Motivation+Sec+2

Motivating Students in the Classroom
What the issue is and how it is related to education: Parents and teachers agree that students just aren’t reaching the necessary levels of motivation. When it comes to motivation, students are going to react differently. This is the case with all aspects of education. One technique may work well with one half of the class, but might not work so well with the other half of the class. There are a number of educators that have created acronyms for motivation, focusing on the important goals and concepts. These include the “Six C’s of Motivation” and “SCORE.” Each acronym places the focus on different concepts, but both would reach similar goals within the classroom. Motivation is an issue in the classroom because there is no magical formula that works for all teachers and all students. There are many internal and external factors that affect a student’s willingness to learn: interest in the subject matter, how useful it is (or isn’t), general desire to succeed, self-confidence, problems at home, problems in the school hallways, etc. There is no telling how motivated your students are going to be on any given day. It is also important to note that not all students are motivated by the same things.

Significance of my station: The scenario station focuses on the three “nightmare” students (an idea crafted by Kelley Whitney) and how to motivate them in the classroom. Nightmare students include (but are certainly not limited to) the following: the class clown, the know-it-all and the student who couldn’t care less. The first two may be more difficult to deal with than the third. They are rebellious and prepared to do whatever it takes to get attention. The third one, however, can be reached through using a variety of teaching strategies that appeal to many different learning styles. The student might not care simply because the material isn’t interesting. Perhaps changing your style of teaching will get that student excited about the lesson. Talk to the student. Maybe learn a little bit about who they are and what they enjoy doing outside of school. Sometimes the best way to engage a student is through personal interests. One way to motivate students is to take their behavior and turn it into something positive. For example, Amelio (the know-it-all in scenario #1) is adding his two cents about the novel after everything the teacher says. These comments could include snide remarks, but they could also include a different interpretation of the novel. One way to turn his negative behavior into something positive is by asking him to more formally give his response. If he thinks he knows it all, he must have something to add to the conversation. Why not let him lead discussion for part of the class?

When it comes to these three “nightmare” students that Whitney describes, I believe that it is important to consider that any one of your students could take on these personas on any given day. Specifically labeling students will get you nowhere. All students are different. Like teachers (and everyone else on this planet), they have good days and they have bad days. Although we may not reach one particular student on a given day, this does not mean we should give up on that student.

There is never a single obvious methodology to use as an educator. In fact, education revolves around the many different philosophies that teachers have. No single philosophy is necessarily the right or wrong answer. In each philosophy is a way in which someone might try to motivate their students. In terms of motivation there is a whole world of possibilities and no single answer amongst them can stand correctly or incorrectly among the rest. The idealist teacher would display an essence of teacher centered focus. While the perennialist teacher may have issues pushing forward classic texts and cores of knowledge, the essentialist teacher would recognize that core knowledge is ever-changing, and may chose to make this core knowledge better apply to the students, motivating their curiosity. For those students who take a particular liking to in-class discussion, the perennialist would most likely decide that the Socratic method is the way to engage students in the class (Robinson). The essentialist might take things a little farther and make motions for field trips, lab time, use of audio-visuals, or trips right outside the classroom to explore nature (Johnson 109). The philosophies of realism may influence those teachers who are behaviorists or positivists as well. The behaviorist might attempt motivation through encouragement in the light of positive and negative reinforcement. For instance, to motivate their students who are on a role, the behaviorist might show great approval as a positive motivator. Where others might seem less motivated, they may take the approach of control, as in altering the environment of the classroom in such a way that distraction might be minimal as well as showing positive reinforcement towards strives made in the direction of completion or solution to a problem (Johnson 110-11). The positivist approach might be a strive for clarity, as a lack of clarity might cause students to come to a wall in the road, frustrating enough to make them drop what they are doing. The positivist would also be sure to keep the playing field level for their students in having the same objectives for everyone, clearly stated, and making sure that everyone understands those objectives in order to avoid the thinking-block issues that come with a lack of clarity (Johnson 111-13). Pragmatic philosophers of education would begin to take a more student-centered approach towards motivation. Commonly, between both progressivism and humanism, these teachers would have an emphasis on independent choice. There would be a push for democratic classroom management, giving the students more ownership of the way they learn and how the classroom works. The progressivist would have an ultimate goal of social change and would therefore prompt students with things that they could apply to that very day rather than things of the past or the distant future. They may involve students in mock elections or some sort of activism that they feel inclined to be a part of (Johnson 114-15). The humanist would likewise try to motivate by allowing students to discuss aspects of how what they are learning is affecting them. Students would also be motivated by the humanist way of allowing students to choose what they read and what exercises they will ultimately complete (Johnson 115-117). Choice is the ultimate motivator for both the progressivist and humanist. The existential philosophies of reconstructionism and constructivism also provide their own motivational factors. Reconstructionism is based around a five point philosophy. This includes examination of cultural heritage of the local society and the rest of civilization, confronting the controversial issues of today as a means of discussion, bringing change to society, examining future and possible future societies, as well as having students participate in interculturalism. They may choose to have their students examine controversies and aspects of their own culture, as it would apply to them on a local and relatable level (Robinson). Constructivists would take the approach of acting less as a teacher and more as a coach in the classroom, providing more latitude to students in their individual interests of the subject matter. They also take a huge emphasis on activity-based and hands-on teaching and learning. The constructivist would provide opportunities for such learning and encourage the creation of personal frames of thought. As it is difficult to take in all the scrupulous facts of every subject, the constructivist would have more of an expectation for understandings of the big ideas of topics rather than the facts themselves. This philosophy would provide for a greatly student centered approach, as the students in the class would be responsible for their own inquiry and exploration of answers. In a sense, learning is the students’ child by this philosophy, and having ownership would give a student the motivation to want to learn more and think analytically about what they want to know (Johnson 117-18). Despite the fact that every philosophy has its similarities and differences, it is important to remember that no single method towards motivation is right or wrong. It is simply a matter of who the teacher is and what philosophy they align to. There is never a need for one to compromise their philosophy in order to better motivate students. Just as there is no wrong way to eat a Reeses, there is also no wrong way to teach and to motivate your classroom.

Significance of My Station: The background behind my station has a lot to do with motivational factors that I have seen in my own real life. I am in a sense playing two truths and a lie. I am bringing in 2 very dry books (both History and Shakespeare), and packet of very difficult, very dry trigonometry. Out of two of these materials used comes a success story. Out of one of the three comes a story of motivational failure. I will prompt the students in the class to think about how those source materials could be better used and how you can engage and motivate your students with them. Shakespeare is a common denominator for just about every student who has made it through high school, the most cliche choice being "Romeo and Juliet". The history text I am providing is from my current experience in a Civil War and Reconstruction course I am taking here at UMF. The Trigonometry material is an explanation of the Law of Sine and Law of Cosine.

History of the Issue Over time there has been a great change in the way that teachers have approached motivation in the classroom. Starting with the philosophical masterminds the concept of motivation has evolved over time. Plato said that human minds have three motives: appetite, spirit, and reason, which respectively address our instinctual urges, desire for preservation, and our need to find reason and truth. Socrates supported this belief but had specific ways in which he harnessed motivation in his students. He used a unique method of questioning students in order to draw out the knowledge stored within. Aristotle took these motives and separated them out into ends and means. Ends is completing a task for the pure enjoyment of it (a puzzle, a game, or other enjoyable activity). Means, however, is when one completes an activity in order to gain some type of external reward (completing a class to graduate). Over time, educators have changed their perspectives on motivation in the classroom. For a good chunk of time there was little or no recognition of students and the need to keep them motivated. During much of this time teachers taught and tested directly from the textbook. There was no thought as to whether or not students actually wanted to learn. Today, it is widely recognized that in order for students to succeed in the classroom we, as teachers, must find unique ways to motivate students. There are many ways in which teachers can approach their content in order to motivate students and there are many resources in order to do so. When student interest can be incorporated into learning great things tend to happen. With this, we can institute choice into the mix. When students have choice in an assignment, whether that be which book they read, what they do a project on, or which direction they want to go within the content, student become more motivated to complete their work and learn for their own sake. Another great way to motivate students is to look to technology. Not only are there programs such as Garage Band and Comic Life, but also there are many online options of interactive activities for students to use in conjunction with what we are teaching them.

Significance of Station In English using Character Trading Cards from readwritethink.org can be used as study guides, a reward system, or a fun tool to keep similar characters straight. Similarly, when working with Shakespeare, you can look at online 3D models of the Globe Theatre. There are mock-ups of the blocking from the original productions and different views from the audience. In math, there are tons of different math games that help students apply what they are learning to practical applications. The National Council of Teachers of Math has a website entitled Illuminations that has activities for all age ranges that get kids interested further in math. For Social Science, there are tons of different things for the classroom. BBC has a fabulous line of interactive games that put students in the place of people throughout history. These games give not only background knowledge into he daily life of historical periods but asks students to solve the same problems asked of those in the period. The History Channel also has numerous interactive activities for students to learn about different moments in history. The Titanic interactive history shows a great number of pictures as well as giving rich information about the ship and the time period. If each of us tries our best to use motivational tools to assist our students, we will have a higher rate of students that are achieving exactly what we want them to.

Sources:

Bass, Jossey. "MOTIVATING STUDENTS." //Home | Honolulu Community College//. Ed. Barbra Davis. 1 Sept. 1999. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. This site touches on some of the basics of motivation.. It includes general strategies and also more specific strategies to use within the classroom. It touches on the importance of depmphasizing grading and responding to student work. It also has a great section on how to motivate students to actually complete (and enjoy) the reading that you assign in class!

Grossnickle, Donald R., and William B. Thiel. // Promoting Effective Student Motivation in School and Classroom: a Practitioner's Perspective //. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1988. Print. This source may be a bit on the older side, but it has some great tips for motivating students! It goes in-depth with methods of preventing, intervening and resolving motivational issues in the classroom. It also introduces a model that promotes motivation in the classroom. It is a quick read with a lot of great tidbits.

Johnson, James A., Diann Musial, Gene E. Hall, and Donna M. Gollnick. "Building An Educational Philosophy In a Changing World." // Foundations of American Education: Perspectives on Education in a Changing World //. Fifteenth ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2011. 105-34. Print. This text has provided a lot of essential information in terms of answering the question prompted with concerns as to how different philosophical schools of thought would address the issue of motivation. The text discusses much about each independent methodology. No single philosophy is necessarily correct in terms of prompting motivation, however, each philosophy does include information with concerns to how these teachers would address their classroom, which speaks a lot for how they would make attempts to motivate students.

Robinson, Amy, Harvey F. Silver, and Richard Strong. "What Really Motivates Middle School Students?"//Welcome to MiddleWeb's Middle School Resources!// Sept. 1995. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. . This was a great resource I found in addressing motivation in the classroom. It discusses what students want and what motivates them. It discusses the SCORE model of achieving student motivation, which is something I have not heard of in education classes. This source will allow me to better address in-class discussion in terms of motivational ideas for use in the classroom.

Robinson, Brandi. "Reconstructionism and Perennialism - by Brandi Robinson - Helium." // Helium - Where Knowledge Rules //. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. . This online source provides information on the two philosophies not discussed in the book //Foundations of American Education//. Like in //Foundations//, this source addresses the two philosophies of perennialism and reconstructionism. It describes much about the philosophies independent methodologies and leaves room to explore the thought of how these philosophies would address motivation in the classroom.

Theobald, Margaret A. // Increasing Student Motivation: Strategies for Middle and High School Teachers //. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2006. Print. I have been using this book in order to explore different strategies that one might use when trying to motivate students. I am using this with concerns to my aspect of the presentation—how to motivate students around textbooks of the different content areas. It has a lot of insightful ideas which would be appreciable to address in the light of my groups presentation.

Wang, Shiang-Kwei, and Seungyeon Han. "Six C's of Motivation - Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology." // Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching, and Technology //. 2001. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. [|http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Six_C's_of_motivation] This source gives an overview of the “Six C’s” of motivation. These six C’s (choice, challenge, control, collaboration, constructing meaning and consequences) provide us with a number of different ways to motivate students. These six concepts can come alive in a number of different activities and assignments.

Whitney, Kelley. "DEALING WITH DISENGAGED STUDENTS." // Home | Honolulu Community College //. July 2007. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. [] This source focuses on the three “nightmare” students that a teacher may have in a classroom: the class clown, the know-it-all and the student who couldn’t care less. It gives a great overview of how to get the attention of these students. Of course, any of your students could be feeling like one of the “nightmares” depending on the day, so it is good to be prepared.

"Motivation and Emotion/Textbook/Motivation/Student Motivation". Wikiversity. October 2010. Web 28 Oct. 2010. http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Motivation_and_emotion/Textbook/Motivation/Student_motivation_theories#Philosophical_Origins This source focuses on the philosophies regarding student motivation and how they have changed over time. Each of the philosopher's beliefs are noted on the page and are broken up into understandable language.

Patroulis, Mary. "Motivating Teen Readers" NCTE. 2010.Web 28 Oct. 2010. http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/tips-howtos/motivating-teen-readers-30110.html This is a fabulous resource outlining many ways to motivate readers. Each of these steps can apply outside of the English content. This is a fabulous article outlining great tips for all teachers. Teachers should use these in order to keep students engaged and motivated.

Albers, Peggy. "Exploring Consumerism Where Ads and Art Intersect". International Reading Association. 2010. Web 28 Oct. 2010. http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/exploring-consumerism-where-intersect-1114.html This is a great lesson plan that shows the importance of relating content to the lives of our studnets. When we are successful in accomplishing this, students are more motivated to learn.

Krumholz, Honey. "7 Essential Motivation Techniques That You Must Use". EZine Articles. 2010. Web 28 Oct. 2010. http://ezinearticles.com/?7-Essential-Student-Motivation-Techniques-That-You-Must-Use&id=1653314 This article gives great strategies for reaching students and motivating them to accomplish their work. This is yet another rich resource for all teahers, and the techniques are very applicable to our classrooms.

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