Developing my students’ appreciation of what is learned in school: A self-study in Dutch primary education

Abstract

As a primary school teacher, I often receive the question: "Why do we learn this teacher?". My students (Dutch gifted children, 8-10 years old) want to know why they are learning what they are learning. They want to know how the content that I teach them is valuable for them. With this thesis I address this need of my students by developing their appreciation of school content using the Appreciation Model of Brophy (2008; Pugh & Philips, 2011) in order to motivate them to learn. This is the first time that the model has been implemented in practice. A self-study method was chosen used to generate data of experiences and reflections in an journal to connect practice and theory. The results of this research provide examples and highlight practical insights of implementing of the Appreciation Model. The thesis concretises and explains how the actions of the model can be put into practice, thereby increasing its practicality for other teachers and providing insight for future research.