Why bonuses don't work, but an overall pay raise would

This post is influenced very heavily from the TED talk by Dan Pink. Specifically, I want to focus on the study he discusses with regards to motivation and rewards for completing various tasks. I would encourage you to watch the whole thing but occasionally I dabble in reality and know that won't happen so I will sum it up for you.  Extrinsic rewards (higher pay) work well to motivate people to complete basic skill tasks.  What we see is, the more you pay someone, the better/faster they will work.  The less you pay, equals less productivity.  This model is being applied to education across the nation.  NC is following this model.  We will give our best and brightest a bonus each year, for four years then they have to re-up for the bonus again.  The idea behind this, I think, is it rewards those that are doing a good job, and will provide an incentive for others to do better.  This will not work, or at least will not provide the desired outcomes I assume the state is looking for.  There are a number of other studies that have shown this type of motivator leads to an increase in divisiveness.  I know of no teacher that operates in a vacuum.  As a profession, we cannot thrive with this in place.  (For full disclosure, I would not refuse the bonus if I received it, however I don't think it would motivate me to do any better.)  So where should that money go...
Across the board salary raises.  We need to bring in the best possible candidates to be teachers.  We then need the best teachers to actually stay in the profession.  Teaching is not a simple skills task.  The extrinsic incentive of the bonus will not lead to an increase in scores or anything else.  However, making the profession more attractive to bright minds will.  People are leaving and/or not considering the profession because of the pay, and a potential 4 year, one time bonus will not change that.  Going back to the study in the TED talk, there was no increase in productivity on tasks that required even "rudimentary cognitive skills".  Effective teaching requires even more than that.  It's possible that this bonus will backfire and we will even see a decline in those that were identified as being the best.  With a significant increase in pay, you remove the extrinsic motivator (bonus) while making the profession more attractive to those it needs the most.

Concept cartoons

I really like using these to address where the students are. I create most of them myself so it allows me to create answer choices that I know are misconceptions about the content. Finally, and the best part is that the kids really debate over the answers. They are essentially glorified multiple choice answers but because it is a cartoon person saying it, maybe they find it more authentic. I am not sure, I just know they work. 

Todaysmeet.com + videos

My mother in law is the worst person to watch a movie with. From the opening scenes "who's that" "does he die" "are they related, does she like him?" And the list goes on and on and on...and we are only 2 minutes into the movie. If you don't answer them she gets frustrated and leaves. Students have similar questions but rule number one when watching a movie in the classroom is no talking. So how can they ask those questions if we don't allow them to talk? I have started using todaysmeet.com. It was shown to me during a faculty meeting and I wasn't sure how to use it since it seems like in a class of 30 kids I would rather they talk with each during the class and collaborate, not go through some forced secondary channel of communication. These kids are already wired in enough, no need to perpetuate it over developing face to face social skills. However using todaysmeet students can ask questions without disrupting the movie. With the students sharing an ipad or using their own device it is easy for them to ask the class (including me) questions about the movie. We have only used it a few times but it continues to work better as students get more and more comfortable with it.

Evidence for Evolution

I will upload a new video hopefully.  There are a couple of issues with this one with my wording but you should still get the main ideas. I stumbled through the last slide with the whale and on the speciation board that through speciation we get homologous structures which is not correct.

Explain everything

Today we got aquainted with explain everything. The fact that nearly every group produced something and a couple even tried to add it to a book in book creator makes me optimistic for the future with this app. We kept it simple today where they had to take a picture from the internet and then do a voice over to explain the picture using their vocab words. 

EXTRA CREDIT

How often do I give extra credit? Never...except for now. And very random other times. Go to the following link and fill out the form/quiz. Let me know what types of issues you have with it. Did you like it, dislike it, confused by it, easy, etc. EMAIL me your response to get the extra credit. In the subject line, it must say "Extra credit form" ,but don't include the quotations. Click here to take you to the quiz.

Moth lab

Our first of three role playing labs was a success. The students definitely got into it. I had to remind them to remember they are just hiding a piece of colored paper, not winning a championship, although some begged to differ. This lab allows them creativity and some problem solving skills. It also engages the hunting crowd as we discussed camo patterns and animals in their habitats. This will be the jumping off point for the dinosaur lab that comes next week.