Motivation
What are the best ways to keep students motivated? I find that when students are bored with the subject being taught they are less likely to stay motivated.
Hi Tommy,
Yes! Students love having fun while learning, and they also love being involved. We must cheer our students on. We need to be our students biggest cheerleader!
Patricia Scales
Get them motivated by making the lesson fun to learn, involving them in the learning, and praising them in the process.
I believe the best way to keep students motivated is to think like a student. A lot of teachers tend to forget what is was like being in their student shoes. In the classroom, i keep the class very interactive. The more engaging, the more they want to learn. Validate their concerns and thoughts and you would have opened a vast new world of knowledge.
Hi Terri,
Yes! You have it! You are on point! Students understand how useful the course is to them once they understand the course relevancy! Students want to and need to know how they are going to benefit from the course.
Patricia Scales
I keep them motivated by playing games with the subject that we are talking about. Keep them moving so they won't get so bored.
It seems to me that when the students find relavency of the material you are teaching them it motivates them to learn the material or the skill. They will see how being good at this particular skill will make them better practitioners of their chosen career.
Hi Rita,
Yes they need motivation! We have to be our students biggest cheerleader! They need the encouragement!
Patricia Scales
To achieve success in life, students needs motivation.
Hi Deborah,
Great ways to motivate students. We are definitely some of our students biggest and only cheerleader. Continue to encourage your students. We have to let them know that we really are pulling for them.
Patricia Scales
I am always looking for more ways to motivate students. I do already tell stories, have activities (both seated and some moving about the room). I also, walk around the room in different directions so students will have to follow me around the room. I also, try and ask engaging questions to get them involved. When I first walk in class I always ask how are they and do introductions - as I teach Spanish.
Hi Charles,
Absolutely! Some of our students need constant praise. Let's encourage them all.
Patricia Scales
Hi Daniele,
Some students are naturally motivated, others aren't. We have to do our due diligence as educators to motivate our students.
Patricia Scales
Show a new technique so they can apply on their learning experience.
I feel that the best way to maintain motivation level and prevent boredom is to reinforce the relevancy of the subject to the student's career goal and to provide a diversity of learning activities.
Relevancy needs to be reinforced with examples from your practical experience. Supplementing this with guest speakers, contact dates/lunches with graduates working in the field, references to networking events, and hi-lighting media coverage of the field (traditional and social) all help to associate the skills learned in the course with the student's career goals. Encouraging students to immerse themselves in their field while still in school through participation in professional associations and industry events helps create a connection to their future career.
Providing diverse learning activities increases engagement. One method I find useful to prevent boredom is to limit any activity to a maximum of 20-30 minutes before changing the activity type. Group to individual, oral to written, lecture to practical, creative to technical etc. Other techniques I have tried are role playing and having different students lead daily review sessions.
I'm interested in hearing what methods others have found successful in maintaining motivation.
Motivate them with praise and positive statements.
I haven't done any of this yet myself, but, from what I have read a good way to keep student's motivated is to create fun and interesting ways of learning. Perhaps create a game out of a lesson plan or when studying for a midterm/final. Dividing the class up into 2 teams would be a good way to do this. Also having speakers come into the classroom and creating group projects. Avoiding constant lectures and reading for an entire class period seems to be a good way to me. I try and look at it as if I were in their shoes; I would probably want to fall asleep just listening to someone talk for 2 hours and not doing anything else.
