Many of us, if not all, have confronted reality of students not being motivated to learn. When students are not motivated they will not participate in the lesson, therefore they will not learn. Many times I have asked myself, what can I do? It seems nothing works, but research shows that if we follow several strategies this negative effect can diminish drastically and help us with our objective- teach!
I have summarize the video's (found below) motivation theory which points out a few strategies we can implement:
#1 Demonstrate high expectations.
Never tell a student that they cannot learn or that they will not change because by doing so we are destroying their self-concept. Students will start to believe that they can't, so always expect the best from them and let them about your expectation. Expectations should clear, positive, and high.
#2 Help students set and monitor goals.
Students need to be taught that they need a roadmap to follow to achieve success. If they don't have goals, they have nothing to follow and no force to drive them forward. When they set goals they will try hard to achieve their highest potential.
#3 Model excitement for learning.
Many times, teachers try to find an excuse to why their class is boring and so you they will tell students something like, "I know this topic is boring, but it is important!". Students then won't be expecting any excitement so will have no interest in learning. These teachers are already telling students the lesson is boring, so what should teachers expect? As we all know, all subjects have a purpose and so lets just demonstrate excitement. Tone of voice and energy play a crucial role to modeling excitement.
#4 Challenge students.
Teachers should get a child to think for themselves, to evaluate higher order thinking instruction, and have them create/construct, not only answer yes or no questions. Students should be innovative and creative.
#5 Create a safe environment
Promote team work. Students want and deserve a pleasant learning environment where they feel secure and are happy to be there. We need to place a great emphasis against bullying!
#6 Engage
Technology is one the tools that will help educators engage students. For example, using educational games to reinforce concept will capture student's attention and keep them engage.
#7 Make learning relevant to them.
Students need the reason to why they need to achieve a learning outcome. They need to see how content is going to help them or how they can apply it to their lives. Don't we all want to learn things that we believe it has a purpose? There has to be a motive behind learning.
There are also many other factors that will impact learning, however, applying motivational strategies in advance will help enhance learning. Classroom management goes hand in hand with motivation. What other strategies work for you?
See you later, virtually!
-Becky
Reference:
Youtube (2008). Motivating Students in the Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtIMpLbOxAA
I am going to start trying some of these with my first period class, they are hard to get them on my task, instead of socializing or trying to catch up on their sleep.
ReplyDeleteI knew some of these, but over the years, I guess you forget them. Actually I will start tomorrow and have them search the internet to find the best game that teaches about atoms, and the product of the research, I can use with my following classes!
Thanks for inspiring me!
Every Wednesday we have vertical alignment math meetings that include principals, counselors, and our superintendent. Your blog about motivation couldn’t have come at a better time! It was their same message, though their’s was less actually motivating.
ReplyDeleteIt’s that wonderful time of year that every time we turn around its another week long holiday along with semester finals creeping in. Students begin to get rowdy with anticipation for the time off (though teachers are more excited than they are). Plus the pressure of fully incorporating our new curriculum and preparing for STAAR/EOC. Definitely seems almost too much to handle and the school year is beginning to fly by.
The last thing a teacher needs is a boring class or subject or even attitude. This time of year is a great time for teacher’s to reflect on their lessons. It is critical to keep students focused by being innovative and creative with their assignments. Since students are so antsy, try to incorporate as many kinesthetic learning strategies as possible to keep everyone positively moving and engaged.
Projects, individual extra credit or team, I find work wonders. The most constant subject I’ve taught is Geometry. At the end of every fall semester we do a Gingerbread House Project that takes up two weeks. In the past, those 2 weeks consisted of research, orthographic and scaled drawings, gingerbread model house (of cardboard), construction, and eating. This year instead of manually sketching their orthographic views, I am going to try Google SketchUp. So we shall see how it goes!
Since we are most of the time judged by students performance or achievement, we tend to ignore simple principles and guidelines for success in life.
ReplyDeleteWe focus on teaching to the test because you want your scores to look good, instead of helping with student growth.
Students growth goes beyond just passing a test or an assessment, rather it looks at the progress of students from a period of time, which involve all aspects of life not only academics.
Thank you for drawing attention on “MOTIVATION” is very important. I have had students telling me, “they will do their work just because is me”. Why? is the relationship I’ve built with them. Meanwhile other teachers complain about these same students doing no work for them.
Students tend to be responsive and productive when you give attention when needed. Just a good morning at the door before they walk into the classroom goes a long way.