I am a non-traditional college student
looking for non-traditional funding for the final 7% of my journey to
a Psychology Degree from Reed College (http://www.reed.edu). I'm just a semester away from graduating. Reed requires every graduating
senior to finish a thesis and mine is about motivation in alternative
education settings, specifically, kids who home school or attend a
democratic school. This research is important because these children
are rarely studied by psychologists, but before I tell you about the
thesis let me tell you about how I came to doing this research.
I first went to Reed from 1986 to '89.
I left disillusioned with my own education, but infected with an
inspiration to work with children. I have worked with children just
about everywhere except the formal classroom. I have over 15 years
experience leading children and for about 5 years I home schooled
other people's kids.
My private teaching practice was based
on creating the opposite of a traditional classroom. Instead of
bringing a bunch of kids about the same age into a room with some
resources and then telling the kids what to do with them, I brought
an age diverse group together, took them out into the community to
discover what resources were available, then asked them what they
wanted to do with them. I was a true teacherpreneur, where I was both
in business and teaching.
You can read lots more about my educational ideas at http://www.teach-kids-attitude-1st.com.
About the time the economy tanked I was
re-thinking the direction of teaching practice. I realized I needed
more stable and sustainable opportunities to express my expertise.
The first and most obvious step in that direction would be getting a
degree that could open the doors of traditional schools. With this in
mind it was a no-brainer to re-consider Reed. Turns out that they had
lots more to offer in 2010 than when I had left.
But, of course, I'm telling you this
because my earnings and the generous financial aid package I received, which
includes work/study grants, scholarships and loans, fell short of
what I need to get through to the end of my thesis project.
The thesis at Reed is the capstone of a
rigorous program of the highest educational quality. Reed is
consistently a top five producer of undergraduates who go on to PhD.s
and has luminary alumni like Gary Snyder, Steve Jobs, Dr. Demento,
James Beard, Howard Vollum, Ry Cooder, Donald Miller, and my freshman
year roommate, Larry Sanger.(The Reedie Bunch pictured in the video.)
Here's the bottom line: My total
estimated costs for the two years it is taking to complete my Reed
degree is $104,360; between Reed, the federal government and my own
earnings $97,468 have already been covered. That leaves only 7% to
go.
Will you help me fill this gap
so I can finish my thesis and graduate in May 2012? (The goal is greater than the gap in anticipation of expenses associated with the campaign, like giving perks.)
Of course, you still want to know more
about this thesis thing: First, there is a well established finding
in motivational research on traditional classroom schooling that intrinsic
motivation (the best kind for learning) declines over the course of
the school years. However, there is evidence that this decline is not
an inherent developmental pattern. In fact, one cross-sectional study
done in 2000 suggests that home schooled children may have a pattern
of increasing intrinsic motivation across the school years. But, the
study used a method that measured intrinsic and extrinsic motivations
together such that it is not clear whether the children's differences
were really changes in intrinsic motivation or might have just been
changes in their extrinsic motivation, instead.
My thesis is a cross-sectional study of
the motivation of home schoolers and democratic school students
across the school years. But, my study is using a clearer measure
that separately assesses the different kinds of motivation which
should shed light on how motivation is different across the age span
of the school years for these children.
This is an important contribution to
educational research because these children have not been studied
from a motivational perspective, except for the one time. Also, it's
the final step to getting my degree from Reed. You can help me get it
done. I'm 93% of the way there with just 7% to go. And
that's why you're here. Please contribute today.
Oh, and if you do, you can get cool
perks, too. Most of them are self-explanatory, but here's a few
details about the workshops and camps.
My expertise is motivation
and, obviously, that is an issue that is applicable in places other
than schools.
The workshop perks are an opportunity
to have me make a customized presentation about motivation for the
context you are interested in.
The day camps are a week of adventure
learning for a group of kids either that you choose, or, if you don't
have some handy but would like to provide the camp experience as a
community service I can find some. The idea is to get out into the
urban area of choice to discover the resources that are available via public transportation. I will gather a set of possible
exploration plans and/or themes then the kids will pick the
adventure. I will also partner with a local school or non-profit organization to ensure I have access to other people who can be helpful.
If you would like to help with this campaign please think if you know someone who:
is interested in education
home schools
likes alternative education
cares about schools
works in schools
knows about Reed College
contributes to children's charities and/or schools
has an interest in Psychology Research
E-mail each person that came to mind the URL of this page. If you don't send them the link they won't know if it's the right opportunity for them to be generous, so let them decide for themselves whether this is right for them by sending the link.
If you are an education, psychology, homeschool, or democratic education blogger, you could do a post for the campaign. If you would like to interview me, just contact me to arrange it.
Thanks in advance!
