Teaching Methods
How Can Teachers Motivate Students?
Provide opportunities for COMPETENCE
After teaching a new skill or task, teachers should allow students to prove that they have grasped it. Some ways to do that include:
Provide challenging tasks and assessments
Celebrate successes and praise growth in students
Emphasize the importance of learning over extrinsic motivators like social comparison
Give students AUTONOMY
When assigning creative projects, give students a choice in their learning!
Allow students to complete "passion projects" of their choosing
Encourage students to be curious and seek answers to their own curiosities
Give less detailed instruction and let students make their own rules
Find content students can RELATE to
Help students feel a sense of responsibility and belonging within their community.
Create a learning environment where students feel safe to ask questions and make mistakes
Teach content that students are excited about
Intervene with alienated students
(Information from class powerpoint: https://sites.google.com/view/calvinproject/project-details)
Classroom Examples
Competence
Scenario 1:
A PE teacher is trying to help students grasp a new jump rope trick for Jump Rope for Heart. She is demonstrating the trick and explaining how to do it, but the students are not very interested in trying it. Should she:
a) Ask if any of the students would care to demonstrate the trick along with her
b) Yell at students to pay attention
In option a), the teacher is providing a student a chance to prove to his/her classmates that he/she is able to complete the jump rope trick. This motivates the student to want to do the trick and may motivate the rest of the class as well. This is because all students want to feel competent when learning a new skill!
Autonomy
Scenario 2:
A classroom teacher is trying to teach a lesson on persuasive writing, but students are not motivated to complete the assigned essay about school lunches. The new Spider-Man movie has just come out, and it is all the students can talk about! Should the teacher:
a) ban every mention of Spider-Man and make students write essay in silence
b) allow students to choose what they write their essay about, including the option to write a persuasive essay on why someone should go see Spider-Man
In option b), students are given choice in their assigned schoolwork, and therefore may complete it based on something they are interested in! As long as they are still learning the content (in this case, how to write a persuasive essay), letting students choose aspects of their assignments can be very motivating.Â
Relatedness
Scenario 3:
A music teacher is teaching recorder, but the students aren't very interested in anything other than who can make the loudest sound. Should the teacher:
a) Ask students to work on a song the class can play together, rather than on their own
b) No more recorders
In option a), by providing an opportunity for the students to engage in something together rather than separately, the teacher can foster a sense of community, which may make students more motivated to perform well.