Saturday, September 28, 2013

R. Sweeney



Motivation in the Classroom

The purpose of this blog is to serve as a course exercise for EDM 510.














     Motivation directly impacts students learning in the classroom. Not all students are motivated to learn. Students are struggling with making and obtaining goals. Once they struggle or experience failure they loose their motivation to persevere through obstacles. There are two types of motivation which are intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is a students ability to self-motivate. Extrinsic motivation are factors that come from outside that influence the student such as rewards.  

     In this post, we will be discussing how to motivate students in the classroom. You will post your thoughts to the following discussion questions. 



  • What are factors that influence student motivation?
  • How can teachers motivate students to learn?
  • What are some examples of rewards used in the classroom? 

     Many factors influence student motivation such as the classroom environment. Students that are in a positive environment tend to develop self-confidence. This type of environment helps students to become successful individuals.  
     One way to keep students motivated to learn is by simplifying assignments into steps. This helps to keep students from becoming overwhelmed. Students can gradually complete the assignment seeing their achievement along the way. Also, students can be involved in making decisions in the classroom. This allows them to take ownership and be responsible for their own learning.  
     In the classroom, I have used several types of rewards. Students were motivated to complete assignments in order to obtain the reward. Students received free time on Friday. During that time, they could draw, read, or play interactive games on the computer.