MOTIVATION ESSAY

"MOTIVATION IS A VERY IMPORTANT FORCE THAT AFFECTS AND DIRECTS OUR BEHAVIOUR. AS A CONSEQUENCE, IT IS A VITAL FACTOR FOR TEACHERS TO UNDERSTAND AND APPLY IN THEIR TEACHING". DISCUSS

Motivation is a neccesary ingredient for learning. If one is not interested or engaged, one is not likely to pay attention or give the focus required to consolidate and integrate new information and ideas.

Motivation can come from within, from a natural curiosity and joy of learning that may have been fostered in the home, from self esteem and confidence that makes people unafraid of "having a go" and flexing their abilities, from a genuine interest or love for the topic, a perceived need to learn or a chance to extract personal satisfaction. A sense of satisfaction or accomplishment are also sources of "intrinsic" motivation.

To encourage intrinsic motivation, which is beneficial as it fosters longer lasting and self sustaining efforts, one can focus on the subject, expressing one's own passion for the subject and discovering more about the student and therefore how they might develop their own interest. One can place less emphasis on grades and more on students' efforts and the learning process. One can encourage students interest in a subject by appealing to them in a number of ways, such as novelty, utility, applicability, anticipation, surprise, challenge, feedback and closure (DeLong & Winter 2002).

Extrinsic motivation comes from external sources, such as material rewards, parental expectations, achievement of grades or avoidance of punishment. It is not so effective in the long term and can be seen to be disadvantageous. Striking a happy medium between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation may be the answer, with a definite emphasis on intrinsic.

Dreikurs advocates the avoidance of giving rewards as students can come to expect some material response (lollies, gifts, etc) whenever they do well or as a bribe to do better. Their self determination can also be decreased as a result of expecting rewards as outcomes. Instead, intrinsic motivation should be encouraged so that the act of learning itself is the reward. The aha! Experience. Recognising effort rather than praising an outcome, can help motivate a student to persevere independently with enjoyment and takes the focus off competing.

The SCORE theory (Strong, Silver & Robinson 1995) claims to go beyond intrinsic and extrinsic motivation theories which have apparently been extensively debated and researched. This anagram stands for Success, Curiosity, Originality, Relationships and Energy and aims to "combine acheivement and artistry" and value high standards.

Activities that help improve a person's self esteem and don't involve competitiveness are ideal. Self image can be a concern, where one may not make an effort due to seeing oneself as a failure or because it's not "cool". "Surface learners" will do the minimum required in order to not be seen as a failure. They can be helped through scaffolding tasks so that success can be built on what has been learnt before. Collaborative groupwork, such as the jigsaw method, is a great learning and motivational technique. Students see that their efforts and contributions are integral to the process and their talents are utilised and exhibited.

Glasser says students are driven by five needs, those of survival, belonging, freedom, choice and fun. He deems it helpful to ensure these needs are met in the classroom and identify and help those students whose needs that aren't being met. One can provide opportunities for choice, self responsibility and control. If students have a sense of ownership of a problem, or control over the situation, they are more likely to engage (deCharms 1984, Deci 1980, Hackman and Oldham1980).

Weiner's Attribution theory (1980, 1992) incorporates cognitive theory and self efficacy theory and categorises perceived reasons for success or failure which are effort, ability (internal), luck and task difficulty (external).

Howard Gardner's findings on multiple intelligences helps inform a teacher to tap into a student's optimum way of learning, thus appealing to strengths and arousing interest. He acknowledges the importance of relevance, that school work needs to relate to life beyond school.

Gagnes' events of instruction provide a structure that can be combined with John Keller's ARCS Motivation Theory. ARC stands for four major categories of motivational strategies: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction.

Dreikurs considers family constellation as important background knowledge for a teacher and Glasser stresses the importance of quality relationships. Getting to know a student personally gives one more ways into the student's culture and world. This information can be combined with different learning styles and strategies to make learning material relevant and interesting to the student, thus serving as a motivational force.

Charles and Senter (Elementary classroom management p 72-3) look at reasons why people won't do what is required of them. That is, they don't know the what, how or why of the activity, they're not matched to the task or they simply don't want to. These findings indicate the importance of giving clear and detailed instructions (Kearsley 2001) including clear criteria for success (Tibenirs 1990), making sure tasks are suitable in that they are age appropriate, build on prior learning and take into account a student's main intelligence, and presenting tasks in an interesting way.

"Interesting" can include novelty, mystery, puzzlement, excitement, colour, sound and movement. Curiosity can be aroused by presenting inconsistent or incongruous information. Tony Ryan (1990), in Michael Pohl's book, devised "thinkers keys", different question starters to promote analytical, critical and creative thinking. For example different uses of an object, alternative ways of completing a task, what can be done without the use of the usual tools, start with the answer and figure out five questions for it and brainstorming.

A teacher needs to emanate charisma, enthusiam, confidence, trust, support and care in order to inspire motivation. Developing mutual respect within the group is paramount (Glasser, Dreikurs, Kagan). Teachers can capitalise on a student's need to seek new experiences, perfect skills, overcome challenges, succeed, be involved and interact (Forsyth & McMillan 1991). One can feel satisfied and rewarded when these needs are fulfilled.

Teachers can model the behaviour they wish students to adopt, such as a positive attitude, avoiding negativity, being motivated, hard working and committed with high yet realistic expectations. Tasks need to be challenging yet acheivable, provide early opportunities for success, involve increasing difficulty and focus on continued improvement. Self evaluation, where students can critique their strengths and weaknesses, helps improve self motivation (Lowman 1990, Forsyth & McMillan 1991).

Feedback needs to be carefully worded, such as illustrated by DESCA ("teacher messages to inspire new growth in dignity,energy, self management, community and awareness, Marsh 2004. Techniques such as "I appreciate you" and "I'm with you" messages, and plainly stating what is correct or incorrect are ways of giving effective feedback.

Choice and variety (Ames & Ames, Forsyth & McMillan, Lowman, Glasser) play a great part in helping motivate students. If a student is given a choice on what and how to learn he will be motivated to follow his instincts and complete work that he perceives to be worth doing.

Material can be presented in different ways where students are active participants such as role play, demonstration, multi media, debate, brainstorming and partner or group projects. Students can do, make, write, design, create, solve, illustrate. Also, assign breaks, order things differently, use the voice in interesting ways and impart the concept of freedom and responsibility.

If the classroom climate is caring and supportive with a sense of belonging, acceptance and mutual respect, students are more likely to actively engage (Brophy) Glasser and Dreikurs acknowledge a student's need and desire to belong. It's the teacher's role to help each student feel as though they belong by providing a safe, comfortable environment for fun and effective learning and providing social, collaborative learning situations. Presenting interesting and challenging group projects in an optimum learning environment are basic motivational strategies.

A good balance of routine mixed with the unexpected helps keep students grounded and "on their toes". A strict time structure to complete a task is a great motivator, for example a five second countdown to form a circle or reach a state of quiet, two minutes to discuss with a partner how to present a concept, complete the set task by the end of the lesson, etc.

Giving explicit instructions, having all the class decide on the rules and logical consequences (not punishments), encouraging self responsibility, independence and self evaluation comprise not only preventative discipline strategies but are motivational strategies as well (Dreikurs).

A teacher needs to be aware of being a motivational force in learning. How she presents herself, the environment and the learning material and how she communicates with and facilitates the group are all crucial factors. As Brophy says
"It is essential for teachers to view themselves as active socialisation agents capable of stimulating...student motivation to learn".





REFERENCES

Ames, Carole A.
"Motivation: What Teachers Need to Know." TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD 91, 3 (Spring 1990): 409-21.

Brophy, Jere.
ON MOTIVATING STUDENTS. Occasional Paper No. 101. East Lansing, Michigan: Institute for Research on Teaching, Michigan State University, October 1986. 73 pages. ED 276 724.

Carol M. Charles, Gail W. Senter
Elementary Classroom Management (4th Edition) (ISBN: 0205412661)

cvc3.coastline.edu/Telelearning2001Web/Motivation.htm

www.educationessentials.com

www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/academics/center/ Teaching_and_Learning_Tips/Motivation/Keller%92sModel.htm

www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/Student_Motivatation.html

Marsh, Colin
Becoming a teacher 2004

Matt DeLong and Dale Winter,
Learning to Teaching and Teaching to Learn Mathematics: Resources for Professional Development,
Mathematical Association of America, 2002, page 168.

www.middleweb.com/StdntMotv.html

Pohl, Michael
Infusing thinking into the middle years : English, performing & visual arts & LOTE : a
resource book for teachers / Michael Pohl.
Cheltenham, Vic. : Hawker Brownlow Education, 2002.
1-7402-5620-4

www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/interactions/motivating.htm