Motivation in the Classroom
Teachers obviously want their students to learn. However, it’s easy for students to be content with their current schemas. Usually, a student’s schema is filled with incorrect information and gaping holes. To correct these schema errors it requires a good deal of Active Mental Engagement on the student’s part. Teachers must motivate and encourage students to change these schemas so that the students have a correct perception of reality.
Motivation in the classroom can take on many forms. First of all, making the information relevant to the student’s lives will encourage motivation. Connecting familiar/concrete information with abstract future aspirations (like a future careers) can also go a long way. Challenging the students, but at the same time being available to help scaffold can motivate students. For example assigning projects that allow students to have freedom to stretch in a safe environment can really excite students to learn because they will see the importance of taking ownership of their own education. Teachers must be very careful with the language they use when directly addressing students. It is crucial that teachers link encouraging words with constructive criticism. If a teacher focuses on one side too much, the words might begin to lose their meaning.
Sometimes teachers may unintentionally be doing things that discourage student motivation. There is nothing worse than a teacher that essentially fills the role of a glorified computer. A teacher that reads off PowerPoint slides to a group of students that they don’t even know the names of isn’t exactly spurring on learning. The students could learn just as much information by going home and spending 20 minutes searching on Google.
If teachers don’t motivate students, who will? This is yet another teacher role that cannot be pushed aside for the more “important teacher roles.”
