Motivating students
I often find it that motivation starts from connecting your experience with the desire of the student.
Finding why he or she came for in the first place and connecting the material through those reasons is really a straight connection between the student, the subject matter and the instructor.
What are your thoughts?
I think motivating students is one of the number one keys to retention. I notice that a lot of my students lack motivation and drive and once I notice that certain students may not be motivated I start encouraging them in the beginning. Also I notice that students also feed on your energy level and if your energy is low in the class and the Instructor is not motivated then the students would not be either.
I agree with this Eitan -- interestingly, I also find that students can be equally motivated when they can connect the material with real life 'events'.
I think that these 'events' can certainly include stories from my experience that students may connect with - but I prefer to use subject related items from current events of the day, i.e. something related that I might have come across in a news report or an article.
Here's my question: Which approach do you think is most effective? Is there a difference?
