Reach Every Child - Motivating students


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Motivating students

by Alan Haskvitz

Discipline and motivation are two sides of the same sword. A motivated student is not a discipline problem, and discipline problems are caused by a lack of motivation. The problem for teachers is finding enough time, energy and ideas.

About 40 years ago, I read a book about a new teacher struggling to motivate students in an inner-city school. He brought in a couple of rodents, and this spurred interest in a student. The student watched the rodents, cared for them, and was horrified when there became so many of them. The teacher watched in delight as for the first time all year, the boy picked up a book about the rodents and started to read. The next day the student walked into the class, separated the male and female, and never read another book that year. In other words, motivation is a long-term vision.

Here is another example. Recently I had a brilliant young man in my class who had to be placed in a group home to avoid gang problems. He was interested in boxing, so I motivated him by using the resources at Reach Every Child to have him write to Olympic boxing team members. It worked for a while.

However, as soon as he moved to high school, he resumed his old habits and was sent to the continuation high school for non-performance. I talked a private school administrator into letting him transfer there, as that institution had automatic university acceptance upon graduation. The school had only one condition -- no discipline problems. I called the continuation school administrator and told her. She was quite pleased and rushed to tell the student the news. He was excited. But the next day he started a fight over a pencil, which negated everyone's efforts. Instead of seeing the new opportunity as a motivator, it was seen as punishment. So, the next rule, beside motivation being long term, is to make sure you have parental support and shared values.

So where does that leave teachers? The same place they have been for centuries, only now, standardized testing emphasizes improving scores to prove the school and educator are doing a good job. To alleviate that pressure as much as possible, I have listed some resources that are general in nature, but provide interesting checklists that might have value. All have good ideas, but most teachers work in totally unique situations, so these thoughts may require alterations.