Get Your Students Hired
What intrinsically motivates you to be effective in the classroom? What extrinsically motivates you to be an excellent instructor?
Intrinsic motivation:
I want to help my students succeed on whatever they do in their job or future job by leveraging key theoretical concepts & hands-on technical skills they learned in class room.
Extrinsic motivation:
I will take pride on the appreciation & recognition I get from students and colleagues being one of the best instructor.
Reanna, great post. Related to this is the importance of helping students better understand that no one can know it all as there are always new things to learn and apply. I always encourage instructors to share with students how current events apply to the topic being studied. What changes have occurred in your profession over the last several years and over the longer period of time. What can we takeaway from a better understanding of the past? These are all great techniques in keeping students engaged and to help them understand that learning is something they will be doing for the rest of their lives.
James Jackson
Gayle, great post and these values are shared by many. The process of instructing and engaging with students allows us as instructors to become better communicators and motivators by the actions we take each day. Thanks again for sharing.
James Jackson
Motivation can be a powerful tool in our classes. There are several extrinsic and intrinsic motivations that can we use in our classes.I think one of the most important extrinsic motivation are the rewards; despite of the time, a good grade it's always a potent motivator. Having or providing a secure learning environment, a good method of instruction, and an organize content or structure of a lesson we can bring the students enough intrinsic motivations.
As an instructor, the best part of the job is assisting students to find the true value of the lesson for more than just a positive outcome. When a student enjoys something, and wants to learn more, they are intrinsically motivated. I enjoy seeing students shift from extrinsically to intrinsically!
Intrinsically, I am motivated by a desire to share my knowledge and skills. When a student has an "ah ha" moment, I am rewarded. I have a desire to add qualified personnel to the workforce. My graduate may have the life of a patient in her hands. I feel it is my duty to make sure these students don't graduate without the knowledge and skills to perform well in a high-stress medical setting.
Extrinsically, I like to hear that my graduates have a great pass rate on the licensing exam. I also like to get good reviews from my boss and my students.
Intrinsically I am motivated to be effective in the classroom because I like what I do, and I want to be good at what I do so that my students will learn as much as possible.
Extrinsically I am motivated by money and from the respect and appreciation of both my students and my peers.
I am motivated intrinsically just by being in the classroom; meaning until I taught in grad school, I never knew how much I would learn about myself through teaching. The classroom teaching experience allows me to hone my interpersonal communication skills as to effectively engage others, which is important to me.
Extrinsically I am motivated to see the "light bulbs" go on when students master a practical or a concept. Being excited about the material yourself allows others to take it and make it their own to be successful. That is what teaching/learning is all about for me!
My intrinsic motivator is being the best I know I can be everyday in the classroom, knowing I gave my all to share the knowledge I have obtained with my students.
My extrinsic motivators are my students giving me good course evaluations and letting other students know that I am a great instructor that cares about my students.
Intrinsically – I love teaching and helping others work toward their career goals. Extrinsically – Having a 100% pass rate at state board by the students.
I am definitely intrinsically motivated. I am usually an upbeat, positive person....the 'turning lemons into lemonade' kind. However, a couple of months ago I was going through a week of 'teacher blues'.
I was trying to squelch the creeping resentment of all of the 'extra' hours for preparation, and dealing with the few students (the 'talkers') in each class who continually claim to be 'confused' about what to do even though you have repeated instructions 3+ times AND given them step-by-step print outs, etc..................!
The next week, our Dental Hygiene instructor staff received an email from a prior student who thanked us for changing her life. She had grown up very poor, relocated a lot to avoid rent payments; witnessed multiple repossessions of her parent's cars, etc. She made a vow to get a higher education so her children would never have to grow up this way.
Now, with her added employment of 3 years,she and her husband have paid off her education loan debt and have been able to even start a college fund for their two toddlers. She continued to thank us individually adding a little something about how we each affected her life in a positive way. Need I say more? Of course, it meant the world to me (us), and my 'teacher blues' went right out the window.
Intrinsic: I love to learn, and I want to pass the love of learning to my students.
Extrinsic: I wanted to be respected and trusted academically by my superiors, peers, and students.
Intrinsic motivation for me is seeing the success of others in their chosen field, since this is my passion I find it easy. Extrinsic motivation is to be the best I can possibly can be to help others achieve their goals.
Intrinsically- I am very passionate about what I teach, and am always wanting to learn more of things I do now know.
Extrinsically- The more I know, The more my students will know, which is a reward in itself. But If I am confident in my ability, they will favor me.
Intrinsically, I am motivated to do the best job I can and to help my students succeed. I remember being on the other side of the desk, when I had a question, the professor always said, "... it's in the book." or "I don't have time right now." This turned me off to the professor, and I realized if I ever became a professor, I would be approachable for my students and work to help them succeed.
Extrinsically: The reward of course is being selected to teach future courses. Also the notoriety, students have told me that the Dean and other professors have recommended me as a professor and tutor. That makes me feel good inside. Probably the best reward of all is when I'm tutoring a student and suddenly, the light bulb goes on in them, they get what I'm trying to teach them and they've learned it, not memorized it. That's one of my greatest rewards being a professor.
Intrinsically I feed on the rush I get from educating the students.
Extrinsically the feeling that I was a means to the student's end in realizing their goals and dreams on graduation day is gratifying.
My intrinsic motivation comes from the improvement of my knowledge of the subject that I teach. Every day I teach I find myself understanding more and learning new things about my subject. This allows me to be a better instructor.
My extrinsic motivation is the look on a student’s face when they GET IT! For some reason that never gets old.
The greatest intrinsic motivator for me is the pride I have in doing the best job I can in increasing a student’s desire to learn new things.
The best extrinsic motivator for me is getting feedback from a student who may be struggling with a difficult concept who tells me they like the way I explained something and now it makes sense to them.
Instructors, especially adjunct instructors like myself are motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically.
Intrinsically, we are motivated by the sense of satisfaction that we get from teaching. The feeling of accomplishment in helping educate and prepare our next generation of leaders.
Extrinsically, we are less motivated by the financial gain of being a teacher (because there is often only modest financial reward), but rather incredibly motivated by the success of our students. We want our students to learn and be able to flourish in their chosen field. The satisfaction get from having students contact me years later to thank me for what I helped them to learn motivates me to be an even better teacher to my current and future students.