Even as adults, WE CRAVE AUTONOMY

We want to feel important, in control, purposeful. As students progress into adolescence, a time where intrinsic motivation decreases and the need for autonomy is crucial in the development of self identity and self competence, “schools appear to reduce choices and tighten controls as students’ autonomy needs begin to increase”, thus, further decreasing students’ intrinsic motivation, engagement and opportunities for SEL (Thompson, 2015).

We want students to be intrinsically motivated; to “keep swinging” when times seem tough or impossible.

Take take this girl for example, when the task at hand seemed impossible, she just. kept. swinging.

If we promote autonomy in our classrooms, intrinsic motivation will increase, positively affecting engagement

The formula is as follows.

⇑AUTONOMY=⇑INTRINSIC MOTIVATION=⇑ENGAGEMENT