Drive.

I smile ran across my face as I read the first chapter of Daniel Pink's Drive. It wasn't a surprise to me that motivation does not come from rewards. People who get motivated to perform a task by monetary means or just rewards in general just tend to get pumped for a short period of time and lose interest. I have seen this in my own family. My mother to try to get my brothers to obey and do their chores offered to reward my brothers with money which t first made them very happy and excited of course but that has eventually turned completely bad. My brothers were of course motivated or moved by the sight of this reward then but now they will not do anything unless they get something in return. Parents (including my mom unfortunately) who use rewards to get their children are failing to see that this system of educating is not the most appropriate. When my brothers no longer obeyed without some type of reward, I realized what happened immediately. My mother lost control of the situation and now she has to find a way to fix it. The experiments that these scientist did back then just proved what I had believed for some time.

The Challenge Continues...

Okay, so we have two more gutsy souls who have posted their thoughts about the book -- kudos to David and Marcos! To meet the challenge, we need two more by the end of today! If you feel more comfortable just getting your feet wet, rather than jumping into the water, you might join the conversation in the comments, as both David and Marcos have done.

In fact, commenting on blogs is an important part of the process. Take the time to consider what is said, ask questions, and pursue debate. You have excellent examples to study here! I've been holding back on commenting on the last two posts, because I'm sure these guys would value your feedback, and I don't want this just to be a conversation with me. Let them know what you think, and you will be more likely to get the comments you desire and deserve when you post your thoughts.

Finally, I'm still looking for more members of the Class of 2011 to sign on. Call them, text them, do whatever you need to do to get them participating! This blog is not meant to be a chore or an exercise for the your summer reading, but something that allows you to get involved and make this shared reading experience something bigger!

This Book Is a "Door-Opener"

I just finished reading the introduction and part of Chapter 1 from Drive, and I'm amazed at the complex point of view that this book is putting out there. It's really intriguing because the idea of having a satisfaction that comes from within makes sense if you think about it. Plus, I find a spiritual factor having to do with that idea since the satisfaction comes "from within". It's great because it means you don't have to rely on any outside sources for satisfaction or rewards. It clicked in my mind that doing what I would love to do would be satisfying itself. I believe this book will greatly influence my Senior Project as I keep reading, especially towards the last Chapter.

Ready! Set! Go?

I have not yet started the book but I do look forward to it. What I'm mostly interested in right now (now that we're not confined in school with mountains of work), is getting all those neglected books that I meant to read but never got a chance to, thanks to Chinquapin, and reading them, and also researching new subject, such as Architecture and Art, that I will not get a chance to learn about in high school.

I think that doing this is, in a sense (base off of what I've heard and not read), adhering to what Drive is all about, which to my knowledge is, "Going out and doing what I want because it is motivationally self-satisfying."

-David Copeland

Where in the World is the Class of 2011?

Okay, I know everyone is on vacation, but where are the rest of the leaders of the Class of 2011? My challenge to those who have taken the plunge and signed on to the blog is to get two more class members to join your ranks by July 4th! My challenge to those even braver few (Rebecca and Tito) who have been brave enough to post is to get at least two more people to actually blog something! Rebecca is right: you need to take little bits and pieces from Drive and connect it to your life, to your thinking about how you learn, and to your future. Make this about you and for you. If you need a "trailer" to get folks interested in picking up the book, check out this video from Dan Pink's blog on Drive.



Now for some blogging tips: Include tags (called "labels" on Blogger for some crazy reason), so that your posts can become searchable. It's a good idea to include your name as one label and any key words for your discussion as other labels. Thus, I'm labeling this post "Susan" and "blogging" and "challenge".

Tag, you're it.

Drive

As I have started to read Drive I have noticed that it is not a book that you can read all at once and understand it. It takes some time to soak in all of the information that it is telling us. I have to admit that it's not first book that I would reach out to to read as a pleasure, but I have really gotten a lot of information from it. And I know that there is a lot of information that we (the Seniors!) should look into and try to make this year very memorable.

What I thought that was really interesting was when Pink talks about carrots and sticks. I never thought that rewards could be like addicting drugs when not given properly. I used to be a strong believer in always giving rewards. Rewards make people happy. But now I see that sometimes giving rewards all the time can be a bad thing. I think that looking deeper into the carrots and sticks issues can really help us as the leaders in how to discipline and reward students the right way for example in crew, chores...

my beginning thoughts on Drive

Well, I find that the book Drive is a pretty good book. Whoever hasn't started reading I suggest you start reading it. Its a pretty intersting book, it tells you alot of outside information about stuff which I find pretty cool because its information. Who doesn,t want to know stuff! Anyways its also helping me find that inner motivation I need to do the things that I want to do. Its helped me realize the thing that i want to do for my senior project, which i think it might be a long shot but im willing to try it out because it something i really want to do. It made me think about the things that i want to do and how I am going to get those things done and the determination I need to get it done. It a really good book! Like i said before if you havent started reading it i highly suggest you start. Dont just read it to read it. Take time and actually try to understand the things it says in the book because its all useful stuff!!