The first topic that sparked my interest is the discussion about self-determination and the need for relatedness (page 435). It's very important for teachers, parents and students to all be on the same page when it comes to the students education. If the parents are teachers can effectively collaborate with one another then it will overall positively effect the students academic motivation as well as their well being. I fell as thought when we are younger students we don't want our parents to have close contact with our teachers because we're afraid we will get in trouble. Now as I'm older I see how important parent-teacher relationships are for the students sake. This is especially important when a student has a special need. At my job I've seen first hand how poor teacher-parent collaboration can negatively affect the student. If everyone is not on the same page about what is best for the student then is can cause issues. It can cause a number of issues from affecting academic progress to behavior outbursts.
Another interesting topic was the one about making as well as completing goals (page 438-439). The books states that when we make specific, detailed, and achievable were goals we are more likely to have motivation to reach them. This gives us more motivation because we know that they are realistic goals that we can achieve. This can also be applied to the type of work that our students do. When I read this it reminded me of a student that I work with at work. He uses a token board and that token board has reinforcers that he is working for. He has 5 rules that he need to follow and when he achieves them he gets a token. These rules are moderately difficult as well as achievable. When h finally earns his reinforcer it gives him more motivation to earn tokens next time in order to get it again.
The last point that I am writing about is the beliefs and attributions (page447). The section mentioned pre conceived outcomes that we out on ourselves that ultimately limit us. If we go into a situation saying we're going to do poorly then we probably are because of our belief beforehand. I did this a lot in school. I told myself that I was bad at math and that I would do bad on tests before I even took them. I was putting limits on myself by saying that I was bad at math and therefore had a low self-efficacy (page 444) . This is something that we need to help out students with. If they come to school with a pre defeated attitude about school work then they are playing our their day. We need to be encouraging to our students and help them along the way with their goals they make for themselves.
