PLE 3: Productive Learning Environments

 "Despite much physical contact and daily intermingling, there is almost no community of intellectual life or point of transfer where the thoughts and feelings of one race can come into direct contact and sympathy with the thoughts and feelings of the other."

 --W.E.B. Du Bois

Although Du Bois made this claim many years ago, in her article, "The Importance of Multicultural Education," Geneva Gay submits that this remains an issue today.  Gay distinguishes between "coexistence" and "genuine communities in which they know, relate to, and care deeply about one another" (30).  As an intern in the Urban Multicultural Cohort, multicultural education is a topic that I am very passionate about.  

How does multicultural education relate to classroom management and productive learning environments?  According to Gay, "Multicultural education is integral to improving the academic success of students of color and preparing all youths for democratic citizenship in a pluralistic society" (30).  Part of the teacher's role includes setting the tone of the classroom.  By weaving multicultural education into the curriculum and classroom climate, teachers educate students about their peers' cultures, creating an accepting and productive environment.  By introducing different cultures of ethnic groups represented in the class, teachers help combat racial tension caused by ignorance.   This results in a peaceful climate where all students feel safe and accepted; thus, productive learning can occur.

 According to Skiba, et al., African-American males are suspended three times more often and receive more discipline referrals than the rest of the population.  However, teachers can prevent disruptive behavior from occurring and nullify this statistic by implementing multicultural education.   Gay states, "Many ethnically diverse students do not find schooling exciting or inviting...Too much of what is taught has no immediate value to these students. It does not reflect who they are" (33).  Students are more likely to exhibit disruptive behavior if they are bored.  Thus, in order to monitor classroom behavior, teachers must keep students engaged by catering to individual student's interests and experiences.  For example, teachers can provide quality books that positively and accurately depict different ethnicities.  Doing this not only increases students' awareness about different cultures, but also peaks the interest of students of that ethnicity. 

Additionally, when disciplining a student, a teacher must consider cultural characteristics.  For instance, in the United States, teachers expect students to look them in the eyes when being disciplined.  Conversely, in many Asian cultures, it is disrespectful to look in an authority figure's eyes.      

Du Bois, W.E.B. (1994). The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Gramercy Books.

Gay, Geneva (2003). "The Importance of Multicultural Education." Education Leadership. 30-35.

Skiba, Michael, Nardo, and Peterson (2000). "The Color of Discipline: Sources of Racial and Gender Disproportionality  in School Punishment." The Urban Review.

PLE 2: Carrots and Sticks

"If we really want high performance...the solution is not to entice people with a sweeter carrot or threaten them with a sharper stick." -Dan Pink

In his TED talk, "The Puzzle of Motivation," Dan Pink argues that extrinsic rewards are far less effective than intrinsic. Although his argument specifically targets the business world, the ideas of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation apply to a wide range of circumstances, including education.

If you have eighteen minutes, watch his whole talk here. Otherwise, I will hit the high points throughout this post.

Personally, I am not a huge fan of extrinsic rewards in a classroom context. As a teacher, my goal is to instill in my students a love of learning. By offering rewards for good work and effort, students often strive to make good grades in order to attain the candy or stickers rather than learning for the sake of learning. In high school, I had friends whose parents paid them for each A they received on their report cards. Even as a student, this concept baffled me. According to Pink, extrinsic rewards harm our work ethic and performance. He claims, "rewards, by their very nature, narrow our focus and restrict our possibility." Instead of extrinsically rewarding students for good grades, parents and teachers should encourage students to set realistic goals and establish a hard work ethic. While extrinsic rewards are not inherently bad, they often yield lazy students.  

Conversely, I believe intrinsic rewards heighten a student's performance. This intrinsic motivation often stems from various factors. For instance, personally, if I am interested in a subject, or if my teacher is passionate about his or her subject, then I am more likely to work harder for the pure desire to learn. Last semester, I took my first education class, Reading Education 430. I was simultaneously taking geography. While the course load for each class was similar, my interest in reading education far surpassed my interest in geography. In my education class, there were no tests. On the other hand, there were several tests in geography. While I vigilantly read every article assigned for Reading Education, I rarely read any article for geography. This perfectly distinguishes between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards in a classroom situation.            

Dan Pink states, intrinsic motivation revolves around the following three factors: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. By assigning projects that allow students to choose topics of interest and express creativity,  teachers increase a student's intrinsic desire to learn the material. Extrinsic rewards often destroy creativity. Although extrinsic rewards might achieve adequate test scores, a successful teacher instills an intrinsic desire to learn in his or her students.

PLE 1: A Community of Learners

I am grateful for the conversational nature of this class where students can discuss topics in education with individuals who share common interests.  Specifically, I am looking forward to viewing my classmates' blogs and gaining insight on topics mentioned in class from another perspective.

In her article, "Every Child a Reader: What One Teacher Can Do," Pinnell discusses the importance of establishing a community among teachers. In fact, she claims, "colleagues are a teacher's most important resource" (Pinnell 82). Keeping this in mind, my goal for this class is to revel in the opportunity to collaborate with fellow future teachers.

 Additionally, I believe the Teaching Projects not only offer a chance to work with a partner, but also master a specific topic. Because I am in the Urban Multicultural cohort, I am interested in studying how educational psychology translates into this context. By teaming up with another member of this cohort, I hope to gain a greater understanding of cultural and ethnic differences and present the material in an interesting and effective manner.

Although I was initially intimidated by the assignments for this class, I think that the organized schedule will prevent me from falling behind. I do not have any specific questions about the course right now; however, I am sure I will as the semester continues.


Pinnell, Gay. "Every Child a Reader: What One Teacher Can Do." Distinguished Educator. 82. 2006.