We have derived the word ‘Motivation’ from another word ‘Motive’. The meaning of the word ‘Motive’ is desire, need, or want. Motivation is the process of stimulating people to accomplish their goals. Many psychological factors can stimulate the behavior of people. In these factors, there comes the desire for money, recognition, success, job satisfaction, etc. Nowadays, motivation has become a key factor for the success of students in all fields of their educational careers. Teachers can play a pivotal role to motivate students. No doubt, all the students have different motivations. It is difficult for teachers to motivate students about learning and working hard. The teachers may have to face some problems in keeping the students on track. Here, we will discuss some important tips for teachers that will help them to improve the motivation level of their students.
Tips to Motivate Students
1. Make Learning Fun
Making learning fun is an important technique to motivate students. It can give students a lifelong love of learning. To make learning fun, teachers have to quit traditional teaching methods. Its reason is that we can’t engage students by using traditional teaching methods. There are various ways to make learning fun for the students.
Tips to Make Learning Fun
The teachers should break up their lessons. It will add excitement and keep your students interested. They can break up their lessons by giving an introduction, involving students in an activity, assigning group exercises, and concluding with a class discussion.
♦Another important way to motivate students is to give them choices. When students get the power to choose, they show more engagement in lessons. The teachers should give them choices about choosing activities and homework. It is also the best way to instill decision-making skills in the students.
♦Incorporating games is also an important way to make learning fun and to motivate students. It is the best way to add an instant engagement to your lesson plan. Along with physical games, teachers can also introduce online games in the classroom.
♦Teachers can also allow students to group. It is the best way to retain information quicker and longer. It will also develop critical thinking and communication skills among the students.
♦The teachers should be open to creativity. They should provide freedom to their students to modify assignments and projects. The students will try to implement new ideas to provide a unique twist to your lesson.
♦At last, teachers should not ignore technology. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to make learning fun without the use of technology. From laptops to tablets, you will find an endless stream of devices that can make learning fun.
2. Give Students a Sense of Control
As a teacher, the idea of giving a sense of control to students can be a crazy move. Anyhow, it can give them ownership of their learning. After relinquishing control in some areas of the classroom, the students will become more receptive to instruction. It can engage the students in the learning process. Moreover, it will also make the students willing to take on challenges.
Tips to Give Students a Sense of Control
♦Homework is a common gripe among students. When you will let them choose their homework, they will feel an enhanced sense of ownership. For example, you can provide a sheet of 50 math problems to the students. If you want to give them a sense of control, you should allow them to solve any 10 math problems from the sheet.
♦You should measure the understanding of the students in different ways. The research is also suggesting that we should not test students in one single and standardized way. The teachers can introduce 5 to 10 ways to measure the understanding of the students. After that, they can give a sense of control by allowing them to choose the desired way to give tests.
♦The teachers can also personalize content and material to motivate students. For example, they can allow them to choose their books to read. They can also allow them to select their desired science experiments and vocabulary lists for memorization.
♦We should provide regular opportunities to the students for self-evaluation. The teachers can provide these opportunities either at the end of the period or during the week. It will provide an opportunity for the students to reflect on their performance. This thing will also provide an opportunity for the students for their learning.
♦At last, teachers should use supportive classroom policies. Here, they should also involve the students in deciding the best classroom rules and policies. It will strengthen their civic values and boost their academic achievements.
3. Create a Threat Free Environment to Motivate Students
It is a huge responsibility of the teachers to shape the minds of their students. For this reason, they have to create a safe and threat-free environment for the students. When students will feel safe and comfortable, they can focus on learning. As a teacher, if you don’t focus on creating a threat-free environment for the students, your students may have to face the problems of bullying. This thing can demotivate the students. As a result, they will face the problem of lack of interest in studies.
Tips for Creating a Threat-Free Environment to Motivate Students
♦You should establish a culture of inclusion and respect that will welcome all the students. When students show respect for peers and teachers, you should reward them.
♦The teachers should also ensure safe interaction among the students. In the absence of monitoring, the students may have to face the problems of bullying. Therefore, schools should make a mechanism for monitoring bullying in and outside of school buildings.
♦There should be a healthy environment across the school. It means that teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, and office staff all should show respect for the students.
♦Teachers should try to set a tone of respect in the classrooms. Its reason is that well-managed classrooms have to face fewer problems of bullying.
♦They should create ground rules. These rules will help the students to develop a climate of respect and responsibility.
♦After creating ground rules, teachers should reinforce these rules. They can become role models for their students by following these rules. They can also make the expectation of the students clear by keeping requests simple and direct.
4. Use Positive Competition to Motivate Students
Competition in the classroom is always a good thing to motivate students for doing hard work to excel. As a teacher, one should know that competition is a great motivator for the students. It helps the students to stay motivated and focused. A positive competitive classroom environment is also a great way for the students to engage in learning.
Tips For Using Positive Competition to Motivate Students
♦It is a fact that all students do not have the same abilities or knowledge to complete a specific task. That’s why we should not give exact time limits for all the students to solve specific problems. It means that you should give everyone a chance to win. For this reason, you should allow the students to do several things simultaneously.
♦Teachers should create an atmosphere of excitement among the students. They should not make the students feel nervous or upset by assigning difficult or boring tasks. The students should work on those tasks that are motivating and enjoyable for them.
♦Teachers should not engage the students in those competitions where they can’t win. They should assign fair tasks to the students. When they work on these tasks, they will get hope of being a winner. These tasks should also be relevant to the talent of the students.
♦We should also encourage the students to learn from each other. Teachers should note the shortcoming of the students. After that, they should provide opportunities for the students to learn from each other. They should highlight the strong points of the students and explore the areas that require improvement.
♦You should encourage the students to be confident and believe in themselves. This thing will encourage the students that if they start it, they will win it. It will encourage the students to show complete involvement in the competition and try to achieve amazing results.
5. Offer Rewards
Getting rewards is the desire of everyone. Therefore, offering rewards is also an essential way to motivate students. The teachers can offer various rewards for the students. For example, they can offer pizza parties and watch movies for the students. For the determination of the appropriate rewards for the students, the teachers should also keep in mind the personalities and needs of the students.
Tips for Offering Rewards
♦Teachers can nominate the students for a campus reward. They can celebrate the achievements of the students by hosting a ceremony. Teachers should encourage fellow students, faculty members, and staff members to take a moment for the recognition of the efforts of the students.
♦They can also award virtual badges to their students. These badges will help the students to feel their progress. It is also the best way to display their mastery skills. The virtual badges will also help the students to showcase their achievements.
♦They can give recognition in an email blast. Most of the students love congratulatory shoutouts. There is an email marketing tool for campus communications. By using this tool, teachers can create beautiful emails and newsletters. They can share the success stories of the students with everyone in the community.
♦Showcase success stories of the students on a leaderboard is also an important way to motivate students. It will develop a competitive spirit among the students to participate more. The teachers should increase their scores and positions after completing tasks and assignments.
♦Teachers should feature hardworking students in marketing advertisements and campaigns. No doubt, the hardworking students will make a difference in the community. The marketing teams of the schools will feel delighted to showcase these students in their marketing campaigns.
♦They can also acknowledge the achievements of the students in a social media featured post. For this reason, they can start nominations for the student of the week or month. The students will work hard to win their names for these nominations.
6. Manage Student Anxiety
Some students may not perform well because they are facing anxiety problems. As a teacher, if you want to motivate these students, you will have to overcome the anxiety problems of these students. There are various reasons for anxiety among students like the pressure of doing well, challenges and worries in mind etc. No doubt, anxiety is a common problem among the students. Now, it is the responsibility of the teachers to teach the students how to cope with anxiety problems.
Tips for Managing Student Anxiety to Motivate
♦The teachers should know that their students who are experiencing anxiety problems may not fully understand their actions or responses. Here, teachers should understand these anxiety problems. After understanding these anxiety problems, they should provide help in recognizing the triggers and try to develop coping strategies. Teachers should arrange private meetings with the students before or after the class. It is the best way to understand the issue. It will also provide a sense to the students that their teachers are supportive.
♦During the private meeting with the students, teachers should develop a coping toolbox. It consists of strategies to overcome anxiety problems in the classroom.
♦Teachers should also try to validate the feelings of the students. Its reason is that the behaviors of the students may be frustrating. They should encourage the students to participate in classroom activities. When they start participating in classroom activities, they should appreciate them.
♦They can also use mindfulness strategies to manage the anxiety problems of the students. These strategies will help the students to ground their thoughts in the present moment instead of scattering them in various directions.
♦When students face anxiety problems, they will feel helpless. To overcome this problem of the students, they should teach competence to the students.
♦Sometimes, teachers may not provide a complete set of solutions to the problems of the students. Under such a situation, they should refer students for additional help. They can refer students to the school counselor or mental health specialist.
7. Get the Parents Involved
No doubt, it may seem impossible and obvious for the teachers. Anyhow, they should understand the importance of involving the parents to motivate students. Sometimes, students may have to face demotivation problems because their parents are not taking an interest in their studies. When you will involve parents, you may find the best solutions to the problems of the students.
Tips to Involve Students in Motivating Students
♦No doubt, it is an era of technology and parents don’t have enough time to attend physical school meetings. Therefore, the best way to involve parents in the education of their children is to make use of school-parent communication apps. By using this app, teachers can share crucial information about the students with their parents.
♦The school administration and teachers should communicate effectively with parents either by using an app or in-person meeting. When parents understand the key problems of their children, they will take the necessary steps to motivate students.
♦The schools should focus on building trust with the parents. To build trust with parents, they have to communicate regularly with parents. They should also try to build a respectful relationship with the parents.
♦The schools should organize volunteer programs for the parents. After inviting the parents to the volunteer programs, you should request them to spend some time in the classrooms. It will provide a chance for the parents to participate in the real academic environment of their children.
Conclusion
The process of stimulating people to accomplish their goals is motivation. Motivation has become a key factor for students to accomplish their academic goals. Teachers can play a pivotal role to motivate students for studies. Teachers can use various strategies to enhance the motivation level of the students. For example, they can develop a lifelong love for learning by making learning fun for the students. They can also provide ownership to the students by providing them with a sense of control. They should also create a threat-free environment for the students. It means that there should not be a chance of bullying at the school. Teachers can create a competitive environment among the students. They can also motivate the students by offering rewards like pizza parties and movie tickets etc. At last, they can also involve the parents in the teaching-learning process of their children.
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