Motivation and Student Engagement

       We always say that there is no "silver bullet" to getting kids to learn and be successful in school.  There's no secret or magic that helps all students.  Teaching is an art and some people have a way of reaching students better than other people.

       But the truth is that there really is a secret.  Every student can learn and good teachers can get to every student: the quiet student, the reluctant student, the distracted student, the poor student, the sad student, and even the emotionally-challenged student.  There is a way to help all students to learn how to learn.  This secret isn't always taught in teacher preparation classes.  Some teachers know about the secret but refuse to employ it; or struggle to use it every day.  Other teachers seem to use this secret with relative ease; masking the hours of effort and preparation they have put into it prior to class time.  The secret is motivation and student engagement.

       For most students who struggle in school, it isn't that they lack the ability to learn.  More often it is that they lack the desire to learn.  They haven't been given a good reason to learn.  They receive very uninspirational messages such as:  "You have to go to school."  "It's your job to go to school."  "I know it's hard, but you have to do it."  "Math is dull and boring, but that's just the way it is."  "It's the law that you have to go to school."  "Just do it and get it over with."  (And so on.)  These messages might be OK for very little children who are more accustomed to doing what they are told to do from their parents and other adults, but by the time kids get to middle school and certainly by the time they get to high school, children need a much better reason to do things other than "Because I say so.".

       Have you noticed that when students like their teachers, they tend to do better in those classes?  Have you ever been surprised that your child is doing great in Social Studies or Foreign Language when they never liked these subjects in the past?  Most of the time it isn't the subject, it's the teacher that made the difference.  And when you ask the child why they are doing so much better, they say that the teachers makes the subject interesting and fun.  An important part of teaching is motivating students to do their best.  Some teachers understand this very well and work hard to find ways to motivate their students.

       This "secret" really isn't a secret to our best educators; but it seems to continue to be a secret to some of our teachers.  Fortunately there are a lot of books and groups and people that can help teachers to learn about student engagement and motivation.  A great place to start is the book Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov.  This book is filled with simple ideas that motivate students.  Another excelled source of information is Robert Marzano's book The Highly Engaged Classroom.  This book explains why it is important to employ student engagement strategies into every classroom and how it helps students to do better in school.  Another popular book on this subject is Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess.  There is also a very popular Twitter chat under the hashtag #TLAP in which teachers talk about their experiences and ideas about student motivation.  Finally, I have to include the book Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck--which is becoming (practically) required reading among teachers that seek to help their students to reach their true potential.

       Of course, teachers who are best at motivating their students have put in many, many hours of reading and classes and training to be good at this.  Every student is different and every school year presents different challenges.  Some teachers are so overwhelmed by the demands of teaching, it can be difficult for them to take the time to learn about student motivation.  However, some teachers believe that the old messages of "you just have to do this" should be good enough motivation for students and they are unwilling to learn about new methods for helping their students to do their best everyday.

       Every student can learn and every teacher can reach every student.  The "secret" is learning about student motivation and student engagement.  It works every time!  If we want to encourage our students to be the best that they can be and help them to reach their potential, we can do this.  Indeed, we must do this.

Encouraging a Growth Mindset for your Students

       Growth Mindset is an understanding that you can learn and achieve anything if you are willing to work and practice and study and try.  A student's ability to learn is not predetermined from birth.


       This is an important concept for teachers who seem to always have some students who believe that they are not born with the skills necessary to learn.  A common saying among some students is, "I don't have a math brain.", meaning, "I don't have the ability to learn math regardless of the extent of my efforts."  We know now that this is not true.  But teachers are often faced with the prospects of needing to convince some of their students that this is not true.

       This chart is filled with suggestions for helping students to view their perceived obstacles in a different way.  Part of a teacher's job is to motivate their students to do their best everyday.  The more that we can convince students and then demonstrated to students that effort leads to (at least some level of) success, the more we are able to create a learning atmosphere in which students believe that they can learn.

       Growth Mindset is for weak and strong students alike.  We also have students who have been successful in the traditional school setting who don't have a growth mindset.  These students may have been praised for their "smarts" and they may be afraid to try something new for fear of not succeeding.  This limits their ability to grow.  Hence, encouraging a growth mindset is for all students and not just for a few.  Our best teachers have always been encouraging a growth mindset.  We have all had teachers who were able to convince us to try and to work hard in the belief that we would eventually succeed.  We need to see this occurring much more often in our classrooms.





Teachers that Promote a Growth Mindset

       Every teacher has had "the phone call" with parents in which the teacher says,  Your child has the ability, she just needs to apply herself.  And then the teacher and parent (typically) talk about school rules involving turing work in on time and not talking in class.  Essentially, we are saying to the child, We're the adults.  These are the rules.  If you don't follow the rules, then you will get a bad grade.  (Of course, if the student was concerned about her grade, we wouldn't have this discussion in the first place.)

       There are a lot of "old school" problems with that phone conversation.

1. The conversation emphasizes following rules and getting grades, and there is very little talk about actual learning.
2. The first part of the famous teacher line is, Your child has the ability....  If the child already has the ability to do the work, then the solution to the problem should concentrate on why the child isn't doing what she is already capable of doing.

       We know that (as adults) there are lots of things that we have the ability to do and yet we don't do them--or we delay doing them for as long as possible.  Mowing the grass, doing the dishes, admitting we're wrong about something.  We have the ability to do all of these things, but we need some sort of motivation to actually take the time to do them.  Students are the same way.  The old adult (or teacher) response of "I'm the adult and I say so." may force children to do something, but it certainly doesn't motivate them to do their best.

       Growth Mindset theory tells us that when students believe that effort will lead to result, they are more likely to try new things and are less worried about making mistakes because they believe that these setbacks are just part of the process of learning new things.  I've recently been introduced to the website Mindset Kit.  This site is dedicated to helping teachers, parents, and students to understand what Growth Mindset is and how to help students to develop good, healthy Growth Mindsets.

       One simple strategy that every teacher can do is called Praise the Process.  When a student is doing some classwork, or offers an answer or an idea in class, the teacher response by praising the thinking that went into the student's effort rather responding to the correctness or the incorrectness of the student's work or response.  This simple strategy helps the student to know that their effort is important towards that eventual goal of learning the skill or concept.

  

       Mindset Kit has excellent resources for parents.  Teachers can refer parents to this site for parents who ask, "How can I help my child to do her best?"  There is a brief quiz on different statements of praise that parents can say to their children that will promote a Growth Mindset.  And there are other typical daily activities in which a parent's reaction will help their children to understand (for instance) that making mistakes is great for helping your brain to learn.

       Our best teachers already know how to encourage their students to do their best everyday--even when they don't want to.  It's the same as when a parent tries to distract their child away from something that is bothering him and towards something that he would like.  Growth Mindset strategies help teachers to do this while also helping their students to see the value in effort.

       Here's another quote I hear from parents all of the time, "I can't believe my child is doing so well in (insert course subject here) class in school.  He has never done well in that class before."  You can bet that this child has a teacher that knows how to motivate students.  Her class is interesting and students are engaged in the adventure of learning.  

       After all, they already have the ability.

Motivated to Learn

       I often say to new teachers that it may not be your job to entertain your students, but it is certainly part of your job to motivate your students.

       We know that actual "teaching" is only a part of a teachers job.  The most major part of the job is ensuring that students are learning.  Our best teachers know that most students don't learn strictly by listening.  Learning requires doing, talking, asking questions, making mistakes, and doing some more.  Teachers plan lessons that keep their students engaged.

       Strategies to keep students motivated include lots of basic things such as:

1. Calling on students every class (preferably at least three times each class),
2. Allowing opportunities for students to get out of their seats during every class,
3. Playing games that require students to understand the objective for the day to do well in the game, 
4. Asking a lot of "Why" questions that require students to think and to explain their thinking,
5. Allowing students choices to demonstrate their learning.

       Students can't learn if they are not motivated to learn.  Requiring students to sit still and listen to the teacher for 45 minutes or 50 minutes or 90 minutes is not an effective way to instill true learning.

       What do you do to motivate your students to do their best everyday?