I find being an autonomy-supportive instructor to be one of my greatest challenges as an educator. It is the more passive, compliant, and defiant individuals who are more in need of an optimal interpersonal context–of involvement, autonomy support, and sensitive limit setting–but it is these individuals whom we have the hardest time giving it to.” –Edward Deci, Why We Do What We Do “The challenge is to be autonomy supportive even with individuals who pull on us to control them. I’ll memorize it, and you’ll see it word for word on the final exam.” I’m reminded of a cartoon depicting a classroom: Up front is a big audio tape player and in all of the students’ chairs are perched little tape recorders there are no “humans” in the classroom. I recall one of my students saying, “I wish you’d just tell us exactly what you want us to know. “Research shows that students say they like and prefer to have teachers who tell them what to do and then show them how to do it over teachers who give them choices and ask them to discover how to solve problems….The same research, however, shows that the students of autonomy-supportive teachers actually show more positive educational outcomes.” –Johnmarshall Reeve, Motivating Others However, promoting this sense of freedom and self-determination in students is easier said than done! Consider… ![]() ![]() Promoting students’ experience of autonomy enhances their intrinsic motivation, educational studies reveal.
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