Do you know how to motivate students? Or are you having trouble? We’ve all been there at some point or another in our teaching careers. Most good students aren't born good learners. Yes, individual personality plays a big part in a child's willingness to learn and their overall disposition when it comes to schooling and education, but most children who are good learners at some point had to become good learners. More importantly, any student, who possesses the basic aptitude and receives the right motivation, can become a good learner.
One of the biggest mistakes teachers and parents can make when it comes to developing students and children who are good learners is to limit learning to the classroom. While the classroom will likely be the primary source of instruction, intellectual, social and academic growth should extend outside the walls of the classroom – if you want to really enhance a child's desire and ability to learn. The following are proven tips and strategies that will motivate your child to learn. Apply them correctly, and you'll see your students discover the joy of learning.
Allow for Student Choice
A great way to motivate students is to give them a choice. When giving students an assignment, offer students a menu of options to choose from. When students get the option to choose what they will learn and how they will learn, then they will become intrinsically motivated.
Keep Students Interacting
When students are interacting with their peers, they are engaged, and when they are engaged they are motivated and therefore not bored. The more activities that have your students interacting with one another (think cooperative learning groups), the more you will see the classroom motivation level rise.
Teach in a Different Environment
Sometimes all you need to spark student interest is to move your students out of the environment that they are used to and into somewhere new and exciting. Going on a field trip or even just taking your lesson outdoors can be a great way to gain student interest.
Teach to All Students’ Abilities
Every student learns differently, and when you are able to reach each student to the best of his own abilities, then you will have successfully engaged them. To ensure that each learner will be engaged and motivated to learn, be sure to differentiate lessons and activities.
Develop an atmosphere of reading
Some people would argue that reading it the key to success in life. We would most certainly argue that at minimum reading is a key to success in learning. Children who develop a love of reading, develop a love for learning. Children who struggle with reading, struggle with learning.
Reading not only helps children develop a much richer vocabulary, but it also helps their brain learn how to process concepts and formal communication. And the skills gained from reading extend far beyond increased performance in language art classes. Students who read well experience an enhanced ability to learn in all subjects – including technical subjects such as math and science.
A key to developing good readers, it to make reading fun – not frustrating. If a child decides that reading is boring or frustrating, they won't want to read and their ability to learn will be diminished. Let children pick their own books to read, help them read, and create activities for them that make reading fun.
Have Students Establish Attainable Goals
One of the best ways to motivate students is to have them establish a few attainable goals for themselves. Have students think of a few academic goals that they would like to set for themselves such as get an A on their math test, or know all of their multiplication tables, etc. Then have them set a time for which they want that goal to be reached. Goals are the perfect way to help to intrinsically motivate students.
Create a Friendly Classroom Competition
There is no denying that children love a little competition. So having students be able to compete against their peers is a great way to create some excitement in your classroom. Try breaking students into two groups and compete in a relay race or play a Jeopardy!-style game. Any kind of academic spin that you can put on a fun competitive game will help to boost student engagement and motivation.
Using games as an education tool not only provides opportunities for deeper learning and development of non-cognitive skills, it helps motivate children to want to learn. Games that are entertaining provide the added benefit of motivating children to want to engage in the learning process and want to learn more.
Share your enthusiasm for learning
Enthusiasm rubs off, especially when it comes to learning new things. If your student sees that you're sincerely enthusiastic about learning, they're likely to become enthusiastic about learning. Whether it's history, science, reading, writing or even math, help him see that learning is a journey of exciting new discoveries. Take every opportunity – without being overwhelming or overbearing – to discover new information with him. As your student sees the joy and excitement learning brings to your life, they'll begin to share your enthusiasm for learning new things as well.
Share Achievements
No matter how small they may be, it's important to recognize and celebrate your students' achievements. This is especially important for elementary age school children who require constant positive reinforcement to keep them motivated to learn and challenge themselves to do better. Promote the efforts of your students by sharing their accomplishments and achievements. You can share them with the classroom and you can broaden the range by sharing them with the entire school as well as the outer community.
Give Up Some Control
When it comes to education, all some kids experience is control, control, control. When a child feels controlled, or out of control when it comes to their education, they often withdraw from learning. It's important to guide children through the learning process, but it's just as important to allow children to have control of their own learning experience. For example, when assigning a writing project, allow children to choose their topic to write about. Allow your students to decide where they will take their tests or read their books. You can even allow them to control how they will take their test (multiple-choice, short answer, etc.) or what they will.
Make Your Lessons Relatable
Make Your Lessons Relatable
There is no denying that when you make your lessons more relatable, your students will care more about what they are learning. Try and intertwine whatever you are teaching your students to what is going in their lives or to something that they have already learned or no about.
Make every day a learning day
Turning every day into a learning day may sound like a bit much, but it really isn't, if you go about it the right way. Whenever possible, encourage your child to explore the world around him, ask questions and make connections. Help him categorize, classify and thinking critically of what he sees and experiences. Turning every day into a learning day will help your child develop the internal motivation to learn in the classroom, at home or wherever he may be.
Give Students Something to Look Forward to
A great motivator is to give your students something to look forward to. Have it be a class field trip, a Fun Friday celebration, or a get-out-of-homework pass. For an unmotivated classroom, earning something even as little as a little free time can be a huge motivator.
What are some ways that you motivate your students? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below, we would love to hear what you do in your classroom.
