According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary motivation is "the act or process of giving someone a reason for doing something: the act or process of motivating someone: the condition of being eager to act or work: the condition of being motivated: a force or influence that causes someone to do something" (2015).
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| 27 Strategies to Motivate Students in Class |
Having motivation creates a goal for individuals,
causing them to make decisions based upon achieving that goal. It increases the
level of effort, and energy one invests in tasks where motivation is present.
Being motivated to complete a task is what will help a student work through
obstacles they come across and not just give up and move on or hand it in.
Cognitive processing is also increased when a student is motivated because they
are more likely to pay attention and retain the information they are learning
about.
There are two main types of motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic
is sparked from within and is about doing something for yourself, it's about
learning for the sake of learning and mastery/understanding of that subject
matter. Extrinsic motivation is about what you get out of it,
externally, for example rewards/praise or grades. Extrinsic types of motivators
work best for younger students, but tend to plateau and are not a practical way
to stay motivated because that external motivator may not always be present or
attainable.
To measure ones' level of motivation or determine if they are motivated, four
factors can be examined. Firstly, if they had a choice in the task, they would
choose something that interested them or they enjoy. Therefore, they have
chosen to do a task they are more motivated to complete. Secondly, the level of
effort invested demonstrates motivation, for example if one puts a lot of
effort behind something and works very hard on that task they were motivated to
do so. Thirdly, level of persistence is an indicator of motivation, because if
one spends a lot of time on a task and hasn't given up even after facing
obstacles then they were motivated enough to overcome obstacles and complete
the task. Lastly, the level of achievement is an indicator and can be
determined looking at all three of those indicators together. This is the
largest indicator of achievement. The higher any of these indicators are
regarding a task, the more motivated the individual likely is and therefore the
more likely the task will be completed.
Within your classroom there are many ways you can
work to motivate your students. For
example praising students for work well done or good behaviour can help to
motivate them to keep it up.Through your teaching methods you can also spread
the excitement and enthusiasm for subjects and certain materials, as well as
try different types of instruction methods to give them more options and reach
various types of intelligences. To help increase motivation. Also, showing
students their important and having that tracked will motivate students to keep
improving. The following video is a great example of how important the presence
of motivation is within the classroom, through a case study example.
Through my own educational experiences I have seen the benefits of motivation and how my interests, such as art helps motivate me in subjects I don’t like as much, such as math. When I am able to apply those skills and motivate myself to complete the task well for example in grade 10, I was able to make a poster of a certain math problem as a bonus mark which is probably the most effort I put into that course all year. Continuing to look at math I can see how lack of motivation deterred me from putting the effort into the material and just learning it for the test and forgetting it the next week therefore negatively impacting my overall grade when I didn’t know it for the exam. Every student is different and therefore motivated in different ways, I think as a future teacher a goal within the classroom should be get to know my students well enough to be able to motivate them in various ways. This is important for both the success of the individual student as well as the atmosphere of the classroom, with motivated students being more likely to stay on task and succeed rather than be off task and potentially disruptive in the classroom.
References
Abualkibash, K, S. (2014, February, 17). IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATIONS [Video] retrieved from
Condron, A. (2011). How to Motivate Students: Top 12 Ways. Retrieved
November 1, 2015, from http://www.teachhub.com/top-12-ways-motivate-students
Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st Century Learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Motivation. [Def. 1, 2]. (2015). In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved October 30, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motivation
Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21st Century Learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Motivation. [Def. 1, 2]. (2015). In Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved October 30, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motivation
Hurst,
M. (n.d.). The Importance of Motivation in an Educational Environment.
Retrieved November 1, 2015, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-importance-of-motivation-in-an-educational-environment.html#transcriptHeader
Levin,
J., Nolan, J., Kerr, J., & Elliott, A., Bajovic, M. (2016). Principles
of Classroom
Management: Fourth Canadian edition.
Toronto, ON: Pearson.
MacMeekin, M. (n.d.).
INTRINSIC MOTIVATION; 27 Ideas to encourage intrinsically motivation in your students.[photo].
Retrieved from http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/07/27-strategies-to-motivate-students-in.html
Motivating Students. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2015, from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/motivating-students/
Miranda,
ReplyDeleteThe battle of motivation is constant through out school, and unfortunately seems to dwindle in the older grades, like you said in math. You mentioned how you would learn things for the math tests, without truly letting them resonate, and then be in trouble when the exam came along because that material was forgotten. I think this exact situation is almost an epidemic. I've done it and I have many friends who have done it as well. The only motivation for me in subjects like math is extrinsic.
Often times we are motivated by the achievement of a number or letter, not by the knowledge we stand to gain in that particular class. We are the generation of participation ribbons. We give out prizes for everything, and in my opinion this actually discourages the growth of intrinsic motivation in children. You wrote that extrinsic motivation plateaus in older grades, if this is true, and we have not developed strong intrinsic motivation in the younger grades, are we setting students up to fail?
Hi Miranda, the best lessons, books, and materials in the world won't get students excited about learning and get them to work hard if they're not motivated. As mentioned, both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, is a key factor in the success of students at all stages of their education and teachers play a pivotal role in providing and encouraging that motivation in their students. I was learning in my other education class that extrinsic motivation is more effective with elementary school children whereas intrinsic motivation has long-term benefits for adolescent students. In grade 4, my teacher used to give us stickers to praise our good behaviour. We all had our own sticker page attached to our desk so that we could see our achievements. Although I still love stickers, nowadays I am motivated to stay in school based on my interests and being around others who have similar goals to mine.
ReplyDeleteAs a future educator, how would you motivate all of your students at once or even a group of students with varying personalities and interests to maintain classroom management? The ability to engage all students can foster a positive learning environment where students are able to reach their potential. Students who have difficulty engaging with material such as ESL students, students with disabilities, and even students with behavioural issues can all work together and develop pro-social skills. Making learning fun and geared towards each individual can allow students to flourish and for teachers to play a pivotal role in guiding students toward success. Overall, great blog and topic!
Hi Miranda,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog!! I love the topic of motivation and think it’s something we as future teachers need to take seriously. Your explanation of the types of motivation was very clear and helpful in trying to figure out ways we can help our students by motivating them. In my experience I have had teachers who have fully understood the power of motivation and also those who didn’t. When a teacher doesn’t take a student’s lack of motivation seriously there is a problem. I love that graphic you provided outlining 27 strategies to motivate students! I will definitely look back on that as I begin teaching and work to motivate my students. Have you ever heard of Summerhill? It is an alternative school in the UK that believes motivation should be the primary factor that drives students to learn. The teachers at Summerhill believe students are very capable of taking responsibility of their own learning at their own pace. In an interview, one of the teachers said that students will only learn if they are interested and motivated, and that comes at a different time for each student. This ties in with the video you provided where the two children are motivated by completely different interests and activities. As a future teacher I hope to be able to identify what my students are individually motivated by. This task seems extremely daunting as most classrooms have 25-30 students, but I’m up for a challenge! Thank you for your thought provoking blog!