Motivating Students: Sometimes…
In my last post about motivation, I wrote about a particular student—a particular student into which I had poured a lot of energy, which is something I hope transcends the blog post and into your reading of it.
There’s been an update about him.
That will come later—if I can handle that.
Anyway, let’s move on. I want to go back to the book Motivating Students to Learn. In it, there is a plan about how to help and give opportunity to students who are slow to learn—slow to learn for a variety of reasons: motivation, ability, self-efficacy, etc.
In the afternoon, I am blessed—and sometimes tortured—with the opportunity to teach a study hall class full of eight students of this nature. Even though those eight are my responsibility in that study hall time, I have taken three under my wing as my pure responsibility.
I try to be their champion—in school, in life, in classwork, in all things of which I can be their champion.
With these three students, I have taken what this new book of motivation recommends in working with these students.
None of these tactics are revolutionary, but I wanted to discuss and give light to them. In this way, I hope to instill a new value to the simple things often overlooked in teaching.
First, “individualize activities and assignments.”
I take this with these students in a variety of ways. Now that I know them well enough, I can apply their interests to their assignments. For one, that’s relating it to the discipline of Karate. For another, I ask him to respond in memes. For the final, that’s often allowing him to act on his various silly reactions to the assignment.
Allowing students the opportunity to individualize an assignment gives them an amount of agency that is often unheard of in their lives throughout their education. They are often surprised when these connections are made—even allowed. While, to me, that seems like a failure elsewhere, that feeling is a success in the moment I have in working with them.
And, guess what?
It works.
And they smile.
That’s the best part, really.
Second, “provide directions to structure tasks.”
With these students—and I often struggle through this with them—giving them a long list of directions does not work.
One, they don’t care enough.
Two, they listen closely enough.
Three, they don’t have the confidence to start.
This step comes with a couple of factors for me: go one step at a time and help them see they are doing it correctly.
Once they see a part of it they can do on their own, the rest gets easier.
Motivation builds.
Success happens.
Third, “provide assistance or tutoring.”
Now, let me open this phrase by saying it is hard to find the time to take students and support them in this fashion.
As teachers, we don’t have a lot of time.
As teachers, we want to have the time to help and assist every student. Or, well, we should want that time.
As teachers, it’s not always possible.
But, as a teacher, let me tell you that this time with a student is invaluable. It may cost giving up your plan time. It may cost taking up time before or after school. It may cost your lunch.
In my position, I am lucky to be part teacher and part writing interventionist. My schedule has built in time for these types of interactions. While you may not have that capacity, my hope is that someone in your building DOES.
Use them; they should appreciate it.
The power that this instills in the students—to know that I have that time—opens doors for our relationship and our time together to be successful.
With these three students, I have made individual passes. They helped design these passes—individualize them. We had a conversation about the goals for our work time, when it would happen, how they would feel successful, what they need to work on.
With these passes, they must have the agency to grab them from my room and have a conversation with their teacher; I take them out of an elective class of their choice in the afternoon once a week, so long as they take that first step. I pull them out to provide support to them: working on homework, working on missing assignments, finishing in-class work.
They look forward to it.
They look forward to working.
It is invaluable one-on-one time to work with them, help them understand, and allow them to feel the success they are capable of.
Should I say the word invaluable one more time?
Fourth, and finally, “maintain motivation.”
There’s power in consistency.
There’s power in praise.
There’s power in recognizing goals.
There’s power in pushing through failures.
There’s power in keeping a relationship steady.
All that power can help maintain motivation.
Now, let me get back to where I started.
You can do all these things. You can work with a student. You can pull him out of an elective. You can be the one to put a dopey smile on his face when he walks into your room. You can be the one who works with him through all this effort, these struggles. You can be the one to pay for his success with your time. You can be all these things for a student—even if just one of these things.
Sometimes, though, it just isn’t enough.
Sometimes, you get a message after a successful stretch of growth with a student that they aren’t coming back to school.
Sometimes, the work to motivate a student, demotivates you.
And, somehow, you have to go back to school on Monday and push forward.
And, at the end of that, Dr. Seuss can be ringing in your head: “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
Even if all the energy in the world is telling you to cry, even if all that work feels like nothing, even if you won’t see that dopey smile again, smile.
Because something happened.
Because something changed.
Because of you.
