Home » Education & Career » Emotional Intelligence » Motivating Students-Part 3

Motivating Students-Part 3

© Marilyn Robb

Considering some of the theory of Motivation (See previous articles- Motivating Students Parts 1 and 2),I offer the following list of suggestions. These activities/suggestions can be adjusted for various levels of teaching. The list is by no means exhaustive.

A. The Involvement of Teachers. The relationship betwen the teacher and student is crucial. Brain research and Social and Emotional Learning theory also tell us that basically the learning environment must be non- threatening and particularly free from fear.

1. Learn about your students' interests, experiences, career goals, etc. Talk with them about their lives and share some of yours with them.

2. Listen actively to your students. Encourage them to talk about their fears and anxieties, their dreams and visions,their everyday upsets and their chronic bad feelings (of invalidation,incompetence, feeling stupid, etc.)

3. Connect with them regularly- an approving look, a hand on the shoulder, sit near to them and walk around the class and stop at a desk occasionally and offer help and support.

4. Avoid threats and punishments (even in tone of voice). Avoid creating competition among the students, encourage cooperative working in groups. Avoid public criticisms and put downs.

B. Providing autonomy and making work releveant and meaningful. 1. Allow students to have choice in what they study, how they are evaluated, how they present work and topics for projects.

2. Give feedback as soon as possible. Feedback must be indicative of how the student has done, where he/she could have done better and suggestions for improvement.

3. Explain how the content of the curriculum will be useful to the studnets academically and/or personally. Use examples and assignments that relate to the students' interests.

4. Use variety in your teaching methods and your presentation, in the assignments and types of tests that you set.

C. Appropriate level of challenge. 1. Hold high expectations of your students always.

2. Help the students to set realistic goals for themselves- stress improvement not just test performance.

3. Communicate clearly what is expected of the students. Be clear with objectives and aims of the lesson and how the students' progress and performance will be evaluated.

4. Make sure that the work matches the students' ability and background and experiences. Set work that is not too easy nor too difficult. The work must be challenging enough, but the student must also believe that achievement is possible.

5. Increase the difficulty of the work as the year progresses and the students' performance improves.

The copyright of the article Motivating Students-Part 3 in Emotional Intelligence is owned by Marilyn Robb. Permission to republish Motivating Students-Part 3 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.