A "Motivation" eliciting the "Aim" of each lesson initiates each lesson in the orthodox "developmental lesson-plan" that has dominated classroom instruction in NYC public schools for at least the past half-century. An action-research study of 38 lesson-plans (over 5 each from 5 teachers) drawn from student-teaching courses at the author's institution, combined with fieldnotes from observations, a teaching placement, and focus groups, yields a description of how the motivations "worked" in the classroom, and their relevance to the lesson that followed. The mandate to have a "motivation" and single sentence "aim" for each class appears to warp student-teacher thinking about the subject of history and how secondary students understand it. Comparisons to McNeil's classification of strategies teachers used to resist administrative controls demonstrates striking similarities. Suggested responses include a focus on year-long, not unit planning, for content and classroom systems, additional research on controls, and teacher action research addressing needs such as lesson "hooks." (Contains 1 table.)