Drive or be driven...

It all kicks off again. The second third. The third sixth. Exams this week. Lessons to teach and books to mark.

Enjoy it. Be motivated. Own what you do, and help your pupils own what they do.

Below is a ten minute video from the RSA Animate series, exploring Dan Pink's talk on Drive, his book on motivation. If you haven't got time, the three key aspects to creating motivation are autonomy, mastery and purpose.

You have the autonomy to teach how you want, taking into account the needs of the class and purpose of lesson. Lecture them, have them independently analyse a text, as long as it gets them where they need to be. I believe you have the mastery to do this, and to judge when to adapt schemes, when to leave schemes, when to add intervention lessons.

Nobody is a true master. However, we can all seek to achieve this mastery in our professional life. Work at this. What we do is good. Let's make it better in 2013.

Our purpose, as a department, should be clear - relevance, independence, purpose, contextual and enjoyable should give you a clue if you haven't been paying attention. Not being complacent is another. Your individual purpose is up to you, but make sure you have it close to you at all times.

Is motivation down to carrots and sticks? No. You're not donkeys. You're lions! Let 2013 be the year we roar!

If you have got time, watch the video below - it's a good 'un.