Motivational Techniques
 |
| Motivational Techniques |
Positively Impacting Students from Middle School through
In the United States, our children face a number of factors that influence their behavior. Children’s peers, parents and even the media, especially television, heavily influence students. Because of these influences, it can be difficult to motivate students in the classroom to strive for and achieve success. The purpose of this article is to discuss the influential factors that affect children from middle school through college, and discuss ways to help motivate students to achieve success.
Extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, high school students, motivational techniques, peer assessment, job shadowing, career coaches, parental involvement, growth model.
Types of Motivation
There are two different types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic (Intrinsic motivation, Extrinsic motivation). Both types of motivation are very powerful and can be utilized to create positive results in the classroom. Intrinsic motivation refers to that which comes from within each person. If a person enjoys an activity, they are more likely to do it as opposed to something that they do not enjoy. This is why intrinsic motivation is so important. Teachers, parents and counselors can use intrinsic motivation to help students develop a career plan. For example, if a student is interested in computers, that may be something that the student should be encouraged to pursue as a career. Teachers can bring in guest speakers from various career fields to help encourage students to find the right career path. Teachers can also encourage students to participate in job shadowing opportunities. Many businesses are eager to help young people. Job shadowing gives the student an opportunity to see details about the careers of their choice, but more importantly, it allows the students to freely ask a professional direct questions. These student questions may be outside of the teacher’s or parent’s realm of expertise. Job shadowing also allows the student to see the world outside of a textbook, get feedback on their resume, gain networking contacts and gain valuable work experience that can be included on their resume (Job Shadowing). Showing students that they can turn an interest into a career is what intrinsic motivation is all about.
Extrinsic motivation is completely different. This type of motivation focuses on a reward or punishment system. Examples of extrinsic motivation are rewards such as money, food/candy, praise or acknowledgement, or good grades. Fear of punishment or failure is also extrinsic and can be very powerful. High school and college are obviously different in many ways. One example of this fact is that, in most cases, the rewards of extrinsic motivation are lacking in a college classroom. But, the fear of failure is likely much higher in a college environment as opposed to high school. This may make the transition from high school to college more difficult for some students. Many professors at the college level are required to conduct research in their respective specialties and teaching is sometimes secondary; whereas grades Kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers are usually focused only on students. This does not make one teacher more important than the other, but simply shows that college professors have less time to devote to individual students and less time to focus on motivational methods. Because of this, students must be motivated for success in a college environment, or they face the likelihood of failure. The lack of motivation is one of the many factors that keep students from completing college.
It is important for teachers to keep students active, to find which type of motivation works on them, to challenge them and to alter the types of assignments. Taking students on field trips, providing hands-on learning experiences and giving challenging assignments are the keys in keeping students involved in the learning process. Visual learners need quiet study time to enjoy charts and graphs. Auditory learners enjoy lectures, reading out loud and music. Kinesthetic learners need breaks from studying, like building and working with models to enjoy lab environments such as science (Fleming).
And, just as the above practices can be used for both secondary and post-secondary students, teachers must make plans in their curriculum in case they have students with learning disabilities. “Functional sight-vocabulary is vital in learning to read for individuals with learning difficulties. Multifaceted approaches and activities that are relevant and meaningful to students to help heighten and maintain their motivation to participate, persist, and learn” (Morgan and Moni, 2007). Morgan and Moni also write that games and activities such as using vocabulary charts, using vocabulary scrapbooks, using word cards and even bingo can help in building vocabulary skills and also helping students stay motivated.
The Role of the School
For many students, late elementary school and junior high—or the middle school years—are the most critical in terms of future success or failure. According to Johns Hopkins University School of Education, sixth graders with high absenteeism have only an eighteen percent chance of completing high school. In North Carolina, some schools are changing their approach to how they treat their students:
Too many schools serving 6th through 9th graders, however, have yet to find the right prescription for keeping those youngsters engaged at a time when their growing curiosity, independence, and need for the acceptance of their peers may lead them to act out or zone out in school. “Our belief is they’ll grow out of it. But the evidence shows that in high-poverty environments, they don’t grow out of it” without intervention, said Robert Balfanz, a research scientist at the Center for the Social Organization of Schools, based at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore…About 40 percent of eventual dropouts could be identified in the 6th grade, he estimates. “The only way to intervene is if we know who the kids are,” he said, and are familiar with their records in school. Mr. Balfanz and his colleagues, like several researchers before them, contend that many students begin to go astray well before they reach high school. Middle schools, he believes, should be the first line of defense in tracking those warning signs and intervening (Manzo, 2008).
One of the most important roles the school has is to find ways to motivate students to reach their full potential. Some schools have sought to motivate students by utilizing both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
The administration at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Boston, Massachusetts posts every student’s grade point average on a bulletin board in the school. The names are replaced by the student identification number. This policy has caused the students to compete with each other, and in turn, motivates them to succeed in school. This may not work in each educational environment, or be feasible due to privacy issues, but it is an interesting option utilizing intrinsic motivation.
Some schools have started giving students rewards for completing projects or taking time to read. New Hope Elementary School in Thornton, California, USA has students who come to the library, get in groups and read aloud before gaining access to video games. The California Department of Education estimates that sixty percent of elementary students in this town are not fluent in English. So, programs like this motivate students to learn, even if it is through an extrinsic motivational system of being rewarded after completing a reading assignment.
Another way to motivate students is to hold them accountable. There should be punishment for breaking any school rule. Just as misbehavior or breaking rules draws punishment, good behavior and meeting goals will gain rewards for those students who excel. It is likely that if lower-functioning students see higher-functioning students getting rewards, it will likely encourage the former to try harder and reach their potential. Some students may still act out, but the author believes that if students are seen getting rewards for excelling, their behavior will be mimicked. This relates to Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (McLeod, 2011) where learning is influenced by the environment. Children observe the world and people around them and mimic those people or models. The first part of Bandura’s theory is that children will imitate or mimic models that are similar to themselves, especially those that are the same sex. The second part of this theory is that the people who witness the children’s behavior will either reinforce the behavior positively or negatively, but regardless, the child will likely change their behavior to seek approval. The third part of this theory states that students will attach themselves to models who exhibit qualities that they can identify with and actually mimic these behaviors.
Hopefully the article that discusses the Motivational Techniques can be useful and applicable.
Did you know that this knowledge, which you've been carrying around with you in "code form" from birth, only needs to be plugged into a special calendar to reveal it's secrets to you in pure form?
Did you know that, for over 1,750 years people used the secret code inside this calendar for deciphering who they were and where their special talents lay,
But that this secret code was lost when the Roman calendar was imposed on the "New World"...which is the same one we all use today? Click Above Link For More...
>>>Click Here To Know More About Power Quadrant System<<<