When a Podcast Seems Familiar

On a regular basis, I research podcasts, videos, and blogs in the general education sphere to broaden my understanding of the field and not entrench myself in the corrosive echo chamber of my mind. I recently listened to the Cult of Pedagogy podcast episode “Meeting the Core Human Needs of a Teacher” with Elena Aguilar, who wrote a book entitled Arise: The Art of Transformational Coaching. In the podcast, Aguilar described six core human needs. We at JEIC have developed a similar paradigm of six pillars of intrinsic motivation. I noticed many similarities between the two lists, including autonomy, competence, and belonging. That was when I got curious and purchased Aguilar’s book.

In fact, our list and her list contain a number of similarities best expressed in a chart:

JEIC List	Aguilar’s List (out of order)
Autonomy	Autonomy
Relatedness	Belonging
Mastery	Competence
Purpose	Purpose
Significance	Self-Esteem
Self-Preservation	Trust (in yourself)

In fairness, Aguilar’s work does not deal with classrooms as much as it addresses professional development through coaching teachers, engaging in deep conversation, and engendering empathy. While Aguilar claims her work should be applied to other social dynamics, the examples and structure expressed in the book focus solely on the teacher as the end-user. Our organization, JEIC, directs its work and metrics to affect the student as the end-user. Again, Aguilar’s book beautifully describes the science-and-art approach to coaching, weaving a thick, rich tapestry of skills, patterns, and identity meaning making. However, Aguilar did not invent this list. She draws the core human needs from the work of Dr. Gabor Maté.

Maté’s approach arises from a medical, psychiatric place of healing the lifelong impacts of childhood trauma on physical and mental health. Maté developed a controversial set of theories explaining childhood traumas as the source for addiction, ADHD, and abusive behaviors. In doing so, he developed the list of core human needs described above. Like Sigmund Freud, Dr. Maté’s observations are spot-on, but his assumptions, processes, and political views lead him astray. (See here, here, and here for examples of why he is controversial.) Both Maté and I see similar functions in the intrinsic motivation of people. We both want to mobilize a person’s agency for the betterment of the person and for their independent growth. However, I believe that developmentally over time, students’ brains shift the things that motivate them. For example, the impact of puberty on a boy’s motivations alters how to approach motivating that child for group work. I believe that motivation emerges from the context of the moment and is only influenced by the past. Maté, in contrast, believes the past is the context that influences motivations.

Back to the podcast. Since Aguilar’s main innovation applies to coaching, I applaud her work and her desire to change teachers’ lives for the better. However, as we have discovered in our niche of Jewish education, Aguilar’s goals for teachers are not sufficient in terms of positively affecting the students. Simply adjusting the mechanics and tolerance in the teacher’s head to reduce stress, feel belonging, and keep emotional balance does not necessarily result in students’ positive Jewish growth. Teaching Judaism often involves inspiration, inculcation, and individualization: skills that Aguilar does not directly address. JEIC sees students as the next generation in an unending chain since Mount Sinai. Each generation since Sinai both receives and passes down our sacred Mesorah. In order to continue accomplishing that mission, we need to invest in both teachers’ and students’ intrinsic motivation–adjusting for individual barriers and existential threats–so that they continue to live with and transmit the values of our ancient wisdom even after the previous generation is gone. That is the fundamental importance of intrinsic motivation for us as Jewish educators.