"A Lot of Fat Kids Who Don't like to Read"

Recently in my TE 348 class, I read an article titled: A Lot of Fat Kids Who Don't Like to Read. It was based on the effects of Pizza Hut's Book It! program and other reading incentives. I had never heard of the Book It program, but after some research I found that it is basically that each child gets a goal of books to read, and if they reach they goal, they get a reward of Pizza. The article goes on to talk about offering incentives to read, and I found a lot of it's key points to be really interesting.

First, the article states that our culture is based on behaviorism. It goes on to say "the way to get things done is to dangle goodies in front of people." There was a study done that results that the more someone is rewarded for doing something, the less interest that person is likely to have in that activity. Basically, the reward program offers temporary compliance, but results in the wrong type of motivation. This is a key point that I found very interesting. Extrinsic motivation are motivations outside of the task, where intrinsic motivation is an interest in the task itself.So many people talk about the amount of motivation a student may have, whereas the though should be on the type of motivation. Another key aspect of this article is the idea of "good citizenship program." This is where kids get rewards for doing something good for somebody else or society, only to get something out of it for themselves. This idea again goes along with the type of motivation that should be enforced, not the amount, which seems to be the overall thee of the article.

This article made me think a lot about myself as a student first of all. I have realized that I am one of those students that is wrongly motivated, which makes me feel a bit disappointed in myself. One example they gave, was my exact frame of mind. "Students who are led to think about grades tend to be less interested in learning, less likely to think creatively, and less likely to choose difficult assignments." When I read this statement, I thought of myself right away. When I do any type of assignment or something I have the grade in the back of my mind. I work for the good grades, not to get something out of it. I hate to admit that, but I have to be honest about this. I don't remember a time when I thought about doing homework to learn, I do homework to keep good grades. Because I do get good grades, people think I am really smart, but I admit that I am not. I am constantly telling people that I am not that smart, I just apply myself to my work. Which is so true. I have so many friends that know so much more than me, yet they don't apply themselves to the work. Whereas I put a lot of effort into my work, so I get the grades that make people think I am smart. I know I have the wrong motivation, yet I feel at this point I cannot change my thinking. Even the part about choosing less difficult tasks is true. If we get an assignment where we can choose the route, I will choose the easiest one that will get the job done and get a good grade. I feel so bad now that I have read this article and actually thought about it. Yet, after reading this article I chose the difficult paper so I was pretty proud of myself at that point. Overall, I found that I look into the rewards for assignments, and I know I have the wrong motivation. Yet, I know with some effort I may be able to change my thinking, but it is going to be a hard thing to do.

Thinking of how I am as a student, I know how I need to be as a teacher. It seems ok to offer a little incentive, but that cannot be the basis of the activity. Nor can good grades be the basis of the activity. I know that students should work towards good grades, but their main frame of mind should be putting in the best effort they have for an assignment. This way, they will ultimately end up with the good grade, yet they will come out with a lot more knowledge than they started with. It is my job as a future teacher to provide the students with the right motivation, and not focus on the amount. Overall, this article gave me a whole new perspective on rewards for reading, and I hope that I can make a difference within my classroom.

Check out the article!