Raven's Guide to Special Education: Teaching

Teaching - 3

Planning | How to start teaching | Organizing instruction
Presenting lessons | Specific methods | How to motivate

How to motivate students

Motivating students involves getting them to become actively involved in learning, and as a result, to want to acquire new skills. You can motivate your students by preparing high-interest lessons and learning experiences. Set clear goals for your students, let them know you expect a good effort from them, reward them for trying, and show them that you are enthusiastic about teaching them.

Make instruction relevant. Relate instruction to your students' personal lives so it is meaningful to them. They will be better motivated when they see a connection between a subject being studied and real people and events. Give them practical applications, personal examples, and illustrations. Ask thought-provoking questions and stimulate classroom discussions.

Make your lessons interesting. Prepare lessons that include topics, ideas and experiences students enjoy. Give your students choices - let them select assignments, activities or projects that are interesting to them.

Expect success. Many students do not try because they are afraid they will fail, they lack self-confidence, or they expect something negative to happen. You can change this by telling and showing your students that they can learn, can achieve and can succeed.

Be positive. Remind your students of the classroom behavior you are looking for, and find opportunities to praise them when you see them behaving the way you want. Mark correct answers and recognize your students for effort rather than pointing out what they did wrong. Do not look for mistakes. During discussions, increase the number of "right" answers by asking questions that are open-ended and that have more than one right answer.

Provide variety. Periodically change the day-to-day routine by reassigning seating, redecorating the room, bringing in a guest speaker, or scheduling an exciting field trip. Start lessons with motivational statements, e.g., "I've got a great story for you to read today. You're going to love it!"

Teach cooperation. Avoid competitive classroom activities in which there are "winners" and "losers." Only the students with above average skills and abilities will enjoy competing. Promote cooperative activities so that all of your students can feel important and can contribute without the risk of feeling inferior.

Keep students on task. Get their attention before giving instructions or presenting materials. Plan specific opening activities that make them interested and curious about the topic you are going to teach. Ask thought-provoking questions that they can answer only after attending to the lesson that follows. Limit the time you make them do individual seat work.

Encourage active participation. Ask questions to find out what your students know, not what they do not know. Wait for a longer amount of time after you ask a question. Motivate your students to give longer responses by asking them to tell you more. Ask questions to which you do not know the answer. Admit this to your students and ask them to teach you. Do not criticize their responses to questions by saying "right" or "wrong." Instead, get additional responses from other students before commenting, and ask the class if they agree with the answer.