Kathryn,
Not only are you helping them become successful in the course you are providing opportunities for them to expand and/or develop their "soft skills". You are right these are the characteristics employers are looking for when hiring.
Gary
Students in career college who may either be new to college, or have been away from school for a while may be intimidated by the process of study, tests, etc.. So I always allow students differenct options for extra credit points. This helps them to feel more in control of their destiny, and rewards other "work related" behavior than merely their test grades. If students do extra research papers, assist other students with their technical projects, or do community service work and provide proof, these are behaviors I would certainly want in a new employee as well!
John,
Your last sentence really sets the stage for students. They need to see the value of what they are learning in relation to their future. The more they can see it the better they will appreciate the perfect fit you are helping them to achieve.
Gary
For many of my students, a primary motivation is their passion for automobiles. The opportunity to make a comfortable living and provide for themselves and their families in an industry related to their passion seems to be a perfect fit.
Stephanie,
Critical aspect of teaching. Knowing you care about them and their success is a powerful magnet to keeping them in school.
Gary
Being passionate and conecting with students.
Student motivation is the result of the efforts of the Instructor. You have to keep their interest all through the course--reviving it when it lags and continue to make it interesting to them. It can be a challenge when you have a very diverse group of students as you have to use different types of teaching methods to not lose them. Make the days varied in some way while keeping the base schedule intact--this keeps the student learning more varied and interesting. A good Instructor will always be thinking as to what might work in the future--then working to implement new ideas whenever possible.
Motivation definately means interest, desire, & passion. When those are unlocked to the learner, they have no other option but to suceed.
Diane,
It sure can but I always remember that if I helped to keep one student in school or move forward in achieving a career goal that it has been worth it. Then I go home after my class which ends at 10 pm and fall into my recliner and become a puddle of jello, since I have used up so much energy.
Gary
Evelyn,
Great support method. You are letting them see and develop their own motivational strategies. By owning these strategies the students are going to be more invested in the learning process. This is a great idea that can be used by other instructors. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Gary
I find that constant motivation makes the teacher tired physically and mentally.
This may sound like it is the cart before the horse, but at our school, we actually listened to the students and their ideas. They wanted to help build their own motivational system. We meet one morning before classes and that same evening before class. The students find their own motivational sayings and music is played to get everyone moving. They look forward to the 15 minutes of discussion about what is going on in the school for them. We try to make them feel like they are the most important people in the school. It helps to let the students be a part of the action and not leave it just up to the instructors or the administration. They then realize that we too are deeply motivated for them to succeed. We offer them the best at 110%. You see, our positive attitude has been catching.
Jim,
Right you are about reinforcing student attitude and bringing a positive attitude to the classroom as the instructor. We need to always keep this in mind as we step through the classroom/lab door.
Gary
One of the factors for student motivation is attitude of the student.As an instructor you can utilize that attitude to your advantage.an instructor can reshape the attitude by being aggressive enough to prevent the student from falling back on any past faults and renewing and refreshing the student's abilities.
Factors for student motivation are; feeling of accomplishment, sucess, being told and feeling something positive in their lives.
I find that having an upbeat attitude has a positive effect on the students. They will ask me what’s up if I not real upbeat.
Providing Quick feedback motivates the students, because they see how they did on the assignment. It really upsets some students if they don’t get the feedback within the day. They will send time thinking about how they did on the last assignment and not focusing on the next assignment.
Great point Jim! You need to keep their head in the game and keep them dreaming about what is ahead for them in their field. I like it!
Method of instruction effectiveness, physical environment, instructor passion to name a few. Thanks
Motivation, kicks of with the purpose of learning. As long as students can identify why they have joined a particular course they will usually strive to achieve their goals. As an instructor if we understand the students needs and are energetic and enthusiastic about sharing our knowledge with our students and constantly reassuring them that we will enable them to achieve their goals, students will be motivated to do well.
Hi Keelan,
Incentives do work well with students. They like knowing they can "earn" different things. My students are really food based so we have pizza days to reward them for completing major projects, etc.
Gary
