Category Archives: motivation

My Adventures withVLookUP or Laziness and Learning

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I was reading Mitch’s post on extrinsic rewards https://blogsatcarondelet.blogspot.com/2019/08/extrinsic-motivation-it-might-be-even.html? and I started to think what motivates me to learn?  I have already written about my belief that loving to read is the single most important contributor to my lifelong learning.  I have gained knowledge ( and wisdom and empathy).

But this is another post about another of my motivators. I don’t know if this is ex- or in- trinsic.  I identify myself as lazy.  I search for the short cut, the easier way in just about everything I do.  I avoid two trips by carrying too big a load; I consider if one stairway is shorter; I learn how to do things so I can avoid doing other things. So, laziness motivates me to learn.

I learned Excel as a lazy person avoiding data entry.  And I discovered I like the excitement (another one of my motivators) and the efficiency of those formulas. I consider the formula VLOOKUP  to be just as much a magic spell as wingardium leviosa.

PowerSchool and Schoology use a slightly different unique identifier for each student. Schoology’s identifier is based on PowerSchool but adds a text qualifier.  And Schoology reports sometimes will only let you download with that unique identifier, not our school id.  It takes a third party to correlate some Schoology and PowerSchool information.  And who is that third party?  Me.  And my Excel formula friend VLookup. Years ago, I had a similar problem with much less data.  I could have done that batch by hand, but I knew there had to be a way to do it with Excel.  I Googled around, stumbled upon tutorials about VLookup and was on my way.  That first and second and maybe even third time, I probably spent more time on Excel than I would have by hand   But now? Payoff time!

Right now, I have been thinking, there has to be something easier. Maybe its time to level up!   Learning how to manipulate systems so a task is easier is at the root of so much coding.  

The Carrot Wins!

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The Carrot Wins!

What do high school students and Israeli Air Force pilots have in common? Both groups achieve learning goals better and faster when praised for achievement rather than criticized for failure. If you want your students to learn deeply and be fully engaged, throw out the sticks and bring out the carrots. This is the conclusion of world renowned Nobel Prize winner and expert statistician, Daniel Kahneman. His most recent book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that praise is much more effective impetus for learning than criticism.

The first response of many teachers have to this revelation is, “How can this be? Praise is nice, but I get best results when I push students; when I make them keep at it until they get it right.” Or maybe, “She got a D+ on the last assignment. She brought up the next one to a B-. That first low grade made her work harder.” These short term results may be true in some cases. They are memorable because they reinforce our belief that the stick works. But how many students just gave up? How many continued to get D+’s? And did this negative reinforcement help the students become more engaged in the learning process? Hundreds of experiments conducted by Daniel Kahneman provide statistical evidence that the long term results of negative feedback does not reinforce engaged long term learning. Praise for achievement always comes out on top.

It is time to look at our teaching to see how well we are employing the carrots. How are we using formative and summative assessment? Are assessments being used to praise progress or are they being used to criticize shortcomings? Think of video games. Failure to meet a goal simply means that you need to keep trying. Success is met with bells and whistles, a feeling of accomplishment, and it opens doors to more difficult challenges ahead. Moving forward is not motivated through fear of failure, but through the desire to succeed. The stick is replaced with the carrot. Learning must be seen as worthwhile, interesting, and even fun. This is the challenge. Instead of forcing students to learn, we must entice them to want to learn.

More to read:

For a lighter version of Thinking, Fast and Slow read The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis.


About the relationship of emotions to learning: “Emotions Are the Rudder That Steers Thinking”