Blog Post for the Week of May 3rd
Motivation Station
Domain 3: Instruction; Component 3c: Engaging Students in Learning
Domain 2: The Classroom Environment; Component 2a: Creating a Classroom of Respect & Rapport
There are four qualities that have been identified as critical to helping students motivate themselves: autonomy, competence, relatedness, and relevance. Check out a few strategies to make this happen in your classroom.
Autonomy
Provide students with freedom of choice is one strategy for promoting learner autonomy.
Competence
Feedback, done well, is ranked by education researcher John Hattie as number 10 out of 150 influences on student achievement. But how do you handle providing critical feedback to students when it's necessary? Since extensive research shows that a ratio of positive-to-negative feedback of between 3-1 and 5-1 is necessary for healthy learning to occur, teachers might consider a strategy called plussing that is used by Pixar animation studios with great success. The New York Times interviewed author Peter Sims about the concept:
The point, he said, is to "build and improve on ideas without using judgmental language." . . . An animator working on Toy Story 3 shares her rough sketches and ideas with the director. "Instead of criticizing the sketch or saying 'no,' the director will build on the starting point by saying something like, 'I like Woody's eyes, and what if his eyes rolled left?" Using words like "and" or "what if" rather than "but" is a way to offer suggestions and allow creative juices to flow without fear, Mr. Sims said.
"And" and "what if" could easily become often-used words in an educator's vocabulary!
Relatedness
A high-quality relationship with a teacher whom they respect is a key element of helping students develop intrinsic motivation. What are some actions that teachers can take to strengthen these relationships?
- Take a genuine interest in your students
- Act friendly with your students; smile, joke, be supportive
- Be flexible and keep a focus on your learning goals
- Don’t give up on students; encourage them to seek continuous improvement
Relevance
Have students conduct work and projects so that they see what they are learning as relevant to their lives. Encourage students to generate their own connections and discover for themselves the relevance of course material to their lives. This method gives students the opportunity to make connections to topics and areas of greatest interest to their lives.
Want to read the full article? Check it out here.
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