Post by Demon on Nov 5, 2016 1:01:04 GMT 8
When tested in national surveys against such seemingly crucial factors as intelligence, ability, and salary, level of motivation proves to be a more significant component in predicting career success. While level of motivation is highly correlated with success, importantly, the source of motivation varies greatly among individuals and is unrelated to success. – Bashaw and Grant 1994
In my own experience, I've found the children that struggle the most with the content also struggle the most with motivation. These issues are compounded as students advance in age and when they share the classroom with peers that are more advanced than they are. At my previous school I had one student in particular that would simply sit in class and zone out for the entire two hour class. When given assignments she would simply write her name and leave it blank. This was an especially difficult situation as there were 11 additional students in that class ages 10-12 and all had been studying for at least 3-4 years at private English schools. She had an extremely limited vocabulary of less than 100-200 words whereas most of the other students spoke in complete full sentences with extended vocabularies.
I would like to share the approach I took as it is a bit of a blend between the 2nd and 5th solutions. I took an approach similar to the 2nd solution (the fish solution), however it was slightly different as I mentioned above she would simply not do the written assignments. I created a Hollywood Squares game with a 6x6 grid filled with questions of varying degrees of difficulties and points. I divided the class into 2 groups, each student had to take turns answering questions so that everyone had to participate. The secret to the game was that it was rigged. I chose the squares for the students, I picked the squares erratically to give the illusion of randomness. However, I specifically designed 3 squares for each student based upon their abilities. Here is the trick, I wanted her to have a sense of accomplishment and look good in front of her peers so when it came her time her questions were ones I knew she would get right.
I had no long term goals for this student, I was not intentionally looking to motivate her. I felt her peers were treating her unfairly and were a bit mean to her for her lack of ability. I did not want her to be segregated from the class any longer and I wanted her to join in be apart of the group and not feel like a social outcast. My goal wasn't even to teach her; it was to make her feel accepted and to show her that she did know some things. I was amazed by her almost instant change in attitude in all our future classes. She became one of my best students and even eventually went on the win some nation-wide competition in English. Well no.. Not really.. But, she did improve and even spoke up in class on occasion. When we had to do written assignments I would take extra time with her to help get her started until she could complete them on her own. I only had about 4 months with her but I still remember the first time I seen her smile, it was right after she answered that first question on Hollywood Squares and won her team 200 points. It was then I became a firm believer that accomplishments, no matter how minor, can greatly affect a person's motivation.
In my own experience, I've found the children that struggle the most with the content also struggle the most with motivation. These issues are compounded as students advance in age and when they share the classroom with peers that are more advanced than they are. At my previous school I had one student in particular that would simply sit in class and zone out for the entire two hour class. When given assignments she would simply write her name and leave it blank. This was an especially difficult situation as there were 11 additional students in that class ages 10-12 and all had been studying for at least 3-4 years at private English schools. She had an extremely limited vocabulary of less than 100-200 words whereas most of the other students spoke in complete full sentences with extended vocabularies.
I would like to share the approach I took as it is a bit of a blend between the 2nd and 5th solutions. I took an approach similar to the 2nd solution (the fish solution), however it was slightly different as I mentioned above she would simply not do the written assignments. I created a Hollywood Squares game with a 6x6 grid filled with questions of varying degrees of difficulties and points. I divided the class into 2 groups, each student had to take turns answering questions so that everyone had to participate. The secret to the game was that it was rigged. I chose the squares for the students, I picked the squares erratically to give the illusion of randomness. However, I specifically designed 3 squares for each student based upon their abilities. Here is the trick, I wanted her to have a sense of accomplishment and look good in front of her peers so when it came her time her questions were ones I knew she would get right.
I had no long term goals for this student, I was not intentionally looking to motivate her. I felt her peers were treating her unfairly and were a bit mean to her for her lack of ability. I did not want her to be segregated from the class any longer and I wanted her to join in be apart of the group and not feel like a social outcast. My goal wasn't even to teach her; it was to make her feel accepted and to show her that she did know some things. I was amazed by her almost instant change in attitude in all our future classes. She became one of my best students and even eventually went on the win some nation-wide competition in English. Well no.. Not really.. But, she did improve and even spoke up in class on occasion. When we had to do written assignments I would take extra time with her to help get her started until she could complete them on her own. I only had about 4 months with her but I still remember the first time I seen her smile, it was right after she answered that first question on Hollywood Squares and won her team 200 points. It was then I became a firm believer that accomplishments, no matter how minor, can greatly affect a person's motivation.