138 Path 9...David Crowell Talks Student Motivation

Published: Aug. 24, 2020, 3:08 p.m.

b'Path 9 in my new book Teaching in Magenta is about Venerating a Veteran. I\\u2019m going to read Path 9:

One negative aspect of aging is the feeling that you\\u2019re losing relevance. I\\u2019m fortunate in that younger teachers sometimes reach out to me for guidance. When they do, it makes me feel awesome. I try to give them solid advice, and many are grateful. What they don\\u2019t realize is how energizing it is for me when they ask. Today, seek out an older colleague and pay them a compliment or ask for advice. You\\u2019ll be doing them (and you) a great service, and they just may give you a wonderful suggestion.

Today\\u2019s episode is in the spirit of Path 9. Recent episodes that I\\u2019ve produced about specific paths in my book have been short. This one, is an exception. This is an extensive conversation with Pennsylvania teaching and coaching legend David Crowell. So\\u2013while I\\u2019m certainly venerating a veteran, we delve into the provocative topic of motivation. How can educators motivate students? Because this topic is so rich and important, we went on for a bit.

I learned about Coach Crowell from my friend the innovative instructional coach Michael Brilla. Michael has been a guest on this podcast twice and like a lot of my guests, we\\u2019ve become friends. Michael predicted that Coach Crowell and I would hit it off. He was right! There was only one divergence, however. Coach is more nostalgic than me. But other than that, I found myself doing a lot of head-nodding as I listened to David stress the transformational potential of relationships.

While David has retired from the classroom, he\\u2019s still coaching wrestling, and is a frequent presenter with the National Wrestling Coaches Association.'