Motivation & Engagement

Knowledge of motivation & engagement strategies

In order to successfully teach and manage a classroom, I use my understanding of motivation and engagement as tools. Research has demonstrated that engaging students in the learning process increases their attention and focus, motivates them to practice higher-level critical thinking skills, and promotes meaningful learning experiences. Instructors who adopt a student-centered approach to instruction increase opportunities for student engagement, which then helps students more successfully achieve the course’s learning objectives. According to William Glasser, most classroom misbehaviors occur when students are bored or frustrated, conditions that occur when the students are not being engaged in the lesson. He believed that when students are interested in the topic being learned and/or are engaged with the lesson, they are less likely to misbehave.

For this section, I will address three key motivation and engagement strategies/practices that I suggest using in the classroom to enhance and support teaching. The three strategies I will touch on are B.F. Skinner's positive reinforcement, Alfie Kohn's theories on creating a classroom community and inclusion, and Rudolf Dreikurs' thoughts on children's sense of belonging. Below, details about why these three major elements are the most effective for encouraging and maintaining classroom engagement and motivation are explained by some prominent theorists.

b.f. skinner

Positive reinforcement is a motivation strategy that I plan to use in my classroom. Positive reinforcement was introduced as part of B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning theory. Positive reinforcement refers to the introduction of a reward after a desired behavior is performed. The desirable reward reinforces the behavior, making it more likely that the behavior will reoccur. Skinner says this method of motivation and reinforcement is best in the classroom for multiple reasons. The first being that people, especially children, find positive reinforcement easier to swallow than other methods of behavior training, since it doesn’t involve taking anything away or introducing a negative consequence. It’s also much easier to encourage behaviors than to discourage them, making reinforcement a more powerful tool than punishment in most cases.

theorist support

rudolf dreikurs

Dreikurs' theory was that children learn best in a democratic classroom where teachers and students all work together to make decisions about how the class will function. This setting allows the students to openly voice their opinions and questions to the teacher without the feeling of being judged. Dreikur says that children have a primary and compelling desire to feel they are a valued member of the class . Student's sense belonging when the teacher and others give them attention and respect, involve them in activities, and do not mistreat them. All of these can encourage a child to feel comfortable enough to share and partake in activities in the classroom. He also said that when students are unable to gain a sense of belonging in the class, they often turn to things like attention seeking, power seeking, revenge seeking, and inadequacy. Overall, Dreikurs' main theories suggested that engagement and motivation depend directly on the student's sense of belonging in the classroom.

Alfie Kohn

Alfie Kohn spent his whole career focusing on how to improve curriculum and build supportive classrooms alongside students. A big thing he mentioned was that the classroom should be a community from day one. His main ideas about engagement and motivation were that curriculum should be meaningful and learning should be engaging and hands-on. He thought that students need to learn from personal experience and through engaging with the materials and concepts they are hearing/reading about. Using interactive components in lessons keeps children's focus and engagement on track while releasing pent up energy.

Motivation & engagment STRATEGIES for the classroom

good behavior ticket system

An example of a good behavior ticket system is each time a student is seen practicing any good behavior, the teacher will reward the student with a good behavior ticket. The student can save up these tickets each week for the opportunity to cash them in for a prize from the prize chest on Fridays. The good behavior ticket system is a form of positive reinforcement that promotes our class management philosophy themes positive communication and behavior expectations. According to Skinner, positive reinforcement can be more effective with learning curriculum, especially in the long-term. Learning accompanied by positive feelings and associations is more likely to be remembered, even beyond the end of the reinforcement schedule.

sociogram seating

Behavior sociograms are used to help teachers identify the relationships between individuals and groups in the class. They can use the data collected in order to seat or place students in groups that will help them to succeed and branch out socially. Research on social emotional learning suggests that students’ ability to learn is directly linked to the classroom environment. In order to feel comfortable trying new things and mastering new skills, kids must first feel safe and supported. A healthy classroom environment isn’t just a bonus for children, it’s essential for learning to occur. Sociograms won’t necessarily give the teacher the answers to classroom social problems, but they can serve as a guide and a useful tool. They can help focus our awareness on students who may not feel connected and need extra attention. It’s simply another useful tool for teachers to use as they try to set up a supportive learning environment for every student.

connection to EXPERIENCE and strategies

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