I'm Reading: What to Look For in a Classroom

Next week I'm about to start teaching classes part-time at a small private school. One of the things I've been reading in preparation is Alfie Kohn's book What to Look For in a Classroom. It's a collection of essays and articles on various topics, written in the late '80s to early '90s. Kohn writes about classroom discipline, cooperative learning, grading, ADHD, the effects of television, school choice and other topics.

Kohn keeps coming back to the idea of intrinsic rewards versus extrinsic motivations. It seems that the more extrinsic rewards that exist for a particular task, the less intrinsic motivation a student is likely to have. Kohn cites the psychological literature extensively and repeats this point in several of the chapters of the book. The presence of external punishments or rewards warps the student's perception of the school, the teacher, and the task. Positive reinforcement is better than punishment, but either one tends to have the opposite of the intended effect in the long run. In addition, tests, scores, and grades may be counterproductive to learning. Any time spent on the question of how well students are learning is time taken away from actually learning things, and in addition students come to see tests as the whole point of the experience instead of the learning itself.

The other section that really struck me was Kohn's discussion of self-esteem. This book was published in the mid-90s so his assessment of the popular debate may be a little out of date. In any event, Kohn summarizes how both the self-esteem movement of the early '90s as well as its critics are missing the mark. Self-esteem proponents may be targeting internal factors to the exclusion of external ones. How might an authoritarian classroom structure or pointless busywork in class contribute to low self-esteem? Trying to raise someone's self-esteem through mantras or positive praise while ignoring the systemic problems that might exist may be missing the mark. On the other hand, opponents of self-esteem programs seem to think that students do not deserve to have a positive opinion of themselves unless they have already proven their academic or athletic success. These critics sometimes talk about how 'failure is a motivator' while completely ignoring the evidence to the contrary.

It's not a book without flaws, but it has set me to thinking about some fundamentals of being a teacher. How do I nurture students' intrinsic motivation for learning and prevent obsessions about tests and grades? How do I build an environment that encourages students to have a positive self-image that is actually helpful, instead of just encouraging braggarts? And how do I pay attention to these questions while thinking about my subject material at the same time? I imagine that most first-time teachers feel this way, but that's hardly a comfort. I know enough about math and Biology to teach it, but do I know enough about educational and developmental psychology to do it well? We'll see!