Contact your legislator through e-mail, phone or a face-to-face conversation. A resource to access their names and contact information is http://www.congress.org/congressorg/officials/congress/. An e-mail is an efficient method for contacting your legislature with limited time available. You may find that a phone call is more effective if you would like to have a "face-to-face" conversation with your legislature. Regardless of whether you choose to communicate by e-mail or a personal visit, make the commitment to begin advocating for the children that you serve as an educator in Iowa.

If you are questioning where to begin, consider the Iowa ASCD Legislative Agenda where you will find talking points to start the conversation. Iowa ASCD advocates building the capacity of the learning system:

• To assure a relentless focus on learning.
• To assure great teachers and leaders of learning.
• To support a spirit of innovation that results in the success of each and every child.

A more in-depth analysis of the Iowa ASCD Legislative Agenda is available at http://www.iowaascd.org/resources.php. Use the Iowa ASCD Legislative Agenda as a framework for the stories from your district and experiences. Take the theoretical constructs and provide a concrete application to educate legislatures on the implications of their actions. It's your district's stories that help them understand the impact of the legislation. 

The opportunity to advocate for the children of Iowa is limited. Take a moment to consider the bills that have been advanced through the funnel week and the implications for the students in Iowa and make that contact.  Remember, if you don't share your perspective and the stories of your district, legislators will assume you endorse their work.

Motivation 1.0 - Satisfying basic biological drives (i.e., thirst, hunger, reproduction, survivial - avoiding predators) 
As humans evolved, they had to retrain this drive to foster cooperation so that they could function as viable groups and communities.

Motivation 2.0: Discovering the second drive   

• To ensure productivity, it was thought that we need to reward behaviors/activities we want (carrots) and punish those that we wish to discourage (sticks).
• Pink points out that carrots and sticks don't work well any more.  
• As early as the 1940's, scientists identified a third drive in people: intrinsic motivation, which is based on autonomy, mastery, and purpose. This drive does not respond to "carrots and sticks." 
• "If-then" rewards (if you do this, then I'll give you a reward) require one to forfeit some autonomy.
• Offering "if-then" rewards for working on creative problems significantly limits creative, "out-of-the-box" thinking because the person is fixed on the reward and feels under pressure/stress (not the good kind!).
• "If-then" rewards limit focus to short-term goals and thinking because the reward is only good for the immediate action. Therefore, why do more?
• Rewards are addictive because once they are offered, they will be expected for all future acts of a similar nature. However, over time, the reward must be increased if it is to continue to motivate.
• When carrots and sticks do work:  If the task is routine, meaning it follows a set of prescribed rules to a specified end, rewards can be effective.
• What to keep in mind regarding rewards
  • Keep them unexpected and offered only after the task is complete.
  • They should be infrequent.
  • Consider non-tangible rewards such as praise and positive feedback (timely, specific).

• Compliance results from others imposing control over the work (i.e., the "carrots and sticks"). Motivation 3.0, instead, focuses on autonomy, mastery, and purpose. If these three attributes are present, they will lead to engagement, which in turn leads to mastery, creativity, more productivity, and greater joy at work.
  • Autonomy - each person chooses the task, time, technique, and team to accomplish the needed work while being held accountable for doing the needed work. They work within a larger set of agreed upon parameters.
  • Mastery begins with "flow" - optimal experiences when the challenges are matched to abilities (the Goldilocks task).
  • Three Laws of Mastery
    • Mastery is a mindset. Think of Carol Dweck's work on fixed and growth mindsets.
    • Mastery takes serious time (sometimes up to 10 years or more), continuous effort with small improvements every day, and lots of setbacks!  A great question to ask ourselves at the end of each day:  Am I a little bit better today than I was yesterday.  (We cannot say yes each day, but we should never be able to say no two days in a row.  
    • Mastery is an asymptote - one can approach it but never achieve it because as one approaches mastery, the definition expands to include that person's work.
• Purpose - a sense of doing something that is greater than you or working toward a cause that is larger than you.
  • Pink suggests we should be able to create a sentence that describes our purpose - putting into words the mission of your work clearly and concisely.  Access Pink's video to create your sentence. 
  • What's your sentence?

Check out Pink's explanation of the book on YouTube! 

And as a bonus in the book, Vidergar shares the seven ideas for helping our students:

Idea 1:  Homework

• Am I offering students any autonomy over how and when to do this work?
• Does this assignment promote mastery by offering a novel, engaging task as opposed to rote reformulation of something already covered in class?
• Do my students understand the purpose of this assignment - how doing this assignment contributes to a larger enterprise?

Idea 2:  Fed Ex Day

• Have a "FedEx Day" in which students work on problems or projects of their own design, and the next day they have to report on what they've created and learned.

• Try "Do-It-Yourself" report cards.  At the beginning of the semester have students identify their learning goals for the class and periodically during the semester provide time for them to reflect on their progress toward these goals, supported by evidence. At the end of the semester, students create their own report card supplemented by a one- or two-paragraph review of their progress.

Idea 4:  Chores

• Have students complete chores around the classroom such as keeping the room clean, organizing supplies, etc. This creates a sense of contributing to something larger than oneself.

• Offer praise the right way - praise effort and strategy, not intelligence; make feedback specific and private; and offer it only when there's good reason for it (sincerity).

Idea 6:  Big Picture

• Help students see the big picture.   Students should be able to answer the questions, Why am I learning this? and How is it relevant to the world I live in now?

Idea 7:  Student as Teacher

• Turn students into teachers, working with the whole class.

• What Makes the Adolescent and Teen Brain So Different? 
• Presenter:  Dr. Judy Willis
• Provider:  ASCD
• Date:  April 11, 2012 (2:00 P.M. CST)
•  Register Free