Being a teacher, the most important challenge is to motivate the students in learning. Though motivating students to learn is a challenging job, but it is extremely important to keep the students active and motivated. The purpose of the student’s motivation is effective learning.
If they don’t feel motivated, they would not take part in academic activities and listen and retain information. They will have a lower level and interrupted concentration and that will distract them from the regular educational activities both in schools and homes.
Why does a student get demotivated and stressed?
There would be several reasons which make them demotivated. The reasons are as follow:
- They are lacking interest in specific subjects.
- They don’t find a way of teaching interested and involving.
- Teacher’s way of teaching is not catchy or understandable.
The student who is passing through such a difficult phase of education, he/she needs special attention or care. Otherwise, that student might face serious obstacles in the career in future. Difficulties in learning process might ruin their career also. Though motivating the students are difficult, but once you as a teacher could do this, you could enjoy the teaching profession.
The motivated students are energetic, proactive, and excited to take part in the educational activities and the learning process. There are always a few students present in the classrooms who are self-motivated. They are always eager to learn and deliver the best result in the class.
If the teachers focus on the motivated students of the class only, the weak or average students will become more demotivated, as they do not get the attention of the teachers. They cannot adopt the way of teaching and their learning process will be ineffective. That will make them extremely demotivated.
Types of motivation
There are two types of motivation. They are as follows:
Intrinsic motivation
This motivation comes from relating the syllabus with the practical world and life. This motivation gives the students a feeling of accomplishment.
Advantages
- This is self-sustaining and long-lasting.
- Effectively promoting learning among students.
- Subject-focused rather than punishment or rewards.
Disadvantages
- Slow to impact on the students’ behaviour.
- Requires lengthy and special preparation.
- This is not effective for all students.
- The teachers need to become enthusiastic to introduce this method.
Extrinsic motivation
This motivation includes parental expectations, grades, or future earning by pursuing a course.
Advantages
- Positive change in the behaviour of the students.
- Better performance with little preparation and effort.
- Do not focus on the extensive knowledge of each student in the class.
Disadvantages
- Lesson or syllabus focused.
- Give emphasis punishment or reward for better performance.
- This works as a short-term motivator.
- The students feel demotivated without reward or incentive.
There are several effective ways for motivating students to learn,
No.1 Try to involve the students in the class for motivating students to learn
One of the best ways of motivating the students is to deliver different class responsibilities to them. That will make them involved in the class and they will become self-motivated. As a teacher, you can involve the students in the fun activities related to the syllabus. You can delegate several other activities such as the cleanliness of the classroom, cleaning the blackboard, or decorating the classes with innovative ideas.
You can conduct the reading of the lesson session where the students read the chapters loudly. That will increase their confidence and improve their articulation skills. The teacher can make groups and involve the students in different group activities. These approaches will make the students motivated and encourage them to take participate in the class.
No.2 Encourage and motivate students to learn
The teachers need to recognise and value the students’ performances. This positive approach will make the students involved and motivated in their class activities and learning processes. The students could be motivated by open communication for their performances. The teacher should be interactive so that the student can share their free-thinking and opinion without any hesitation.
The teachers should be enthusiastic enough to spread the positivity and energy among the students. As a teacher, you recognise their performances and apprise them often. The students should feel important in class. The relationship of the student-teacher needs to be friendly for smooth teaching and easy learning.
No.3 Become creative in the class
To break the monotony of the class, the teachers need to induce creativity. The teacher can change the traditional class structure by teaching the students through discussion and games. The teacher can introduce a debate on a specific topic where every student needs to participate and share the view on that.
This will make a better interactive and informative session. The teacher can discuss any subject matter through colourful and easy charts and graphs. That will make the learning process easy and attractive. The learning process should be with projects, models, and posters that will break the monotony of the traditional learning process. Encourage the students to decorate the classroom with creative artworks and seasonal themes.
No.4 Give incentives for motivating students to learn
The teacher can introduce small incentives for better performance of the class. The teacher can arrange a small pizza party for better results in the class. This will give the students the happiness of their accomplishment and they feel rewarded and motivated.
No.5 Make a bridge between lessons and real life
One of the major responsibilities of the teacher is to make the students believe that the lessons are important for their practical life. If the students think that the syllabus that they are going through is irrelevant to the lives, they will not feel motivated to learn.
The teacher needs to explain the lessons and relate them to practical life. Why the lesson is added to the syllabus and how this will impact on the practical life of us? These answers will make the students understand the value and importance of the topic and thus they find the interest. This way of teaching is extremely effective for motivating students to learn.
No.6 An inspirational role model to your student
Most seniors may remember a particular teacher who has had significant influence from their early childhood. These would be the teachers who influenced, encouraged and motivated the students to spend years in remembrance. The success of a student is much influenced by the teacher’s inspiration.
Once the students decide that they want to achieve their goal in life, pay close attention to the conduct, choices and even the sacrifices that have led us to success. These conducts include work very hard, competence to fight and the capacity to learn from failures. Students learn to understand the teacher’s behaviour and strategies to achieve their objectives.
No.7 Maintain one-to-one conversations with students
Call back and talk to a student, whenever there is a serious problem for a student. Ask them the reason for the struggle and ask what they want to have to do to succeed. Develop a well thought out plan, and help them stick to a plan together.
No.8 Engage with the parents for motivating students to learn
I know it may sound difficult, but don’t lose hope on it though. Sometimes parents who don’t seem willing to help their students are simply losing how to do it. Give them some separate idea that they should do to help their student and see what is happening. And you should focus your discussions not only on the difficulties but also on solutions.
Conclusion
To make the learning process effective, the students’ motivation is essentially required. The teacher can make them motivated and involved in learning activities by building better and free bonding. The teacher can appraise the students openly for good performances.
There are several scientific techniques for motivating students to learn. When students feel valued and important in the classroom, they will become self-motivated. The teacher needs to make it happen.
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