoff Petty, Evidence-based Teaching. I did and it is very good.

In the book there is a chapter on motivation and using Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I'd come across Maslow before, as I have a degree in Languages and Business Management, and I was surprised at myself that I'd never linked Maslow with teaching before.

Since reading this, I have made a conscious effort to try to motivate my students following Maslow's theory.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs looks like this:
So, how do I use this model to motivate students?

Physiological and Safety Needs.
These seem obvious but students will not be motivated in a cold classroom and if the surroundings are not conducive to learning, students will not be motivated to learn.

Love Needs.
To give students a sense of belonging I do different things. I learn the students' names and greet them as they enter the room. I (occasionally) smile. I give merits and stamps for effort and participation, and display students' work in my classroom.

Esteem Needs.

In order to improve students' self esteem I make sure that all students in my class are treated with respect. I give opportunities for students to learn independently and use self and peer assessments, too. Another way to do this is to use students' work as a model for others to learn.

Self Actualisation Needs.

This is all about personal growth and achieving potential. How do I do this? By providing opportunities for students to express themselves, problem solving activities, using evaluation and discussing ideas, devising activities which are fun. In order to get to this top level of Maslow's hierarchy, the conditions of each earlier level must be achieved. Students who feel they are not respected will not take an active part in lessons.

Personally, I find that this has helped my planning and classroom management and I would urge others to follow this even if they use it only as a kind of checklist.

Teach Meet North East 09-2 - the sequel

With the possible exception of Mad Max 2, sequels have never lived up to the original.

However, last Wednesday I attended what was probably the best CPD evening ever : The return of TMNE09 - Same venue, more fun.

It was a great opportunity to catch up with some old friends and make some new ones, and even with the noticeable absence of Steve Bunce and Mark Clarkson and their amazing enthusiasm, the evening still managed to provide a cornucopia of ideas, advice, and some excellent presentations.

There were amazing 7 minute presentations from:

Gwyn ap Harri. He gave us an amazing presentation on sharing ideas and self assessment and after bamboozling us (or just me?) with lots of equations, came to the conclusion that we need a new education system.

Chris Harte. Chris showed us how we could use international collaboration to bring the outside world into our classrooms and to prove it, he skyped about quizlet with Emma Risby who, coincidentally, was on the other side of the planet in Australia, where kangaroos come from.

Helena Butterfield. Helena is one of my MFL heroes (she's blushing as she reads this), her presentation "top tools to get pupils talking" was fantastic and I've already decided to use some of her ideas to get my own students to improve their speaking skills.

Darren Mead. Darren retold the story of the 3 little pigs but with the emphasis on SOLO Taxonomy. There's more info about SOLO, small pigs and waooo on his blog.

Fergus Hegarty. Fergus made us work! He put us into groups with a set of Q and A matching cards to prove to us that what looked like a simple exercise could be a trigger to get students using thinking skills. It worked. I hope his students have as much fun as we did.

The 2 minute presentations came from:

Alasdair Douglas. Alasdair demonstrated how educators can use etherpad as a collaborative tool.

Lisa Keenlyside. Lisa showed us some excellent animation made by students in science lessons which were really amazing.

Ben Barton. Ben presented to us how short (and free) video clips could be used to get students thinking. An inspirational and very modest man, his blog is an amazing resource.

Archie Cameron. Archie's "Why I fear the blackboard" was fantastic. He reminded us that amazing equipment and technology do not make an excellent teacher, but the ability to motivate those around us and move students on to achieve their best.

Me. My presentation was based on an earlier blog post "effective feedback for students." The most notable thing about it was how I managed to make a powerpoint presentation look like a "wordle".

There were also many learning conversations, lots of informal networking and a lot of wine consumed. The evening was a great success. My thanks go out to all who sponsored, helped organise, took part, and listened and learned patiently.

I can't wait for the next one. I just hope Tina Turner doesn't turn up and spoil it...

TeachMeetNE 2009 Newcastle 18th June 2009

Thursday 18th June 2009 7.00pm - 10.30pm

Tyneside Bar, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne

The opportunity for teachers to meet other teachers, chat, network, share resources and ideas, and put faces to the names you see on Twitter.

Click here for more information.

If you are interested, add yourself to the wiki and I hope to see you there.

If you can't make this, there are other teachmeets going on around the country. Go to the TeachmeetNE page and follow the links.