Appendix A: Meeting Students Basic Needs (from TCM Chapter 7)

Intrinsic motivational techniques cannot be as easily explained as separate techniques or strategies when compared to the extrinsic techniques. Like any successful methodology, they must be developed intentionally, but a holistic approach is most effective. Much of the process of promoting intrinsic motivation involves the removal of barriers to the students' abilities to access their inner motives and satisfiers. Rewards, pain-based motivators, meaningless tasks, learning in isolation, and a lack of support all act to block intrinsic sources of motivation. For one's intrinsic sources of motivation to grow, the learning context must support them.

It may be most instructive and practical to examine many intrinsic motivational ideas within a single structure - that of basic needs. Inquiry and Problem-Based Learning, Increased Responsibility, and Achieving Personal Growth all make much more sense when we examine them within the context of how they meet basic needs. Unlike extrinsic forms of motivation, intrinsic forms are less about adding something. For instance, basic needs simply exist, and we all have them. During the school day, either they are met within the context of the learning environment, or students will be forced to meet them in alternative ways. In some cases, the alternate means students use to meet their needs manifest as disruptive behavior and problems for the teacher, or unhealthy habits for the student.

Basic Needs
Each of us has fundamental basic needs that we must find a way to satisfy (Glasser 1980). If we are unable to satisfy them, we will experience some type of dissonance. While theorists vary slightly when identifying the core areas, the basic human needs for love and belonging, power, competence, freedom, and fun seem to be inherent and universal.

These basic needs exist continuously both in and outside of the classroom. The evidence that a student comes from a home in which their basic needs have been met is usually quite apparent. Most likely, they act more confident, centered, and trusting. The time spent at school can often have an even more determinant effect on students' ability to meet their basic needs than their time away from school. The activities in which they are engaged are more structured, limiting their ability to meet their needs more naturally, and in many cases, meeting one's need is more challenging at school. As a result, we discover that students find numerous creative ways to get their needs met during the school day. Quite often these means lead to what is labeled "inappropriate behavior."

As teachers we have no choice but to recognize that student have basic needs, and that those needs will manifest themselves, one way or another. Most students have the ability to deny their needs for a short period of time, but to do this day after day would be intolerable. And more importantly, student should not have to endure a school environment that denies their basic needs. For some teachers it may require a paradigm shift, while for others it may help clarify their perspective. But a critical ingredient to successful classroom management is to view all problems though the lens of basic needs initially. For example, if we look out at our class and see faces wrought with frustration, a common but highly ineffective response will be to view that reaction as inconvenient to us and what we had planned. A more effective reaction, one that will lead to a solution, is to ask ourselves, "What basic need is lacking right now?" When we view student misbehavior within the lens of "I need them to know that their behavior is inadequate," it will lead us down a management solution dead end. While we are not obliged to meet every student's basic need, when we examine the behavior and/or emotional climate in our class through the lens of basic needs, problems become illuminated, diagnosis gains coherence, and solutions become more evident.

When basic needs are not being met, the reaction by the student (i.e., the coping mechanisms) can take the form of either an internal or an external reaction. As each basic need is examined more closely, these reactions become more evident, as well as how each basic need can be met in the classroom.

Love and Belonging
Each of us needs to feel that we are loved and that we are a wanted part of a group. The desire to be accepted by the group is considered by many theorists as the fundamental human drive (Driekurs, 1974). Moreover, our sense of self acceptance is greatly influenced by factors within our environment. If we feel perpetually unloved, alienated or isolated, common internal reactions include a sense of guilt, worthlessness, loneliness, lowered self-esteem, while common external reactions include acting out, over-achievement, clowning, and pleasing. Teachers can give students a greater sense of love and belonging by recognizing unique qualities and talents, creating an emotionally safe community environment, and showing genuine care and respect.

Power
Each of us needs to feel that we have some control over our destiny. If we do not experience a sense of "agency" in our lives we feel helpless. And as we will discuss in the next chapter, a sense of power is fundamentally related to the development of an internal locus of control. If we feel we do not have any power, common internal reactions include becoming withdrawn and passive-aggressive, while common external reactions include rebellion and hostility. Teachers can give students a sense of power by giving students choices, giving responsibility and opportunities for leadership, giving ownership for the development of class procedures and the social contract, and refraining from 4-Style management strategies.

Competence
Each of us wants to feel a sense of self-efficacy. We need to feel that we are capable and have something valuable to contribute. Much of our identity is connected to what we can do, and how well we can do it. If we feel useless, unvalued, incompetent or unappreciated, common internal reactions include losing motivation and/or a sense of inadequacy, while common external reactions include bragging, acting overly competent, attention-getting, and excuse-making. Teachers can give students a greater sense of competence by focusing on progress and not products, removing conditions in which comparisons among students are used, recognizing incremental achievement and original ideas, expressing high expectations, and helping students achieve the goals they have set for themselves.

Freedom
Each of us needs to feel that we are autonomous and have freedom of choice. We must feel a sense of liberation to be able to express our individuality. If we feel too restricted or imprisoned, common internal reactions are becoming withdrawn or resentful, while common external reactions include fighting back, active resistance and/or seeking paths around authority. Teachers can help students experience freedom through supporting autonomy and creativity, avoiding personal praise and disappointment, validating differing viewpoints within the class, and fostering the attitude that the teacher does not have nor must have all the answers, and the idea that everyone makes mistakes.

Fun
Each of us needs to be able to have fun and experience wonder and joy. Fun may be difficult to define. What is fun for one person may not be fun for another. Yet we all feel the need to experience enjoyment and whimsy. If we are put in a repressive and/or tedious environment, common internal reactions include boredom, frustration and daydreaming, while common external reactions include making one's own fun, engaging the teacher in (off-task) games, and hostility. Teachers can promote students' sense of fun by the use of humor, providing opportunities for creative play, making learning engaging and interesting and a thoughtful use of healthy competition.

As we examine the conditions that meet basic needs we find that they have the effect of promoting intrinsic motivation and vice versa. When we assist students on a path of personal growth, we inevitably meet the needs of power and competence. When we give increased responsibility, we are not so much adding something or giving something to the student, we are allowing the basic needs for power, contribution, and belonging to be fulfilled and the student therefore to bloom. And as we examine the effect of instruction on motivation in Chapter 13, it will be evident that creating a learning context in which basic needs are met is a more effective means to achieving student motivation than bribing students to do work they find meaningless and unsatisfying.


Appendix B: A Thoughtful Use of Extrinsic Motivation

From TCM Chapter 7: Adopting a More Intentional and Effective Approach to the Use of Extrinsic Behavioral Reinforcement

It is a well-established reality that human behavior can be conditioned by environmental stimuli. While we can debate the extent to which one's behavior is externally conditioned or has its source in more internal drives, as educators we need to recognize the power of environmental conditioning. If we examine an effectively managed classroom, we will see a teacher who understands behavioral principles. That does not mean the teacher will overuse extrinsic conditioning or even rely on it as a motivational strategy, but will understand that the forces of behavioral conditioning are operating continuously.

The starting point to making sense of behavioral conditioning is to understand that in a conditioning situation there will be something that acts as a focal event/action/operant and then there is something that happens afterward to reinforce it. For example if we wished the family dog to consistently fetch a stick that we throw, we might give the dog a treat each time he/she brought back the stick, and only if he/she brought back the stick. In this case the dog learns that when they do the desired behavior (bringing the stick back), they will be reinforced (obtaining the doggy treat). Yet, it is important to remember that in one's efforts toward behavioral conditioning, especially when it relates to humans, little or none of the actual conditioning/learning that actually occurs will necessarily resemble the conditioning/learning that was intended. For example if we examine most punishments, the intention is to create a disincentive related to the unwanted action. But what is actually learned is much more complex and typically takes the form of a disincentive to interact with the source of the punishment or the creation of a new set of skills to get around the punishment in the future (we will examine punishments in more detail in Chapter 10).

When we examine the use of extrinsic rewards in practice, it is understandable why they are so popular, as well as why some would view their byproducts as undesirable. In most cases, they work in the short-term to motivate behavior. But there are several questions that should be asked if one is to use extrinsic reinforcements for an extended period. They include the following:

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. Like the children in the story above, are we replacing an internal source of motivation with an external one, and as a result extinguishing our students' intrinsic motivation?

If you are attempting to develop a student-centered 1-Style classroom, the frequent and/or sustained use of extrinsic rewards will be inherently counterproductive. They will work against the development of such outcomes as self-responsibility and the inclination to reflect on what will lead to one's personal growth and/or the common good of the group - dispositions that are essential to the 1-Style classroom. On the other hand, they can be part of a very effective teacher-centered classroom and assist the teacher attempting a 2-Style approach in his/her effort to promote more efficient student behavior.

For those who feel compelled to include extrinsic forms of reinforcement among their motivational strategies, it may be helpful to consider the following guiding principles for how to use them effectively.

• Relate the reinforcement to a clearly identified desired behavior. The primary focus should be on the accomplishing the desired behavior rather attaining the reward.
• The more closely in time the attainment of the reward is to the desired behavior the stronger the effect of the reinforcement will be.
• Intermittent and/or random schedules of reinforcement will be more powerful than regular and predictable schedules of reinforcement.
• Reinforcements that are given after the display of an "expected" behavior will be more effective than arrangements and "deals" made before the desired behavior is performed.
• Avoid putting students in situations in which they are competing for rewards, especially meaningful rewards. Only use competition in cases where all students are in an equal position to display the behavior if they so choose. Rewarding effort, good choices, cooperation and other things that students can control can be effective at attaining more of those behaviors. But competition that includes rewarding winners for ability, personality, parental support, and/or academic performance will undermine the level of motivation in the class and can even backfire with many students when it comes to the desired behavior change.

Following these guidelines will not lead to higher levels of intrinsic motivation, but they will likely be effective in changing behavior in the short-term. Moreover, they will help reduce the dependency of students on rewards and make it easier to remove them over time. When we do gradually remove the reinforcements, we should be left with a substantial amount of new "learned behavior" and only a minimal amount of "withdrawal" from the students who have developed a dependency on the reinforcement.

Below are three examples of typical but problematic uses of extrinsic rewards followed by a more effective strategy in the same situation:

Typical but Problematic:
"If you all do your work, I will give the class a prize on Friday." Problems include: the reward is too far removed in time; the probability that a reward is going to be needed for every desirable behavior; and when Friday comes, you will likely be in a difficult spot. It is a certainty that some students will have met their end of the bargain and others will have not. Do you see the potential problem?

Better Idea:
"You have just spent the entire period focused on a task, that is the first time you have all been able to do that, I am going to give you all ___ (extrinsic reward or removal of a negative reinforcer)." This is better because it was random, immediate, and will cause behavior change. The students know what they did, so they will likely repeat it. They will not expect it, but will exhibit behavior that they understand may be reinforced. A lesson was learned, when we ___ (e.g., do our jobs), the teacher will reward us (recall social frame development in Chapter 2).

Typical but Problematic:
"The group that does the best job of ___ at the end of the day will get a prize." Problems include: this is competitive and there will be some resentful people eventually; the work is done in anticipation of the prize - the prize is primary and the purpose of the behavior is secondary; and the reinforcement is not well connected any particular repeatable behavior (good reinforcement promotes the repetition of desired behavior).

Better Idea:
"I asked you to put away ____ and take out ______, this table did it right away without being asked again, so they will get (thing, time, being first, first choice, etc)." This is better because: it will change behavior, as the other tables will be much quicker in the future anticipating that something similar might happen again; it reinforces your expectations - real learning took place in a very concrete example; it was immediate and clearly related both in time and causality; and the focus is on the "expected" behavior first and the reward second.

Typical but Problematic:
A "token economy" or arrangements where students get points for certain behaviors and the points are added up for some reward at the end of a certain period. Problems include: behavior done primarily for extrinsic rewards. This is essentially paying students to do what they should be doing and what we want them to love to do for its own sake. We are destroying both of those goals. The schedule of reinforcement is continuous. Continuous reinforcement leads to a gradual decrease of motivation. It ends up creating a lose-lose decision, "Do I increase the reward to maintain the motivation level, or do I slowly watch my students begin to demand an extrinsic reward for everything and increasingly avoid behaviors that are not rewarded (including just about everything that we want them to care about in our class)?"

Better Idea:
If you are committed to the use of a point system:

1. Use it for a short duration at the start of the year (three weeks or less).
2. Use it to clarify your expectations. Relate your reward system to the critical expectations that are necessary for the class to function, such as listening, cooperation, efficient procedures. This process may be useful when attempting to shift from a 2-Style to a 1-Syle classroom.
3. Use only random and/or intermittent reinforcement schedules. Random is the best. That is, students realize what the desired behavior is supposed to be (working cooperatively, listening, being on task, raising hands, etc.) but they do not know when the reinforcement will occur (If you compare the level of the desired behavior in a random reinforcement condition vs. a fixed condition, you will be amazed at the difference).
4. Give points and take points away without warning. Warnings always weaken reinforcements.
5. Do not give a large amount of attention to the points. Attach your emotion to the accomplishment of the behavior rather than the attainment of the points.
6. The ultimate reward cannot be meaningful or substantive. It cannot relate to grades, your affection, or something of real material worth. In fact, simply achieving the most points can be enough of a reward in and of itself, and may be a preferable reward in our effort to emphasize that the process was the point, not who won or lost.
7. Make it a game for fun and mutual entertainment, and focus on how it is leading to behavior change. Again the extrinsic is always presented as a material reminder of something of real and intrinsic value such as learning or becoming a better class.

Incentives
Incentives can take many forms such as prizes at the end of the week for successfully performing a task or refraining from an undesirable task, or group privileges for being first or best, or rewarding students who do well on one task the chance to opt out of a further task. They concretize the non-verbal bargain: "If you (the student) do something that the teacher has determined is good, you will get something that you should like." In this way, incentives can be helpful in clarifying what is desirable behavior. At their best they can help promote good habits and shape more functional patterns of action. For example, if a mother provides a child an incentive to make the bed every day, the child may become comfortable with that behavior and continue it throughout their lifetime, even after the incentive is not longer present. In the case of healthy behaviors that become intrinsically satisfying once they become habits, this can lead to positive long-term benefits. However, with any extrinsic reward, we must question whether the incentive has contributed to the development of good behavioral patterns, or has just bribed students to do something that they would not have done without the bribe, and will not do once the bribe has been removed. And if over time the students do not experience any internal satisfaction from the behavior being induced, the incentive will eventually lose its power. One popular incentive strategy is that of Preferred Activity Time (PAT) (Jones, 2000). PAT sets up the bargain that if you (in this case, the student) apply yourself acceptably to an academic task now, you will be given the opportunity to do something that you really like to do later. On the surface, this strategy "works." That is, it motivates the student to do what it takes to attain their "preferred activity." However, as we examine this strategy closer, we discover that when put into practice, it has two undesirable by-products. First, while it may work in the short run, like other bribes it will lose its effect over time. Students will eventually return to their previous level of motivation for the academic activity. Moreover, they will become accustomed to the bribe and likely demand it. Second, it will reinforce the principle that the work that is being done in the academic time is something that is undesirable. If we bribe students with a preferred activity, we actually generate the previously-unconsidered question, "preferred to what?" What is the association that we are creating? Is it that academics are inherently un-enjoyable? While this strategy is attractive, consider its costs and long-term effects. And if you feel you need to bribe your students to engage in learning, you may want to consider the alternative of making the learning activities in your class engaging and inherently motivating (Chapter 13 will offer ideas on how to do this).