I believe that the basis of student motivation in the classroom for students that are not naturally motivated is a combination of three things: meaningful activities, innovative instruction, and encouragement. To begin with, I believe that encouragement gives students the extra push to succeed. Letting your students know that their work isn’t going unnoticed, and praising them provides them with fulfillment. Also, students and teachers need a balance of high and low energy activities. If lessons are always high energy everyone will be worn out, and in contrast if lessons are always low energy everyone will be bored. So it is not realistic to say or think that students should always be participating in entertaining activities but the lessons and activities should be meaningful to the learning goals. Recently, during an interview I was asked, “Would you say that learning is always fun?” I had to think about it but in the end my answer was no. Reason being, different subject matter is appealing to different people. Everything that is taught to students cannot always be “fun,” but at least teachers can attempt to make it interesting and applicable, therefore creating motivation for students who aren’t able to do it on their own.
I believe that one factor that motivates students is their home life. For example, if parents work 2 jobs and are struggling to make ends meet, they might not have enough time to spend with their child doing homework. This might leave the child to figure the homework out alone or just give up on completing the homework altogether. If the parent is not involved in their child’s education, I think the child will be less motivated. Parents play a huge role in motivating and being involved in their child’s education. On-the-other-hand, if the parents are involved and motivated the child will likely do well in school and be the best they can be. Because of this positive home life of parents being involved, I feel like the child will be more motivated in the classroom. I feel like the role of parents at home can impact the student enormously.
I feel like I can connect this motivation in the classroom to when I was in school. I feel like an extrinsic motivation can be used well in education. For example, when I was in 6th grade, if students had all of their assignments in on time, they could go to the movie. The teacher had a movie playing from a projector on the wall in the gym and we could bring in a snack to eat while we watched the movie. This happened about once a month throughout the school year. The stipulation was, if all of the assignments did not get completed and turned in, the student could not go to the movie. The student then had to stay in the classroom with the teacher and complete the unfinished assignments. I think that this extrinsic motivation worked well because the students had a goal of completing all assignments and turning them in on time. If the students did not do this then they had to complete their work while others got the reward of watching a movie. I know that extrinsic motivation can be a controversial topic but in this instance, I feel like it was dealt with appropriately.
Students all learn differently. To keep students engaged and willing to learn in the classroom they must be motivated. I think that the basis of student motivation in the classroom is teaching in an interesting way and for students to have the confidence in themselves that they can learn. For students to be motivated they must be interested in what they are learning and have the desire to learn more. Students should be curious about subjects and want to discover and learn more about them. To keep students motivated, lessons and activities in the classroom must hold their attention. They should also set goals for themselves and be willing to be challenged. This doesn’t mean that all lessons have to be fun, but they should keep the attention of students. I think that the confidence factor of motivation in the classroom is also important. If students aren’t confident in themselves about learning, they are unlikely to be motivated to learn. Students must believe that they can accomplish their learning goals.
For those not naturally motivated, I believe there is a number of things that can help motivate a child. The goal or outcome for completion of a project is one of these ways. If a child knows that completely an assignment in a timely manner will allow him/her full recess time, they may be more likely to be motivated to complete the activity. Motivation can also be seen simply with good activities. If an activity is engaging, there may be no need for external motivation like goals or focusing comments to motivate students. All students are motivated by different things, and the older they get the more they will come to realize and use these strategies to keep them motivated.
I feel the basis for motivation in the classroom is the teacher and their teaching method. This is how it has always been for me. I can be really excited or interested in a certain subject, but the teaching method was horrible, therefore I was not at all motivated about the subject anymore that I was originally interested in. The same goes for subjects or topics I was not interested in. If the teacher made learning engaging and exciting, I came to like it and wanted to learn more about it, and I feel the same goes for most students. If the teacher is motivated about the subject, their students are more likely to do the same. The students will be engaged in learning and interested in the material, they are more likely to be motivated and have the desire to learn more when they see the teacher acting this way. As teachers, we need to think about how we are presenting or acting about topics. Even if we are not very fond of certain topics, we need to realize that how we present the material will reflect how the students think about it, and whether or not they are motivated to learn and understand the material.
The first thing that came to mind when thinking about the basis of motivation is what motivated me as a child-competition. It may be as simple as getting praised for being the first one to do what they are supposed to. Being the first one done on a timed test, or having the highest spelling list were things that motivated me to keep being a role model in the classroom. There are many extrinsic factors that come in to play as far as motivation in the classroom. Examples may be goal setting, reward systems, and classroom jobs. When students feel important by doing simple tasks like being the "paper passer" or the "line leader" it seems like they want to be more responsible and be a role model. For those students motivated by competition goal setting would be a great way to motivate because the competition would be against themselves to do better than they had prior.
During my time in the classroom I have observed many of the students being motivated to learn. They get very excited to learn new things and are very willing to share their thoughts or feelings with the class, and they end up motivating each other. Today, I observed some of the students setting their own goals for writing. They had to write their goal for writing, write how they were going to reach their goal, and write about who will help them reach their goal. I feel this is a great way for the students to get involved in what they need to be working on for each subject. I believe that if the students are writing their own goals, they will be more motivated to meet those goals in the end.
I believe that there can be many different bases for student motivation in the classroom. Each student has their own reasons for getting motivated. Some students are motivated by being competitive with other students. Some students are motivated by getting rewards, which can be an object or even praise. Other students are motivated by getting good grades. There are many different reasons that motivate students. To be able to motivate students you need to find out how students get motivated and use that technique to motivate each student.
I really like Carly's comment about motivation not just coming from within the classroom, but also at home. When I was growing up I was motivated because my mother was a teacher and I always wanted to do well because she would work with me every night on school work and she received enjoyment out of me succeeding. When my mom was not helping me my dad was there too. Sometimes even both of them. He received just as much enjoyment of my success as my mother did. I’ve observed in classrooms and at after school program the correlation between success in school and home life. Some parents are very concerned about their child’s academic achievement; other parents do not appear to be as concerned. The children with the parents who are more concerned generally do better academically. Life at home has a large effect on how children act and perform in the classroom.
I have observed the students being motivated. In the classroom, students are working on their conversational language. They have been working on saying these types of phrases in their everyday conversations. The students have set goals for themselves to use these phrases. Having these goals motivates students to learn and use them. Today they had a small group discussion and shared their poems. Throughout the discussion the students used a lot of conversational language. Having goals and the feeling of accomplishment has motivated these students.
I believe that there are several different factors that associate with motivation. These factors could include social life, mental/emotional health, nutrition, 1 parent/2 parent families, socioeconomic status, and this list could go on and on. The students could also have a learning disability such as ADHD, dyslexia, and etc. When students aren't getting the proper attention at home or maybe don't have enough money to get the necessities such as food then it can be VERY hard for students to come to school ready to learn.That is why it is important to put these things into perspective when you have a student who might have some attention problems. It's easy to judge a student when they are unmotivated to get their work done and are disrupting the class, but the best thing to do is to stay calm and maybe give incentives with these particular students. Find thing that motivate them so they will want to come to school and learn every day. Make sure they are always being engaged in activities rather than sitting at their desks all the time. All give frequent breaks.
Some students are naturally motivated, while others are not. What do you believe is the basis for student motivation in the classroom? I think that student motivation begins first with how the teacher looks at work. If the teacher looks like she does not want to be there or does not care about the work then the students will follow the teachers actions and have no motivation to do anything. If the teacher sounds enthusiastic and looks like she is having fun then the students will have motivation to do the work.
I’m really interested in other student’s comments on this blog question. Their comments opened my eyes to additional outlooks. Such as, motivation is created when your needs are satisfied. For example, if students go to school hungry and underfed they will have a difficult time concentrating. And I believe that lack motivation is closely related to lack of concentration. Similarly to satisfaction of needs student’s wants also need to be satisfied—to a degree. Along with encouragement (which I spoke about in my first blog comment), students desire rewards (wants) such as being the “paper passer” and students want to enjoy the freedom of recess. Giving students these responsibilities and “me time” provide them with a key to motivation. In addition to that, giving students these rewards student’s motivation is replenished. Basically, to find motivation our students need to be satisfied.
After reviewing the comments from everybody else I see many other suggestions I did not even think about. I really liked the ideas of motivation also coming from at home. I also liked how Amy's ideas were things that could be altered. I was focusing on factors about the students that were kind of predetermined. I liked how she suggested that motivation is something that we as teachers could give to the students, it's not something that they either have or don't have. She suggested meaningful activities, innovative instruction, and encouragement. I agree that these are three great ways to incorporate motivation.
Many factors can affect how much a student is or isn't motivated in the classroom. As teachers, I think it is our job to make our students as motivated as possible, so that they will get the most they can out of each day in our classrooms. Some kids are just naturally more motivated than others and it is important for us to encourage this level of motivation from them every single day. Others might not be quite as motivated, and we need to work on creating more motivation for them in the classroom. Sometimes this lack of motivation can come from a student's belief that they are unable to do an assignment. They refuse to do something that they don't believe they can achieve. This is why it's important to believe in every one of your students and show them that you believe in them. You may also need to differentiate your teaching, so that all of your students are given high yet reasonable goals to achieve. As the students tackle these goals, they will become more and more motivated to keep doing so throughout their education.
I also think a lack of motivation may come from students who just might be having a bad day or week. Sometimes these issues can be quick fixes that can be solved by just talking to the student in private and asking if anything is bothering them. The earlier they talk out these issues with the teacher or somebody else, the sooner they can drop the issue and get more out of class.
I also believe the self-motivation comes within. There are some students that you do almost everything possible to motivate them, but when it comes down to it.. they just don't really care, which is very sad. I think teachers need to create a comfortable learning environment with positive classroom management. Students are more internally motivated when they have say in classroom expectations. At the beginning of every year I think it's important that you don't just lecture about your classroom rules and goals but let the students decide what they think that the expectations should be. This way, they are more likely to remember and are able to refer back to the goals and you can say oh remember when YOU were the ones that made this goals for yourselves. This way they also feel as if their opinions matter and its not all teacher directed.
Student motivation happens in different ways with different children. Some days children are self motivated, other days children are motivated by teacher goals, incentives, or even fun lessons. This tells me as a teacher that to motivate my students, I need to create fun and interesting lessons, or give healthy incentives to help students stay focused and on task.
I believe that the basis of student motivation in the classroom for students that are not naturally motivated is a combination of three things: meaningful activities, innovative instruction, and encouragement. To begin with, I believe that encouragement gives students the extra push to succeed. Letting your students know that their work isn’t going unnoticed, and praising them provides them with fulfillment. Also, students and teachers need a balance of high and low energy activities. If lessons are always high energy everyone will be worn out, and in contrast if lessons are always low energy everyone will be bored. So it is not realistic to say or think that students should always be participating in entertaining activities but the lessons and activities should be meaningful to the learning goals.
ReplyDeleteRecently, during an interview I was asked, “Would you say that learning is always fun?” I had to think about it but in the end my answer was no. Reason being, different subject matter is appealing to different people. Everything that is taught to students cannot always be “fun,” but at least teachers can attempt to make it interesting and applicable, therefore creating motivation for students who aren’t able to do it on their own.
I believe that one factor that motivates students is their home life. For example, if parents work 2 jobs and are struggling to make ends meet, they might not have enough time to spend with their child doing homework. This might leave the child to figure the homework out alone or just give up on completing the homework altogether. If the parent is not involved in their child’s education, I think the child will be less motivated. Parents play a huge role in motivating and being involved in their child’s education. On-the-other-hand, if the parents are involved and motivated the child will likely do well in school and be the best they can be. Because of this positive home life of parents being involved, I feel like the child will be more motivated in the classroom. I feel like the role of parents at home can impact the student enormously.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I can connect this motivation in the classroom to when I was in school. I feel like an extrinsic motivation can be used well in education. For example, when I was in 6th grade, if students had all of their assignments in on time, they could go to the movie. The teacher had a movie playing from a projector on the wall in the gym and we could bring in a snack to eat while we watched the movie. This happened about once a month throughout the school year. The stipulation was, if all of the assignments did not get completed and turned in, the student could not go to the movie. The student then had to stay in the classroom with the teacher and complete the unfinished assignments. I think that this extrinsic motivation worked well because the students had a goal of completing all assignments and turning them in on time. If the students did not do this then they had to complete their work while others got the reward of watching a movie. I know that extrinsic motivation can be a controversial topic but in this instance, I feel like it was dealt with appropriately.
ReplyDeleteStudents all learn differently. To keep students engaged and willing to learn in the classroom they must be motivated. I think that the basis of student motivation in the classroom is teaching in an interesting way and for students to have the confidence in themselves that they can learn. For students to be motivated they must be interested in what they are learning and have the desire to learn more. Students should be curious about subjects and want to discover and learn more about them. To keep students motivated, lessons and activities in the classroom must hold their attention. They should also set goals for themselves and be willing to be challenged. This doesn’t mean that all lessons have to be fun, but they should keep the attention of students. I think that the confidence factor of motivation in the classroom is also important. If students aren’t confident in themselves about learning, they are unlikely to be motivated to learn. Students must believe that they can accomplish their learning goals.
ReplyDeleteFor those not naturally motivated, I believe there is a number of things that can help motivate a child. The goal or outcome for completion of a project is one of these ways. If a child knows that completely an assignment in a timely manner will allow him/her full recess time, they may be more likely to be motivated to complete the activity. Motivation can also be seen simply with good activities. If an activity is engaging, there may be no need for external motivation like goals or focusing comments to motivate students. All students are motivated by different things, and the older they get the more they will come to realize and use these strategies to keep them motivated.
ReplyDeleteI feel the basis for motivation in the classroom is the teacher and their teaching method. This is how it has always been for me. I can be really excited or interested in a certain subject, but the teaching method was horrible, therefore I was not at all motivated about the subject anymore that I was originally interested in. The same goes for subjects or topics I was not interested in. If the teacher made learning engaging and exciting, I came to like it and wanted to learn more about it, and I feel the same goes for most students. If the teacher is motivated about the subject, their students are more likely to do the same. The students will be engaged in learning and interested in the material, they are more likely to be motivated and have the desire to learn more when they see the teacher acting this way. As teachers, we need to think about how we are presenting or acting about topics. Even if we are not very fond of certain topics, we need to realize that how we present the material will reflect how the students think about it, and whether or not they are motivated to learn and understand the material.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that came to mind when thinking about the basis of motivation is what motivated me as a child-competition. It may be as simple as getting praised for being the first one to do what they are supposed to. Being the first one done on a timed test, or having the highest spelling list were things that motivated me to keep being a role model in the classroom. There are many extrinsic factors that come in to play as far as motivation in the classroom. Examples may be goal setting, reward systems, and classroom jobs. When students feel important by doing simple tasks like being the "paper passer" or the "line leader" it seems like they want to be more responsible and be a role model. For those students motivated by competition goal setting would be a great way to motivate because the competition would be against themselves to do better than they had prior.
ReplyDeleteDuring my time in the classroom I have observed many of the students being motivated to learn. They get very excited to learn new things and are very willing to share their thoughts or feelings with the class, and they end up motivating each other. Today, I observed some of the students setting their own goals for writing. They had to write their goal for writing, write how they were going to reach their goal, and write about who will help them reach their goal. I feel this is a great way for the students to get involved in what they need to be working on for each subject. I believe that if the students are writing their own goals, they will be more motivated to meet those goals in the end.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there can be many different bases for student motivation in the classroom. Each student has their own reasons for getting motivated. Some students are motivated by being competitive with other students. Some students are motivated by getting rewards, which can be an object or even praise. Other students are motivated by getting good grades. There are many different reasons that motivate students. To be able to motivate students you need to find out how students get motivated and use that technique to motivate each student.
ReplyDeleteI really like Carly's comment about motivation not just coming from within the classroom, but also at home. When I was growing up I was motivated because my mother was a teacher and I always wanted to do well because she would work with me every night on school work and she received enjoyment out of me succeeding. When my mom was not helping me my dad was there too. Sometimes even both of them. He received just as much enjoyment of my success as my mother did. I’ve observed in classrooms and at after school program the correlation between success in school and home life. Some parents are very concerned about their child’s academic achievement; other parents do not appear to be as concerned. The children with the parents who are more concerned generally do better academically. Life at home has a large effect on how children act and perform in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI have observed the students being motivated. In the classroom, students are working on their conversational language. They have been working on saying these types of phrases in their everyday conversations. The students have set goals for themselves to use these phrases. Having these goals motivates students to learn and use them. Today they had a small group discussion and shared their poems. Throughout the discussion the students used a lot of conversational language. Having goals and the feeling of accomplishment has motivated these students.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there are several different factors that associate with motivation. These factors could include social life, mental/emotional health, nutrition, 1 parent/2 parent families, socioeconomic status, and this list could go on and on. The students could also have a learning disability such as ADHD, dyslexia, and etc. When students aren't getting the proper attention at home or maybe don't have enough money to get the necessities such as food then it can be VERY hard for students to come to school ready to learn.That is why it is important to put these things into perspective when you have a student who might have some attention problems. It's easy to judge a student when they are unmotivated to get their work done and are disrupting the class, but the best thing to do is to stay calm and maybe give incentives with these particular students. Find thing that motivate them so they will want to come to school and learn every day. Make sure they are always being engaged in activities rather than sitting at their desks all the time. All give frequent breaks.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I meant also give frequent breaks.
ReplyDeleteSome students are naturally motivated, while others are not. What do you believe is the basis for student motivation in the classroom?
ReplyDeleteI think that student motivation begins first with how the teacher looks at work. If the teacher looks like she does not want to be there or does not care about the work then the students will follow the teachers actions and have no motivation to do anything. If the teacher sounds enthusiastic and looks like she is having fun then the students will have motivation to do the work.
I really did not think about students not feeling good or not getting food before school because breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
ReplyDeleteI’m really interested in other student’s comments on this blog question. Their comments opened my eyes to additional outlooks. Such as, motivation is created when your needs are satisfied. For example, if students go to school hungry and underfed they will have a difficult time concentrating. And I believe that lack motivation is closely related to lack of concentration. Similarly to satisfaction of needs student’s wants also need to be satisfied—to a degree. Along with encouragement (which I spoke about in my first blog comment), students desire rewards (wants) such as being the “paper passer” and students want to enjoy the freedom of recess. Giving students these responsibilities and “me time” provide them with a key to motivation. In addition to that, giving students these rewards student’s motivation is replenished. Basically, to find motivation our students need to be satisfied.
ReplyDeleteAfter reviewing the comments from everybody else I see many other suggestions I did not even think about. I really liked the ideas of motivation also coming from at home. I also liked how Amy's ideas were things that could be altered. I was focusing on factors about the students that were kind of predetermined. I liked how she suggested that motivation is something that we as teachers could give to the students, it's not something that they either have or don't have. She suggested meaningful activities, innovative instruction, and encouragement. I agree that these are three great ways to incorporate motivation.
ReplyDeleteMany factors can affect how much a student is or isn't motivated in the classroom. As teachers, I think it is our job to make our students as motivated as possible, so that they will get the most they can out of each day in our classrooms. Some kids are just naturally more motivated than others and it is important for us to encourage this level of motivation from them every single day. Others might not be quite as motivated, and we need to work on creating more motivation for them in the classroom. Sometimes this lack of motivation can come from a student's belief that they are unable to do an assignment. They refuse to do something that they don't believe they can achieve. This is why it's important to believe in every one of your students and show them that you believe in them. You may also need to differentiate your teaching, so that all of your students are given high yet reasonable goals to achieve. As the students tackle these goals, they will become more and more motivated to keep doing so throughout their education.
ReplyDeleteI also think a lack of motivation may come from students who just might be having a bad day or week. Sometimes these issues can be quick fixes that can be solved by just talking to the student in private and asking if anything is bothering them. The earlier they talk out these issues with the teacher or somebody else, the sooner they can drop the issue and get more out of class.
ReplyDeleteI also believe the self-motivation comes within. There are some students that you do almost everything possible to motivate them, but when it comes down to it.. they just don't really care, which is very sad. I think teachers need to create a comfortable learning environment with positive classroom management. Students are more internally motivated when they have say in classroom expectations. At the beginning of every year I think it's important that you don't just lecture about your classroom rules and goals but let the students decide what they think that the expectations should be. This way, they are more likely to remember and are able to refer back to the goals and you can say oh remember when YOU were the ones that made this goals for yourselves. This way they also feel as if their opinions matter and its not all teacher directed.
ReplyDeleteStudent motivation happens in different ways with different children. Some days children are self motivated, other days children are motivated by teacher goals, incentives, or even fun lessons. This tells me as a teacher that to motivate my students, I need to create fun and interesting lessons, or give healthy incentives to help students stay focused and on task.
ReplyDelete