As a new school year approaches,
teachers often find themselves thinking about ways to motivate their
students. One of the best questions that
comes to mind during this time is…”Will they want to do the assignment?”
Teachers think of ways to create
innovative ways to grade that will encourage hard work trying to keep the
students motivated. As you move further and
further into the profession; you quickly realize that getting the students to
become more an of active participant in the learning process ignites that flame
internally and they begin to seek out ways to learn more.
When I would ask myself these
questions there were certain items that would come to mind on how I will get
and keep the students motivated.
The first would be…”Is my
classroom environment supportive?” If
the students gain the understanding that the teacher is supportive of their
efforts, they tend to work harder toward to learning objectives because they
know that the teacher wants to see them succeed for their own benefit, not just
a grade.
The second would be…”Am I
expecting too much from the students?” If my expectations are too high, then
the students will develop the mindset of “learned helplessness”. This means
that they figure out it is too hard and they will not even try because they learned
that they are helpless in completing the tasks.
The last question…”Will the
students even like the assignment?” When
students do not like an assignment their interest level is low; which in turn,
causes low motivation.
By reflecting on these questions
yearly, it causes me to have a student first mentality. Keeping the students at the forefront of my
mind and they things that I can do to keep them motivated always proved successful!
Matthew (Matt) Key, Georgia
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