31. Let’s Review! A Lesson Plan Lesson Plan for Building Motivation Topic: Building Student Motivation Materials: PPT, Research Articles, Lesson Plan Forms, Lesson Topics, Chart Paper and Markers, etc
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Editor's Notes
Participatory leadership is leadership where everybody has a say. Distributed Leadership-management. Shared Decision Making one of the FPLA standards
John Dewey starting writing about this at the turn of the century. “Education must mirror democracy”. Mary Parker Follett said that people are not represented.
When possible, let students have some say in choosing what will be studied. Give students options on term papers or other assignments (but not on tests). Let students decide between two locations for the field trip, or have them select which topics to explore in greater depth. If possible, include optional or alternative units in the course. (Sources: Ames and Ames, 1990; Cashin, 1979; Forsyth and McMillan, 1991; Lowman, 1984)
Extrinsic motivation : A student can be described as extrinsically motivated when he or she engages in learning "purely for the sake of attaining a reward or for avoiding some punishment" ( Dev, 1997 ). School practices that seek to motivate students extrinsically include publicly recognizing students for academic achievements; giving out stickers, candy, and other rewards; and taking away privileges, such as recess, on the basis of students' academic performance ( Brooks et al., 1998 ). Intrinsic motivation : A student can be described as intrinsically motivated when he or she is motivated from within: Intrinsically motivated students actively engage themselves in learning out of curiosity, interest, or enjoyment, or in order to achieve their own intellectual and personal goals. According to Dev, 1997 , "A student who is intrinsically motivated . . . will not need any type of reward or incentive to initiate or complete a task. This type of student is more likely to complete the chosen task and be excited by the challenging nature of an activity" (p. 13).
When students talk about books, they let each other know what is worth reading and what is exciting to read. Students can scaffold one another. Students’ conceptual knowledge develops more completely when they work together in communities of learners, especially when motivation is high in such classroom communities.
When students begin to be rewarded for doing what they like to do, their intrinsic motivation for the activity can decline. In general, the more a classroom encourages working for grades, the more it discourages intrinsic motivation. Avoid using grades as threats. As McKeachie (1986) points out, the threat of low grades may prompt some students to work hard, but other students may resort to academic dishonesty, excuses for late work, and other counterproductive behavior.
Examples to follow. Open tasks are usually more rigorous and relevant. Closed tasks are worksheets, or others tasks where then final product is the same for every student.
Instead of having students answer the questions at the end of the story, I would have them write a storyboard, and illustrate it, retelling the most important events.
Developmental factors and students' perceptions about their own abilities also play into their level of engagement in learning. The older students get, the less likely they are to take risks and engage themselves fully in activities at which they are not sure they will succeed. According to Lumsden (1994) , "although young children tend to maintain high expectations for success even in the face of repeated failure, older students do not " (p. 2). To older students, "failure following high effort appears to carry more negative implications -- especially for their self-concept of ability -- than failure that results from minimal or no effort" ( Lumsden, 1994 , p. 2).
Encourage students to believe that intelligence is not innate and fixed, but rather everchanging. The smart get smarter by learning more, by learning to use the strategies that smart people use and by acquiring in-depth understanding of important concepts, such as those at the heart of science, social studies, and literacy curricula. Encourage students to interpret failures as a natural part of learning. Discourage students from believing that failures reflect low ability. Foster the understanding that failures indicate a need to try harder in the future. Use student failures to diagnose when and how to scaffold a student. Use yourself as a model for failure and perseverance.
Don't let your students struggle to figure out what is expected of them. Reassure students that they can do well in your course, and tell them exactly what they must do to succeed. Say something to the effect that "If you can handle the examples on these problem sheets, you can pass the exam. People who have trouble with these examples can ask me for extra help." Or instead of saying, "You're way behind," tell the student, "Here is one way you could go about learning the material. How can I help you?" (Sources: Cashin, 1979; Tiberius, 1990)
Private because some students will react negatively toward public praise.
Whenever you identify a student's weakness, make it clear that your comments relate to a particular task or performance, not to the student as a person. Try to cushion negative comments with a compliment about aspects of the task in which the student succeeded. (Source: Cashin, 1979) Be sensitive to how you phrase your comments and avoid offhand remarks that might prick their feelings of inadequacy.
If you become bored or apathetic, students will too. Typically, an instructor's enthusiasm comes from confidence, excitement about the content, and genuine pleasure in teaching. If you find yourself uninterested in the material, think back to what attracted you to the field and bring those aspects of the subject matter to life for your students. Or challenge yourself to devise the most exciting way to present the material, however dull the material itself may seem to you.