How Do Motivation and Interest Develop in Learning?

As a student, I remember those times when my classmates and I were so frustrated and overwhelmed with learning Arabic, as it was a mandatory subject in elementary school. After listening to the presentation of Group F, it reminded me of that struggle and how that specific issue was addressed successfully by our Arabic teacher. She knew that all we wanted was a spark and a fun activity that would lead us to success.

One day, after several failures, she taught us to make a cube with cardboard. Then, she asked us to paint it and write the pronouns and verb conjugations on each face of the cube. We needed 11 more; therefore, we were told to make them and bring them the following week. We were so excited to know what was going to happen.

The next week came, and she patiently taught us the game instructions. Every time she announced the present tense, we had to look for the right face of the cube and arrange them in the right order. Whoever made the puzzle faster would be given an award. So, competition made it more challenging and fun. After a few sessions, with her remarkable feedback, even those students who had struggled more had progressed.

I remember how an effective strategy such as motivation and interest affected us as students and finally led to success in a subject that was scary and boring.

Today, as I recall that learning process vividly, I notice that Mrs. Tamimi used the Interest and Motivation strategy, and as discussed in the presentation, she:

_Provided the situation of interest.

_Provided personal enthusiasm and other learning materials.

_Provided real competence and confidence-building feedback.

Also, I can relate the concepts of Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation to this discussion because not only did we do an activity that was fun, enjoyable, and entertaining, but we were also offered a reward for task accomplishment.

As a future educator, I really think I would use these strategies because I grasped the concept so well. In my future classroom, I would try to use games, hands-on activities, and small rewards to create interest and motivation, especially when students are struggling with a subject or find it difficult and boring. These methods led to deep learning for me as a case study and, for sure, will be helpful for teaching the next generation. I absolutely honor memories that become part of your journey as a person who always tries to learn and be better.

SeveenS@OTU