My Name is Joel Hebert, and I am a Motivational Speaker
There are two types of motivation: internal and external. Internal motivation comes from within, and mainly exists when a student wants to accomplish something because he has an emotional/personal stake in that outcome. For example, internal motivation might mean a student wants to earn an A because it will make him feel smart.
External motivation comes from outside the student, and often consists of rewards. Some teachers love to use external motivation, bribing and cajoling their students to try harder with the promise of cookies and stickers on their behavior chart. Neither system is without merit. But personally, I believe that internal motivation is the better way to get a student to work hard in your class.
I try to encourage my students to strive for the best grades possible. This is difficult because many of them are only trying to scrape by and do not understand or care that they will need good grades to get into college. What is there left to do? Try to get the students on your side. Don't give them compliments they don't deserve, but when they are doing something right, point that out. Use lots of smiley faces on papers. Encourage students to share their work. Call home and tell their parents how well they are doing in your class. If the students believe in you and your classroom goals, they will be intrinsically motivated to accomplish everything they can in your class.
Is this the only way to motivate? No. But I prefer this to motivating externally with cookies and candy, for two reasons. First, baking cookies takes a lot of time, and buying candy and other treats costs money that I would rather keep in my bank account. Secondly, people are shown to draw more satisfaction from something when they are not paid for it. Third, if students are only doing classwork to get candy, will they still work hard next year if their teacher DOESN'T give them a Snickers bar for acting like they are supposed to act? I think it is better to make your classroom a team environment, and show the students that you want the team to be acceptable. Give them easy, free bonuses--like story time and extra credit--when you want to reward them, and hold the whole class accountable when they act up. If you get the students invested in you and your mission, they will be internally motivated to be successful.
I have done a much better job this year of making my classroom a postive, productive workspace. As a result, my grades this year are much higher than they were last year, AND my students are learning a lot more. Motivate your students to be their best, and make the success of the class a reward in its own right.
External motivation comes from outside the student, and often consists of rewards. Some teachers love to use external motivation, bribing and cajoling their students to try harder with the promise of cookies and stickers on their behavior chart. Neither system is without merit. But personally, I believe that internal motivation is the better way to get a student to work hard in your class.
I try to encourage my students to strive for the best grades possible. This is difficult because many of them are only trying to scrape by and do not understand or care that they will need good grades to get into college. What is there left to do? Try to get the students on your side. Don't give them compliments they don't deserve, but when they are doing something right, point that out. Use lots of smiley faces on papers. Encourage students to share their work. Call home and tell their parents how well they are doing in your class. If the students believe in you and your classroom goals, they will be intrinsically motivated to accomplish everything they can in your class.
Is this the only way to motivate? No. But I prefer this to motivating externally with cookies and candy, for two reasons. First, baking cookies takes a lot of time, and buying candy and other treats costs money that I would rather keep in my bank account. Secondly, people are shown to draw more satisfaction from something when they are not paid for it. Third, if students are only doing classwork to get candy, will they still work hard next year if their teacher DOESN'T give them a Snickers bar for acting like they are supposed to act? I think it is better to make your classroom a team environment, and show the students that you want the team to be acceptable. Give them easy, free bonuses--like story time and extra credit--when you want to reward them, and hold the whole class accountable when they act up. If you get the students invested in you and your mission, they will be internally motivated to be successful.
I have done a much better job this year of making my classroom a postive, productive workspace. As a result, my grades this year are much higher than they were last year, AND my students are learning a lot more. Motivate your students to be their best, and make the success of the class a reward in its own right.
posted by Joel Hebert at 12:34 PM
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