Motivation and the Titanoboa

I always appreciate my father's opinion and I have talked to him at length about my experiences working in the classroom.  I have mentioned to him my frustrations that most of the boys in the class are never interested in the subject matter and don't seem to be motivated to learn.  One boy in particular, who I will refer to as "Jimmy" shows little to no interest on a daily basis.  It is hard to get him to ever participate in class and he has told me several times that he just doesn't care and that school is boring.  Half the time he appears to be falling asleep at his desk, and you actually have to remind him to do his work.

I can empathize with Jimmy.  A lot of the 4th grade material is boring.  One day, Jimmy surprised me.

My father had saved a copy of Smithsonian for me with the titanoboa on the cover.  He said that he thought the boys in my class may be interested in it.  Archaeologists recently discovered fossils of the titanoboa, which is now considered the largest snake in the world.  Scientists believed it could grow to be up to 48 feet long and it would be as tall as a man's waist.

Model of the titanoboa in Washington, D.C.  It was said to be big enough to eat crocodiles.

I brought the Smithsonian article in on a day that I had to lead teach and presented it to my students during their science block.  My students are learning about rocks, and I thought I could tie the titanoboa in by talking about the fossils scientists discovered.  I presented the information and let students pass the magazine around while we continued with their lesson on rock.  I was pleased to see that all of the students, even some of the most difficult boys, were interested in the titanoboa.  They had lots of questions and oooed and ahhhed as the magazine went around the classroom.

The next day, Jimmy approached me, excited to tell me more facts about the titanoboa.  He said he had gone home and looked it up on the internet and watched videos on it.  I had never seen him show this much interest in anything.  It was a wonderful feeling knowing that I could inspire a child to further research a subject.

It got me thinking about Chapter 6, the chapter on motivation and affect.  Jimmy had motivation that I had never seen in him before.  What drove this desire to learn more about the titanoboa?  This is what I came up with:

• Interest.  Jimmy had found the topic intriguing and engaging (or "awesome" as he put it).
• Need for self-determination.  The Smithsonian article wasn't part of the regular curriculum.  It was just something I introduced for fun.  Jimmy didn't think "I have to do this," he thought "I want to do this" or "I would find it valuable to do this."
• Need for relatedness.  Perhaps Jimmy saw his other classmate's reactions to the titanoboa article (they all thought it was pretty cool) and wanted to learn more about the topic so he could discuss it with his peers and with me.
• Intrinsic motivation.  I believe Jimmy was motivated by factors within himself and that he liked the information because it was intellectually stimulating and it provided an opportunity to interact with his friends.  Internalized motivation could have also played a part because of his peers around him.
• Personal interests.  I know Jimmy likes Pokemon cards, and so perhaps he likes creatures in general.  Perhaps this is why he found the titanoboa so fascinating.  
• Value.  Learners value topics and activities that are interesting and enjoyable.  I believe that Jimmy valued this lesson.  

I hope I will get a chance to see Jimmy (and the other boys) interested in topics again like he was interested in the titanoboa.  Perhaps I will have to put more thought into what interests boys and motivates them to want to learn.