Nau mai haere mai!

It’s great to be back at EOHS for Term Three. It certainly is quite different than the start of Term Two this year. We are all here onsite, we don't need to demonstrate social distancing and our students all have access to your teachers for more than 1 hour a week through Google Meets.

This term our SWPB4L value that we are focusing on is Motivation.

Scientists define motivation as your general willingness to do something.

This value I think is particularly important as seniors are accumulating their internal credits towards their NCEA qualifications. This term has been affectionately called the power term for this very reason.

There are two types of motivation that we talk about: Extrinsic motivation and Intrinsic motivation.

When you're extrinsically motivated, your behavior is motivated by an external factor pushing you to do something in hopes of earning a reward -- or avoiding a less-than-positive outcome.

At school this could be:

This could be earning a SWPB4L card signature, avoiding getting kept in after class to catch up with work.

In a job that might be getting a pay rise or a bonus, avoiding losing your job.

When you're intrinsically motivated, your behavior is motivated by your internal desire to do something for its own sake -- for example, your personal enjoyment of an activity, or your desire to learn a skill because you're eager to learn.

For me I enjoy sports so being active and exercising is important so I spend the time and effort doing this, even when it is cold, wet or otherwise.

At first glance, it might seem like it's better to be intrinsically motivated than extrinsically motivated. After all, doesn't it sound like it would be ideal if you didn't need anyone -- or anything -- motivating you to accomplish tasks?

But, alas, we don't live in such a motivation-Utopia, and being extrinsically motivated doesn't mean anything bad -- extrinsic motivation is just the nature of being a human being sometimes.

Whatever it takes to motivate yourself, find it and use it as a lever for change. Be motivated to do well at school, to learn new skills, to make new friends. Find the relevance in what you are doing so that you remain motivated. Set goals and review these to keep you motivated to achieve short and long term goals.

With this new term and a return to relative normality since Covid 19 we have had a return to school sports. It was great being able to watch our students participating in a variety of sports last week, Basketball, Rugby, Hockey, Netball and even swimming.

I would like to congratulate Deegan Croucher who broke two school records at the Otago Secondary Schools swimming championships on Sunday. The first in the 50m Breastroke with a time of 43.75sec and the second in the 100m freestyle with a time of 1 minute 10.91 seconds. It is clear that she displays high levels of motivation to reach these heights.

I am a huge supporter of sport and believe in the positive effects it can have both physically and socially. If you are not involved in a sport give it some thought, talk to Mrs Croucher and she will work hard to get you involved in a sport you are interested in.