Motivation: Social Cognitive Theory

The social cognitive theories of motivation are the most helpful for myself. Ormrod described that over time the learners "begin to set goals for themselves, and much of their motivation comes from within, rather than from external consequence" (Ormrod, 2011, p. 363), also known as intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation has always been the most effective with me. When I realize that a lesson or a class is going to be helpful for my career and actually useful, I am much more inclined to put in a lot of hard work. I want to do well for myself and my own goals and to actually learn the material in those classes. 

For my own students, I would want to provide materials that cater to their interests and needs. I think this is the best way to work to set up an environment where the students actually want to learn the materials for themselves and not because I am giving them a gold sticker every time they complete an assignment. 

With young children this is an interesting concept of children setting goals for themselves. It is completely appropriate, and the children are in a developmental stage where they are craving more autonomy. This sets up a perfect ground to teach autonomy and have a young childhood classroom that is intrinsically motivated by their own goals. 

At the beginning of a week, I could have each child pick an area of the classroom that they want to work in and describe something they would like to do and work with that week specifically as a goal. I would not want them to turn it into me like an assignment, but to keep that page that either they wrote what their goal would be or drew a picture if their letter forms aren't quite readable. 

I want the children to build these self-efficacy beliefs and work towards their own realistic goals that they set for themselves and believe that they can achieve. 

Ormrod, J.E. (2011). Educational psychology: Developing learners. (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson  
         Education, Inc.