My Research Process

I began my research here on Blogger, because it was a website I was familiar with. I searched for my question and came up with literally zero hits. I knew then that I wasn't looking for any blog; I was looking for an educational blog. I then googled 'edu blogs,' which is truly where my search began. From there, I found the educational blog websites where I searched for my question again. This led me to Larry Ferlazzo's three blogs as well as Richard Curwin's blog. I needed more sources though, so I simply googled my question and filtered through matches for blogs.

Reliability Check

The blogs I selected were selected for two reasons: the relevance to my topic and credibility. Larry Ferlazzo's blog lists his credentials as a education blogger at the top of each of his blogs. Larry Ferlazzo is "
an award-winning English and Social Studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif., Larry Ferlazzo is the author of Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Challenges, English Language Learners: Teaching Strategies That Work, and Building Parent Engagement In Schools. Ferlazzo's responses to my question is also supported by other bloggers who he references in his blog. I can assume the information he provides is accurate because of his credibility, his reference to bloggers who agree, and the fact that the information matches what I've been taught so far.

Alexandra Usher and Nancy Kober also list their credentials on their blog post. While their blog suggest an unusual answer to how to motivate students, they use statistical information from real standardized tests to support their claim that tests can motivate student learning. Steven Reiss also suggests an unusual answer: financial compensation. While Reiss doesn't list his specific credentials, his blog does refer to him as having a Ph. D. This makes him more reliable because of the amount of schooling and experience required in obtaining a Ph. D. Reiss also uses studies as well as psychological motivational theories to support his claim.

Richard Curwin lists his credentials on his blog. Dr. Curwin is the director of the Master's program in Behavior Disorder at David Yellin College in Jerusalem and the author of 20 books related to motivation and behavior. Richard Curwin establishes his reliability through specific information about his education (Dr.), his career, and his establishment as an expert with 20 published books in the field of motivation.

The most questionable source I used has an ambiguous author. The authors include only their first names: Alexis, Jen, and Maureen. While this makes their blog appear questionable, their blog contains supported information as well as cited sources throughout. This establishes the credibility of the information on the blog. While the author's refuse to take credit for their ideas and assertions, the information on the website is reliable because it is supported through documentation. This lets the reader know that the authors aren't just using their own opinions and ideas; they are supporting those ideas with facts as well as other author's ideas.

Interesting Finds

The things I found interesting about completing this project was the unique methods of motivation I found, e.g. financial compensation, tests, and create conditions to which students self motivate. I also found it interesting that so many blogs said the same thing. Almost all of the blogs supported establishing a good relationship, choice, collaboration, and gaining the student's interest. The connections between the methods was interesting to come across through my analysis of the methods.