EDF1303- Assessment task 2 Professional Practice Analysis/Investigative Report into Student Learning

Tutors Name: Prasanna Srini

Tutorial time: Friday, 9am
My name: Stephanie Vawser
ID Number: 25998277

Introduction
Consistent with the EDF1303 guidelines, I have focused on one chosen theme of
Engagement and Motivation. The question I have explored in this essay is What does
it mean to provide an engaging and motivating curriculum?
Context
My placement was at a school in a forested landscaped area in the Dandenong ranges.
Many students at the school are drawn from the local area. Whilst the school is not a
city school, and can be considered to be part of a rural region, the people in the area
possess good levels of education, income and wealth, providing a relatively high socioeconomic environment. The class I worked with was a grade one and two composite
class.
A selection of observations collected to do with Engagement and Motivation
I made a number of observations while I was on placement as follows:
Example 1: The Layout of the classroom was very colourful with many posters, words,
and information sheets hung up around the room. It also had interactive activities placed
around the room including books, iPads, computers, drawing utensils and other games.
The desks were grouped in five blocks where students were strategically placed by the
teacher depending on their ability, year level, who distracted them and their work ethic.
Example 2: In the class I was observing, they had V.I.P of the week. So, each week a
student was selected to be the V.I.P. in which they were given a special desk to sit at in
the classroom. There were certain activities throughout the week involving the V.I.P. for
example; the V.I.P had to bring in a treasure bag of things that they cherished, including
photos of their families which they would present to the rest of the class. This was
always followed by a brainstorm where the children had to write kind things about the

V.I.P student in their workbook which was then collated by the teacher for that student to
take home.
Example 3: A technique that I observed which helped the teachers engage the students
in their learning was a concept called Give me 5. It was something that was taught to
all year levels. It stands for five actions:
1. Legs are crossed
2. Hands are still
3. Ears are listening
4. Eyes are watching
5. Lips are zipped
If the students were restless, the teacher would shout out Give me 5 and the students
would hopefully react with the above actions. That was a common theme that I noticed
that most teachers tended to use, especially for whole class activities when attention
was needed by a large group of students.
Example 4: The teacher in the one/two composite class used a Terrific Ticket rewards
system. When students displayed brilliant behaviour, then they would get a terrific ticket.
Once a student reached the maximum of ten terrific tickets, they were able to choose
something from the prize box. Before an activity, the teacher would mention to the
students that she had, say three tickets to give out, which would motivate the students
to become one of those three students receiving the tickets at the end of the activity.
Example 5: Another technique was used across all grades by all teachers was a simple
call and response technique. The teacher would call out Hands on top in which the
students would then respond by putting their hands on their heads and yelling out That
means stop. By doing this, it meant that hopefully all students were paying attention to
the teacher at that given time.
Example 6: The teachers also used the classic clapping technique where they would
clap a rhythm which the students had to repeat. This technique provided the opportunity
for students to listen carefully in a fun, positive and engaging environment, especially for
young students.

Example 7: The class that I was mainly observing was made up of a range of different
students with different abilities. There was one particular student who had ADHD. I
noticed right from the beginning of my placement that he struggled with paying attention
in class activities, especially when the class had to sit on the carpet at the front of the
classroom while the teacher explained a concept or theory. He would often find it very
difficult to sit still. He would tend to jump up and down, fiddle with a pencil or even crawl
around the room. The teacher later explained to me that he had his own reward system
that was set up in conjunction with the parents. He worked off a dot system. If he
displayed bad behaviour, he would receive a red dot. The amount of dots he had at the
end of the day impacted on how much time he would lose on the iPad at home.
Drawing on concepts from EDF1303 in regards to Motivation and Engagement
Disengagement has been a major issue in primary education (Hall, 2014). Therefore,
this essay explores ways in which teachers can get around this problem and ensure
engagement, resulting in successful learning for young children. Its important to note
that there is no recipe for how to motivate students, though a great step to motivating a
class is for the teacher to know their students well. Its crucial to learn about each
students background, family history, interests, along with different educational abilities.
As seen in Example 2, the V.I.P activity would have been used for the teacher to get to
know the students.
There are many different resources that might be engaging for each child in the
classroom. As a teacher, many considerations need to be taken into account when
designing lesson plans. A teacher cannot assume that all children have come into the
classroom with the same background and the same previously acquired knowledge.
The activities chosen in a lesson plan need to cater for a range of abilities so that the
really competent and not so competent students are both being challenged. For a
student to be engaged, it means that they are taking meaningful participation and
sustained involvement in an activity (Hall, 2014). For a student to be motivated, they
need to take forth a process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented
behaviours (Cherry, 2014).

Motivation and engagement in the classroom can be affected by the physical

environment in which the students learn in (Lippman, 2010). Its important to form a
strong relationship between the learner and their learning environment. Given that
twenty-first century learners are ones that are more adaptable and are more affluent,
especially in digital nativity such as interactive whiteboards, iPad and computers, it is
important that these items are incorporated into the classroom. This can be seen in
Example 1.
There are different types of motivation that are used in education. The two major types
are extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Hall (2014), suggests that motivation and
engagement in learning are linked to ones emotions. If a child is to be influenced by
external factors or rewards, it would form a sense of motivation for completing a given
task if they knew they were being rewarded for it. This is Extrinsic motivation. As
shown by example 4 in my observation summary, the teacher used an extrinsic reward
system through the use of terrific tickets. Whilst I was only on placement for a short
period of time, it seemed to be an effective way to enhance the motivation of the young
students no matter what their ability levels or ages they were at. Intrinsic motivation
(Deci E. ,Koestner, & Ryan 2002, page 1) refers to motivation without an apparent
external award (Hall, 2014). For example, a student may simply feel satisfied with their
efforts or enjoyment from completing the task rather than feeling the need to work in
return for physical rewards. On placement, I noticed that whilst extrinsic motivation was
predominantly used, there were some students, especially the grade twos which did not
need a reward to finish a task. They seemed to have a lot more motivation than the
grade ones and were quite happy to have a simple case of satisfaction at the
completion of a task.
Exploration of observations through academic research
Research Article 1: Extrinsic Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation in Education:
Reconsidered Once Again
Extrinsic reward systems have been widely advocated by some educators (Deci,
Koestner & Ryan, 2002), especially in recent years. This article states that according to
the Cognitive Evaluation Theory (Deci et.al., 2002, page 3) there are certain

motivational inputs that influence a childs competence and determination in school

activities. The Cognitive Evaluation Theory (Deci et.al., 2002, page 3) focuses on how
verbal rewards have the potential to undermine the effects of intrinsic motivation
because it can come across to the student as informational or controlling (Deci et.al.,
2002, page 4). This suggests that students may feel pressured to perform in a certain
way by the verbal response they receive from their teachers. Therefore, Tangible
Rewards (Deci, et.al. 2002) might be more effective and age appropriate. As seen by
my observational example 4, the terrific tickets were announced prior to completing the
task, providing motivation to complete the task.
Research Article 2: Self-determination theory and work motivation
There is an observation that teachers and parents struggle to get their children/students
to become self-motivated in their studies. The key is to drive this determination from a
young age. There has been widespread attention in the education domain in
differentiating extrinsic motivation and other theories of organizational behaviour. This
article draws upon the self-determination theory which focuses on separating extrinsic
motivation into two sectors of autonomous motivation and controlled motivation. Deci &
Gagne (2005) believe that intrinsic motivation is simply an example of autonomous
motivation in which students will actively engage in the activity due to interest. However,
controlled motivation is the opposite where children feel a sense of pressure, a sense
of having to engage in the actions (Deci E. &.Gagne, 2005, page 334). In order to
become autonomously extrinsically motivated (Deci E. & Gagne, 2005, page 334)
teachers need the ability to identify the values in which children have within their
behaviour to recognise their own self-selected goals (Deci E. & Gagne, 2005, page
334). If teachers are able to make this connection then students will feel greater
freedom in their educational settings because they will be able to associate their
personal goals with their learning outcomes. This theory suggests that teachers should
also take into account individual differences in peoples orientations toward the intiation
and regulation of their behaviour (Deci E & Gagne, 2005, page 339).

My insights into student learning

Whilst I was on placement, I noticed that the student with the ADHD was often having
the class and teachers attention drawn to him because of his inability to keep still. The
teacher was always asking him to sit still, stop fiddling with a pencil, or stop crawling
around the room. Because of this, other students learning was being affected because
the teacher had to take up valuable teaching time disciplining this student that was
disrupting the rest of the class. The implication may be to use stronger discipline or
perhaps separation from the class for the current activity.
Another observation was that there were a lot of children that were attention seeking
and felt as if they required more help than others which meant the teacher was not able
to get around to each student. I thought that the more quiet students missed out on one
on one help. Whilst I was able to help out individual students when I was there, to help
with this issue, an extra helper is not always present, so this would limit the success
rates of students when the teacher is the only adult helper in the classroom. The
implication is a need for teachers to ensure they allocate their time across all students.
Once I become a teacher, I will aim to connect and engage with the students by
conducting activities throughout the year which focus on learning about themselves and
conveying information about themselves to me and their peers, as exemplified by the
V.I.P activity observed on placement. Once this is done, I will be able to construct
teaching practises that grasp the nature of autonomous motivation where the students
are able to conduct tasks with high levels of interest and value.
Students might be more motivated to learn if they have a voice in their learning (Hall,
2014). To allow for this to happen, the teaching practices that I choose will have to have
enough scope for students to be flexible with their learning. The current primary
students are considered to be the millennial generation and digital natives in which they
have never lived a day without a computer. They have grown up with their brains
exposed to a wide variety of technologies, so its important to use these technologies to
convey the content of the curriculum to them (Churchill, 2011). As my observations on
placement lacked in digital technology usage, I will aim to use more of this when I

become a teacher. This will allow students to use their previously acquired knowledge of
things like on the IPad to learn a new piece of knowledge.
Conclusion
Thus, in order to provide an engaging and motivating curriculum, it is important to
accommodate a range of skills, attributes and learning styles to ensure that teachers
can form a strong connection between the twenty-first century learners and themselves.
Whilst motivational techniques might form an appropriate form of engagement, other
techniques such as positive feedback through the use of intrinsic motivation might also
be worthwhile. It is important to note, that this essay only explored some ideas
surrounding this issue and further research in this area is required.

References
Cherry, K. (2014). What is Motivation? Retrieved from About.com Psychology:
://psychology.about.com/od/mindex/g/motivation-definition.htm
Churchill.R., Ferguson,P., Godinho,S., Johnson,N., Keddie, A., Letts,W., Mackay,J.,
McGill,M., Moss, J., Nagel, M.C., Nicholson,P., & Vick,M. (2011). Understanding
and motivating students. In Teaching Making a Difference (pp. 106-193). Milton,
Queensland: National Library of Australia .
Deci, E. & Ryan,R. (2009, December). Self-Determination Theory of Motivation .
Retrieved from education.com: http://www.education.com/reference/article/selfdetermination-theory-of-motivation/
Deci, E., Koestner,R., & Ryan,R.M. (2002). Extrinsic Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation
in Education: Reconsidered Once Again. Review of Educational Research, 71(1),
1-27.
Gagne, M. & Deci, E.L. (2005). Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal
of Organizational Behavior, 26, 331-362. doi:10.1002/job.322
Hall, C. (2014). Engagement and Motivation. Unpublished manuscript, EDF1303.
Melbourne, Victoria , Australia: Monash University.
Lippman, P. (2010). Can the physical environment have an impact on the learning
environment? . New York : OECD Exchange.