Helping Students Motivate Themselves to Learn

Every day, teachers face students who are apparently uninterested in learning. This is a challenge that must be overcome, because every student must be included in meaningful classroom activities.

But the students seem to subconsciously decide each day what they will and will not learn. They are much more likely to grasp and retain what they encounter in class if they are motivated to do so.

What is Motivation?

Motivation is a person’s willingness to make a certain effort toward achieving a specific goal under specific circumstances. Motivation is not magic; it is a concept that teachers can learn and use effectively, but they must realize that they can only help the students motivate themselves. The teacher can create circumstances that inspire the students to do what the teacher requires of them.

A Comfortable Environment

In creating those circumstances, the educator should know that what his/her students most value in the classroom are relationship, trust, and respect. They learn better in an environment where they can ask questions and make mistakes; in other words, where they feel comfortable.

Know the Students

The teacher should get to know the students well, listen to them, and seek their input regarding the lessons and curriculum in general. Ask them about their interests and how they think they learn well. The failure to learn is usually a result of instruction not matching each student’s preferred or innate learning style.

Engage Them with Choice

Students like to be engaged. The teacher should build essayhelpwriter and choice into the lesson plan so that they will be more likely to find something they like and, hence, focus on the lesson. Students prefer hands-on activities where there is more than one solution and everyone can work in their own way and at their own speed. The students who learn best in similar ways could be grouped together. Also, students enjoy being involved in planning, designing, and creating their learning experiences.

Connect the Lesson to Life

Teachers can help students learn material better by helping them develop associations for comprehending and meaning making. The teacher must find ways to relate learning to his/her students’ lives, interests, and goals to increase the likelihood that they will learn. Seeing connections and believing that content is useful is important to students.

Finding out what motivates underachieving students is not only necessary for them but vital to the class as a whole. It will aid the teacher in guiding all students toward academic success. And if s/he keeps that motivation in mind, s/he could very well serve as a model for the under-motivated students to follow.

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