ideas to improve student motivation

Ideas To Improve Student Motivation

Simple Ideas To Improve Student Motivation. by TeachThought Staff.
11. Encourage self reflection
Most kids want to succeed, they just need help figuring out what they need to do in order to get there. One way to motivate your students is to get them to take a hard look at themselves and determine their own strengths and weaknesses. Students are often much more motivated by creating these kinds of critiques of themselves than by having a teacher do it for them, as it makes them feel in charge of creating their own objectives and goals.
12. Be excited
One of the best ways to get your students motivated is to share your enthusiasm. When you re excited about teaching, they ll be much more excited about learning. It s that simple.
13. Know your students
Getting to know your students is about more than just memorizing their names. Students need to know that their teacher has a genuine interest in them and cares about them and their success. When students feel appreciated it creates a safe learning environment and motivates them to work harder, as they want to get praise and good feedback from someone they feel knows and respects them as individuals.
14. Harness student interests
Knowing your students also has some other benefits, namely that it allows you to relate classroom material to things that students are interested in or have experienced. Teachers can use these interests to make things more interesting and relatable to students, keeping students motivated for longer.
15. Help students find intrinsic motivation
It can be great to help students get motivated, but at the end of the day they need to be able to generate their own motivation. Helping students find their own personal reasons for doing class work and working hard, whether because they find material interesting, want to go to college, or just love to learn, is one of the most powerful gifts you can give them.
16. Manage student anxiety
Some students find the prospect of not doing well so anxiety inducing that it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. For these students, teachers may find that they are most motivated by learning that struggling with a subject isn t the end of the world. Offer support no matter what the end result is and ensure that students don t feel so overwhelmed by expectations that they just give up.
17. Make goals high but attainable
If you re not pushing your students to do more than the bare minimum, most won t seek to push themselves on their own. Students like to be challenged and will work to achieve high expectations so long as they believe those goals to be within their reach, so don t be afraid to push students to get more out of them.
18. Give feedback and offer chances to improve
Students who struggle with class work can sometimes feel frustrated and get down on themselves, draining motivation. In these situations it s critical that teachers help students to learn exactly where they went wrong and how they can improve next time. Figuring out a method to get where students want to be can also help them to stay motivated to work hard.
19. Track progress
It can be hard for students to see just how far they ve come, especially with subjects that are difficult for them. Tracking can come in handy in the classroom, not only for teachers but also for students. Teachers can use this as a way to motivate students, allowing them to see visually just how much they are learning and improving as the year goes on.
20. Make things fun
Not all class work needs to be a game or a good time, but students who see school as a place where they can have fun will be more motivated to pay attention and do the work that s required of them than those who regard it as a chore. Adding fun activities into your school day can help students who struggle to stay engaged and make the classroom a much more friendly place for all students.