Motivation Strategies in Literature and Life

Today, we had an awesome class in which we compared and contrasted the motivations strategies that we found in THE ABSOLUTE VALUE OF MIKE by Kathryn Erskine and in a two-minute film clip from the movie RUDY.

We see, in our novel, that MIKE is trying with great diligence and persistence to get Poppy off his chair and active. In the film, we see the janitor try passionately to get Rudy NOT to quit the football team even though he has never played in an actual game.

We made a Venn Diagram and charted the similarities and differences that we found between the film and the novel, and then explored motivation in a bigger way--relating it even to our own lives.

Here is a snapshot of on of the compare/contrast diagrams from two classes today:

And here is the link to the RUDY film clip we watched, in case you were out OR you loved it so much that you want to watch it again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qoh3YkxuwVo

Our word of the day today was ASPIRE, which means: to work hard towards a certain goal; to dream; to hope for something.

For tonight, read Chs. 9 and 10 in MIKE (pp. 69-84).

Have an awesome evening!!

Peace,

Mr. R

Finding (and Being) Our True Selves

Today in class, we explored the characters of Gladys, Mike, and Poppy. We discussed whether these characters feel confident, and whether or not they are able to show others who they truly are. Each character feels fear in certain relationships--and we wondered what it will take for these characters to show their true (intrinsic!) nature.

We watched a fascinating talk by research Amy Cuddy, and then compared and contrasted Cuddy's ideas with what we see in the characters' from our novel, and in ourselves. Here is the talk in case you were absent or would like to watch it again:

Our word for the day from today was INTRINSIC, which is an adjective meaning inner; belonging to the essential nature; deeply natural. Here is an example of the word in a sentence: Mike's intrinsic sense of self is all about using his hands and his heart to create, but his father doesn't (yet) recognize this.

Over the weekend, we are reading Chapter 20 in The Absolute Value of Mike. After reading, share your reflection, below, about this question: What do you think inspires people more: intrinsic or extrinsic motivation? Why? 

Have an awesome evening and a wonderful weekend!