Needs and Motivation (2nd Reflection) - Gona

 2nd Reflection.

This reflection tells about topic that I got in this second meeting titled The Influence of Needs on Motivation to Learn. This topic consists of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the need of self-determination (for competence, autonomy and relatedness) and the need of preserving self-worth (self-esteem and self-handicapping). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows 5 steps of needs for individual is divided into deficiency needs (physiological, safety, belongingness and love, and esteem) and growths need (self-actualization). Based on the discussion within the classroom, I found that each individual needs to fill stage by stage of Maslow’s hierarchy needs. It means that they will grow in order (no jumping stage). For instance, when I was kid as first stage of my life, I really needed to fill my physiological which contains food, house, drink and etc. As time goes by, I also needed to fill my secure feeling need, then belongingness and esteem of others. Moreover, self-actualization becomes a stage for individual to maximize their own potential without demanding any compliments and recognitions from others.

            Those are the needs of human. So, what is the relation between those needs and Motivation? As teacher candidate, I need to know how these needs relate to students’ motivation within the classroom. Self-determination is one of the essential things to students. It has 3 innate needs which are needs of competence, needs of autonomy and needs of relatedness. Needs of competence tells about needs to accomplish challenging task given (showing ability and potential) while needs of autonomy refers to the choices that create independence of students (in classroom rules, learning and assessment). The last is needs of relatedness. This need reflect to the students’ feeling. Students as teenagers are craving the relatedness within the classroom. They need to feel secure, comfortable, and belong to the society (could be the classroom). Other topic is preserving self-worth. This was the most interesting topic for me. It tells about how to keep image or self-worth in the surrounding. Self-worth consist of self-esteem and self-handicapping. Self-esteem as we may know tells about how individual sees himself or herself (pride or self-worth). Then self-handicapping explains how people hides purposely or subconsciously the fact of themselves in order to preserve their self-worth. I do agree that I also pretty often do both of them in order to preserve my self-worth.

            Overall, I might conclude that I need to maximize in actualizing my potentials. I do really need to guide my students to fill their needs based on Maslow’s theory. Moreover, I consider 3 innate of self-determination to be implied in my teaching and learning so it could increase their motivation in learning at school.