Drive Part Two!

In the first part of the book Drive, we learned about what motivation is. The second part of the book covers three pillars of motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Autonomy is the desire to direct our own lives. Pink argues that humans are naturally wired to be self-driven. He talks about how infants and children are very curious and are driven internally without the presence of a reward. But as we grow up, these drives begin to go away because we choose to accept the pressures that are in our schools, families, and other factors of our life. In this section, I learned that  "autonomous motivation involves behaving with a full sense of volition and choice, whereas controlled motivation involves behaving with the experience of pressure... demand towards specific outcomes that comes from forces perceived to be external to the self"(Pink). It's a long quote, but I believe it holds a lot of value.  Autonomy is more of a choice in having control of your learning, and it's different from independence. It's not a go-it-alone thing. You can have influences over your life that may shape your learning but as long as you acting with a choice by directing your life, you are autonomous. The opposite of autonomy is control. Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement. When students are engaged in the work, it leads to mastery.

Mastery is when people want to better their skills or knowledge and have a sense of fulfillment when they do. In drive, I learned mastery is a mindset. Some people believe that others are born with a natural ability, like intelligence or being athletic and you don't get better with work. This is a fixed mindset. To become successful, you need to have a growth mindset where you don't think abilities are set and can change if you put the work in. Believe in yourself. Autonomy and mastery are the how and what, the last pillar is purpose which is the why.

Purpose provides context for the other pillars. Without purpose, there isn't a direction to go in. A quote I liked from psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is "Purpose provides activation energy for living." It's true that autonomous people can work towards mastery at a very high level. But how long will that last? Pink argues that when people are in service of some greater objective, they can achieve more.

As educators, it's important to recognize these three pillars of motivation. Some takeaway questions that I came up with are:

1. Do students have a choice of what they learn?
2. Are students seeking to improve?
3. Why is what they are doing is important?

I hope that by asking these questions, I will be able to see if my students are motivated or what drives them.

RTL Reflection

RTL Reflection 

The first week of my senior year is completed! It's crazy to think the summer is over and we are back at school. This week has been chalked full of new information to better ourselves as future educators. Our first assignment this week was to come up with a 15-minute lesson on a random topic that we selected. The topic I ended up with was Heat Energy and Temperature... At first, I had no idea how to teach the topic or enough content knowledge about it. I sat a bit trying to sketch out ideas and nothing was coming to mind.  So to help me get over the mental block, I did what I always do when I am stuck.  I googled it!

 As I was reading, I realized that I already knew a lot of the information, but I was too focused on the assignment itself to think clearly. One thing I struggled with was trying to find ways to make the topic fun which was a mistake. I spent way too long trying to find a fun activity and not the content. In one of my class readings, I found a quote that helped, "Fun is fine in the classroom, but the fun is the result of accomplishment, not the purpose of learning". After reading that I started to focus more on the content of the lesson and it became a lot easier to write.  Another thing I need to work on is checking for understanding. I noticed I didn't do it as often I should of and a couple of other people made a note of that too.

Things that I did well and other people have mentioned it was the visuals on the powerpoint. I didn't want the powerpoint to be text heavy, so I had a lot of visuals. This helped with understanding the content because I was able to show examples. With the lesson being 15 minutes I was a little nervous that I would rush through the information, but I had pretty good pace and was able to cover everything that was needed.

This activity put in perspective the areas that I need to improve on but also gave me confidence knowing I have skills already set. I am excited to see what else AEE 412 has to offer.

Effective Teaching

For this weeks weekly investment, we were asked to read a few documents and to answer the question of "What is effective teaching." The document I found the most interesting was The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher.  The first line of the document was "the first day of school can determine the success and failure of the rest of the school year."  At first, I thought that was crazy! But as I read I learned about three ideas of an effective teacher:
1. Classroom Management
2. Lesson Mastery
3. Positive Expectations

Establishing control in the classroom and being consistent is huge with classroom management. What I learned was control doesn't mean threat or intermediations but to know what you are doing. Make it clear that you know the classroom procedures and stay consistent with them. Especially when it comes to classroom management. A quote that I liked was "you don't discipline a store; you manage it" the same is true in the classroom. Discipline has very little to do with classroom management but being consistent with your procedures and practices.

With lesson mastery that's the student's ability to demonstrate a concept that is learned. I never really focused on the other side of education I only connected education to learning new practices. What I learned is education is not about teaching people things they don't currently know but education is teaching behaviors they don't currently practice.  As a future educator, I think it's important to recognize that. We are in a position where we can change the behavior of our students to maximize their learning.


Positive expectations tell the students that the teacher believes in them and their ability to learn. It's connected to the idea that what the teacher expects from the student is what the student will produce. Remembering back when I was in high school it's a world wind of emotions. Students have to balance a lot and to know that my teacher believed in me definitely helped me out.

These are just some ideas I found interesting through the reading. Moving forward I am excited to learn more about effective teaching and to see it in practice as a student teacher!

Part One of Drive

When you think of motivation, what do you think of? Do you think of some sort of award for doing something? Or is the act of doing something enough for you to complete a task? In other terms, do you rely on extrinsic motivation such as awards or monetary values that come from the outside or intrinsic motivation when the motivation comes within?  This summer my mentoring team and I tackled the book Drive by Daniel Pink.

The first part of the book is about identifying the Carrots and sticks of motivation the effects they have on a person’s short and long motivation. The carrot and stick approach is a combination of rewards and punishment to induce good behavior. As I was reading, I was thinking about how this affects the student’s motivation. A questioned I asked my mentoring team was "how do you find the balance in motivating students but not to dampen it?" Doug Masser replied "This is always a fine line. The carrot can be a great way to start learners, but it can’t always be the way to keep them producing. You have to switch to what motivates them, which I’ve found to be a choice and allowing them to show what they know in a meaningful way to them".  This is huge! Remembering back when I was in high school, I would always do better on assignments when I was allowed to choose the delivery method. Whether it was writing a paper, PowerPoint, poster, etc. The information would be the same on any of those methods, but I knew I would do better if I made a poster because I liked making posters. The choice is everything. Later on, in the book Pink talks about autonomy and the benefits of it.

The more I read about carrots and sticks and the more hesitant I was about using extrinsic rewards in the classroom for fear that students would be more focus the award itself and not the learning. In our discussion, Mr. Masser brings up the point that "often our students like the content or assignment but sometimes are students need a little boost to get them started." This is where extrinsic motivators can be beneficial and mini snickers can serve as that boost. But Mr. Masser reminds me that " No week-long project can be sustained on the promise of a snack-sized snicker… But that snickers can get their brains to switch from “this is a project I need to do” to “this project is going to be awesome!”  There is success when using extrinsic motivation when appropriately applied. 

I look forward to reading and hearing back from my mentoring team, tips I can use in the classroom, to help maintain and motivate my students! Stay tuned for part 2!

What’s on todays Menu? Waterfalls? – Skill Development on Day 6

Today we kicked off our day with cooking classes at UTM! It was a nice change of pace from being served delicious food to actually cooking it. I think I can speak for most college students and say our cooking skills are not the best. It should be noted that in Malaysia, agricultural education courses are referred to as “Life SkillsTo have a recipe in hand instead of ramen is a win! We divided into two groups, rinsed our hands, and we were off to cooking! We cooked the following:

Menu A:

• Appetizer- Fried Wanton,
• Main Course- Grilled Chicken Mandhi served with Rice, Salsa Sauce and Salata Salad,
• Dessert Sagu Pudding, and a
• Drink- Manggo  Lassi.

Menu B (prepared by the best group):

• Appetizer- Tau Pok Bersarak,
• Main Course- Yang Chow Fried Rice,
• Dessert- Lychee Peach Cocktail Pudding, and a
• Drink- Sirap Selassih.

I still can’t pronounce half of these names but what I can tell you is that they were wicked good! Though the Sirap Selassih is questionable and reminds me of little microbes so not for me fam, but the rest is good. A fun fact about the UTM Resturant is that they are self-sustain. They raise the majority of their money by selling the meals they cook to students on campus! So if you need a recommendation let me know!

After being well fed our next was to Kota Tinggi Waterfalls Resort! Who knew chasing waterfalls would be so much fun (sorry TLC)! It was about a two-hour ride up north, but it quickly passed with our jamming out sessions, with yours truly on aux. The waterfall was pretty cool but where we had the most fun was on the giant water slide! I’ve received a couple of bruises traveling down, but it was well worth it. We had a failed attempt to make a train down the slide, we ended up just getting stuck and scooting ourselves down. It was quite the site to see enough to have the locals watch and film us.

To end the night we had ourselves a pizza party! We taught our Malaysian friends some classic American dances like the cotton eye joe and the chacha slide. Today was full of food and laughs, not a wrong way to spend a day. Until next time!

Manny Catala (@MCatala35) is a preservice agricultural education candidate (#psuaged19) at The Pennsylvania State University (@TeachAgPSU).

Reading Signage Without Knowing The Language

Signs are used to communicate a message to a reader and assist the reader in decision making with the information provided. There are many different signs used. From informing us on road conditions to recommended behavior in public. This summer I will be traveling to Malaysia for a month, so I thought it would be a great idea to get familiar with the signs. Most of the signage in Malaysia is written in their official language Malay. To stay safe and get around the country I've had to learn a few keywords and phrases.

Jalan means “road” or “street.”
If you come across a sign that has the word "Jalan or Jln" in it, you'll know it's a street sign.

Peringatan means warning! 

Anytime you see this sign pay close attention because it has relevant information.

Perhentian Tekis means "Taxi Stop."

If you ever get tired of walking or need a lift just look for this sign. A taxi will be on its way!

Beri Laluan means “Give way."

This is similar to our Yield sign here in the United States, so make sure to always yield if needed!

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Hati-Hati Memandu means "Drive Carefully."

It's always a good idea to drive carefully; especially if cows are involved! Mooove out the way!

Berhati-hait dengan peragut means "Beware of snatch thieves."

When traveling tourists are easy prey for purse snatchers and pickpocketers so if you see this you've been warned! Keep your belongings close and be careful! 

Dilarang means "prohibited."

Sometimes we need a little reminder not to do certain things in the bathroom. Like squatting on the toilet or even washing your feet in them! 

No matter where you go you'll find signs that have valuable information on them. Some may seem bizarre, but if it's there then it's for a good reason so follow them! Lucky for you, if you ever travel in Malaysia, you'll know a few! 

Becoming a transdisciplinary problem solver

Last month I had the wicked cool opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. to learn about different organization involved with international development. While there we visited: Oxfam, CNFA, USAID, USDA, and Senator Bob Casey office. Each of these organizations develops and implement programs to end food insecurity, promote gender equality, and establish access to the market for farmers in developing countries. It was really cool to see the magnitude of aid these organizations provide and all different sectors involved. What I learned is that you have to be a transdisciplinary problem solver when it comes to international development issues.  For example, finding a solution for food insecurity. Many professional and politicians may have their own views of ending food insecurity and are convinced that they have the "right answers." But food insecurity is such a complex issue in itself, so it's going to take professionals from all different fields coming together and working collectively to create a new solution beyond disciplinary boundaries. By being a transdisciplinary problem solver, you are able to see beyond one discipline but understand how some can connect and work together.  When thinking about this, it reminded me of Agricultural Education.  Ag teachers have a various amount of knowledge in different disciplines. But they are able to pull from these disciplines to create an entirely new product for their students. Moving forward I am excited to see how else I can become a transdisciplinary problem solver!