Stop Kicking and Start Running!

DISCLAIMER: The following post was originally completed as part of my coursework for EDUC 520-Student Learning and Motivation, one of my grad classes. If you are not interested in education, this is going to be wicked boring. Please feel free to check out some of my other posts!

Every teacher has seen it happen: they prepared a great lesson, only to have several students put their heads down in boredom and be snoring by the end of class. Or perhaps a student seems enthusiastic about starting a new project, but due date comes around and the teacher finds that the student never got past the planning phase. Although what most teachers think the students need is a kick in the pants, what these students are dealing with is lack of sufficient motivation.

Motivation is the will to choose, pursue, and complete a task (Biehler, McCown, & Snowman, 2009, 406). Although teachers often think their students are not motivated simply because they are not displaying the same fervent passion for the subject that they have, this is not the case. Technically, any student who completes a task has some level of motivation (Biehler, McCown, & Snowman, 2009, 406). So how can teachers influence their students to exhibit higher levels of motivation and achieve the maximum potential of what the teacher desires?

The answer lies in that word: influence. What many teachers have painfully come to realize is that they cannot force a child to be intrinsically motivated; that is to say, motivated from within (Biehler, McCown, & Snowman, 2009, 408). Therefore, they lean entirely on extrinsic motivation through means such as rewards, prizes, and consequences (Biehler, McCown, & Snowman, 2009, 408). While this may seem to have a good short-term effect, and certainly has a place in the classroom, studies have shown that this type of extrinsic motivation is often taken to excess by a teacher who sees some initial success with it, and actually ends up decreasing the student’s intrinsic motivation (Biehler, McCown, & Snowman, 2009, 408). Not only do teachers get exhausted trying to keep up with their motivational techniques, the students lose what little motivation they may have had!

So if teachers cannot motivate students intrinsically, and should not motivate them extrinsically, what is left? They must return to influence. They can motivate them extrinsically, but they must fundamentally change their methods if they want the extrinsic motivation to transfer into the student and become intrinsic motivation. Promote and model growth mindset (Wilcox, 2018). Get your students out of the rut of thinking your subject is impossibly difficult and show them little ways they can succeed. Develop meaningful, respectful relationships in your classroom (Wilcox, 2018). Students simply will not learn from someone they do not identify with or even like. Make your classroom a learning community (Wilcox, 2018). Students must know that taking risks and making mistakes are okay, and are even a vital part of the learning process. Set high expectations and clear goals (Wilcox, 2018). Students want to achieve great things, but will never be motivated if they are not sure how because the instructions are unclear. And lastly, be an inspirational model (Wilcox, 2018). Students want to pay attention to and follow in the steps of someone they consider positive and successful, so be positive and successful!

So what does this influential motivation look like? Stop rewarding every single instance of academic excellence, and instead provide specific, constructive feedback aimed at every student’s progress. Stop being a reward and consequence dispenser, and instead invest some time into getting to know your students. Stop directing your students’ focus to percentages and letter grades, and instead encourage effort and progress. Stop allowing your students to settle for “good enough,” and instead provide clear instruction on how to actually succeed (and ample time and additional opportunities to do so). Stop sitting in the ivory tower behind your teacher desk, and instead join the classroom community as the lead learner.

A kick in the pants rarely motivated anyone to start running down the road to success. Seeing someone shout “You’ll never believe what I just found!” and starting to run down the same road will probably get at least a few followers. Trying to jolt them into being motivated with trite extrinsic rewards is like kicking them in the pants. Passionate, precise modeling is like being the leader that runs down the path. Stop kicking and start running!

References:

Biehler, R., McCown, R., & Snowman, J. (2009). Psychology applied to teaching. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Wilcox, L. (2018, June 4). Top 5 strategies for motivating students. National board for professional teaching standards. https://www.nbpts.org/blog/top-5-strategies-for-motivating-students/