Creating a Motivating Environment

Part one: Content Review

In the “The Strive of It” and “Joy in School” Kathleen Cushman and Steven Wolk each discuss how to motivate students by allowing them to choose their own pursuits. How do the strategies presented in these articles relate to the ideas of the Circle of Courage, as described by Martin Brokenleg and Tim McDonald? Explain at least two specific ways that ideas presented in one or both of these articles fulfill some or all of the values of the Circle of Courage.

Describe at least three ways that the emotional climate of a group or classroom setting can affect a child’s or adolescent’s motivation, explaining why and including a specific example for each.

Article: Apter, T. (2006) Resolving the confidence crisis. Educational Leadership, 63(7), 42–46. Retrieved from the Academic Search Complete database.

Article: Cushman, K. (2010). The strive of it. Educational Leadership, 67(5), 50–55. Retrieved from the Academic Search Complete database.

Article: Wolk, S. (2008). Joy in school. Educational Leadership, 66(1), 8–14. Retrieved from the Academic Search Complete database.

Article: Brokenleg, M. (2010). The resilience revolution: Our original collaboration. Reclaiming Children & Youth,18(4), 8–11. Retrieved from the Academic Search Complete database.

Article: McDonald, T. (2010). Positive learning framework: Creating learning environments in which all children thrive. Reclaiming Children & Youth, 19(2), 16–20. Retrieved from the Academic Search Complete database.

Part two: Self-Esteem, Resilience, and Motivation

Based on the Learning Resources and your personal experiences, how would you characterize the link between self-esteem, resilience, and motivation in school-age children and adolescents? Is each one essential to the others? Or do you think one or more can exist independently?

Choose a specific setting of interest to you (K–12 classroom, after-school program, scout meeting, camp, youth club, etc.). How much of a priority do you think building self-esteem and resilience of young people should be for professionals in this setting? Is it something you think should be addressed explicitly at designated times? Should it be addressed explicitly but sparingly? Or should it be integrated into other activities? Why?

What challenges might professionals face in trying to address self-esteem and resilience issues within the confines of this setting? What strategies might they use to address these challenges?

With these three thoughts in mind, follow the instructions below to post your response to this Discussion topic.

Post an explanation of how you view the link between building self-esteem, resilience, and motivation in school-age children and adolescents. Then describe what place you think building self-esteem and resilience should take in a setting of your choice, explaining why. Finally, describe at least two challenges that professionals in this setting might encounter when trying to address self-esteem and resilience issues and provide at least one possible solution that could be used in response. Be sure to cite information from the Learning Resources to support your thinking.

Part three: Circle of Courage

As you learned this week, the Circle of Courage is a model for positive youth development based on Native American philosophy. According to the model, children and adolescents have four basic needs—belongingness, mastery, independence, and generosity. By helping young people meet these needs, parents and professionals in turn facilitate the development of children and adolescents into resilient, caring, self-motivated individuals. In this assignment, you will analyze a successful youth project or program to see if and how the Circle of Courage needs were met.

Find an example of a successful school project or other youth program in which children and/or adolescents have displayed motivation to learn or to complete a task. Examples might include a fund-raising drive, a peer tutoring program, a science fair, a service project, an academic competition, etc. This can be a project or program in which you personally participated, that you observed in your community, that you heard about from a friend or colleague, that you read about in a newspaper or magazine, or something of interest that you find through research.

Write a brief summary or profile of the project or program that you have chosen. Then analyze the project or program in terms of the four components of the Circle of Courage. Consider the following:

What components of the Circle of Courage do you think are present? How and why?

If some are missing, why do you think it is? Does it affect the outcome of the project? Why or why not?

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