Motivation
There will always be a few out of the bunch who lack motivation. What I find helps me, as well as my class, is that you can try to reach those students that are on the fence and are still able. But there is a median group who are still "choosing sides" and you can attempt to open their eyes. Once you have your teaching style down and have found what works for you the menial tasks become easier to handle. Finding out interests and hobbies can be as simple as listening to their responses, or applying what their learning to what they already know.
Francis, the more you know your students and how they are motivated the better you will be able to reach them at a very basic level. If your students perceive you have information they need, your lesson plans will become more successful.
James Jackson
Getting to know your students interests and ideas help to play into motivating them. some are very afraid of making mistakes because of how they may be percieved. some are too hard on themselves for making mistakes or not understanding the lesson. these are the students that once you get to know them you may be able to associate something in their background with what you are doing and draw them into the lesson.
Today motivation can be a real challenge. However, with creativity, one can still reach out to most students. Interests and hobbies can definatly make a difference in the outcome. As always we should attempt to reach all "sides" to have the biggest impact.
Anthony, motivation can be difficult to define. Before you label a student as needing to be more motivated, ensure you have an adequate understanding of their basic skills to learn such as being literate in information processing as well as technology. Also verify as bet you can they have proper study skills and do not suffer from some form of learning disorder. These situations can at times be viewed as issues with motivation.
James Jackson
the motovation is also part of there responseability they need to have the Need Will and Want.....
Kris, can you share some of your techniques for linking student interests to your subject matter? Thanks for anything you can share.
James Jackson
Tapping into their interests can really help motivate them into liking the material and relating it to what they enjoy.
George, I will take you one step deeper into the rabbit hole, every lesson may take different forms of motivation. Motivation is somewhat an objective term and where a student may appear to be totally unreachable in one class may very well flourish in another. Getting to know your students and discussing student success among other members of the faculty can yield incredible results.
James Jackson
Theodore, you have hit upon a critical topic of skills many instructors just assume students already know. Many students may lack study skills, time management, project management, and even test taking skills.
James Jackson
Every class seems to require new or different ways of motivation. There will always be ones who lack motivation and there's not much you can do to inspire it.
I agree that all students want to learn but some students have not developed proper study habits. The results of poor study habits is often a confused and frustrated student. I also believe that it is the responsibility of a teacher to persist in developing ways to help that student develop good study habits. We can do this by developing lesson plans and classroom procedures that lead and aid the student in developing good study habits. The results of this effort can be a successful student.
James, all students want to learn. Some just may not realize the benefits or they may not know how to learn and get frustrated which we as instructors may confuse for lack of motivation. The key is to never give up. The student may decide to self-terminate their participation but never allow them to feel you no longer care regardless if they seem to care or not. In other words, do not allow your students to bring your professionalism down. Remain focused because that is what you demand of yourself.
James Jackson
I have to agree. Labeling students can lead to poor results. Often times my first impressions are not correct. Even though we all have them I've learned not to rely on them and I'll assume the student wants to learn until they prove otherwise.
That makes a lot of sense to me. I have found that I was labeling students without meaning to, and quite often my impression was incorrect. Especially with the student's I had thought were motivated. I have found that sometimes they give an image of motivation, but actually significantly lack the discipline to follow through. So I spend time trying to motivate all of the students.
Frank, always be mindful that your least "motivated" students can still become your class all-stars so be careful to label them or just assume they will always remain unmotivated. The teacher will appear with the student is ready according to The Pacific Institute and Dr. Joe Pace. This is based on years of research and cognitive psychology. Treat each student as if they were highly motivated and eager to learn, over time you will reach more than you may even realize.
James Jackson
