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Motivational Tools - Not Just for Students
August 18th, 2008 by StephenPosted in Inspiration, Links, Personal Development List, Productivity |
Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: In Context Blog
I just found a list of 100+ motivational techniques for students at Smart Teaching. I believe that many of these are of use to anyone, not just students:
Here are 100 or so suggestions of ways that you can make your classes more engaging and encourage your students to work harder at learning.
General
Here are some basic ideas to consider when motivating your students.
- Encourage internal motivation. While some students may need a great deal of motivation from you, your ultimate goal is to get them to motivate themselves. Encourage students to provide their own motivation for getting things done rather than relying on you to motivate them.
- Prepare students to learn. Before you begin teaching, make sure that students have been prepared and are in the appropriate mood to sit down and learn. Those who feel uncomfortable for any reason will feel much less motivated to pay attention.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
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August 22nd, 2008 at 12:07 am
These certainly seem true as a former teacher and as current therapist and coach. As far as internal motivation, my experience of it was that this consisted of:
1. Meeting them where they were at. You can’t help students much by grousing about the fact that their last instructor didn’t teach them the essentials. Meet them where they are.
2. Raise their expectations. They have to see that there is something to be gotten by understanding the concept at hand…something that can improve their lives. Which you do by:
3. Help them to see how the new learning connects to what they already know about the world. Knowledge is much more enduring when it is connected to prior learning. I think of it like a tinker toy structure. They have to see where it connects in for it to become part of their current structure.
Number two is certainly true to. The learning environment and their mental state make a huge difference.
Nice snippet.