School, Anxiety, and the Yo-Yo

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What does yo-yoing have to with school and learning? What is the point of these passion projects? I could write a lot in answer to these questions, but I'll try to stick to one point for this post. Passion projects help remind us that the learning process involves mistakes.

No one picks up a yo-yo and expects to perform amazing tricks flawlessly on the first try. Rookies with a yo-yo expect to try and fail many times before they successfully perform a trick, and even after they perform it, they are not surprised or devastated if they don't nail it every time they attempt it. Often we seem to take a much different approach to learning in school.

Sometimes (often?) in school we fear mistakes, forgetting that they are an integral part of learning. There are many reasons for this, and I don't want to get into them all at the moment, but I think it is clear that fear of mistakes exist in school and that this fear often gets in the way of learning. Recognizing this is an important step to removing fear as an obstacle.

Notice that I said, "removing fear as an obstacle, not removing fear entirely. Learning something new almost always comes with some fear, but that fear doesn't need to prevent you from learning if you recognize it as a normal part of the process. If we can embrace experimentation and mistakes as part of learning in school in the same way we do when learning a skill like yo-yoing, then the quality and quantity of our learning will great improve.

Think about times in your life when you've been nervous to try something, but you did it anyway and experienced something great. You jumped off the high dive, learned to ride a motorcycle, uncovered a love for art or geometry, discovered the scrumptiousness of sushi. Want another example? Check out Sarah's success in overcoming anxiety and finding new and improved learning as she practices the ancient art of yo-yoing. Anxiety, mistakes, and nerves are part of doing almost anything worthwhile. Understanding, and even embracing, them will help ensure that you learn, persevere, and succeed.

Passion in Action

Sweet Thunder! is going to roll again.

 Many of you are participating in a passion project for class, and some of those projects are things that you'd be doing anyway, even if no course credit was involved. I love that. All of us work and play outside of school--passionately I hope. We've been discussing the intersection of talent, passion, and faith, and how these things can move beyond theory and into practice. Well, here's my example: The Cycle of Giving.

The Cycle of Giving is a yearly event put on by The WRENCH (Winnipeg Repair, Education, and Cycling Hub) that brings together volunteers to reclaim bikes from the landfill, rebuild them, and give them to community children for Christmas. You can read about this year's event in the Free Press, here.

I'm an amateur bike mechanic. Learning to repair and build my own bikes started as a personal passion project and has developed into a handy skill and a lifestyle/hobby. So, it was cool and humbling to rub shoulders with so many other mechanics, most of whom were far more skilled than I am. I'm still learning.

Tools of the trade (admittedly in a bit of disarray).

Parts, parts, and...

...more parts for rebuilds and recycling (pun intended).

My faith includes a deep concern for people and the communities we live in, including the state of our environments, both urban and global. The Cycle of Giving allowed me to combine my talent, passion, and faith. I helped prevent 900 bikes from ending up in the landfill. Children (250+ children!) received bikes for Christmas and a connection to a local bike program. I worked with people from a variety of faiths and worldviews with whom I had at least one common connection, a starting point for relationship and community.

Call it community-building or earth-keeping; call me an image-bearer or a mechanic in God's kingdom. Call it what you like, but it is what a life of faith is about--using the passion and talents God has given to improve relationships, communities, and the environment in His name. It was a blessing to be a small part of it, and I pray the blessings will spread exponentially through the families and their communities.

As good as new!

Mechanic rebuilt, tested, and approved. Now, off to a home with a proper-sized rider.
Merry Christmas!

Inspired and Inspiring Projects

This first round of passion projects has been a learning process for all of us, so I thought I'd start this post (my first in a long time) with some quotes that are inspiring me.

"Have you ever realized that it sometimes doesn't matter how much you feel like doing something? Sometimes, you're just not that great at it. But...greatness requires practice." ~Bryanne

"If any of you fellow people have heard of the magic school bus, you would know Mrs. Frizzle always says "Get messy, take chances, make mistakes!" and that's what I want to do." ~Hannah

Douglas Karr

Learning involves mistakes and practice. Education is a messy business, filled with winding paths and false starts as we find ways to learn and grow. However, it sometimes feels like mistake is a bad word in school, so bad that things like play, brainstorm, and experiment have also become risky instead of fun and full of potential to learn. Based on several of your projects, Hannah, Bryanne, and many more of you have not completely forgotten that messy mistakes can sometimes be great discoveries if you're paying attention.

If you've been a slow starter when it comes to your passion project, take heart. Learn from your mistakes. Don't let fear of failure keep you from starting or restarting. Start. Don't know where you're going? Don't worry. When it comes to learning, the journey is just as important as the destination. Take the first step. Start.

What's My Motivation?

I'm in the middle of learning about motivation. During the last year or two I've had some success implementing principles of motivation promoted by Dan Pink, who writes and speaks about motivation. The video below is familiar to some of you; it demonstrates that autonomy, mastery, and purpose are far better motivators than incentives (like money or marks) in many cases.

Your passion projects are one example of success in my expanding knowledge of motivation. For several of you, choosing your own projects and improving skills involved with those projects has proven to be very motivating. You are working hard, spending time outside of school, and learning with more joy and interest. I'm thrilled.

However, in other instances, work is not being completed. I have set up novel studies in a variety of ways that include student choice and voice, but a majority of students don't complete the necessary reading. I'm stumped.

There are parallels in my own learning. My desire to help next year's 1:1 iPad project succeed motivated me to learn new skills, ask new questions about teaching, attend meetings, collaborate with others, and generally spend more of my discretionary time on work. That's the power of autonomy, mastery, and purpose. But, recently I completed mid-term reports, and while I understand the importance of this work, I put off some of the marking and preparation for reports in order to pursue more interesting work. Only the looming deadline motivated me to shift gears and get the less pleasant work done. Deadlines (and the potential consequences of missing them) are motivating.

So, while I have expanded my understanding of motivation, I have more to learn, particularly about the application of motivation theory. My latest thought is that we all have a unique ratio of freedom and restriction that will optimize our motivation--a personal motivation profile. Personally I am more productive when I'm aware of my own motivation profile; as an educator I need to have a clearer picture of the motivation profiles of the learners in class so that I can help them maximize their learning. I'm scratching the surface of an idea that I'm sure has been studied by many sharper minds. I plan to discover what these giants have to say, and then maybe I'll be able to stand on their shoulders and see a little bit farther.

What's your motivation?