I’m thinking about sharing this with my students to spark a goal setting discussion. The book is in my cart at Amazon too (it’s cheaper at Amazon).

I frequently tell my parents about new instructional technology ideas that I have. My Dad always listens enthusiastically which I always thought was sweet, although a bit surprising. I know that I can wax on occasionally when I’m excited about something techie and I really assumed that he tuned me out half of the time.

This afternoon, while having our daily chat on the phone, he asked me if I was familiar with Purdue University. He remarked that they had a new program called Signals that he thought I should look up. This program, apparently, is a new student motivational tool that is having some great results. So I searched online and found this article. According to the article, Purdue University “has launched a first-of-its-kind computerized system that will track student academic progress and warn students in real-time if they need work in certain areas”. It uses red, yellow, and green lights to inform students of their progress in different classes.

Check out this site which shows examples of the Signals system using fictional students.

I love the red, yellow, green concept. When I was working in an elementary setting, teachers would use lights like these to let students know how they were doing with their progress on a task or to remind them about appropriate volume levels when indoors (i.e. green – just right, yellow – getting too loud, and red – too loud!). At the high school level,  I’ve used red, yellow, and green cones at computer work stations with students in the past. Green meant ‘I’m fine and working’, Yellow meant ‘I need some help when you get a chance’ and Red meant ‘HELP now!’.

It’s interesting to learn that Purdue’s students have been so motivated by their new system.

I read an article on a blog today about motivating students. In it, the author was reflecting on how she had commented about “the Texas’ education commissioner’s suggestion that businesses refuse to hire high school dropouts. His argument was that this would send a strong message to teenagers that they need to earn their diplomas to get decent jobs.” One of the author’s readers, a social worker-turned-computer-applications-teacher at Quintanilla Middle School in the Dallas Independent School District, suggested a different method. You can read about his idea here and learn even more on the teacher’s website here. So go read that and then come back here.

Ok, you read it? What did you think?

I’m wondering about how I can have my students write similar letters to themselves as a motivational tool. I’ve been thinking about having my students all create blogs this year – we’ve done that before for a specific assignment but not as an ongoing project. But what if students wrote an initial letter (post) to themselves at the beginning of the year and then kept that going for three years of posting – the length of time that they will be in my career area. This idea is truly in the beginning stages. I’m not sure what I’d have them post about for example. I want the experience to be meaningful for them.  But how cool would it be for a student at the end of their senior year to be able to read his or thoughts/dreams/goals from 10th grade year? I think the potential reflection possibilities here would be very powerful.  Any ideas?