Making the Impossible Possible
January 1, 1970
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible.” ~Walt DisneyClassroom One
When you enter this room you see well-behaved students doing their work quietly at their desks. Occasionally they move to work in groups, editing each other’s work or, if they are young students, reading a story together. Most of the students are on task, but some are clearly bored, uninvolved, and restless…going through the motions.
Classroom Two
When you enter this classroom you are struck by the activity and noise level. You see students debating an issue or calling out vocabulary terms to each other. Some may be fitting puzzle pieces together to solve a brain teaser problem about the topic under study. One student is at the computer checking facts while another is a learning center for extra time activities. The room hums with active students engaged in discovering important information.
Where would you rather be?
In classroom after classroom across the nation, teachers grapple with one of the most complex issues facing educators: how to motivate, encourage, and challenge their students to not just grudging comply with the class rules, policies, and procedures, but to move on to be self-determined about their work. When students are motivated to do their work well, then school is not just successful for students and teachers alike, but fun for everyone.
There are many current theories about educational motivation. Perhaps the most respected voice in the field is Jere Brophy. You can learn more about his theories in his excellent 2004 book, Motivating Students to Learn (2nd Edition) published by Lawrence Erlbaum. Brophy, like other credible experts, tell us what experienced practicing teachers have known for years: there is no magic bullet, no one quick fix, no one easy little strategies that will transform our students from uncaring children into avid scholars.
Instead, what we twentieth-century teachers do is simple. We use as many techniques, strategies, tips, and activities as we can to appeal to as many of our students as we can as often as we can. A multi-faceted approach to the complex and challenging problem of reaching and teaching our students is a tactic that works for many of us.
In this issue you’ll find a way to test yourself about the motivation techniques that you use or know about and you’ll find a list of some of the reasons that students may not want to do their work.
Test Yourself
So, how much do you know about motivating a classroom of young people? Test your knowledge of motivation with this quiz. First, decide whether these statements are true or false. Then check your answers against those that follow the quiz. Good luck!
1. It’s never too late to attempt to motivate even the most reluctant learners.
2. Students should have plenty of options, even on tests.
3. Grades serve as an important motivational tool for most students.
4. Using a classroom economy of tokens has proved to be a successful motivational tool for many educators.
5. Assignments that involve competition are more effective motivators for male students than assignments that require cooperation or collaboration.
6. It is better to say, “How can I help you?” instead of “You should…” when attempting to motivate students.
7. Using class time to read or do homework is an effective way to motivate students.
8. When students ask for answers to problems or questions during independent practice work, it is okay to give them the correct response.
9. Dealing with student anxiety about how to correctly complete their assignments is an important consideration when attempting to successfully motivate students.
10. Negative comments from a teacher can often influence motivation in a positive way.
11. Showing models of work done well by their peers can be a powerful motivator for many students.
12. Instructional expectations should become more stringent as the year progresses.
13. Rewarding their effort builds student self-esteem.
14. Calling or emailing a student’s home with positive comments is a good way to get students to do their work.
15. Students tend to perform better with a predictable routine.
16. Many students like to learn just for the pleasure of learning.
17. If their teacher is bored with a subject, then students are likely to be bored also.
18. Extrinsic rewards work well for almost every student.
19. Using food treats as rewards is now regarded with disfavor in many school districts.
20. Younger children are easier to motivate to succeed in school than older ones.
21. A positive relationship with their peers can be a powerful motivational force for many students regardless of their age.
22. It is possible to create a negative environment by praising students too highly and too often.
23. A risk-free classroom is almost impossible to achieve in high school and the middle grades.
24. Girls are easier to motivate than boys.
25. The best way to motivate and challenge students is through a careful combination of a variety of motivational tools.
Answers
1. True: Experienced teachers know that it is certainly possible to make a difference in even the most jaded and uninvolved students. Perhaps this is why so many of us continue to believe in the importance of our chosen profession and the endless possibilities as well as responsibilities that go with being a teacher.
2. False: While plenty of options are important and useful motivational tools, allowing students too many options on a test can skew the reliability and validity of that evaluation instrument. Offering options and showing students how to make wise choices before an assessment is a wiser choice than allowing them too many choices during a testing situation. Some researchers suggest that allowing students to choose among a bank of questions will skew the results.
3. False: Grades do not always motivate even the strongest and most capable students. Instead, an approach that incorporates grades as a fair measure of progress along with several other motivational techniques will reach more students than grades alone.
4. True, but…: While a token reward system often is an effective short-term way to encourage students, the problem with these rewards is that students often focus more on them rather than on the importance of learning and achieving. A reward system that incorporates both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards is a more balanced, long-term, and effective approach to motivation than a system that is dependent on tokens alone.
5. False: Male and female students of all ages can be motivated to perform well when working with others in a non-competitive way. While competition can serve as an effective motivator, it’s effect is not limited only to males. In reality, the best form of classroom competition occurs when students try to beat their own past successes.
6. True: Students respond to offers of help far better than to lectures or unsolicited advice. When a teacher asks how he or she can help, it not only forces the student to diagnose the problem, but it also sets a pleasant, cooperative, and friendly tone for the relationship between student and teacher.
7. True: Allowing students to read independently or to work on homework in class with a nearby teacher who can offer assistance when necessary can be effective for many reasons. Having a helpful adult nearby when reading or working on homework makes it easier for students to ask questions, discuss an issue, or ask for help with a problem. When teachers are “on” all the time, they miss seeing the way that their students work. Often, just watch how students tackle an assignment, can offer clues about how we can help them succeed.
8. False: Almost every teacher has heard students begging for “just this one answer…pleeeease.” If students know that they can convince a soft-hearted teacher to tell them an answer, they won’t even try to think it though on their own. Instead of giving answers, ask questions of your own until students can figure out the problem themselves.
9. True: Students who know how to do their work and the steps that they have to take in order to do it well are more likely to succeed than those students who are not sure about what they are supposed to do and how to do it. Master the art of giving good verbal and written directions and reap the rewards of an anxiety-free class.
10. False: Negative comments lead to negative reactions and hurt feelings. Constructive criticism leads to improved performance.
11. True: When students see not just a model, but models done well by their peers, they benefit in two ways. First, they not only understand what they have to do to succeed, but they realize that it is possible to do it well. After all, if someone their own age can do it, so can they.
12. True: To effectively motivate students, begin with work that is easier for students to do successfully at the start of the year. Since success tends to lead to more success, savvy teachers know that they can create an upward spiral of accomplishment and energy by building on easier assignments that students do well.
13. False…but: While it is important to recognize effort, rewarding effort will not generate long-term results. Teachers should recognize effort as a way of showing students the relationship between hard work and accomplishment, but to just recognize effort and not mastery is not a productive way to motivate students. Students who accomplish a goal are more likely to have increased self-esteem than those students who are rewarded for just trying to meet that goal.
14. True: Teachers who notify the parents and families of their students when they are successful find that those positive home contacts really pay off in increased student engagement. Contacting the significant adults in a student’s life with good news is also a way to create that all-important bond between home and school.
15. True: While students do perform better with a predictable routine, this does not mean that their teachers should ignore the importance of grabbing their students’ attention and making class interesting for all students within the parameters of predictable class routines. For example, if your class begins with warm up activities, make them as interesting and thought-provoking as you can.
16. False: While there are some students who like to learn for the pleasure of learning, there are many more who are so burdened by various other issues that they need something more to keep them focused on learning.
17. True: One of the most important motivational forces in a student’s life is an energetic, dynamic teacher. A good teacher can transform a classroom. A positive, “can-do,” enthusiastic teacher makes or breaks a student’s day.
18. False: A combination of extrinsic and intrinsic rewards works better than extrinsic rewards alone. Extrinsic rewards have limitations for almost every student, no matter what their age or ability level while most intrinsic ones do not. Combining the two creates a positive synergy.
19. True: Using food as a reward has fallen into disfavor in many districts for many reasons: the rise in childhood obesity, the increase in food allergies and diseases associated with food, and the mixed message that we send students by giving them treats that they may have been told to avoid or eat only in moderation in a health class.
20. False: Students of all ages require various types of motivation, just as we adults need to be motivated to do our best from time to time.
21. True: Students of all ages work best in school when they feel as if they are a valued member of the group. Teachers who harness the power of positive peer pressure report that it is a sure way to generate good will, engagement, and cooperation in a class.
22. True: In order for praise to be effective, it should be sincere and well-timed instead of flattery. If students are praised for the wrong things or for effort alone, they grow to doubt their own skill and ability.
23. False: Any classroom can become a place where students are encouraged to take those important intellectual risks that allow them to make the necessary leaps that create learning. The creation of a risk-free environment should be one of the most important priorities on any teacher’s “to-do” list.
24. False: Gender does not play a significant role in motivating students to be engaged in their work. Finding the right motivational techniques for each child is more important than gender.
25. True: Teachers who use a wide variety of techniques, strategies, and tools to motivate their students find that they have much more success than those teachers who rely on only one or two methods. Try to use as many different approaches as you can to reach as many students as yu can.
Why Your Students May Not Be Motivated to
Do Their School Work
• The work is too difficult
• The work is too easy
• Their work may not be appropriate for a significant number of students
• They are distracted by someone sitting near them
• They are distracted by an event that happened at home or in the neighborhood
• The work is booooooring!
• They don’t know what to do how to do the work
• They are perfectionists and are fearful of failing
• They are ill
• They live in a culture with different values from the values of their school
• They need special assistance with school work and do not receive it
• They need activities that encourage them to be active, but are in a classroom where they are expected to work quietly and passively
• They lack confidence
• Their goals are unrealistic
• They do not see the connection between the daily work they do now and the successful future that they could have
• The offered rewards do not appeal to them
• They have little or no curiosity about the lesson
• They do not relate well with their classmates
• They perceive their teacher as uncaring
• The learning style of an assignment is very different from their preferred learning style
• They lack the prerequisite skills to master the work successfully
• Their peers mock them for school success
• There is no long-term planning in their home lives
• They are tired of being told what to do
• They have no plan for managing their time, materials, or work
• The work is not relevant to their needs
• Their work is relevant to their needs, but students don’t understand that it is
• They do not have enough background knowledge to connect present learning to previous knowledge
• They can’t read or write well enough to do the work quickly and efficiently
• No one at home stresses that they need to do well in school
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
~Mark Twain