Major Motivation

I am trying to get everything in order for a weekend away visiting my sister.  It's a matter of taking a math exam for one class, grading all my papers, stuffing kids' folders, sending notes home, creating sub plans, blogging, and packing, too!  It's always a lot to get in order, but I know that I am heading down to Dallas on Friday and won't be returning until Monday, so I want everything to be in place.  Because of the family fun weekend, I will miss school on Monday, and am concerned about preparing my students for my absence.  Most years, I do not use any of my personal days.  I find that it is overwhelming to leave my students and create lesson plans that are easy to follow.  I don't know why this is such a daunting task for me, but it is. 

As I am preparing for everything that is awaiting me and my students, I find that I want to keep them motivated to learn even in my absence.  I hope that they will show the substitute how wonderful they are, because they really are wonderful!  Part of what I want to instill in them in a personal internal motivation to be good.  I guess, honestly, this is not something that I just want to show through for a substitute, but it is something that I want my students to learn and take with them in their future! 

With all of this in mind, I was looking through the Edutopia and found an article written by Bob Sullo.  I am surprised at the number of books Mr. Sullo writes about the psychology of the human mind.  A lot of his information is about what gets at the root of the student and how they think.  I fully believe that a lot of what is in these texts should be common knowledge to educators and parents, but if it is not, I think that his books look promising for those who work with children.  Some of his titles include, "Activating the Desire to Learn," "The Motivated Student: Unlocking the Enthusiasm for Learning," and "Teach Them to Be Happy."  I think I might check them out!