Are you frustrated at the challenge of working with underachieving and unmotivated students? What motivates them to learn? What can we do to improve the situation? This session will explore what does motivate underachievers, and some concrete actions teachers can take to improve learning for every student.

Strategies:

• Inviting Schools
  • Class Procedures
  • Connecting to Kids
  • School Climate
  • Enthusiasm
  • Humor
• Continuous Improvement
  • Transparent Curriculum
  • Flexibility of Pace
  • Flexibility of Path
  • Formative Feedback
• Learning by Doing
  • Follow-up Craft Projects
  • Experiments
  • Building Things
  • Field Trips
  • Drama
• Student Voice & Choice
  • Choice of Activities or Resources
  • Student Designed Work
  • Projects
  • Collect Student Input & Feedback
• Higher Order Thinking
  • Compare & Contrast
  • Design Projects
  • Metaphors & Examples
  • “Engaging Tasks”
• Real World Connections
  • Real World Uses
  • Real Audience for Work
  • Community Connections
  • Simulations

 

Resources:

• Motivating Students: Focus on 6 Strategies 
• Classifying a Student’s Level of Motivation
• What Motivates Underachieving Students? (Middle School Journal, Nov. 2001)
• Tone of Voice Matters (In Surprising Ways)
• Articles on Ineffective Motivators, especially Extrinsic Rewards
• Characteristics of Good Learning Experiences
• Engaging Tasks – a high impact motivation strategy
• The McMEL Motivation Page