Observations of Motivation

Since I was part of the Motivation Presentation, I am not going to go through the elements of motivation and how to implement it into the classroom.  Instead, I'm going to use this entry for simply listing some of the ways, from my own teaching experiences, that I have seen motivation come alive in the classroom.

• A few days ago, I led the students in a discussion about what a U.S. citizen brought to mind for them.  Students who would not normally speak up in class were engaged in this discussion, I believe, because of the relevance it has to them in their own experiences.
• I created a mini-Facebook type page for my honors students to use as a supplement to our study of A Tale of Two Cities; they have been creating changes throughout the site without being told to do so.  I am anxious to see how they apply the text connections in the coming days, too.  
• On a few different occasions, I have asked students to incorporate music into their understanding of the poetry we are studying or literature unit we are working on.  The creative responses I have received are incredible.
• When I give students the opportunity to draw or create in a new way, I am always surprised by the amount of creativity that surfaces in at least half of the students.  For instance, my assignment for creating "Oh My Goddess" trading cards while studying The Odyssey.  
• Students will complain about being assigned mandatory texts throughout the semester, but when I give them the chance for free reading time, the all eagerly use it.  By providing this time once a week for them to read what they want to, it is a way to balance choice with the mandates of the curriculum.  A room full of quietly reading teenagers is something wonderful to behold!

All of these examples, and others I have witnessed but have not mentioned, contain the common idea that if students are validated, and or their opinions are respected, then they will be more likely to engage in the activities provided and thus motivate themselves to do the work.   Relevance, rigor, relationships... motivation!