Drive Pink
After a tip off on twitter (thanks @thomasdaccord) I found out Daniel Pink was on a quickie book tour and was going to be at Borders in Boston Wed Jan 6th at 1pm.
Having enjoyed AWNM and Johnny Bunko-I’m so there, methinks.
Tosh, I have an online meeting scheduled for PLC work at the exact same time. Luckily said meeting partner was wise enough to ask the right person at her school, in order to come with me. It turned into a PLC fieldtrip, just the change of routine needed to motivate and inspire.
Daniel Pink was promoting his new book Drive. I had watched the TED videoand listened to the NPR talk, but hearing it in person makes it better. Free, was a big motivator too.
One of the reasons I like to go to author talks is I like to see how these professional writers/speakers engage audiences.
Audience participation was his opening gambit, in order to illustrate a few of the 1st drive motivations that humans have. He paid an audience member to hold up a copy of his book in the middle of the store. A small amount, but the guy was motivated enough to do it. The crowd was small (surprisingly) he didn’t use the podium or microphone and meandered amongst us instead of standing at the front. Every person to whom he talked, he asked them their name and repeated it in the ensuing conversation. I am just fascinated at how quickly everyone became his for the 35 minutes or so that he talked.
One story about the 3rd motivational drive was about the open source movement, the way he described it matched exactly the way the grassroots technology group operates at the high school I worked at. He talked about how the open source movement is made up of people who already have jobs, yet want to work on this project on their own time because it interests them, they want to achieve mastery, and then they give it away for free. This enables them to be part of a community of like-minded people who also want to not only use what they have created, but improve, refine and customize their ideas. Nobody pays them to do it, their is no carrot and stick, their motivation comes from within and matches his ideas about the 3rd drive. Similarly, the grassroots technology group meets on their own time (in school, but outside the hours required for their teaching and professional development requirements), the group is autonomous in its’ exploration of new ways to use technology in the classroom, and in addition, they share their enthusiasm and ideas in school-wide technology showcase professional development time, for free. This was a nice validation of the model that we set up a few years ago and is still working despite members coming and going.
For those who want learning in their school to become more engaging and authentic, identify who in your school is teaching in this way, get them together, give them time and autonomy to compare ideas and explore, and then ask them to share what they are discovering with others. If you don’t believe me, google “fedex days” or “google 20%”
Due to the small crowd it was easy to chat to him while getting our books signed. On returning home, the book was ensconced by another family member fan, so I have to wait to read it.
No related posts.
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment