In order to understand the role that recognitions play
in meeting a kid's need for competence, and in general how we can promote
competence in kids , I decided to share here Alfie Kohn on competence from his
classic ' Punished by Rewards'.
When we give school kids ' recognitions'
for their achievements we ought to boost interest in learning tasks since 'recognitions ' offer evidence
that a job has been done well, which makes the kid feel competent, which in
turn is highly motivating .
According to the research however, 'recognitions'
have a negative impact on intrinsic motivation. The problem is that they are
judgmental and controlling. They are destructive of autonomy because not only
control what kids can do but how well they have to do it.
– do the comments help
the kid feel a sense of control over his life, encouraging him to reflect and
make his own judgments of what constitutes a good performance or are we
attempting to manipulate his behavior by getting him to think about whether he
has met our criteria?
Intrinsic motivation -
Do our comments trigger kids to become more
deeply involved in what he is doing – improving competence or do they turn the task into something he
does to win approval or prove his competence.?
The problem with feedback , -even when it
is done right – informational in a neutral tone- , is that it can be
interpreted as verbal praise when it is positive feedback ,or criticism when it
is negative feedback. It is not easy to strip the information from its
emotional weight and this is especially difficult for kids who are less
intrinsically motivated. Instead of criticism, we can frame the interaction as
cps – collaborative problem solving focusing on solving problems and finding
ways to improve. Instead of kids using our positive feedback to experience a '
good feeling ' of perceived competence (
which in any case lasts only for 2 minutes ), we can help them regard feedback
as information they can use in the process of learning.
The way to go is to bring kids in on the
evaluation process that focuses on the learning process rather than
achievement. They can participate in determining the criteria by which their
learning can be assessed and have them do much of the actual assessment as is
practical. Ak quotes Mark Lepper – that to a considerable one's perception of
competence at an activity will depend on .. whether one has to succeed by his
or her own standards or by someone else's.
It is important that kids get
informational, non-evaluative feedback about their academic progress and
classroom conduct but more important to motivation is to provide them
opportunities to learn new skills, improve their existing skills and to acquire
and demonstrate competence. Demonstrating competence is more about the process
, proving competence is more about achievement , grades and awards. And of
course the content – curriculum should try to be engaging, enjoyable, meaningful
and relevant. Competence can be improved across many skills but having a
variety of tasks that require different skills and provide the right amount of
challenge. In this way we give kids an opportunity to feel a sense of
accomplishment. That feeling of having worked at something and mastered it , of
being competent, is an essential ingredient of successful learning. And, as one
researcher notes ' classrooms that provide a variety of concrete activities for
many learning ability levels do not need reward stickers or praise to encourage
learning.
I prefer that schools focus
on helping kids improve and learn new skills- acquiring a growth mindset ( rather than be busy proving
competence ) , be given opportunities to
give expression to these skills in meaningful ways and participate in assessing
the process, their contributions and work.
The questions of self worth,
esteem and accomplishment are relevant when they are missing. When they exist,
we don't think about them and if we do , they are just moments of good feeling.
Maybe it is also about a confidence that a kid with a growth mindset has when
attempting new tasks and challenges but still it is focusing on me as a process.
The important thing to note
according to AK is that it's true that
recognition isn't always extrinsic, it's also true that competence doesn't
always require recognition (from others) and the two ideas shouldn't be
conflated. We run the risk of that
conflation when we overlook the substantial difference between recognition from
others and from oneself.
Allan
