Project Two-A New Motivation
Signing onto Second Life spawned a number of
interesting emotions. I felt enthusiastic about finding out what being
Shakespeare was really like and using the digital capabilities to create a
discussion about leadership. There were many advantages and disadvantages to
using Second Life for discussion and the entire experience of acting as a
different person was very enlightening. The question is, how does this
experience effect my writing and my motivation to write? Between the regular,
academic motivation and the Second Life “excel motivation” to write project
two, these two motivations are affecting my writing in a number of ways.
When I first sat down to write project one, I knew what I wanted to put into
words. I wanted to make it clear that Shakespeare is a paradigm of leadership
and provide as many reasons as possible, through the use of his writing, why I
chose him as my role model. I stated that his name has journeyed over four
hundred years and is still respected by modern people. His contributions to the
world have stamped his name into the ages and will never be forgotten. His
books have set the bar for all writers and his quotes are timeless. Shakespeare
is an influential writer, in his poems and in the words he gives to performers
on stage.
Shakespeare is timeless, but for Project One, it took hours to research his life and his writing for the substance in my paper. The research weighed me down and was a constant reminder that the paper is being graded. The grade motivated my writing by fear, much the same as my past academic writing has been motivated.
Me, sitting in the chair in the middle of the discussion group.
However, this is not the case for Project Two. Researching is not required for this essay and the entire paper is based on a discussion over leadership and diversity, a topic over what we have discussed many times. The knowledge acquired in class and the change in prompt allows me to write from my own words in the Second Life discussions. It does not require hours of research and therefore does not drive me to fear the grading.
The Second Life version of The Globe Theater, in which many of Shakespeare's plays were performed and the place where much of his fame originated.
Instead, the experience of being Shakespeare granted me something new. I have
read many of his plays, but never had to place myself in a genius’ shoes. Every
time, I felt like saying something, I had to hold back and think about whether
it was insightful enough for Shakespeare’s thinking. I had to be precise with all
of my thoughts and had to keep my words in Elizabethan style. Using the word
“Thou” for the word You, “thine” for the word your, and incorporating
Shakespeare’s quotes made discussion very difficult sometimes. Some quotes, I
even had to adjust for the sentences to make sense. One of my additions to the
conversation says, “The world is their oyster, which with a sword they will
open” in response to the question of what makes a leader. Of course, the quote
was just added on to my initial answer in the dialogue, but to stick to the
personality of Shakespeare, I included a quote and changed two words to create
something that made sense in dialogue. This quote invoked many responses as to
what was more important in the symbolism. Is the sword (a symbol of the journey)
or the pearl (a symbol of the effects of the leader) most important. Becoming
Shakespeare and minding my average thinking was the most difficult part. This
is what gave me most stress, because I was being graded on how well I could
become Shakespeare. However, this stress did not last long.
I am searching for an oyster!
This hands-on experience was much more interesting than doing research and pulling quotes from books. I had much more fun in Second Life than sitting at a table talking. Creating the Shakespeare avatar was fun by itself. I had to change the clothing, facial features, and even his height to make sure that the avatar, really looked like Shakespeare. Using this avatar, that looked as realistic as a digital person can look, helped me become the Elizabethan writer. I could always look at him and remind myself that I was no longer Jeremy, but a genius play writer. It was fun to become him and be him in the discussions. The effect of having fun, made me relax: allowing me to grasp something that has been unreachable for an extensive amount of time in my life.
Sitting in a group as Shakespeare, there is a certain respect given by everyone in the group, just for being Shakespeare. There is not a question as to the intelligence of a man who has done so much. The respect I once had for Shakespeare reached a new level because of everyone else’s respect and taught me something about motivation. By receiving a taste of what it feels like to be automatically respected through reputation, my motivation for this paper is purely to excel and not to acquire fulfill a grade slot on Blackboard. The shift is an academic motivation of fear to an excelling motivation of wanting to be respected.
In the Second Life conversation, I felt the “excel motivation” as a catalyst for providing my view in an intelligent way as much as possible. I did not type in a Shakespeare quote for a grade, but to feel like I was making a contribution to the group and to been seen as an independent intellectual. As we were discussing leadership, I subconsciously felt I was being a leader by leading them with my words. I was directing them to the answer of what leadership is and what a leader does. I felt motivated to do so, because I was Shakespeare and I sat in my Second Life chair being respected for my reputation.
This experience of appearing as a leader, talking as a leader, holding the respect of a leader, and being motivated to excel for the sake of excellence has carried through to Project Two. Though writing ability is a serious factor, I still find my motivation changed, even now as I type. It is excellence that I am trying to achieve, where as I was truly earning only grades before.
I must also realize the grade of an A will not come from a mere experience on Second Life. To achieve excellence requires practice and I recognize now that I have wasted a lot of time in my life, by not focusing on why I am doing what I am doing. Shakespeare is the role model that I chose, but my entire life, I have been motivated by fear and the idea that I will acquire a high paying job in the future. However, to be Shakespeare, this is not enough. The motivation of fear and money will only take me so far, but the motivation to excel can take me beyond greatness. It can stamp my name into time.
This new motivation that has so recently been bestowed upon me has also given me a hunger for discovery. To sit in a room, attempting to excel in all that I do is simply not enough. Knowledge comes from discovery. In my discussion, Betty Questi said “it is the leader’s job to encourage the discovery of diversity”. It is their job to promote "the use and effectiveness of discovery learning" to "develop problem solving strategies for confronting the unknown or unfamiliar".[1] The leader must understand the value of diversity in order to encourage it. Only through discovery will a leader find this value and so my hunger urges me to being this domino effect. Excelling in my writing and my grades is still not enough to be Shakespeare. The new experience of “excel motivation” will cause me to discover new knowledge and combined with the same motivation in my grades, it is possible to be the leader Shakespeare once was.
In my discussion, the question “Does being diverse make you a leader, or is being a leader being also diverse?” was raised and my answer was, “being a leader makes a man/woman diverse.” At the time, my short-sighted thought was that a leader was diverse because he was simply named a leader. Leaders, at the status of Shakespeare, are rare throughout history. This knowledge prompted my answer.
However with the experience of a new motivation, I stand by my answer more whole-heartedly than ever. The motivational norm is fear. A leader is not motivated by fear. A leader is motivated by the idea of his/her personal excellence and that makes him diverse. A leader stands out as a leader being he is driven by himself and not by others. It requires other people to invoke fear, but a leader is self-serving, independent. A leader needs no one else to excel. He/she can excel in discovery, in writing, in life without the help of anyone or anything.
Shakespeare broke writing laws, created words, challenged himself in every play he wrote, and looked into the human soul to discover the truth of what is hidden in the hearts of men and women. No one had to tell him he should do it or told him that if he didn’t finish his work, his life would fall apart. He simply discovered the world for himself and gave his knowledge to the world. In short, “his thoughts, his outreach to others, and the ability to touch the people he reached to” gave him his reputation and he did it on his own motivation.
While my motivational shift has occurred, there is still the similarity of fear. Of course, I wish to excel, but Project Two is required as a grade just as Project One was. In the absence of fear, Shakespeare’s work was done under his own will. He did not have the lingering thought that he was trying to please a professor. In the Elizabethan period, play writers had to please aristocrats who loved to watch plays at The Globe, but Shakespeare was rich and did not need money. He did not need the approval of the aristocrats and so the judgments that he was put under would not be of concern. Before having his fortune, I’m sure fear played some part in his writing, just as it is for me. However, it would not have lasted long because he was practically made famous after his first few plays. This motivation of fear only adds to my personal motivation to excel.
I now have more freedom from the power of fear.
This additional motivation of fear could help improve or help prevent me from excelling and earning a perfect grade. My logic tells me, the additional motivation of fear is most likely to improve my writing rather than to prevent it’s excellence. More motivation means more effort. More effort means I will think at a critical level and attempt to include all aspects to the project in detail, emotionally and physically, into my writing. There is, however, the chance that the fear will overwhelm me and distort my thinking in panic. It is my belief that the idea of excelling repels most of that fear. It takes up a majority of the reason behind my efforts in writing. Therefore, the less room for fear, the less power it has over me, and the less likely it is to cause me to panic.
I am discovering all aspects of the world.
The Second Life experience has provided me
with a new motivation. It is not one that comes from the pressure of a
professor, the system, or a grade book. It is a motivation that comes from
within. This new motivation is found within only myself and it far more potent
than fear. The world is powered with fear, but a leader rises above the world’s
normal machinery and becomes independent from all others with a tool that this
is so rarely found and used. This epiphany that I acquired from Second Life
will cause me to use this tool to achieve independence from the normality of
fear driven people and enter a world in which I need no other person to
discover excellence in its highest form. As the great quote on the
1- "Discovery Learning." Explore U.T. 66915. Vol. 1. N.p.: Jenn's Copy and Binding, n.d. 330
2-"King James Bible." Explore U.T. 66915. Vol. 1. N.p.: Jenn's Copy and Binding, n.d. 303.
Word Count-2,089 with quotes included, 2,034 without quotes included
Website-
http://superjj1.blogspot.com/