To discuss real world situation and have the students use their skills and apply them to a similar situation.
Give students your full attention when they are speaking to you. Give them postive reinforcement when they do well, or for trying.
Presenting the material with energy and passion using clear language and examples. Student appreciate direct communication.
Value the student as a person
You can become a motivated instructor by sharing your educational and work experiences. By being compassionate to students, I fee that you become more successful yourself.
I like to give students a chance to apply what they have learned. In addition, showing enthusiam for and interest in the subject can be a good motivator, too.
I mentioned this in a previous discussion; however, I use my life experience and path toward higher education as the motivation factor for my students. This works well with all ages. The younger students feel that they will have no problem reaching their goals if an "old lady" can make it to my current educational status and the older students hold on to the mindset that if I can do it, so can they! Everyone is motivated, but for different reasons. In studnets that are having problems with the matials, I like to show them how to break down the task and simplify it so that the objectives are clearer for them to begin their work. Usually, these students have the ability to succeed on their own motivation once this hurtle is eliminated.
Some ways that I believe is motivating in my class I present a powerpoint presetation, after a couple of slides, I stop and walk around the round to ask questions, or I write on the board to give examples then asked the students if they have any questions.
Or, one can break up the class into teams to work on case studies together, have one of the students in each team to be the spoke person and involved all into the case study after the team did their presentation.
This is excellent. Just like in a Soap Opera, an instructor has to keep the audience of learners coming back for more....and, with excitement and desire!!
I have learned to thoroughly enjoy sharing some of my career and academic mistakes, failures, and frustrations with the class. They get to see how you handle difficult situations and they seem to develop a deeper level of respect for you as a mentor, instructor, human and life long student.
1.-Letting the students understand that everybody can succeed
2.-Telling them that everybody is an A+ in something
3.-Catching them doing something right and prizing them
Let the students know your experiences and stumbles on the way to where you are. Students need to know they are not alone and you are there to support them. Encouragement goes a long way, a book marker, a small credit card size word of encouragement, a nice pen or just a note to say job well done.
There are many oppurtunities to show enthusiasm as well as empathy. A story telling or life experience may be usefull here. i.e. "I had the same fears as many of you at this point in your learning experience. I made the same pre-judgments as many of you and I made many of the same mistakes thay many of you will make, but the payoff is persistance and practice. Not just practice, but perfect practice. This type of personal experience doesn't lower any of the expectations, but re-inforces that many mistakes are learning steps and skill building processes.
I agree...getting them excited about tomorrow's lesson is a great way to motivate students.
When I taught high school, there were a few things that I loved to teach and a few things that I did not love to teach. I was also so clear to me that my students could see that. They were so aware of my excitement and passion about certain topics. Not that I am advocating to "fake it", but I could have done a better job of showing my lack of excitement for certain topics.
One way I could have done this is to have a guest speaker who was passionate about that topic. Passion/excitement can be contagious and students will thrive on that.
Being passionate, empathetic, being an expert in your field and understanding what motivates your students.
HI Regina,
This is a great strategy for two reasons. One, it keeps the students engaged because they don't know when you might introduce it and two, they get to make application of their newly acquired knowledge--they really like this.
Gary
I like using the 'surprise' angle of inserting an activity into an otherwise staid learning component. Using something familiar to the student from everyday life inserted into a lesson that appears to have nothing to do with the concept at first seems strange but I have had students really get into the process and find that they have mastered a skill without knowing it. They certainly remember the class experience.
You can motivate students first by personal exprience, by moving around the class. I personally have a great sense of humur I enjoy having guest speaker and former students speak to students and share thier success stories.
Depending on what specialty the student will be seeking a career in the first would be to educate them and show them some of the exciting and diverse ways they will be able to apply their skills they are learning in your class room. I also like to discuss with students their personal goals and show them how to map out their careers and personal goals so that they can reach them and find success at every step of the way
