I teach Automatic Transmissions and I have a hard time motivating students because there is alot of information covered in a short time span and the concepts are difficult at best for most students.
I find that as long as I seem confident and that I am having fun and keep the students my number 1
priority I seem to have a better success rate.
I enjoyed discussing this with my supervisor. She had several ideas to help me. She offered to help me find areas/ resources to aide also. That motivated me also.
My area is surgical technology.I also do mostly clinicals.In that arena we learn many diferent specialities from ortho,cysto,gyn,neuro,cardio,general,ect.,ect..I have to give them a broad range of experiance due to the fact that we face a large range of cases that we do on a daily basis.We are also responsible for prepairing for the next day's cases.I Normaly asighn the next day's scheduled cases bassed on each student's required number of cases in each speciality.Sometimes that means a lot of repitition of procedures,and a student may begin to feel burned out.In the latter half of the course when they have had some rounding of experiance,I will allow them to choose a case from the next day's schedule that they are most interested in.This lets them see those cases that motivated them to enroll to begin with and they will determine their own direction of interest.You are still on subject but in an area they feel confident about.It lets you evaluate strengths and can also show what does'nt interest them by what they turned down.You can ask why they did't choose the other cases and determine what they don't like about them,and then use that knowledge to find ways to make them more interesting,or less intimidating.Confidence is a very important factor and allowing them that autonomy builds this by being sucsessful in something they are comfortable in doing.
Why don't they like the subject? Is it that they don't see it as pertinent (like Mythology to my networking students)? You really need to show them how it helps them in the field, for instance we have a technology called Kerboros, which is based on the mythological character.
Or, is it that it requires skills they don't have (like composition for my networking students)? Then you need to focus on optimal challenge - make it seem possible to achieve even though their skills so far are not the best.
I find it helpful to let the students understand that the topic or course that they are taking is relevent. If you can use industry modeled examples and give them an example of something that you have done in a given situation it gives it meaning. I find this helps the students buy into the course objectives and keeps them motivated more.
Wow you have it worse than I do! I tell my students upfront that we have alot to cover and they need to stay focus.My challenge is to try to make all this info seem fun. I guess I have to better project how much I like the topics and how relevant they are to the students' success.
I teach a course that covers an extremely large bit of material but in a short period of time. It is a rapidly moving course with not much time for many questions. It is frustrating personally and professionally for me as the instructor but likewise for the students. It is difficult to keep them motivated and interested especially when several of the classes are 4 hours in length !!! Keeping them interested AND motivated is extremely challenging as well as frustrating.
A role play is a great idea. I'll try to think of something that's interesting to them which I can draw comparison to the core subject. Thanks!
I understand your feeling. I too, see a lack of motivation when it comes to my students job search. It sounds like your students can use a change of perspective. Maybe initiate a role play that isn't directly related to the subject, yet show the value behind it.
