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This journal article focuses on building motivation in English language learners. This article gives a detailed description of motivation. The classroom environment is an important factor in building motivation in that the students will become more comfortable. Another idea I found most effective for building motivation is pairing students. -holly

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As children, we were taught to never write on our desks or in our books because they were school property. Well now educators can do just that and leave positivity on their students desk! Using washable markers or dry-erase markers, write positive compliments or encouraging quotes on students desks. Not only will the student gain a sense of confidence but the rest of the class will want to emulate their good behaviors so you'll hopefully write on their desk too! It sounds simple, but a little goes a long way with this motivational tip.

- Brittany

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This is a simple, yet effective and awesome game teachers can use to encourage and motivate their students to turn in assignments. It uses positive reinforcement and incentives to motivate students to complete their homework. The image below is aimed towards upper grades but could easily be reworked for younger students.

For print-outs, game rules and more, click this link: http://web.archive.org/web/20011211220201/www.teachnet.com/homeworkopoly/index.html

- Brittany

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New ways to keep your English learners motivated

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New ways to keep your English learners motivated

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This short blog gives examples on how to keep your English language learners motivated in a mainstream classroom.

The blog mentions transforming each class time into a game, how to use software to keep students engaged, and games to use in small groups as well as at home.

“For students trying to master a second language, learning how to overcome failure can boost in-class achievement and long-term success.”
-Blanca

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Cutting-edge research on game-based learning may hold the secret to keeping your English learners motivated, even in the face of failure. And for students trying to master a second language, learning how to overcome failure can boost in-class achievement and long-term success. Here's how you can put this simple strategy to work for your students:

In Reality is Broken, author Jane McGonigal argues that games can revolutionize learning by keeping students motivated. During her research, McGonigal observed that while most people hate to fail, gamers spend roughly 80 percent of their time failing - and having a great time doing it. So what motivates gamers to keep trying despite repeated failure? And how can we use that same strategy to motivate learners in the classroom?

According to researchers at the M.I.N.D. Lab in Helsinki, Finland, the answer is simple: "When we're playing a well-designed game, failure doesn't disappoint us. It makes us happy in a very particular way: excited, interested, and most of all optimistic." In other words, "fun failure" doesn't discourage game players - or learners. Instead, it helps them to develop mental toughness and keep trying again and again.

Apply this same idea to language learning, and you've got a recipe for success. When students learn through games, they're more willing to fail, an inevitability when it comes to developing language skills. And if students are willing to try again and again, they're more likely to master new material. Here are a few game-based learning strategies you can use to boost motivation for your English learners:

Transform the everyday into a game. In one New York City charter school, everyday tasks are transformed into elements of a game. Students receive ranks - anywhere from pre-novice to master - rather than grades. And instead of completing assignments, learners take on missions, which allow them to work in groups to overcome complex challenges. By putting the everyday into a gaming framework, you can boost motivation for your language learners. Next time you design a spelling assignment or vocabulary worksheet, consider reframing it as a mission to conquer a dragon or a chance to become a knight of the vocabulary round table.

Let smart software do the work for you. Programs like Imagine Language & Literacy use principles of game-based learning to keep kids engaged as they attempt difficult tasks and master new skills. If your students use Imagine Language & Literacy, let the software program do the work of turning learning into a game. Have students practice new skills by using Imagine Language & Literacy on their own, or get the whole class involved by having a "Galactic Goal" competition or a "Word Chop" showdown. You can even let students compete for ranks as a reward for good behavior. Use your projector or interactive whiteboard to play an activity in front of the whole class, and have students battle for a high score. Then reward the winner with master or black-belt status.

Have you used game-based learning to help your language learners stay motivated and master new material? Are you interested in putting the research to the test? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.

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How games keep English learners motivated

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Cutting-edge research on game-based learning may hold the secret to keeping your English learners motivated, even in the face of failure. And for students trying to master a second language, learning how to overcome failure can boost in-class achievement and long-term success.

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This website is about some motivational theories that you as a teacher can apply to in you mainstream classroom.  In addition to the theories it also shows the description of the theory along with some implications you might come across to, and how to deal with them. Having English language students in a mainstream classroom can be quite difficult.

-Blanca

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ESL Awareness - Theories of Motivation and ESL Students

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Home Welcome Language Barriers, Attitudinal Teacher Perspectives and Theoretical Frameworks Understanding Multiple Intelligences & Public Education Accommodating Multiple Intelligences of ESL Students in a Mainstream Classroom Theories of Motivation and ESL Students Through the Eyes of A Former ESL Student The ESL-ELL Educator and Learner Technology and the ESL Student What do I do if I am not an ESL teacher, but I have ESL students in my classroom?

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How to Motivate Students: Top 12 Ways 

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How to Motivate Students: Top 12 Ways 

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There are many different tips and tricks to use in a classroom to motivate students. In Annie Condron’s article on the site Teach Hub, she provides 12 techniques for motivation that she believes work the best in the classroom. Her tips for motivation range from setting expectations in the classroom to rewarding behavior outside of the classroom. A teacher can use these ways of motivation in the classroom easily. Suggestions such as assigning students jobs will give the students more control over their learning, as well as provide them with motivation to be a leader in the classroom. Also handing over control is another method suggested for the classroom. Giving the students choices in the class will make them care about what they are learning and find more enjoyment in their classwork. Teachers can use many of these strategies at once in order to optimize the amount of motivation that occurs in the classroom.

-Paige

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We all know the struggle. We teach and teach and reteach and work with individuals or small-groups and, despite our efforts, that one student just doesn't get it. Or we try one behavior management or modification technique after another and just can't get the desired behavior from that student. Learning difficulties or emotional trauma are unfortunately the cause of issues like these all too often. However, many times the root of the problem may simply be that we are not adequately motivating our students. Effectively motivating your students cannot erase every problem, but it can be a solution or preventative to many problems that students and teachers experience in the classroom.

Of course, what motivates one student might not motivate another. Some students are intrinsically motivated. These are students that are motivated from something within. Intrinsically motivated students might simply have a deep desire to succeed and are, therefore, motivated to do well in all that they do. In some cases, intrinsic motivation comes from utilizing a topic that a student is particularly interested in. If students are interested in the topic, then they are intrinsically motivated to listen and learn. Other students are extrinsically motivated. These students need some outside factor to boost motivation. Grades are extrinsic motivators for some students. Rewards and praise can also be effective extrinsic motivators. Regardless of the kind of motivator that students respond to, there are techniques that can be used to increase motivation for both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated students.

Establish Clear Goals and Expectations

First of all, we cannot expect high motivation if students do not fully understand the ultimate goal. Therefore, it is critically important that at the beginning of every lesson or unit teachers let students know exactly what they will be expected to do or know at the end. It also helps if there is a life application involved. For example, at the end of a money unit, you would expect students to be able to add various amounts of money. By providing a class store with small items to buy if they are able to accurately add the amounts of money, they are provided the opportunity to display that knowledge, and the goal/expectation provided motivation for their learning.

Focus on Growth

Another way to provide motivation for students is to establish and maintain a growth mindset. The ultimate level for the student's grade-level or age may be too overwhelming and seem unachievable. If you set small, achievable goals for the students and focus on whether or not the student has made strides toward that goal, students see more successes and are able to stay motivated throughout the process. Celebrate the growth along the way, no matter how small!

Rewards and Recognition

Some students are greatly motivated by rewards and/or recognition. One very commonly used method is to set up a reward system in your room. You can set rewards for the whole class, but students tend to stay more motivated if the rewards are based on individual growth and/or achievement. Types of rewards will vary based on the age of the students, but students can be rewarded for consistently good behavior, high achievement, or growth. A small chart can be placed on each student's desk to keep track of the positive behaviors you would like to reward. Again, this could be for all students or you can target the ones that are really struggling with motivation.

While tangible rewards can be effective, I find that recognition and praise may be even more so. Many students long for and respond to praise and recognition. By simply acknowledging accomplishments, some students are greatly motivated to keep up the good work.

Students' Interests

This is a method that will dip into that goldmine of intrinsic motivation. When learning is centered on students' interests, the motivation is already there. So maybe find out a favorite hobby of that student who struggles with motivation, and teach a unit incorporating that somehow. Of course, this may not always be possible, but you might be surprised at how far a little peak of interest can go. If you are teaching language arts, no problem. Find a book on the topic and spark that interest. Other areas may not be quite as easy, but where there is a will, there is a way. I had a student a few years ago that struggled terribly in math. He also completely lacked motivation to improve. This same student, at a very young age, could repair car motors and even take some of the machinery apart and put it back together. So, I incorporated cars as much as possible. Every word problem was about a car, tractor, or engine. When we used manipulatives, we used cars. He looked forward to math every day!

Develop Positive, Meaningful Relationships with Your Students

All of the above listed ideas are great and can go a long way to motivate students. However, there is no substitute, when it comes to motivation, for developing meaningful relationships with your students. To motivate your students you must know what makes them tick. How can you know that without really getting to know and understand them?

Students can also be motivated simply by the fact that they know you care for them and want them to succeed. When they know they are loved, they love you in return. When they love you, they love school. When they love school, they want to be there. When they want to be there, they are motivated to do their best! Talk to your students. Invest in them. Love them. This is the greatest motivator of all!

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How to Motivate Students in the Classroom - TeachHUB

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We all know the struggle. We teach and teach and reteach and work with individuals or small-groups and, despite our efforts, that one student just doesn't get it. Or we try one behavior management or modification technique after another and just can't get the desired behavior from that student.

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Lesson Plan to Motivate Students 

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Lesson Plan to Motivate Students 

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This short lesson plan posted by Laura Gurley on the site The Teachers Lounge provides an easy activity a teacher can use in her classroom to motivate her students to become the people they want to be. In this lesson, students get to think about what it is they want their future to look like. They then have to talk about what it will take to achieve those dreams. The main lesson of this activity is that the students will have to work hard in order to achieve their dreams.

Giving students a real world understanding on why being in school is important, this lesson motivates students to work harder and fight for their dreams. In a classroom, this activity can be modified to be even more personal and motivational. Instead of doing the activity as a whole class, it can be made into an individual activity in which students will have to think deeply about all that motivate them and what they need to do in order to achieve their goals.

-Paige

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10 Ways to Motivate the Unmotivated Student 

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10 Ways to Motivate the Unmotivated Student 

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T.J. Ragan is a speech pathologist and in this article, she provides 10 different ways to get students out of their “funks” and become motivated enough to participate in her class. Her methods include physical activity, rewarding students with free time, and challenging students to beat their own records. All of her suggestions on how to motivate her students come with an underlying message that the best way to motivate students is to get to know them and play on their interests. She explains that she understands why some students are not motivated to do their work in class, and her way of remedying that is to make them find a way to enjoy that activity. Essentially never allowing the student to be stuck doing a lot of work that he or she does not like without ever being able to do what he or she do enjoy. Give students rewards for their efforts.

One of the strongest suggestions I found to be practical in the classroom is to praise students to other teachers or in front of peers. It is important that students have their confidence built up. If students hear praises about themselves, they will have more motivation to continue on that path.

-Paige

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Leader Live - Happening now in the speech-language-hearing world

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"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." - unknown
As a speech language pathologist for grades 3-5 in an elementary school setting, one of the challenges I regularly face is trying to make good progress with students who are unmotivated. You know, students who don't want to be in speech, don't want my help, and generally don't want to try anything I want them to try. Students who cross their arms and try to avoid making eye contact with me out of fear that I'll try to get them to-(gasp!)-actually DO some sort of speech work.

I admit it, sometimes I'm tempted to just give up, dismiss them, and say, "Well, when they WANT to make progress, they can come back to speech." But, really, it's my job to motivate even my most unmotivated students.

So, what's an SLP to do?

Here are some strategies I've found useful:

1. Use visual behavior tracking charts. - That's right, reward charts aren't just for preschoolers anymore. I have a large grid that I use as a basic chart (see photo at the top of this post) to help motivate students to participate, and I modify it for every student on my caseload. Some students earn one square per session, others earn 3 or 5 squares per session, depending on how much reinforcement they need on a given day for a given task. Once they reach a star, they earn a prize/special activity. Of course, a chart alone won't do the trick unless the student wants the reward he's working toward, which leads me to my next point.

2. Allow students to earn a "work free" speech session. - What does the unmotivated student want most? To be left alone! I have two students who will work diligently for weeks or even months just for a chance to take most of a speech session "off" from speech work and just "play" on a computer or iPad during speech. (What they don't realize is that many of their goals are addressed by the computer games!)

3. Challenge students to beat their own "record" for a certain task. - Let's face it; drill work is awful. It's hard to motivate even enthusiastic students to complete drills cheerfully. However, if we make the drill task timed and the student tries to beat his last score, drill work can actually become fun! For example, I'll set my timer for a minute and see how many perfect "r" words from a set of 70 flashcards the student can produce, and then I'll let them try again (several times) to see if they can beat their best "record." (I got this speed challenge idea from the "Superspeed" Whole Brain Teaching game, and just modify it based on my students' goals.) Students actually beg to stay after their regular speech time to try to keep beating their records.

4. Allow the student to be the expert by teaching a skill to younger students. - If a fourth grade student is a poor reader but can read simple picture books, he could perhaps read a book to a kindergarten class every once in a while, preparing for the reading by doing word study and learning tasks with vocabulary from the book he will be sharing. This is a much more naturally motivating experience than reading for boring old Mrs. Ragan who already knows what the book says.

5. Make tasks more hands-on. - One of my third grade students recently said to me, "I like working with you, because we do stuff, and make stuff, and build stuff." This was a student who for the first two weeks of speech refused to do any work at all with me when I was using traditional table-work activities (even when I bribed her with silly bands, her favorite!). Good thing I wised up!

6. Make tasks more physical. - Some of my most difficult to motivate students have been won over by a few sessions of playing physical games such as "Simon Says," "Mother May I," "Hot/Cold," "Lego Creator," "Charades," or "Pictionary." These games can be modified to address social skills (joint attention, turn taking, flexibility, taking others' perspective), articulation (generalizing targets to sentences and conversation), receptive/expressive language (giving and receiving directions, vocabulary building, answering questions), reading (following written directions, recognizing sight words, reading CVC words, etc.), writing (summarizing, using transitional phrases, using descriptive vocabulary, etc.), and more. I think that much of the success of this strategy comes from pairing myself with fun activities, because, after a while of doing physical speech activities, many students don't need as much reinforcement for cooperating and engaging with me-they actually begin to be reinforced just by engaging with me! And then, boy, we can make some progress.

7. Catch the student cooperating. - Then praise, praise, praise! (Be sure your praise is specific about what you liked -ex: "Great job using "although" in a sentence!") I find that praising students in front of their peers, or especially praising them quietly by "whispering" to a teacher just loudly enough that they overhear me, can really shift a student's demeanor out of an unmotivated funk. (I mean, if I overheard a colleague whisper to my boss how great I was, it would knock me out of a funk, too!)

8. Treat a few students to a special lunch "party" with you as a reward/motivator. - Our time is limited as school SLPs. But we typically do have a lunch break, and every now and then, it can be fun to spend it celebrating with students. For my fifth graders, special lunches have been a highly motivating reward. I've had students who have worked for two months (earning tokens toward their lunch party by following teacher instructions, being on task, participating in class and speech, and writing during independent writing times) to earn a special lunch with me (with pizza delivered, or McDonalds brought in, or something fun like that). You might even be able to request PTA funds to help cover costs.

9. Be lighthearted and make mistakes yourself during therapy sessions. - If students know that you are fun to be around, lighthearted, even silly sometimes, they are often less worried about their performance on learning tasks in your presence. And when you, the brilliant adult, make mistakes sometimes, the stress involved in trying a new task is lessened in your presence.

10. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. - Some students are going to have an extinction burst before they begin cooperating. You may put a motivation plan in place, and find that they are even more defiant and uncooperative than ever, that they won't work even for ahuge reward. But persist. Give it two weeks. Then, if it's still not working, you can chat with the student's learning team and try to modify your plan.

So, the next time you're in a battle of wills with an unmotivated student, and your only hope of rescue seems to be in the possibility that they might be moving out of state, take a minute to think outside the box, and see if you and the rest of the child's learning team can come up with some ingenious ways to motivate the student. Then, come back and leave a comment to let me know how it went!
What have you discovered that motivates your most unmotivated students? I'd love to hear!
Read more: Here's an article about the dip in adolescent motivation levels, with theories regarding its underlying cause, which I found pretty interesting.

[This post originally appeared on The Gladdest Thing Under the Sun.]

T.J. Ragan, MA, CCC - SLP, is a speech language pathologist, wife, and mother who lives with her husband, her four year old daughter, and their two dachshunds in Durham, NC. She works for Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools and The Cheshire Center and writes a blog about happiness.

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10 Ways to Motivate the Unmotivated Student - Leader Live - Happening now in the speech-language-hearing world

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"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try." - unknown As a speech language pathologist for grades 3-5 in an elementary school setting, one of the challenges I regularly face is trying to make good progress with students who are unmotivated.

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What Keeps Students Motivated to Learn? 

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What Keeps Students Motivated to Learn? 

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In Katrina Schwartz’ post on Mind Shift, she gives six in class activities or methods that students have reported have helped keep them motivated in school. In this article, students give reasons behind why these strategies were motivational. The students provided their opinions on why they were motivated from these different categories at a panel. Some of these strategies include interest-based content, hands on projects, and learning from failure. Since the students provide their own personal reasons, this article is valuable to teachers because they can see just how motivation happens in the classroom. Seeing what the students value in a classroom gives stronger reasons to why teachers need to use motivational methods in the classroom. The more methods of motivation teachers use in the classroom, the more students will be engaged in their learning.

-Paige

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"Treat students like adults. If the students feel like they're worth it they'll act more like adults."

Students described an integrated biology and art project that asked them to research the origins of a disease that had significance for them, and to create an art project around it. They took drastically different approaches to researching an illness that ran in their family -- from interviewing family members about the experience for a video, to investigating whether stubbornness is genetic.

At first Chavez wasn't excited about the project, but she ended up enjoying it because she loves art. "All of us found our own solution to the problem and our own answers with the guidance of our teachers," said another North County junior Paris Gramann. "It was a struggle because we didn't really know where we were going, but I always find those are the best ones."

Students were also excited that this project resulted in a real product that they could display. Their work was recognized and displayed at the University of California at San Diego art gallery. "It got really real at the time it moved up to the exhibition," said Chavez. "It wasn't something we were just turning in for a grade, but it was something that we could do well and beautifully."

Middle school students also appreciate those projects where different subjects are integrated. High Tech Middle Chula Vista seventh grader Ana de Almeida Amaral described an integrated humanities and math/science project, when students read Sherlock Holmes, wrote their own versions, and became experts in one aspect of forensics. Together they created a crime scene in their classroom and then taught everyone assembled about a part of the forensics process through a stop animation video.
INTEREST-BASED AND RELEVANT
Students like to know why they're learning something and they want to access that information through a lens that interests them. "If teachers give broad guidelines for the project and then have students do something they're interested in it will bring students along the whole time," said Gramann. "Treat students like adults. If the students feel like they're worth it they'll act more like adults."

Projects can often last for several weeks, so students need motivation to stay engaged and committed to deeply engaging a topic. Authentic choice is one aspect of allowing that to happen. Students on the panel described real choices they make about their education on a daily basis, from which book they'll read in Humanities to the different topics they want to research. And even though these students sound like natural learners, many of them haven't always been. They need teachers to show them why they should care about each learning goal.

"If you really let them know, and use real life problems, it will help them understand it and they will feel like it's worth doing," said de Almeida Amaral. "The biggest thing that's necessary is making sure the projects connect to the students," said Gibran Huerta, a junior at Envision Academy in Oakland. "Teachers tend to give projects and benchmarks and create topics around things that students don't really connect to." He was adamant that learning how to connect a topic to oneself is the key to learning. "Throughout middle school you have to develop skills of how things connect to yourself," he said.
MAKE IT HANDS-ON
"If you get hands-on and they're really interacting with what they're doing, it's really helpful," said Trey Lewis, a junior at North County. He's had teachers that lecture a lot and much prefers doing the work to being told about it. He says it also adds a challenge since most hands-on projects at High Tech High North County are group projects, requiring collaboration, a leadership skill that all students agree isn't always easy.

"Collaborating productively is a leadership skill at this school," said Dora Aguilar, a junior at City Arts and Tech, part of the Envision network. She says that while it can be hard, it can also be very rewarding because working with other people allows her to see the project through the eyes of her peers. Other students talked about difficult collaborations too, emphasizing that it runs more smoothly if one group member agrees to keep everyone on track. They also said it gets easier over time as students begin to understand one another's needs and motivations and can begin to operate as a cohesive group.
KNOWING TEACHERS CARE
The number one thing that students on the panel said makes them want to try hard and succeed is knowing that teachers care about them and are part of the learning journey with them. "I am not the perfect student," said Aguilar. "What really helped me was the teachers and staff here who showed me that they cared about me. Students can feel that." She described hating math for most of her life until a good teacher described what she could do with strong math skills in the future. "It got me motivated to learn more and I showed my potential as a student, which I never knew I had," she said.

Every student reiterated that high expectations and strong support from teachers are crucial. "I feel motivated because the teachers make me feel worth it," said Gramann. "I feel that I have responsibility and credibility."

Cohen actually transferred out of High Tech High North County at one point, thinking the school model wasn't for him. But he quickly came back. "The teachers really do care about us and I think that's something that makes our school really unique and special," he said. Others reiterated that feeling connected to school is important to them. "It's that strong connection between teachers and students that makes students feel like they are at home," said Huerta. Envision Academy only has 400 students and teachers know all the students by name, contributing to the feeling of "being known."
LEARNING FROM FAILURE
Every student on the panel had a story of big failure on an important class project. But because the culture of their schools encourage them to learn from mistakes, they can clearly articulate what they'd do differently next time and even laugh about it. Lewis described a solar oven he made that was working great up until the day of the exhibition when it started falling apart. "When we have projects that go wrong last minute and we have to think on our feet and fix it, I definitely think that's a mistake that's going to help me in the future," he said.

Cohen described presenting a project expecting his group mates to be well prepared and have the correct information. But one student's research was faulty and Cohen hadn't seen it until the presentation, putting him in a difficult position. "I know now to check over all my work, always revise, make sure all the work is accurate," he said.
EVALUATING WORK
Project-based learning affords many opportunities for feedback both from teachers and from peers. "Some of the most meaningful feedback I've gotten is from students," said Lewis. Students get used to giving and taking critique daily with each other and hearing it from educators as well. Their ease with it comes from practice and with the awareness that feedback isn't the end of the process, it's a part of improving their work.

One tip students offer to educators: When evaluating student work, frame feedback in terms of the learner's goals instead of referring to the standards. "Goals are more motivating for students to hear," said Aguilar. While the education policy world may be obsessed with standards, students don't care about them. They'd rather hear how the skill connects to their lives and interests.

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"Treat students like adults. If the students feel like they're worth it they'll act more like adults." Students described an integrated biology and art project that asked them to research the origins of a disease that had significance for them, and to create an art project around it.

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Setting Goals that will Motivate your Students

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Setting Goals that will Motivate your Students

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Setting goals is a great way to motivate your students. However when setting goals it is important to make sure they are specific, attainable, measurable, realistic, and timely in order for students to reach them and feel motivated to continue to strive for other goals. Students will feel proud to meet goals they have set for themselves as well, with the guidance of a parent or teacher. This chart outlines the important elements to keep in mind when setting goals that will yield success in students.

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The following charts and rewards can be used to motivate kids at home or at school. Giving students a tangible, short term goal where they can measure their improvement often increases motivation. The blog post accompanying the printable includes other links to website on behavior management strategies and tips for using the rewards system.

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thehomeshemade.com - This website is for sale! - thehomeshemade Resources and Information.

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This website is for sale! thehomeshemade.com is your first and best source for all of the information you're looking for. From general topics to more of what you would expect to find here, thehomeshemade.com has it all. We hope you find what you are searching for!

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This goal worksheet found on WhileHeWasNapping.com is an easy way to take any parent from reading on HOW to motivate your child to actually setting goals for the school year. Some of the goals your child sets could turn into hobbies or at the very least provide a great opportunity for family time.

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This short, 4 minute video from the Kid President will be sure to infect parents and kids alike with its bubbly outlook on school. Showing this video in your classroom or to your kids at home can set the tone for a positive outlook on each new school day.

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Kid President's Pep Talk to Teachers and Students!

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This article focuses on motivation in young children. The first concept reviewed is the characteristics of motivation in young children. The second concept is learning how to develop motivation in young children. The final concept reviewed is learning ways to enhance motivation.-holly

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Leadership Tools About NASP NASP Store Career Center Create an Account Join NASP Login

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21 Simple Ideas to Improve Student Motivation

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21 Simple Ideas to Improve Student Motivation

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This website offers 21 different ways teachers can motivate students to learn. This website considers not only intrinsic motivation but also extrinsic motivation.-holly

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by TeachThought Staff

The best lessons, books, and materials in the world won't get students excited about learning and willing to work hard if they're not motivated.

Motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic, is a key factor in the success of students at all stages of their education, and teachers can play a pivotal role in providing and encouraging that motivation in their students. Of course that's much easier said than done, as all students are motivated differently and it takes time and a lot of effort to learn to get a classroom full of kids enthusiastic about learning, working hard, and pushing themselves to excel.

Even the most well-intentioned and educated teachers sometimes lack the skills to keep kids on track, so whether you're a new teacher or an experienced one, try using these methods to motivate your students and to encourage them to live up to their true potential.
21 Simple Ideas To Improve Student Motivation
1. Give students a sense of control.

While guidance from a teacher is important to keeping kids on task and motivated, allowing students to have some choice and control over what happens in the classroom is actually one of the best ways to keep them engaged. For example, allowing students to choose the type of assignment they do or which problems to work on can give them a sense of control that may just motivate them to do more.

2. Define the objectives.
It can be very frustrating for students to complete an assignment or even to behave in class if there aren't clearly defined objectives. Students want and need to know what is expected of them in order to stay motivated to work. At the beginning of the year, lay out clear objectives, rules, and expectations of students so that there is no confusion and students have goals to work towards.

3. Create a threat-free environment.
While students do need to understand that there are consequences to their actions, far more motivating for students than threats are positive reinforcements. When teachers create a safe, supportive environment for students, affirming their belief in a student's abilities rather than laying out the consequences of not doing things, students are much more likely to get and stay motivated to do their work. At the end of the day, students will fulfill the expectations that the adults around them communicate, so focus on can, not can't.

4. Change your scenery.
A classroom is a great place for learning, but sitting at a desk day in and day out can make school start to seem a bit dull for some students. To renew interest in the subject matter or just in learning in general, give your students a chance to get out of the classroom. Take field trips, bring in speakers, or even just head to the library for some research. The brain loves novelty and a new setting can be just what some students need to stay motivated to learn.

5. Offer varied experiences.

Not all students will respond to lessons in the same way. For some, hands-on experiences may be the best. Others may love to read books quietly or to work in groups. In order to keep all students motivated, mix up your lessons so that students with different preferences will each get time focused on the things they like best. Doing so will help students stay engaged and pay attention.

6. Use positive competition.
Competition in the classroom isn't always a bad thing, and in some cases can motivate students to try harder and work to excel. Work to foster a friendly spirit of competition in your classroom, perhaps through group games related to the material or other opportunities for students to show off their knowledge.

7. Offer rewards.
Everyone likes getting rewards, and offering your students the chance to earn them is an excellent source of motivation. Things like pizza parties, watching movies, or even something as simple as a sticker on a paper can make students work harder and really aim to achieve. Consider the personalities and needs of your students to determine appropriate rewards for your class.

8. Give students responsibility.
Assigning students classroom jobs is a great way to build a community and to give students a sense of motivation. Most students will see classroom jobs as a privilege rather than a burden and will work hard to ensure that they, and other students, are meeting expectations. It can also be useful to allow students to take turns leading activities or helping out so that each feels important and valued.

9. Allow students to work together.
While not all students will jump at the chance to work in groups, many will find it fun to try to solve problems, do experiments, and work on projects with other students. The social interaction can get them excited about things in the classroom and students can motivate one another to reach a goal. Teachers need to ensure that groups are balanced and fair, however, so that some students aren't doing more work than others.

10. Give praise when earned.
There is no other form of motivation that works quite as well as encouragement. Even as adults we crave recognition and praise, and students at any age are no exception. Teachers can give students a bounty of motivation by rewarding success publicly, giving praise for a job well done, and sharing exemplary work.

11. Encourage self-reflection.
Most kids want to succeed, they just need help figuring out what they need to do in order to get there. One way to motivate your students is to get them to take a hard look at themselves and determine their own strengths and weaknesses. Students are often much more motivated by creating these kinds of critiques of themselves than by having a teacher do it for them, as it makes them feel in charge of creating their own objectives and goals.

12. Be excited.
One of the best ways to get your students motivated is to share your enthusiasm. When you're excited about teaching, they'll be much more excited about learning. It's that simple.

13. Know your students.
Getting to know your students is about more than just memorizing their names. Students need to know that their teacher has a genuine interest in them and cares about them and their success. When students feel appreciated it creates a safe learning environment and motivates them to work harder, as they want to get praise and good feedback from someone they feel knows and respects them as individuals.

14. Harness student interests.
Knowing your students also has some other benefits, namely that it allows you to relate classroom material to things that students are interested in or have experienced. Teachers can use these interests to make things more interesting and relatable to students, keeping students motivated for longer.

15. Help students find intrinsic motivation.
It can be great to help students get motivated, but at the end of the day they need to be able to generate their own motivation. Helping students find their own personal reasons for doing class work and working hard, whether because they find material interesting, want to go to college, or just love to learn, is one of the most powerful gifts you can give them.

16. Manage student anxiety.
Some students find the prospect of not doing well so anxiety-inducing that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. For these students, teachers may find that they are most motivated by learning that struggling with a subject isn't the end of the world. Offer support no matter what the end result is and ensure that students don't feel so overwhelmed by expectations that they just give up.

17. Make goals high but attainable.
If you're not pushing your students to do more than the bare minimum, most won't seek to push themselves on their own. Students like to be challenged and will work to achieve high expectations so long as they believe those goals to be within their reach, so don't be afraid to push students to get more out of them.

18. Give feedback and offer chances to improve.
Students who struggle with class work can sometimes feel frustrated and get down on themselves, draining motivation. In these situations it's critical that teachers help students to learn exactly where they went wrong and how they can improve next time. Figuring out a method to get where students want to be can also help them to stay motivated to work hard.

19. Track progress.
It can be hard for students to see just how far they've come, especially with subjects that are difficult for them. Tracking can come in handy in the classroom, not only for teachers but also for students. Teachers can use this as a way to motivate students, allowing them to see visually just how much they are learning and improving as the year goes on.

20. Make things fun.
Not all class work needs to be a game or a good time, but students who see school as a place where they can have fun will be more motivated to pay attention and do the work that's required of them than those who regard it as a chore. Adding fun activities into your school day can help students who struggle to stay engaged and make the classroom a much more friendly place for all students.

21. Provide opportunities for success.
Students, even the best ones, can become frustrated and demotivated when they feel like they're struggling or not getting the recognition that other students are. Make sure that all students get a chance to play to their strengths and feel included and valued. It can make a world of difference in their motivation.
This is a cross-post from onlinecollegecourses.com

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21 Simple Ideas To Improve Student Motivation

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by TeachThought Staff The best lessons, books, and materials in the world won't get students excited about learning and willing to work hard if they're not motivated. Motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic, is a key factor in the success of students at all stages of their education, and teachers can play a pivotal role in providing and encouraging that motivation in their students.

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Finding the Spark: More Tips for Building Student Motivation

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Finding the Spark: More Tips for Building Student Motivation

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This website covers 5 areas of motivation which are "making positive changes to the learning environment, fostering a sense of community in the classroom, enhancing the interest of classroom activities, responding to individual learning challenges, and building in additional outcomes for learning"(Intervention, 2014).-holly

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Teachers can feel overwhelmed when faced with students who are unmotivated to learn. The task becomes less daunting, though, when teachers realize that they can boost student motivation in five important ways: by (1) making positive changes to the learning environment, (2) fostering a sense of community in the classroom, (3) enhancing the interest of classroom activities, (4) responding to individual learning challenges, and (5) building in additional outcomes/pay-offs for learning. Here are some ideas:

Learning Environment:

The setting in which we work can encourage us to give our best effort or discourage us from even trying to perform. Ideas to motivate by influencing factors in the student's environment:

Reduce distractions in the classroom.

Create a consistent room arrangement, with predictable materials and routines.

Let students choose their seat location and study partners.

Enlist students to come up with rules and guidelines for effective classroom learning.

Create a memory-friendly classroom. Post assignments and due dates, written steps for multi-step tasks, etc.

Use a mix of verbal and environmental cues to keep students focused and on-task.

Hold class in different locations occasionally ("within-building field trip"). For example, think about 'swapping' classrooms with another teacher on a given day.

Ask for student advice on how to make the classroom a more inviting and useful learning environment.

Classroom Community:

We define ourselves in relation to others through social relationships. These connections are a central motivator for most people. Ideas to motivate by fostering a sense of a learning community:

Be as inviting a person as possible by actively listening to students and acknowledging their contributions.

Greet students at the classroom door. 'Check in' briefly with students at the start and end of a work period.

Ask students to complete a learning-preferences questionnaire.

Assign 'study buddies' who help each other to get organized, start work projects, encourage one another, and provide peer feedback.

Train students to be peer editors or evaluators of others' assignments.

Hold weekly 5-minute 'micro-meetings' with the group or class. Check in with the group about topics or issues important to them. Record important points brought up and get back to students if necessary.

Keep 'dialog journals'. Have students write daily or weekly comments in a journal to be kept in class. Respond to student comments with short comments of your own.

Circulate through the classroom. Be interactive and visible to kids. Use words of praise and encouragement.

Academic Activities:

Motivated students are engaged in interesting activities that guarantee a high success rate and relate to real-world issues. Ideas to motivate through selection and development of learning activities:

Use humor.

Keep miscellaneous work supplies on hand (e.g., paper, pencils, etc.) for students to borrow.

Set a timer (e.g., for 60 seconds) and challenge students to finish routine tasks or transition between activities before timer runs out.

Set up academic 'culminating event' fieldtrips. On these fieldtrips, have students use skills learned in class (e.g., drafting questions in social studies to be used in an interview with a member of city government).

Invite interesting guest speakers into the classroom to speak on academic topics. Prepare index cards with review questions and answers based on material covered in class. Have guest speaker 'quiz' teams; award points to teams based on their mastery of material.

Offer students meaningful choice in setting up their assignments (e.g., selection of work materials, type of activity).

Select fun, imaginative activities for reviewing academic material. In order to get students to assemble material for a research paper, for example, you might send them to the library on a fact-finding 'scavenger hunt.'

Encourage active student participation.

Use motivating 'real-world' examples for review, quiz, or test items.

Keep instructions and assignments short. Have students repeat instructions back.

Celebrate student achievement.

Celebrate mistakes as opportunities for learning.

Prior to assignments, have students set their own short-term work or learning goals. Periodically, have students rate their own progress toward their self-selected goals.

Structure work period so that more difficult activities are in the middle, with easier tasks at the start and end.

Liven potentially dull student review activities by conducting them as class-wide or small-group drills. Use a game format to maintain interest.

Use novel, interesting materials for instruction.

Allow students to set their own pace for completing work.

Select activities that make a community contribution. Students may, for instance, work on writing skills by publishing a monthly newsletter for the 7th grade.

Learning Challenges:

Every learner presents a unique profile of strengths and weaknesses. We unlock motivation when we acknowledge and address unique learning profiles. Ideas to motivate by accommodating challenges to learning:

Avoid 'stigmatizing' as low performers those students who require remedial academic support.

Lead students through the first part of an assignment as a group before having them complete it independently.

If an assignment requires use of new or difficult terms or concepts, first pre-teach or preview this material.

Make the classroom a 'safe' setting in which in which students can identify and work on their own skill deficits.

Give students credit and recognition for effort on assignments as well as for mastery of content.

Be honest in telling students how challenging a topic or activity is likely to be to master. Never downplay the difficulty of an assignment!

Use a 'think-aloud' approach when introducing a skill or strategy.

Select academic activities that guarantee a high degree of student success.

Allow students to take a brief break when tired or frustrated.

Help students to get organized and started on an activity.

Have students keep a schedule of work assignments and due dates.

Encourage students to use memory aids such as notes and lists.

Assist students in breaking large, multi-step tasks into smaller subtasks. Have students write those subtasks down as a personal 'to-do' list.

Teach students to use a notebook organizer.

Give reminders of upcoming transitions between activities.

Help students to highlight key information to be remembered.

Provide frequent review of key concepts.

Periodically remind students of timeline of upcoming assignments.

Outcomes/Pay-Offs for Learning:

Learning is a motivating activity when the learner can count on short- or long-term payoffs for mastering the material being taught. Ideas to motivate by arranging or emphasizing payoffs to the student for successful learning:

Reward student effort along with quality of completed work. (One way to do this is to use frequent encouragement for good effort along with praise for finished work.)

Build in short-term rewards (e.g., increased free time, pencils, positive note home) for student effort, work completion.

Create high-visibility location for displaying student work (e.g., bulletin board, web site). Encourage students to select their own best work to be posted.

Have students monitor their own progress in accuracy/work completion. For example, have students create graphs charting homework assignments turned in. Tie student-monitored performance to reward programs.

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Finding the Spark: More Tips for Building Student Motivation

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Teachers can feel overwhelmed when faced with students who are unmotivated to learn. The task becomes less daunting, though, when teachers realize that they can boost student motivation in five important ways: by (1) making positive changes to the learning environment, (2) fostering a sense of community in the classroom, (3) enhancing the interest of classroom activities, (4) responding to individual learning challenges, and (5) building in additional outcomes/pay-offs for learning.

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The ESL article gives 6 useful tips/ideas to teachers working with younger ELL students.   Article also gives feedback on what teachers thought about this article.

Shelley Vernon’s (person who wrote article) also provides a link at the bottom of the article to receive free English Language games. www.teachingenglishgames.com

-Blanca

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Keep Yourself Motivated

Think back to when you were a child. If your teacher was not enthusiastic about what he or she had scheduled for class that day, how did you feel about it? It's the same with young children today. If you, the teacher and often a role model for younger children, think this is a neat activity, then they will too!

Encourage

Young kids thrive on praise and positive attention from the adults in their lives. If you want them to like you and be motivated in your class, you often just need to give them a lot of positive attention.

Play Games

Children learn through play. Oftentimes they don't even realize they are learning if they are enjoying the game. Just think, children could sit there and fill out worksheet after worksheet or they could play an English game and learn the same concepts. Which would you rather do?

When I say English games I'm talking about games that are specifically designed to teach language and vocabulary. For example, you could turn using vehicle vocabulary into a relay game where children need to pick a card with a word and then run to a box of vehicles (or a stack of pictures of vehicles) and bring the correct one his or her classmates.

Here is another example: If you might normally give them a worksheet to write the correct verb next to the picture illustrating the action, have them instead practice their verbs by doing the action for the word you say or the word on a card that you hold up. Likewise, you could do the action and have them write down the word. You may access free samples of fun classroom games in the resource box below.

When you play games, you can use points and competition as a motivator, but not for kids under six who may find the competition too stressful. For them, just playing the game is motivating enough. You can also sometimes award extra credit, but use it sparingly so that it remains "extra" and a special reward. Also if you use it too much, children can have so much extra credit that it sways the actual grades too much.

Get Their Hands Dirty Literally and figuratively

Children like to work with their hands and whatever you can do to get the items they are learning about in their hands is useful and fun for them. This can be anything from having a sensory table filled with sand and beach items when you want to teach them summer words to having them each bring in a piece of fruit when you are teaching fruit words. Anytime you can get young children up and doing instead of listening (often passively) you are getting their hands dirty in the learning process.

Get Them Moving

Movement is a vital component to motivating children. The best way to prevent children from zoning out is to get them up out of their seats at least once each class period. Even if you just require them to come up to you instead of you going to them for help, the movement can help get them out of the trance that they sometimes get from sitting in one spot too long. Grouping the children for study projects and activities helps as well. If you can, let them move the desks around or sit on the floor to change things up as well. Many games involve movement without the children needing to leave their seats, such as miming, moving certain body parts and passing things around as part of a game or race. Therefore even teachers with large classes and no space to move can use this technique, albeit to a more limited degree.

Vary the Pace

Alternate calm games with lively ones to keep the children alert and motivated, but without letting the class get out of hand. Good discipline is essential to effective learning.

To read the full article on how to motivate children to want to learn English, please see the articles and tips section on the teachingenglishgames.com website in the resource box below.

Written by Shelley Vernon
Shelley has helped 1000s of teachers be an inspiration to their pupils and achieve results 2x as fast. Improve the effectiveness of your lessons by up to 80%. Receive free English language games now on www.teachingenglishgames.com

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Motivating Children to Learn English - Eslbase.com

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Think back to when you were a child. If your teacher was not enthusiastic about what he or she had scheduled for class that day, how did you feel about it? It's the same with young children today. If you, the teacher and often a role model for younger children, think this is a neat activity, then they will too!

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10 SUREFIRE TIPS FOR MOTIVATING ESL LEARNERS

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10 SUREFIRE TIPS FOR MOTIVATING ESL LEARNERS

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This website provides teachers 10 valuable tips to motivate English Language Learners.  Many teachers have at least one ELL student in their classroom. Most teachers have a limited knowledge when it comes down to working with ELL’s.  -Blanca

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Those who have already obtained a master's degree in ESL may have the upper hand, but TESL students and the vast majority of other teachers have limited knowledge of how to work with English as a Second Language (ESL) learners, also called English Language Learners (ELLs). At some point in their career, almost all teachers will have a student whose native language is not English. Engaging with ELLs does not have to be an uphill battle - in fact, it should be an enriching experience for the teacher, the ESL learner, and the rest of the class.

As with all teaching, going the few extra steps to prepare engaging lessons - namely by injecting your own personal experiences and incorporating those of your students - will do wonders to interest your students in the curriculum. You can also draw inspiration from and use these teaching resources and tools. Says one teacher, "Teaching ESL is about 1/3 knowing the ins and outs of the English language, 1/3 being a good communicator, and 1/3 being a good actor. You really need to be excited in this job." Here are 10 tips for motivating ESL learners and elevating the educational and cultural environment for everyone involved:

Tip #1: Create a cultural dialogue.

This suggestion tops our list because it is offered by every teacher who has worked with ESL students. Learning in an English-speaking classroom doesn't mean force-feeding American patriotism. It must be a two-way street. Create an environment that embraces your students' own cultures and backgrounds. Show a real interest. Ask the students to teach you phrases in their own language, especially positive phrases like "Good job," and use these phrases interchangeably with their English counterparts. Do presentations on their culture's history, food, and background, and encourage the students to formulate their own demonstrations. Invite the parents into the classroom, even if they don't speak English, to participate and get to know the entire class. This approach helps teach all your students that having a family that speaks another language is something to be celebrated.

Tip #2: Engage with your students' special occasions and interests.

On a related note, many American teachers develop special activities for holidays- Halloween, Passover, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and so forth - as well as American pastimes - baseball, lemonade stands, overconsumption. Ask your students to share their own holidays and interests, and incorporate these ideas into your classroom. One of the best ways to get a child or adult talking is to ask them about their personal life. Whipping out a handout that includes something that relates meaningfully to their lives will strengthen their interest in the classroom community and the material itself.

Tip #3: Use scaffolding techniques to help students accomplish tasks.

Scaffolding is the support given during the learning process that is tailored to the needs of your students. Since ESL learners generally need a new kind of support, it can be helpful to think of scaffolding as divided into three categories:

1. Verbal scaffolding: slowing speech, enunciating words, paraphrasing, rephrasing, using "think-alouds," etc.;

2. Procedural scaffolding: one-on-one teaching, coaching, modeling, small-group instruction, partnering, and pairing; and

3. Instructional scaffolding: use of pictures, regalia, graphs, graphic organizers, audio-visual aids, and so forth.

Being aware of how you use these tools in the classroom can help you better plan for the needs of your students. Eventually, the goal is for the student to figure out the task at hand on their own and no longer need the additional support.

Tip #4: Maximize inter-student interaction.

Cooperative learning is proven to be effective for ESL learners. Students see the teacher as the authority figure. Getting them to speak in front of you or in front of the whole class can be difficult, but they usually feel more comfortable interacting with their peers. Ask your students to teach one another simple playground games, like tag or four square. You could even have the class interact with and help each other use some of these apps for learning English as a means to facilitate conversation, learn, and have fun. When planning group or pairing activities, design different groupings depending on the needs and purposes of the lesson. This interaction gives the ESL students a chance to practice English in a less threatening setting. Although they shouldn't feel threatened at all, because you should always...

Tip #5: Correct errors with compassion.

Your ESL students will make mistakes, and you should let them. After all, we learn best through making mistakes. And if you're interrupting your students to correct them every five words, they're going to get frustrated, lose their train of thought, and feel attacked. Give your students time to think and respond, and let them realize they've made a mistake and try to correct it themselves. Everyone has opinions, and everyone wants the floor to speak them occasionally. Give them the space they need to formulate ideas.

Tip #6: Speak clearly.

It may seem obvious, but it is important to ensure your students understand what is expected of them. At the start of each activity, go over both the content and the language objectives; with both children and adults, these objectives can be simple and straightforward. At the end of the lesson, review the objectives to ensure they've understood everything. One teacher even suggests recording snippets of your class for your own review. He says, "It's amazing how many times you'll find yourself saying words that are natural to you, but might throw off the students (think about how many times you say 'ya know,' 'like,' 'well, ya see,' 'the thing is,' so kind of extra words with no meaning." Recording yourself to make sure you're being crisp, concise, and to the point.

Tip #7: Use hands-on and project-based activities.

This is actually applicable to all teachers in all disciplines: Students like hands-on and project-based activities, and effective teachers use them to help their students engage in learning through exploration. Hands-on activities generally include scaffolding components, and project-based activities often incorporate the students' own interests and cultural backgrounds. There's no need to stick to a monotone reading of the textbook. Think outside the mold with the goal of experimental fun. One teacher suggests an activity that involves setting up a "marketplace" in the classroom and asking students to buy, sell, and trade different items. This hits a few key objectives, including inter-student interaction and the practical art of negotiation. A number of teachers suggest using music in the classroom - sing pop songs together, create songs for vocabulary lists, and so forth. If you play an instrument yourself, by all means, bring it into the classroom!

Tip #8: Be adaptable, but maintain high expectations.

A challenge like learning in a new setting is just that: a challenge. It doesn't mean you should lower your expectations or give out A's for effort. Outline realistic benchmarks and assessments, and take into account the students' needs for time, support, difficulty, and product. Adapt the amount of time for completing a task; adapt the amount of scaffolding; adapt the task (for example, by allowing use of a dictionary or simplified instructions); and adapt the type of response such as permitting drawings, a verbal response, or a translated response. Students want to respond to their teachers' high expectations positively, so if you foster a positive classroom environment while maintaining your high (and realistic) expectations, your students will rise to the challenge.

Tip #9: Encourage students to speak in their native language.

Some teachers make the mistake of telling their ESL students that their native tongue is not allowed in the classroom. But maintaining and developing this native language actually helps their acquisition of academic English. According to a 1995 study by Virginia Collier and Wayne Thomas, dual language models of schooling have a substantial effect on student progress, "enhancing student outcomes and fully closing the achievement gap in second language." Support of the primary language is therefore critical to helping your students succeed both in your class and in the years to follow, and ideally, instruction occurs bilingually - that is, the "curricular mainstream [is] taught through two languages."

Tip #10: Seek resources.

When you need advice or ideas, or if you simply want a sounding board, sseek assistance from full-time ESL teachers or even general teachers who are bilingual themselves. Identify and recruit volunteers from your personal and professional life, or any of these ESL and TESOL Twitter accounts who speak the students' language. Administrators can even work with community leaders who are involved in community development with immigrant families.

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Surefire Tips for Motivating ESL Learners

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Those who have already obtained a master's degree in ESL may have the upper hand, but TESL students and the vast majority of other teachers have limited knowledge of how to work with English as a Second Language (ESL) learners, also called English Language Learners (ELLs).

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This short article provides nine steps that can effectively address a child's lack of motivation by communicating closely with the child. This article outlines each step clearly to guide parents and teachers. Teachers can benefit from this step by step process in the classroom because it is simple and can easily be incorporated into the class along with other strategies.

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Whether your child is a perfectionist or a struggling procrastinator, it's natural for him or her to lose motivation during school. As a parent or Learning Coach, you may find yourself intervening by saying things like this:

"Tell me what the problem is and I'll help you figure it out."

"I know you can do this!"

"You'll feel better once you get something done."

But sometimes that little pep talk just doesn't seem to work. What do you do then?

The trouble with offering solutions and advice is that it doesn't leave enough room for your student to figure it out for him- or herself. The solution is to balance the student's own problem-solving abilities with your guidance, and you can do exactly that with the 9 Steps to Inspire Student Motivation.

The 9 Steps to Inspire Student Motivation is a research-based approach adapted from a motivational concept model developed by Paul Barnes, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Nebraska. The model is a solution-focused cycle of steps that can be repeated, meaning that this approach is an ongoing process you can use daily to help your student get on the track to success.

The surprising thing about the 9 Steps is that they don't involve offering advice, giving instructions, or persuading the child to feel differently. In fact, the model warns parents to avoid these tactics. That's because the model is designed to encourage students to identify, analyze, diagnose, and solve their own issues with your guidance and encouragement.
Here is a brief overview of the 9 Steps, highlighting both the child's role and the parent's role at each stage.
1. Breaking Ground

2. Narrow the Focus

3. Envisioning the End

Child: Form a positive statement that summarizes the end goal: "I want ..."

Parent:Help the child form the statement, and also offer positive encouragement.

4. Scaling the Issue

Use a scale of 1 to 10 to determine how much the issue affects motivation. The "1" stands for something that halts all motivation, while the "10" is something that has no negative effect on motivation.

Parent: Assist the student in defining the scale, if need be. State what the number chosen by the student means so as to ensure that you both have a clear understanding.

5. Scaffolding

Child: Brainstorm as many ideas and solutions as possible to achieve the goal.
Say this to the child: "Imagine your situation after achieving your goal. What are some of the ways you could have gotten there?" Write down all of his or her ideas, but don't suggest ways to improve them. Leaving room for the child to fail and try again is important to the learning process.

6. Cheerleading

7. Plan of Action

8. Visualize

9. Seeds of Success

After using the previous steps to work on the issue for a set period of time, it's time to move on to the stage of evaluation.

Explain what you did that worked.
Take a look at the scale from "Scaling the Issue" and praise your student for any positive improvement. Point out that his or her idea worked. Determine whether the child followed all of the steps and achieved the goal. Return to the list of solutions and continue the cycle if the child wants to improve more, or start all over to address a new issue.

Improving Intrinsic Student Motivation

The reason why this model is successful is that it focuses on building intrinsic motivation in your child. Intrinsic motivation occurs when your child enjoys a task and wants to succeed for the sake of doing well. Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is any external incentive such as praise, treats, or other rewards that motivate the student to do well.

Developing intrinsic student motivation is important for the long term because it teaches students to be self-motivated, independent learners. If children rely on extrinsic motivation too much or for too long, they become dependent on rewards and never learn the value of doing their best.

Keep an eye out for our next post about the student motivation model for a more detailed discussion of the 9 Steps.

What are some issues your child faces that could be solved using the 9 Steps? Let us know in the comments.

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9 Steps to Inspire Student Motivation | Connections Academy

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Whether your child is a perfectionist or a struggling procrastinator, it's natural for him or her to lose motivation during school. As a parent or Learning Coach, you may find yourself intervening by saying things like this: "Tell me what the problem is and I'll help you figure it out."

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More Strategies to Motivate Your Students

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More Strategies to Motivate Your Students

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This article outlines some of the strategies that have proven to be effective. The article provides information about understanding motivation as a teacher and knowing how to structure your class to instill motivation in your class, Setting the tone in your class by setting guidelines and expections early in the year, giving students options in their learning, and varying teaching methods are some of the important points made by this article. Additional outside resources are also provided for more information.

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Of course, educators and parents must be encouraging and build up their students confidence, but motivation is also intrinsic. Students must find what motivates them and relate the task or topic to themselves in order for them to actually want to participate and learn. The chart below will help students discover what motivates them and also gives educators a look into the different styles of intrinsic motivation and how we can incorporate them in our classrooms.

- Brittany

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These strategies are from Vanderbilt University and provide educators and parents with strategic ways of getting their students and children motivated. The motivation comes in both intrinsic and extrinsic form and this resource also provides us with the effects of motivation, a model of intrinsic motivation, and phrases that will capture student's attention and curiosity.

- Brittany

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Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivators include fascination with the subject, a sense of its relevance to life and the world, a sense of accomplishment in mastering it, and a sense of calling to it.

Students who are intrinsically motivated might say things like the following.

"Literature interests me."

"Learning math enables me to think clearly."

"I feel good when I succeed in class."

Advantages: Intrinsic motivation can be long-lasting and self-sustaining. Efforts to build this kind of motivation are also typically efforts at promoting student learning. Such efforts often focus on the subject rather than rewards or punishments.

Disadvantages: On the other hand, efforts at fostering intrinsic motivation can be slow to affect behavior and can require special and lengthy preparation. Students are individuals, so a variety of approaches may be needed to motivate different students. It is often helpful to know what interests one's students in order to connect these interests with the subject matter. This requires getting to know one's students. Also, it helps if the instructor is interested in the subject to begin with!

Source: Matt DeLong and Dale Winter, Learning to Teaching and Teaching to Learn Mathematics: Resources for Professional Development, Mathematical Association of America, 2002, page 163.

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivators include parental expectations, expectations of other trusted role models, earning potential of a course of study, and grades (which keep scholarships coming).

Students who are extrinsically motivated might say things like the following.

"I need a B- in statistics to get into business school."

"If I flunk chemistry, I will lose my scholarship."

"Our instructor will bring us donuts if we do well on today's quiz."

Advantages: Extrinsic motivators more readily produce behavior changes and typically involve relatively little effort or preparation. Also, efforts at applying extrinsic motivators often do not require extensive knowledge of individual students.

Disadvantages: On the other hand, extrinsic motivators can often distract students from learning the subject at hand. It can be challenging to devise appropriate rewards and punishments for student behaviors. Often, one needs to escalate the rewards and punishments over time to maintain a certain effect level. Also, extrinsic motivators typically do not work over the long term. Once the rewards or punishments are removed, students lose their motivation.

Source: Matt DeLong and Dale Winter, Learning to Teaching and Teaching to Learn Mathematics: Resources for Professional Development, Mathematical Association of America, 2002, page 163.

Furthermore, research indicates that extrinsic rewards can have a negative impact on intrinsic motivation. In one series of experiments, psychologist Edward Deci had two groups of college students play with a puzzle called Soma. One group of students was paid for each puzzle they solved; the other wasn't. He found that the group that was paid to solve puzzles stopped solving puzzles as soon as the experiment-and the payment-ended. However, the group that wasn't paid kept solving the puzzles even after the experiment was over. They had found the puzzles intrinsically interesting. Deci argued that the group that had been paid to solve puzzles might have found the puzzles intrinsically interesting as well, but the extrinsic, monetary reward had reduced their intrinsic interest.

Source: Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do, Harvard University Press, 2004, pages 32-33.

Effects of Motivation on Learning Styles

Deep learners respond well to the challenge of mastering a difficult and complex subject. These are intrinsically motivated students who are often a joy to teach!

Strategic learners are motivated primarily by rewards. They react well to competition and the opportunity to best others. They often make good grades but won't engage deeply with a subject unless there is a clear reward for doing so. They are sometimes called "bulimic learners," learning as much as they need to do well on a test or exam and then promptly forgetting the material once the assessment is over.Handle strategic learners by avoiding appeals to competition. Appeal to their intrinsic interest in the subject at hand. Design your assignments (tests, papers, projects, etc.) so that deep engagement with the subject is necessary for success on the assignments. Do so by requiring students to apply, synthesize, or evaluate material instead of merely comprehending or memorizing material.

Surface learners are often motivated by a desire to avoid failure. They typically avoid deep learning because it they see it as inherently risky behavior. They will often do what it takes to pass an exam or course, but they won't choose to go beyond the minimum required for fear of failure.Handle surface learners by helping them gain confidence in their abilities to learn and perform. "Scaffold" course material and assignments by designing a series of activities or assignments that build on each other over time in complexity and challenge. Encourage these learners often and help them reflect on what they've learned and what they've accomplished.

Source: Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do, Harvard University Press, 2004, pages 40-41.

A Model of Intrinsic Motivation

James Middleton, Joan Littlefield, and Rich Lehrer have proposed the following model of intrinsic academic motivation.

First, given the opportunity to engage in a learning activity, a student determines if the activity is one that is known to be interesting. If so, the student engages in the activity.

If not, then the student evaluates the activity on two factors-the stimulation (e.g. challenge, curiosity, fantasy) it provides and the personal control (e.g. free choice, not too difficult) it affords.

If the student perceives the activity as stimulating and controllable, then the student tentatively labels the activity as interesting and engages in it. If either condition becomes insufficient, then the student disengages from the activity-unless some extrinsic motivator influences the student to continue.

If the activity is repeatedly deemed stimulating and controllable, then the student may deem the activity interesting. Then the student will be more likely to engage in the activity in the future.

If over time activities that are deemed interesting provide little stimulation or control, then the student will remove the activity from his or her mental list of interesting activities.

The challenge, then, is to provide teaching and learning activities that are both stimulating and offer students a degree of personal control.

Source: James A. Middleton, "A Study of Intrinsic Motivation in the Mathematics Classroom: A Personal Constructs Approach," Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, Vol. 26, No. 3, pages 255-257.

Strategies for Motivating Students

Following are some research-based strategies for motivating students to learn.

Become a role model for student interest. Deliver your presentations with energy and enthusiasm. As a display of your motivation, your passion motivates your students. Make the course personal, showing why you are interested in the material.

Get to know your students. You will be able to better tailor your instruction to the students' concerns and backgrounds, and your personal interest in them will inspire their personal loyalty to you. Display a strong interest in students' learning and a faith in their abilities.

Use examples freely. Many students want to be shown why a concept or technique is useful before they want to study it further. Inform students about how your course prepares students for future opportunities.

Use a variety of student-active teaching activities. These activities directly engage students in the material and give them opportunities to achieve a level of mastery.

Teach by discovery. Students find as satisfying as reasoning through a problem and discovering the underlying principle on their own.

Cooperative learning activities are particularly effective as they also provide positive social pressure.

Set realistic performance goals and help students achieve them by encouraging them to set their own reasonable goals. Design assignments that are appropriately challenging in view of the experience and aptitude of the class.

Place appropriate emphasis on testing and grading. Tests should be a means of showing what students have mastered, not what they have not. Avoid grading on the curve and give everyone the opportunity to achieve the highest standard and grades.

Be free with praise and constructive in criticism. Negative comments should pertain to particular performances, not the performer. Offer nonjudgmental feedback on students' work, stress opportunities to improve, look for ways to stimulate advancement, and avoid dividing students into sheep and goats.

Give students as much control over their own education as possible. Let students choose paper and project topics that interest them. Assess them in a variety of ways (tests, papers, projects, presentations, etc.) to give students more control over how they show their understanding to you. Give students options for how these assignments are weighted.

Sources:

Ken Bain, What the Best College Teachers Do, Harvard University Press, 2004, pages 32-42.

Linda Nilson, Teaching At Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors, 2nd edition, Anker Publishing, 2003, pages 41-44.

Matt DeLong and Dale Winter, Learning to Teaching and Teaching to Learn Mathematics: Resources for Professional Development, Mathematical Association of America, 2002, pages 159-168.

Showing Students the Appeal of the Subject

When encouraging students to find your subject matter interesting, use cues to show students the appeal of the subject matter.

"We've used X in a lot of different ways. If you thought you'd seen them all, just wait for the next assignment."

"A lot of you have asked me about X. Well, finally we're going to find out why that's so."

Source: Matt DeLong and Dale Winter, Learning to Teaching and Teaching to Learn Mathematics: Resources for Professional Development, Mathematical Association of America, 2002, page 168.

This teaching guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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Print Version Intrinsic Motivation Extrinsic Motivation Effects of Motivation on Learning Styles A Model of Intrinsic Motivation Strategies for Motivating Students Showing Students the Appeal of a Subject Intrinsic Motivation Intrinsic motivators include fascination with the subject, a sense of its relevance to life and the world, a sense of accomplishment in mastering it, and...

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Parents can encourage their young readers by participating in take home reading activities. This article explains the benefits when reading to your child or simple engaging in the take home activities that correlate to their reading. These adventure packs include reading and fun activities put together by a teacher to motivate students to read with their families.

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Reading Adventure Packs: A School-to-Home Project

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The home is the child's first classroom and parents are the first teachers. Parents who read to their children everyday and talk about what they are reading together promote a joy of reading and literacy achievement. How can teachers encourage reading at home and support the role of parents as educators?

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http://apeachfortheteach.blogspot.com/2013/12/eight-human-needs-how-to-motivate.html

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How to assess your child's main motivator

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How to assess your child's main motivator

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This blog post provides a simple checklist to help parents (or teachers!) identify a child's main source of motivation. Once you identify the type of motivation that best influences your child or student's personality, this blogpost also provides idea specific to each type.

Brittany

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If you've ever read my blog before, you know that I really love educational speaker Rick Lavoie. In most teacher preparation programs we've been taught that students' basic physiological needs must be met before they can truly learn. This is an example of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs at work.

Once these basic needs are met, we can begin to explore what Lavoie calls, "Secondary Needs." These are eight things that are highly motivating for humans. Learn more about these in this short clip (starting at 3:23), or continue reading below.

According to Lavoie, these are the eight secondary needs:

"We try to motivate the kids by using what motivates us." - Rick Lavoie

I watched this video and had an a-ha moment. That's why Johnny crawled under his desk every time I tried to congratulate him for awesome work. I had always loved recognition and am highly motivated by it, but Johnny wasn't.

Now that I'm keeping these motivators in mind and developing interventions for homeroom teachers to use that support our behavior challenges, I'm finding that the thing that scares teachers most is students motivated by power. Lavoie hit the nail on the head with that one. Isn't it funny how the students who need power the most are the ones who get it the least? Why not give the students a little power? Let them be involved in developing rules. Let them check classmates' work. Let them point to answers on the board as you teach. Let them choose which assignment to complete from a list. Give him or her two choices for a lesson plan for tomorrow, and teach the lesson chosen. Give them power in positive ways so they don't need to seek it in negative ways.

Apply it to the classroom

Think of your most challenging student. Think of someone you consider your polar opposite. What motivates you, as opposed to what motivates that person? Use this information when developing interventions.

FREEBIE! I came up with a list of some ideas that teachers can use to motivate students. These are all based on Lavoie's ideas above. Get it here:

Do you find that one motivator does not motivate all your students? Do you use varied forms of motivation in your classroom? What are your thoughts on motivation? Share in the comments below!

A Peach for the Teach

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Eight Human Needs - How to Motivate Students

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If you've ever read my blog before, you know that I really love educational speaker Rick Lavoie. In most teacher preparation programs we've been taught that students' basic physiological needs must be met before they can truly learn. This is an example of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs at work.