Daniel Pink's video DEFINITELY applies to education in the form of merit pay.  The higher ups feel it motivates teachers and improves education when we KNOW that isn't true!  Telling a teacher they will only earn a raise if their test scores are in a certain range is not right.  We can't judge a teacher by whether their students perform or not!  Children are NOT robots who perform when taught a certain way.  There are so many other aspects to how a child does in school besides their teacher! Are they loved, fed, nurtured??  What is their brain wired to learn?  Not everyone learns in the same way, and our students are no different!  I wish our government and state boards of education would watch this video and learn from it!

I want to motivate my students intrinsically NOT extrinsically....especially after viewing this video.  All of us have given stickers/candy, etc...to motivate our students.  Maybe it works for a little bit, but it isn't a long term solution.  Giving students Autonomy will motivate students to "be in charge of their own education".  THEY will decide how THEY want to learn.    To do this, I must give FLEXIBLE assignments and differentiate according to abilities.  I can't grade two different students who have done the assignment in two different ways EXACTLY the same way.  These two students may have very different abilities.  The key to this, is that I have to let go of all the control.  THIS is the tough part for me!    Students who choose the way they wish to complete an assignment will be able to master the information. They will WANT to do a good job because it is what they WANT to do.  (Mastery)  THEY have the control!!!  They will find out they have a purpose in this project.  Not only do they have to complete it, but they'll figure out it has meaning to the greater picture of what they are supposed to learn!!  (Purpose)
By motivating them intrinsically, they will WANT to do their best, and in turn will learn what I wanted them to learn in the first place!

To do this, I will start with a regular Social Studies assignment I give during our Culture Week.  Usually, I have students do a travel brochure in groups then do a presentation on that information.  I will simply give my students guidelines about the information that should be presented and let them choose the way they wish to convey this information.  They could do a PowerPoint, brochure, blog, pic collage, etc...  I'll let them choose the media they wish to use.  This is an end of the year project, so they would be familiar with these programs.  Since we will be a 1:1 classroom, ALL students will have access to the same info and programs.  I can't wait to see what they can do!  The students who need more support will get it, and those who are able to work independently, will be able to do that!!