3BQ#3 Why do we learn?
Psychological needs
Motivation
Mindset
Competence comes from the need to make changes within our environment either directly effecting us or others.
Autonomy refers to our need to feel a sense of control over how we engage and interact with things in our immediate environment.
Relatedness is the idea that humans need to feel connected to and accepted by the important figures in their lives.
Intrinsic motivation is the action of doing something purely for self-fulfilment and satisfaction.
Entity theory (fixed) regards the belief that intelligence is a fixed human trait that cannot be improved. Further, individuals with this belief typically blame any academic (or other) failures on their "low intellectual abilities".
Incremental theory (growth) is the belief that intelligence is not fixed and can be improved over time with the proper effort put in. People with this belief will attribute any downfalls to a lack of or an improper amount of effort made in completion of a task.
Self-determination theory describes the three psychological human needs being relatedness, competence, and autonomy.
Attribution theory, in terms of failure, is the idea that people may attribute their failures to either a lack of ability or a lack of effort. This attribution is dependent on how a person perceives their intellectual capabilities. Further, these beliefs regarding failures can be influenced by others, such as a teacher figure, in our lives.
Student praise
Teachers need to be mindful when giving student praise and/or feedback. Further, if a teacher phrases their praise in way that suggests a student has natural abilities in a subject area, the student may learn to have a fixed mindset about their abilities which may result in little-to-no improvement over time. Alternatively, if teachers praise students on their amount of effort put into their work instead of an innate ability, a student will be likely to develop a growth mindset and continue working to improve their work by putting in more effort.
Real-life experiences - pink Classroom applications - orange
In my future classroom, I plan to create an environment where the students feel comfortable with one another and myself as their teacher. To do this, I will attempt to keep students engaged with the content by referring to each of their individual interests in lessons. As well, I will try to check in on each student daily, and encourage them to do the same with each other. My hope with these methods is that each student will feel a sense of belongingness within the classroom.
An obvious way to ensure students feel autonomy is by (whenever possible) allowing them to choose a method for how they share information. Further, during my time in classrooms, I have seen the option given to students to sit in a comfortable space while doing school work. For instance, students are allowed to sit on a comfy chair or cushion during silent reading time. I think this is great for when students do not have a choice in what activity or assignment they are working on because it still allows them to feel a sense of control over some aspect of the experience.
Extrinsic motivation is engaging in behaviour because of some sort of external reward, pressure, or influence.
I will always try to give students an option in what they choose to research on in subjects like science and social studies. This way they will have intrinsic motivation in the extrinsic-motivation-based task being assigned to them. For instance, during a science exploration assignment on a small creature, I will give students the option of finding information on any creature they choose, whether it be a specific bug or baby animal.
Motivation spectrum 
One great example of evolving motivation occurs in a movie called "Coach Carter” where a low-income school gets a new basketball coach, Carter. Carter comes in with hopes of changing the future lives of the team members, and as a result, he gets the players to work harder than they ever had before— this includes improving their fitness and maintaining a good GPA. After winning games and improving their basketball skills, the boys were surprised when Carter was not impressed by their hard-work. This was a sign that the players felt external motivation to win games for their coach. By the end of the movie, the team members’ motivation shifted as they began to understand the coach’s intentions behind holding great value to the teams education and future. As a result, the players’ motivation shifted from external motivation to somewhere closer to integrated motivation for their futures.
Here is an example to keep students motivated to improve their reading skills... Don't say "Wow Billy! You're so good at reading aloud. It's impressive how you never stumble up on your words when reading aloud." Saying this may make the student feel like they are not good at reading aloud if they ever struggle to say words in the future. Instead, say "Great job with your reading skills, Billy! You must be practicing at home." Emphasizing that a student has likely put in work/effort to improve their skills implies that they can continue to do so.
When first entering PS1 classes, I struggled to feel a sense of relatedness to my peers. However, after getting to know a handful of PS1 students better, I have begun to feel connected and accepted to at least some of my peers, and this helped tremendously with my overall comfort in participating in class discussions.
An example of this is when my friend attributes his poor grades in his math class to the fact that he has never had great math skills.
One example of how to change a student's mindset regarding their intellectual abilities could occur in a language arts class. For instance, a student in your class constantly expresses their disdain for math. Instead of comforting the student by saying things like "It's okay, math isn't for everyone" or even worse "I understand how you feel, I don't enjoy math either, but it needs to be done." As a teacher, you should encourage the student by saying things like "Continue practicing and ask for help if you get stuck" or " Keep putting in the hard work. I know you can do it!" In doing this, you can influence the student to change their mindset regarding their math abilities from a fixed to a growth mindset. Ultimately, the encouragement the student receives in this one subject area may influence their mindset in other areas of their life.