Fostering Intrinsic Motivation in Students by Sancha Gray

solorzanokarina1 — 2024-10-01 00:27:47 UTC

One strategy we're currently using in the classroom is celebrating small wins, which I believe is essential for promoting growth and creating a positive learning environment. Students thrive on praise and recognition, even for the smallest accomplishments, and I’ve seen how this motivates my students to keep pushing forward. When I see a student struggling, I make a point to praise them for something I know they can do or encourage them with, “Try again, take your time.” This really helps boost their self-belief and confidence. I consistently praise my students, as I’ve seen how impactful it is. Whether through verbal encouragement, giving stickers, or letting them choose something from the class treasure box, recognizing their efforts can truly brighten their day. My cooperating teacher has implemented an ice cream cone poster featuring eight colorful scoops (she did this during Clinical 1 also). Each student starts at the bottom with their clip, and as they make progress in their multiplication skills, they can move their clip up the cone. Once a student reaches the top, they earn an ice pop. This initiative was introduced last week, and I've noticed that the students are really putting in their best efforts in math to achieve their multiplication goals.

One strategy we haven't yet implemented in the classroom, but that I will be sharing with my cooperating teacher, is regular feedback loops. While my CT provides written feedback on homework and allows for resubmissions, I particularly like the idea of offering constructive feedback in person right after a student completes an assignment or test. As the article points out, this approach demonstrates to students that learning isn’t just about getting all the answers right away; it’s perfectly fine to make mistakes and with being shown those mistakes they will know how to improve for next time.

2024-10-01 01:16:51 UTC

After reading the article, I found two especially prominent strategies: celebrating small wins and regular feedback loops. We frequently celebrate the small wins whenever and wherever possible. An example is having the students write the alphabet on their whiteboards. We play ABC by the Jackson 5. This acts as a timer and primes their brains. The students love this activity and even ask for it. We’ve noticed significant progress as more and more students are finishing or getting closer to finishing the entire alphabet by the end of the song. Both students and the teachers can see growth and progress. It’s inspiring to see the excitement and joy as students see their progress and growth. We chunk assignments/mini projects/ activities into smaller more manageable pieces and give feedback at each step. One example is the “Sammy Rule” activity we did after a lesson. The student first wrote their words ending in -ff, -ll, -ss, and -zz. They chose these words from our class-created list. After this, they colored their own “Sammy” zebra mask. Finally, they pasted the mask on top of the paperback and their words in the center to make their own puppets. We checked their work and gave them feedback at each step. Something I’d love to incorporate into my future classroom is project boards. I’d have student work folders instead of a board. I’d keep extra copies of each student's work to show them their progress throughout the year. I like the folder idea better because I feel maintains student privacy while preserving their self-esteem as nobody else can view this folder except for the student, teacher, and parents.

2024-10-01 01:58:38 UTC

One thing I found the most important about the article was giving our students positive feedback. Some of our students go through a lot and don't always have that person in their life that praises, loves and values them. As teachers, we need to not only point out when something is wrong, but point out when our students are doing great things as well. Teachers are tough and always expect the best from their students and don't put their students feelings into consideration. we shouldn't always give our students negative feedback, but share positive feedback as well because it makes them feel good. A child may come unmotivated to your class, but as adults we are unmotivated on some days as well. We just need to be a good figure for our students and give them that feeling that they are noticed and are important. -Stephanie Tavares

2024-10-02 12:31:59 UTC

After reading the hot topic article, I found three strategies my cooperating teacher and I implement in the classroom. We provide regular feedback loops, celebrate small wins, and do small experiments for the students. Like any classroom with young children, celebrating small wins is a great way to motivate them. In my classroom, we hand out tickets to students who are being role models or completing their work on time. This turns into a game for students, as they all try their best to earn tickets to be picked for a surprise at the end of the week. We also rotate the room while students are working independently to provide them feedback in a way that is individualized. I find that students enjoy the feedback when it isn't always negative, and some of my students try to get my attention so that I can go to their desks to provide them with the feedback. Lastly, small experiments in the class greatly benefit students and keep them motivated, as they are not overwhelmed by a large amount of work. By breaking down tasks into manageable parts, students can do their best without worrying about what comes next. My class is currently working on writing personal narratives, which many of them are unable to do on their own. My cooperating teacher breaks down each section into manageable parts and provides the students with an example to look at, which is a way to help guide them in the right direction. Our writing block is a great time for students to receive feedback and have their small wins celebrated. Hopefully, I will be able to see great progress with my students by the end of the semester and boost some self-esteem and confidence.

sinchese — 2024-10-02 19:07:15 UTC

After reading the hot topic article of the week, I was able to learn different strategies that I would like to add in my future classroom. Two of the strategies that my CT and I use in the classroom are regular feedback loops and celebrating small wins. After students' assignments and tests is important to give students constructive feedback and allow them to resubmit and try again. This will help students understand that is not about getting it right the first time but also will help them master the skills or information that they are learning. Celebrating small wins motivates students to keep participating and improving. Educators should not only point to students' failures or bad behaviors, but they should also focus on small goals that they accomplish. Celebrating small wins will help students' self-esteem and will help them to want to participate during lessons.

2024-10-03 01:53:48 UTC

I liked all the strategies and I would love to implement them in my classroom. We have some sort of rewards system in my clinical classroom right now where the teachers will reward students for getting their work done, even if it's not perfect but at least trying to do it. They also get rewarded a lot for good behavior. My CTs are trying to find positive reinforcements to get the desired outcome from the students and be able to help them. As far as my own classroom, I love the regular feedback loop. This is something one of my professors has always used and is probably one of the reasons I take all my classes with him. It is extremely helpful and constructive. I also really liked the backwards design project. I think this allows the students to think of the end result and then think of ways to get there. Both of these strategies I will be implementing in my classroom.

gkish13 — 2024-10-03 16:20:32 UTC

I thought this article was very interesting; I noticed two of the strategies (i.e., small experiments & celebrating small wins) used extrinsic motivation (e.g., "giving out stickers," "rewards," and "verbal praise") as a way to fuel/foster intrinsic motivation. I know for the kindergarten class I'm with this semester, we constantly use extrinsic motivation to keep the students excited, eager to learn and meet/exceed our expectations. Ironically, my CTs and I have been using both the small experiments and celebrating small wins strategies as we are still in the process of reinforcing classroom routines and procedures. I am not sure if my CTs would continue a progress board once the semester is over if I implemented one, but for my own classroom, I would love to have something like that so students can track their progress and have a visual representation of their accomplishments (big or small). Overall, I think that through the appropriate/necessary implementation of the strategies presented in the article, students can develop more confidence when approached with a challenge and a sense of pride when accomplishing a goal, large or small.

2024-10-03 18:34:41 UTC

One strategy we currently use in the classroom is giving immediate, constructive feedback and allowing the students to correct their work. For example, I'm in a 4th grade math classroom and we just finished 6-digit addition and subtraction. During the lesson we had the students solve the problems on a dry-erase board, and then we could see where students were making regrouping mistakes to correct them before giving them a different problem to solve. Providing immediate feedback allowed students to fix their mistakes and gain the confidence to solve large math problems on their own. The article says 'Learning isn't about getting it right the first time, it's about improving over time" and I really think that's something important to remember. Sometimes we learn the most when we don't get it right the first time.

One strategy I would love to implement is the concept of having progress boards. Our students are so curious to know what they're going to learn throughout the year and I think having a fun display of the modules and checking them off as we go through would be an exciting and motivating way to show students how far they've come by the end of the school year.

redzinan — 2024-10-05 00:34:39 UTC

After reading the article, one of the strategies I have used in my placement is celebrating small wins. In elementary school, it seems like every student is learning at a different pace. Some students may be advanced readers, while others may not even know how to write a capital J. I have one student, in particular, who is new to the district and school and has to readjust to being the new kid. This student is typically really shy and often needs motivation or a helping hand to complete assignments or participate in morning meetings. He often struggles with writing and coming up with sentences or stories that he has to create on his own. He leaves pretty much everything that requires sentence formation blank unless it's something that he can copy straight out of the textbook or smartboard. My cooperating teacher and I are always trying to fill his head with ideas on topics to write about, however, he is incredibly stubborn and often refuses our ideas. Despite this, when learning about making connections, there was an incident where the student finally came up with a topic to write about without help. This was a huge milestone for him and was celebrated, no matter how small it was. Now, every time he writes even one small sentence or phrase, we make sure to celebrate because we know that it's not easy for him.

One of the strategies that I would like to implement are progress boards. I think it is a great way for students and teachers to see what skills they need to work on. It also helps the students stay motivated since after they master each skill, the teacher can reward students by having them add a sticker, or some other motivational prize, to the board. It helps create a visual for the students, which is incredibly helpful.

callmich1 — 2024-10-07 01:15:01 UTC

I found all of these strategies to be really great and interesting! I implement celebrating small wins and small experiments in the classroom I'm placed in. Everyone loves positive reinforcement, but I think little kids especially thrive on it. Even something as simple as "you did a really great job today following directions and I'm so proud of you" has made a world of difference in motivating students to continue to try to do well. Kindergarteners need tasks to be broken down into smaller segments, so small experiments has been successful as well. I really love the idea of progress boards and I can definitely see how students would feel motivated when they can track their progress.

2024-10-07 18:04:02 UTC

I really enjoyed reading this week's article and looking over different strategies to implement in the classroom. One of the strategies in the article was "small wins." I think it's so important to celebrate good behavior and learning goals in the classroom. One thing that my co-teacher and I did together this year was create a "Woah Chart" which is a classroom management tool that teachers use to reward students for good behavior, academic performance, or other achievements. The chart is a poster board with letters on one side and numbers on the other, creating cells where students can write their initials when the teacher instructs them to. When the board is full, the teacher draws a raffle to award a prize to the student whose initials are in the winning square. We're still in the process of filling up the whole chart but this chart has helped students stay on task, complete their assignments, and overall has helped with managing good behavior throughout the day! Another strategy the article mentions is "regular feedback loops." My co-teacher and I also use this strategy in the classroom. Giving immediate feedback to the students is super helpful. Once you give feedback to each student, it allows you to address and focus on that individual student's needs.

masuccid1 — 2024-10-07 19:21:35 UTC

One tool I currently use in my classroom is small experiments. Break projects or activities into smaller manageable goals. I often present an assignment as a whole and then model the steps to complete it. As a class, we create an outline of the assignment and each step is complete as it is one "small experiment". We celebrate the completion of each step and acknowledge the work that is completed.

A tool I would like to implement with my cooperating teacher is glow and grow. I like the idea of constructive feedback being associated with positives as well. Feedback can affect students' confidence, I love the idea of keeping it balanced, good with bad.

This article was very interesting and I am excited to pull some of these tools into my future classroom.

simoesb — 2024-10-07 21:24:35 UTC

One thing I use in my classroom is positive reinforcement. I find myself using this strategy the most during reviewing our Daily ELA Packet. In this packet they need to correct misspelled words, correct the sentence, write or underline words that fit the definition we are looking for such as writing a synonym for big. While we review the packet, I make sure to call on different students and praise them for either getting the answers correct or at least trying. As a student, I was never confident raising my hand in the fear of being wrong, so I want my students to know that it is okay to be wrong at least they tried.

wyskowse — 2024-10-08 02:27:15 UTC

One of the strategies that I am currently using to foster motivation in my classroom is breaking down large projects into small experiments. For example, my Kean STAYS project prompts students to write a fictional story book during class time in order to address writing and literacy challenges that many of my students face. I break down the writing process into much smaller chunks for my students to manage. After each part is completed, I allow students to model what they did for other students to learn from one another. This allows each student to feel celebrated and accomplished. I also create progress boards to display student work around the classroom. At the beginning of the year, students completed an "All About Me" writing assignment that was displayed on the writing board with a corresponding self-portrait. Students will be able to view each other's work and monitor their growth throughout the school year when more writing assignments are completed.

2024-10-08 23:48:59 UTC

Shivani Singh

From the article "Using Incremental Progress to Foster Students' Intrinsic Motivation" by Cathleen Beachboard, two strategies I want to implement with my cooperating teacher are:

Setting Short-Term Goals: I plan to collaborate with my cooperating teacher to break down larger learning objectives into smaller, more achievable steps for the students. This will help students feel more successful as they achieve each mini-goal, reinforcing their motivation to keep progressing.
Celebrating Small Wins: I would like to work with my cooperating teacher to incorporate more consistent and intentional celebration of student progress. This could be through verbal praise, reflection activities, or sharing their achievements with the class, helping students internalize their growth and develop intrinsic motivation.

contoc1 — 2024-10-09 13:58:40 UTC

After reading "Using Incremental Progress to Foster Students' Intrinsic Motivation" by Cathleen Beachboard, I learned two new strategies I would love to apply in my classroom. I like progress boards and small experiments. I chose progress boards to incorporate into my classroom. The idea of having a bulletin board dedicated to viewing my student's achievements would help students feel seen. I know some students complete milestones in class and don't celebrate them once they go home or even don't get recognized. I want my students to feel seen and understood, and watching my student's progress will motivate me to continue to teach them. The second strategy I would like to incorporate is small experiments. I truly do believe that not only teachers burn out but students as well. Overworking students, giving them the overall assignment, and saying, "Here it is," is probably easier for the teacher. However, not breaking assignments into parts so that students can focus on certain skills at a time can alter their motivation. Overall, I want my students to feel seen and motivated always. If that means starting very small and being guided as much as possible to help them become motivated to keep going, I will have a smoother and happier classroom.

2024-10-28 21:10:43 UTC

One strategy I use in my classroom is having short-term goals in the classroom. If there's a writing activity, we will work on writing the intro paragraph. Then, the next day we will write the body. Splitting the work makes it easy for the students to focus and write an amazing paragraph. This also correlates in celebrating small wins. When a student writes a paragraph, it's a cause for celebration. I tell them how great it is, even if it's just a few sentences a day. Another strategy is positive feedback, I believe giving positive feedback is very important. When I give feedback to the students, they look so happy and are more encouraged to continue their work.

2024-12-16 16:54:04 UTC

In my classroom, I currently use two strategies that I find particularly effective in promoting student engagement and motivation: regular feedback loops and small, incremental goals. After each assignment or show what you know, I provide immediate, constructive feedback to my students. I encourage them to review their work with their grownups. This process not only helps them understand their mistakes but also reinforces the idea that learning is a continuous improvement cycle and that they can do hard things. It builds resilience, as students understand that mistakes are a part of learning, and motivates them to perform better in future tasks.

If I weren’t using these strategies yet, I would want to implement progress boards and celebrate small wins with my cooperating teacher. A progress board would allow students to visually track their learning achievements, helping them see how far they’ve come. Celebrating small wins would help reinforce that every step, no matter how small, is an important part of their learning journey. Together, these strategies would help students stay motivated and engaged, making learning feel rewarding and encouraging continuous progress.