Intrinsic Motivation and SBG: Soulmates or Heading for Divorce Court?

So I was reading a ThinkThankThunk blog the other day, when a comment Shawn made really defined something I’ve been struggling with of late: “When you make things worth points, it becomes about the points, not the learning, for some kids.” I read Dan Pink’s Drive this spring. No one has been able to knock me off of my soapbox since. I talk about intrisinic motivation at every opportunity and have picked up every Alfie Kohn book I can find. If you aren’t familiar with the book, watch this video or Dan’s TED talk to get a brief overview. The basic assertion is that an over-emphasis on extrinsic motivation is counterproductive to drive, actually undermining the innate motivation all humans have toward autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
As a result of my new found religious zeal, I find myself often in conflict with the direction I see my school and local educational community pursuing. Behavior modification strategies that rely constantly on carrots and sticks seems to be the norm, and the icing on this proverbially unhealthy cake are the constant rewards and prizes that my school gives students showing improvement on benchmark tests (Ipods, Nintendos, flat-screen TVs). There has been much in the popular media of late (i.e. this recent Time magazine article) about research into the effectiveness of this tactic. I try to keep an open-mind when I read this stuff, but really fear we are heading in the wrong direction with regard to long-term motivation.
I want to create a classroom environment that elicits what I believe to be the more powerful effect of intrinsic motivation. Allow students autonomy in pursuit of academic goals. Create an environment where they can achieve and feel a sense of mastery. Connect our learning activities to a larger purpose. This is where I believe education should be heading. This is why I believe in educational experiences that are grounded in some larger context: application, interdisciplinary, real-world, and whatever other edu-buzz word comes to mind. It’s also why I believe a certain level of differentiation is a must for students to be appropriately met at their zone of proximal development to help achieve. It is often difficult to create a classroom like this in an educational environment that is so artificially constructed, but that is my mission.
Which brings me to SBG…the buzz word which probably elicited you clicking on this blog in the first place, right? I drank the sbg kool-aid because I think it is the best means for me to bridge the gap between where we are now in education and where I believe we should be going. I do see this approach as creating a situation where students are empowered and given autonomy to pursue educational goals (although, admittedly, they don’t have autonomy over the learning targets at this point). I also believe it provides a profound opportunity for mastery achievement when skills are laid out so clearly and assessments are formative in nature. I’m excited to see how this practice aligns with my values and allows me to minimize a bit of the cognitive dissonance I feel each time I attempt to my job description with my personal philosophical zeal. BUT…here comes my new conflict…
When I was discussing implementation of SBG with my partner teacher and thinking about creating a bunch of mini-assessments to have already on hand as a resource for kids wanting to reassess, he expressed concern that we were shifting to an overemphasis on grades. He said, “Is our class only about grades? “Kids come in just to get the grade, cram to reassess, etc.” That conversation has been eating at me ever since. Philosophically, I am not even sure I believe in grades at all – being the epitome of a meaningless extrinsic reward. And yet, in an effort to abandon the traditional grading system that I abhor, am I inadvertently creating a system that overemphasizes grades. Sure, the grades are different…they look different…they are about mastery rather than points and all that…but is the effect going to be a class that has this new grading system as its central defining character. If so, won’t that undermine the very purpose I am aiming for.
So, this blog has no answers. Just a rambling attempt to put some words to this conflict: Does SBG result in an overemphasis on external feedback that will ultimately undermine intrinsic motivation? Or does it align perfectly with our innate needs for autonomy, mastery, and purpose? Your thoughts…