Choosing student activities: some guiding principles
Have students chosen to do an activity because they genuinely want to – or because they feel guilty and think they should?
Yein Oh
The following principles are borrowed from Person-Activity Fit. This was originally developed for positive psychology purposes but can be very easily adapted to students thinking about choosing and assessing activities.
When I present this to students, I ask them to put a metaphorical hand on their heart and ask themselves whether the activity they are undertaking or want to undertake fulfills these guiding principles. If you want to make it more specific, you can ask a student to rate an activity according to the principles on a scale of 1-5, or 1-7, running from “Strongly agree” to “Strongly disagree”.
Helpful principles
Natural: I’ll keep doing this activity because it will feel natural to me and I’ll be able to stick with it.
Enjoyment: I’ll keep doing this activity because I’ll enjoy doing it; I’ll find it interesting and challenging.
Value: I’ll keep doing this activity because I’ll value and identify with doing it; I’ll do it freely, even when it’s not enjoyable.
Unhelpful principles
Guilt: I’ll keep doing this activity because I would feel guilty, ashamed or anxious if I didn’t do it; I’ll force myself to do it.
Situation: I’ll keep doing this activity because my particular situation will compel me to or because somebody else will want me to.