Motivating the Students
It is important to continously motivate the students. Some students face emotional turmoil on whether they can or cannot complete the course based on their home life situation. Many students are single parents that face issues financially, emotionally and physically. It is imparative to know the students needs and motivate them in reaching their goals in the face of diversity.
The good way to motivate the students is to help them see the progress toward their final goal. Unfortunately not all the students can show the same progress. This could be very frustrating for some of them. I am trying to help them by breaking the task into smaller pieces, and move slowly from the easy piece to the hard one. It takes more time, but it's so rewarding to see the progress and an increased interest for students who were at a point to quit.
Maria,
Thank you for this analysis of how students come into a class and start to integrate the content into their minds and professional development. This understanding is so important you you select the instructional strategies you will use to get them engaged and seeing the value of the course in relation to their career development.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I translated a text once that differentiated motivation from disposition. Disposition, it said, was what the student had within as a result from experience, family set of beliefs and principles. It was something he or she had acquired from home. All students come with a certain disposition toward the subject they will study. Motivation was what the instructor, the school, the course, his own experience would create in him or her as a reason to want to learn. It comes more from the outside. In my subject, I have to think about the perception people have of foreign languages and their disposition toward the culture that speaks it. Motivation becomes one of the most important aspects of learning because so much is the instructor's responsibility, and it is the only way to shift disposition so that it becomes more positive toward language learning. So one of my responsibilities is help the student feel successful in handling new vocabulary and ways of saying things. They get excited to make another language theirs. Encouragement and enthusiasm must never falter.
Mary,
This is such an important part of the instructional process. Showing the human factor when it comes to interacting with students is important to keep students engaged and focused on the learning process.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
