Being in the medical field for so long before I started teaching it is wonderful to see your students faces when I share real experiences from the field, even if some of them are pretty graphic. They love hearing and knowing what they will be a part of in their future.
Whenever possible to tie course content in with real world examples.
Life experiences between student and instructor is one of effective motivation techniques. Student background, remind student their goals and why they are in school.
George,
How do you relate these experiences to the course content?
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Andric,
In what form to you have these discussions? How do you get all students involved?
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
by sharing my personal experiences
discuss experiences they have been through
Takiya,
A good list. Another good motivator is support and encouragement from the instructor. As the learning leader when reinforcement is given it has great value to the students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Nancy,
All good ways to reward student effort.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Some effective motivation can come from their grades, reinforcement, retention, and transference.
Offering extra credit, frequent reinforcement and demonstrating and practicing skills are effective motivators in my classroom.
Gayle,
I'm sure they are because your weekend experiences are as current as they get for the field. You are bringing value and relevancy to what you are teaching through our work in the field.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I continue to work in my field on the weekends, and when Monday comes the students are chomping at the bit to hear the stories of what happened onver the weekend and what patients I saw. They love when I bring in case studies from actualcases that I have worked on, not just some random thing out of a book.
Samirah,
Yes, they are. We need to bring passion for our field and enthusiasm for teaching it each time we enter the classroom or lab.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Denise,
Adults are just taller kids. Students like to receive rewards for effort and accomplishments. So candy treats and other such rewards have a role to play in the educational deliveries we employ, not to mention they are fun for everyone involved.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Students are motivated by the positive disposition of their instructors. Maintaining a high degree of enthusiasm and energy will be reflected in the energy of your students.
I agree, sharing experiences makes you credible and motivates them to want to experience for themselves. Real life stories interests them and keeps them focused on the course.
Awards that are small and immediate for direct positive reinforcement, for me I use small candy treats for rewards in class for answering questions correctly. We also do rewards at the end of the module for grade levels for the course. This has been a positive motivator for some of our students on campus.
Elizabeth,
I agree about using personal stories about one's career has an impact on students. They show students that you once sat where they now sit. You have content and experience to share with them and you are going to do so via examples from your own career.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I also love to share personal experiences throughout my career and relevant personal experiences from my family, life, etc. I believe them hearing or reading about real life situations shows them the relevancy of the topic as well as to bring up discussion. They can ask questions about the situation or add their own thoughts regading the topic. These discussions are a great teaching tool to get them excited about the topic.
