A Great Teachable Moment

My favourite teachable moments come not from me, but from my students.  

My Grade 8 Language Arts class is working through a unit focused on chasing dreams.   We identified a lack of motivation as a major obstacle for many, especially with young people and ESPECIALLY with school.  I asked students to break into pairs and brainstorm some possible reasons for, as well as solutions to this deficiency.  I wanted to know what level of insight they had into their own workings. 

The class abuzz with discussion, I meandered through the room, eavesdropping where I could.  Most identified the positive forces at play in the highly-motivated: notions of pride in effort and accomplishment, as well as expectations from home, were high on the list. 

As for the possible cause of a lack of motivation?  The majority of students decided a lack of motivation boiled down to two issues: the student was lazy or the schoolwork was boring (irrelevant, stupid, pointless, etc.).  This wasn't news to me, but at least it gave me something with which to work.

Two male students, Jim and Joe (*not their real names, obviously), are fine young men, but not quite model students; one can barely keep his head up during our morning classes and the other one needs much prodding to open his books or pick up a pen.  Both have contributed nicely to this class through their cheerful dispositions and infrequent participation but, all things being equal, they'd rather be in Philadelphia.

I walked to them and asked what they had come up with; they answered that this activity wasn't really for them, as they both considered themselves highly-undermotivated.  Knowing them both to be hunters, I asked them what a typical day moose hunting was like.  They described the early morning, the long walk in and the longer walk out carrying their share of the carved up moose.  I said, "This sounds like a lot of work," to which they replied, "Yeah, but it's FUN!"

Well now we're getting somewhere.

I said, "So, you get up at 5, walk 10 kms, spend 2 hours panching the moose, and haul it out on your back?  That's fun?"  In unison, they replied, "Yeah!"  I asked Joe if he'd ever come to school at 5am if something really fantastic was on the go.  Without hesitation, Joe responded. "No." I asked Jim what else made the effort worthwhile.  He came to life as he described the rush of adrenaline when the moose was in sight, the fun of being outdoors for the day, and the payoff of good eating all winter long.  Joe enthusiastically nodded in agreement. 

After we wrapped our little chat, I felt like sharing what I had learned with the class.  Some in the class would have pegged Jim and Joe as guys whose lack of motivation in class would define them throughout their lives.  But life is made of more than academic pursuits - we are not all meant to take the same path - so we must avoid making people feel lesser-than because they don't fit into a narrow set of parameters.

Jim and Joe reminded me just how motivated the seemingly undermotivated can really be when presented with something they feel is worth doing.