Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Motivation
I also enjoyed the discussion about motivation. Discussing the theories of motivation was interesting because the teaching profession differs so greatly in this regard. Many employees are motivated by money. Many put in long hours for a bigger paycheck. Some motivated salespeople are driven by commission. However, the teaching profession doesn’t really involve hours or sales. Teachers are motivated in a much different way. I feel that this is why the hiring process is so vital to a successful district. Administrators must find candidates that are internally motivated to engage students and bolster student achievement.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I agree about the difference between teaching and other professions. There was a short discussion in class about the connection between student performance and teacher salaries. The lack of correlation between these two areas is not surprising because, unlike other professions, salary is not as closely tied to performance. In theory, higher paying teaching jobs will be more competitive and therefore go to the more qualified teachers. But what happens once those jobs are filled? There has to be more than money to motivate teachers to continue do their best to increase student achievement. The Equity Theory of Motivation doesn’t apply when it comes to teacher salaries. The worst performing teacher in a district can get the same reward (pay raise) as the best performing teacher. Changes in salary are not based on performance unless you just perform poorly enough to be dismissed. In other, higher paying professions, salaries and raises are absolutely dependent on job performance. If pay raises were tied more closely to performance, there would be a stronger correlation between high salaries and student achievement.
Post a Comment