- Check out one or more of the resources on Motivation and Self-Esteem (or Executive Skills) in the Resources tab. Comment here to share a response to the particular resource(s) and extend the discussion.
- And/or review our notes from Week Five and craft a response to something within the notes that sparks your interest.
- And/or take one or more of the guiding questions from our fifth meeting (see below) and write a comment in response.
- And/or add responses to other comments posted here.
- And/or share and comment on a resource not posted within our resources page. Please only share links and not PDFs.
All comments will post on the Home page and also within the Discussion tab.
Questions to consider:
Self-regulation and motivation
- Review how you rated the self-regulation survey statements. What self-regulation skills were strengths for you as an 18-21 year old? What skills were hard for you?
- What self-regulation skills are strengths for you now? How did you build them? What skills are still hard for you?
- Do you feel comfortable talking about what you are good at? Why or why not?
- How do the topics of self-regulation and motivation fit into our conversations about neurodiversity?
Thinking about Nicole’s story
- Why does losing one’s self-confidence lead to lack of motivation? Why does this particularly affect those who are neurodivergent?
- Why did Nicole lose her confidence? How did she build back her self-confidence?
- Nicole interpreted the extra help she got at recess and at other times as signs she was a “bad kid or not smart enough.” How can you help the students you serve perceive their needs in a less negative light?
- At her Career Technical program, Nicole discovered that she had an unexpected gift for doing other people’s hair. How can you help students discover any gifts they might have?
- When Nicole decided to start her own business, she recognized she needed someone with good management skills as a partner. She also needed some help with written communication, (including proofreading her emails), as well as organization. What kind of person would you need to help you work around your challenges?
- Nicole notes strengths in coloring hair and creating formulas, confidence, and advocating for help. Some of Nicole’s challenges related to executive function (EF) include spelling, breaking down projects into smaller tasks (i.e., chunking), emotional regulation during challenging times, and, sometimes, initiation. To overcome her challenges, Nicole asked for support from her business partner Gia Clarke. Imagine Gia was out of the salon on vacation for a week and an issue came up that required Nicole to completely alter all schedules for the styling team. What strategies might Nicole be able to employ in order to overcome some of her challenges related to EF so that she can complete this project?
- Nicole says, “My mom will hug you through the obstacle; my dad will push you over the obstacle.” Which approach do you tend to take? Is it effective?
- Nicole felt pressure to be perfect, to make her parents proud, to be better than her peers, to be better than her siblings. What would you tell young Nicole, if you could, to lessen the pressure she was placing on herself?
- What other questions or thoughts does Nicole’s story raise for you?
One of my favorite quotes from this segment of the movie comes from Nicole’s dad. He says, “It all (referring to Nicole’s struggle in school in this context) doesn’t matter if you find something that you like and you stay with it.” As a parent, I find I am more like Nicole’s dad in that I will try to help my kids push through, and I also find it interesting that he identified with Nicole’s struggles in school. As a learner, I recognize that it was a long time before I recognized my own fixed mindset about areas where I felt challenged. The emotional support that Nicole’s parents provided, as imperfect as they may have felt it was, gave her the foundation to keep trying.
One of the threads that pulls many of these narratives together is that the people profiled have strong emotional support networks. For Nicole, partnering with Gia was a strategic choice as she recognized that their skills balance one another’s, and Nicole went into her meeting with Gia being a self-advocate in that she identified the areas where they would complement each other. When I think about ways to relate this to my work, I think about professional partnerships and the importance of feeling like we have someone who helps us balance, providing us with the opportunity to feel supported while bringing a different set of strengths. For our students, I think we can be part of that social-emotional support network, too.
This is the Inside Higher Ed article referenced in our discussion today.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/03/24/survey-faculty-teaching-style-impedes-academic-success-students-say#.ZB2dHclA5wI.link
In our breakout group today, we discussed family support – pushing through vs. hugging through (in response to Jen’s comment here on 3/23); shifting expectations about what it means to be successful in society and how one navigates the shifting terrain; the importance of opportunities for creativity and choice in school; how we can honor and promote vulnerability and support-seeking at UNE; the difficulties students face when they lack motivation and support; and lastly, how do we extend this discussion to every department on campus?