Optimism and motivation: Keys to your child's success

"HI! I appreciate your attempt to motivate children and to enable them to be active learners rather than passive, perhaps uninterested learners. My grandchild and my daughter live with us. Computers, when my daughter was young, were not what they are today. I thank the wisdom of a friend who insisted 32 years ago our family had to have computer, and my wisdom to give into her expertise, and to purchase a computer that I couldn't see as being that important. My daughter has ADD and other features that are associated with ADD, as do I. Without the computer she would not have been graduating with honors, and receiving a Masters degree that will give her dual certification to teach in pre-K to grade 3, as well as teach children with special needs. She has made it a point to volunteer, student teach and find a position in an inner city school. She is 'giving back', in appreciation. She had to struggled and I had to fight for her to have the education she needed, wanted and deserved. I, was considered 'lazy' and not living up to my potential' when I was a child, because of what is now called ADD. There were no computers to enable me, nor the the support or understanding of the Educational community. They found a diagnosis for a different learning style, so at least my daughter wasn't seen as 'lazy' 'not living up to her potential', but it is meaningless to have a diagnosis without a way to teach. The computer was a life saver! , and I know some people in Educational world would agree with me. My daughter has taken the computer skills she has to teach my grandchild. We do not yet know if she has ADD, but suspect she does. She is now 5, and in Pre-K. She learned how to spell her name and to use the letters she saw to then write them herself. This is only a small part of how my daughter has used the computer to challenge her and to interest her, as well as make her curious. My grandchild knows more about animals than most adults do (in fact she has taught me about animals I didn't know existed). My daughter has used the computer to bring to life, so much information, and my granddaughter has absorbed everything put before her. My granddaughter is challenged by all the information, my daughter exposes her to. Information, that would not have been at my daughter's finger tips without the computer. In my day, one went to the out of date Encyclopedia to answer questions put before parents who didn't know the answer. Today, the computer can lead parents to info! rmation that is up to date and goes way beyond the initial question. In fact, my husband, a college professor, took my granddaughter to 3 of his classes this week. My granddaughter raised her hand to respond to material he presented in his Theories of Personality, Psych 101, and Abnormal Psych. classes. She followed the information enough to be able to give appropriate examples with regard to what he was teaching, many of his students were amazed. Her attention span, the challenge, and ability to grasp information, is a result of her use of a computer. Needless to say it has also had a great impact upon her self esteem. Lets not power down, let's start learning how to use the computer to teach, help children to find their own questions, and what they want to know more about. Let's make a commitment to providing more interesting and challenging ways for kids to play on the computer, but also learn. Let's make learning as exciting as video games, and challenge children t! o be active and interactive learners using the computer. Shou! ld they have time to also be passive computer users, yes, we all need to play as well as learn, but if it were as interesting to learn than perhaps they would have an opportunity to learn how to balance the world between work and play that would follow them throughout their lives. At one time where in the world is Aldo (I think that was the name of the person in this game) taught children geography in a very hands on way, while they played. What happen to those inventive games. I believe it was easier to give into video games, than it was for those who provide internet material for children, than to work on providing games that were a learning experience. In other words, the easy way out was taken rather than the more challenging educational programs I would like to see as much energy go into providing a challenging, interactive educational internet, that teaches children, holds their attention, and makes them curious. Let's not power down but rather challenge parents, teachers, and other educators, even students to use this powerful tool in an appropriate way. Everything in our society has been so watered down that we expect very little and so we get very little. We are annoyed when young people can't function behind a deli counter to provide the sandwich asked for and add to the bag utensils and condiments. It is amazing how a little thing, that perhaps is not so little when you realize that you don't have the needed napkin, can be taught easily as apart of other learning on a computer. I wish I had the money to dangle before those who are in the know as well as those who don't even know what they are capable of, to be creative, to provide more meaningful computer learning experiences, with a strong belief that cash incentives would no longer be needed, for the challenge itself might be the incentive itself to create. I challenge America not to tune down but to tune on and use what is an incredible gift to our children, a computer. I challenge America to take this time to be creative and challenging, and show what we can do with a computer, it is too powerful a resource to turn our backs on!"

"Finally, two people who understand intrinsic motivation. I just retired as a school supt, but think of myself as a behaviorist now. I just published a comprehensive book of 423 pages totally devoted to ONLY intrinsic motivation using The Triad that came to me through prayer only 11 hours after I asked God for help. The Triad is a skills-based method parents can learn and teach to their children to increase their intrinsic motivation that translates to performance improvement in any purposeful activity, task, job, or relationship. The book is Purposeful Intent: Motivating Your Mind From Within and available on Amazon. It will be in bookstores soon, as it was only released March 5th. Buy a copy and see what you think. My Ph.D. is in Perceptual-Motor Learning and Sport Psychology. I heavily researched this topic and found that all the other authors, speakers, etc. were only telling you what but not how to increase your motivation. I fell into the same trap and had the book half written when my prayer was answered and I changed the approach. Now I am just the messenger. The Triad skills are interrelated such that when you start to master the strategies and cues of one skill they act like heated up molecules that bump into the other two skills. The other skills get agitated, wake up, and start processing more information - and this process goes on for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE - like riding a bicycle, you never forget how to apply those skills in combination. The Triad: Increase Awareness, Enhance Self Evaluation, and Connect Reward With Reinforcement. If possible, I would like to write an article for you if you think this information is worthy for your parents and teachers. Just tell me the format and how many words to use, and the audience. I have a website that is being worked on, but still helpful: www.drpeteandersen.com (my last name is spelled with an sen ending. Hope to hear from you, and really glad to see a good website devoted to the early learner. PreK-3 was my primary focus in my K-12 dist. to get kids off to a good start. Problem is that teachers are not taught how to use intrinsic motivation skills in their degree or professional development programs. In Illinois I have written a full day Administrator Academy program to try to make a difference in this area. My blog is: The Intrinsic Motivation Performance Improvement Guru. Pete Andersen, Ph.D."

"There is a fundamental flaw in the arguments of your experts: any appeal to the 'insticts' of man must necessarily be based on the premise that man does not think. In fact, man is self-made being who thinks, which creates his premises and his propensities. Born tabula rasa--which means as a blank tablet--it is the premises he accepts that determine his optimism and motivation as a child."

"This was a wonderful article! This is something I have always felt about motivating kids to learn but never had the science to back it up! This model could also be used to motivate adults!"