Entrance Slip Nov 9 Flow Video

Some things that jumped out to me from the Flow video were: the state of flow, the value of intrinsic motivation, and work for its own sake. The state of flow is something that I think we've all experienced. Watching the video, I thought of my own experiences with the state of flow and immediately I smiled thinking about snowboarding down a mountain on a day with perfect snow conditions and weather. 

While snowboarding, I often achieve a state of flow. Although it is not a work-related endeavor and therefore does not benefit society, snowboarding does allow for a flow state and meets all of the criteria. It is outside of the everyday, highly-involved, requires inner clarity in order to balance, you feel are succeeding as you do it, there is serenity being out in nature, timelessness from the high speeds, and it is intrinsically motivated.

The video also got me thinking about intrinsic motivation, which is very important. Extrinsic motivation can cause people to stop doing things that they enjoy if the extrinsic reward stops coming. Therefore, intrinsic is the better option. However, it is harder to fuel. In the classroom, one way that I will try to fuel student's intrinsic motivation to learn math is with daily reminders of the connection between math and money. I plan to teach math from a financial literacy perspective because that will motivate many students to learn math. It may be argued that money is an extrinsic reward and therefore using it to motivate is not increasing intrinsic motivation. To that argument, I would say that while money is itself an extrinsic reward, in this situation, I am not rewarding them with money so it is not an extrinsic reward in this situation. They are being rewarded with mathematical knowledge in exchange for their efforts, which will one day provide them with an extrinsic reward, money. It is an extrinsic source for intrinsic motivation.

Work for its own sake is the ultimate in intrinsic motivation. That is when you do something because you are interested in it and want to see it done and not for any reward or advantage from it. When I think of work for its own sake, I think of things that better the world, especially as it relates to nature and the many people who are happy to do things to help nature, such as gardening and tree planting.