An admired colleague of mine recently visited with me about a fascinating book I started a few months back (and then put down for other more pressing reads)—Daniel Pink’s DRIVE.  As a lifelong learner and reader, I do my best to keep up with current trends.  Mr. Pink’s works are always thought-provoking and challenging reads; after all, he is often called an “accidental scientist.”  He specifically focuses in this book on the science behind motivation–what really motivates anyone to do good work?  What really motivates someone to always want to do great work?  He shares three factors for enduring motivation:  autonomy, mastery, and purpose.  Continuing the book, he got me to thinking about our classrooms here at Miller and how we work within all three areas.  I asked some tough questions:

• How can we foster autonomy (the ability to direct time, task, and technique) for our learners and their classroom leaders?
• How can we provide mastery opportunities for all learners and their classroom leaders?
• How can we ensure learners and classroom leaders find purpose (beyond extrinsic rewards) in their school work?

These are hard questions to ponder as we move into (what I affectionately call) “new STAARy horizons in public education.  We are so much more than a test score, and because of societal changes, we are expected to do so much more than teach the basic curriculum now.  WHEW…it’s mind-blogging at best!  Here’s hoping you find ways to foster autonomy, provide mastery, and ensure purpose with us because we need you!

Note:  Our campus field trip is tomorrow!  We’re so excited!