Coming into education from the perspective of a teacher makes you realize how much you need to reflect on your own experiences as a student. Your experiences may not reflect those of others and therefore, your motivations may not be the same as theirs. As a teacher, you will have a diverse group of students. Some are there because they are interested in the topic, some are there because they want the best grade, some may be taking the course for a future program and some are there because they have to be. It is important to recognize that just because something motivated me as a student, does not mean it will motivate someone else.
Throughout high school and university, my motivation was getting a good grade. I knew I wanted to get the best grade possible so that I’d always have the opportunity to pursue something further in the future if I wished. I do genuinely have an interest in learning new things, but when both of my motivations conflicted, getting good grades is what won. I often approached learning by asking, “What do I need to know to do well?” instead of, “What can I discover about this?”
Looking back, I realize that having that mindset helped me be successful academically and I gained the skills I needed. However, it didn’t give me room to genuinely investigate the topic and learn beyond what I needed to get a good grade. Sometimes I wish I had been able to enjoy the process of learning instead of focusing fully on the outcome.
I recognize that not all students are like me. Some students are motivated by the topic itself and they get their grades along the way. Some students really might not want to be there and are only doing it because of their parents. Now, when you have such different motivations in your class, how do you motivate all students without leaving those who don’t want to be there behind?
Students are not all motivated by the same things, so finding one strategy that makes everyone care is not always practical. Teachers need to create different points where students’ attention can be grabbed and help students develop an interest or want to learn. There are a few steps we can take as educators to achieve this…
Get students interested! Start off your lessons with a hook. This can be a demonstration or a question that gets students thinking. Give students a reason to care about the topic. Even if students don’t have a personal interest in the topic, they can develop a situational interest. By starting off the lesson or topic with a hook, it prepares students to get ready to learn the topic.
I think another important thing to consider is giving students room to fail and discover things. Part of the reason I didn’t investigate topics deeper was because everything counted towards grades. There were fewer opportunities to try something, get it wrong, learn from it and try again without worrying how the first attempt affected my mark.
Some students may not even want to try, because the anxiety of doing badly overwhelms them. So they’d rather not try at all because it will make them feel worse if they fail. Especially if they are already not good at something, they might believe that’s just destiny and not their thing. This is where teacher feedback matters. We need to make our students see failure as a learning opportunity and how to improve. Show them that it’s not the end of the world and that through hard work, they can do better. This can start with the comments we give students. Saying things like “I like how hard you worked on that” instead of “You’re so smart” reinforces students’ motivation to try and improve since we notice their work ethic. Also, where possible, giving students specific feedback on where they can improve will be beneficial in helping them achieve better. This helps students understand that anything is learnable. Even if an assessment doesn’t go as well as they hoped, it doesn’t reflect their potential and ability to do better going forward.
But what about students who don’t care at all? This is a motivation I’m most curious about as a future teacher. I’m concerned with students feeling like they’re being pestered and withdrawing even more when I try to engage them. I think there will always be students who don’t want to learn the material. That’s okay. I think the starting point is to talk to the student and understand if there’s a reason why they aren’t engaging. I think, again, a great way to catch their attention is to connect what we learn to something they care about, let them work with others in the class, give them challenges and spark their curiosity with a hook!
I don’t think students need to love the topic by the end of the course. Instead, I want students in my classroom to have opportunities to participate, improve, learn and find a reason to try and keep going.
AngelaK@OTU
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