Marilyn,
Good way to approach your instructional planning. By knowing more about your students you are able to more accurately customize your delivery to meet their learning needs.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I teach math, and it can be challenging to motivate students. I always find many "real life" examples for the students to relate the information to. Otherwise, I know that they would not be very motivated to learn and retain the information.
Kelly,
By making it "real" to the students you are increasing the ROI for them even if they don't get it at first. The real life examples support the content and the students increase their learning. This is a win win for everyone.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
One of the ways that I am a motivating instructor is I am always moving and keeping my students moving. I make my lessons relevant to real life and real work place environments. I tell my students some of the struggles that I have had in this field and we discuss how I could have handled things differently either in a good way or a bad way. I motivate by smiling and making my students feel welcome. I believe that each one of us may be the only light that some of our students ever see and we may never know which student that will be. We must shine for all of them.
Constant motivating phrases, and real life examples of others who found success after repeated failures, might help.
It will be very difficult to motivate all your students all the time, but you can always give them more incentives then "punishments" and that itself will probably be a motivation to do better.
Lisa,
You are projecting to your students that you value them and appreciate them being in the class and this is so important. By sending the message of energy and involvement you are setting the tone for the class. This is what teaching is all about.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Keli,
Right you are. You can't get them all but at the end of the class if you have prepared well and worked at engaging them you can go home and feel that you have done a professional job of being a good instructor. This is what keeps me going class after class.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I can motivate my students by showing enthusiasm while instructing the course. If I am excited about the subject and topic they will be to!
I find that most of the adult learner really are in class to better provide for the future of their families and themselfs, with my life experience in my field that has raised 2 children alone , and sharing this with the students espicially the single mothers is a GREAT MOVITATOR alone! If I can suceed so can they, this is what they want to know, along with their studies.How human are we as Instutional Instructors as well as professionals?
Blanche,
You make a very good point about how you are relating your own life experiences and career success to those of your students. They can see that you have been there and know what they are going through. This sets the stage for development of rapport with them and this will increase their chances of success in your course.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I try to relate what their learning to real life situations.
I teach Medical Assisting to a variety of age groups. Motivating all the different ages can be a challenge at times, but finding some common ground can bridge the gaps. I have each person write down why they decided to go back to school and after I take a copy and laminate it, I ask them post it on their bathroom mirror so every morning they will see it and remember just why they are doing what they are doing. I do try and bring experiences from both my personal and professional lives to try and keep the class focused and understanding the relevance of what we are learning so they can apply it, not only to their professional lives, but their personal life as well. It doesn't matter if I'm teaching infection control or filing, you can use either in both situations. If they have school aged children I encourage them to do their homework right along with their children. My children saw an example of how important homework was because mom was doing it just like they were doing it.
Get to know your students the first day. Names, majors, work history, hobbies, collections. These are all triggers to motivating them, getting responses from them. Seeking related information paralleling topic you are on. You call on students based on their strenghts to get them engaged.
Motivating students is not difficult, if the instructors attitude is positive, and he or she arrives with lot of energy, the students can sense it and motivating students becomes easy.
Not imposing what you as a instructor have done in the past, guiding the students trough their own experiences and relating them to each other and yours
I have found incorporating peer group assignments in my classes as a motivating tool for both the students and myself. This allows for a lot of open-ended discussions, which can sometimes lead to serious debates and even constructive arguments. It is a graded component as well.
Peer groups discussions are beneficial to my students because it opens the door to meeting others that might be pursuing the same career degree. Also, it offers the younger students the opportunity to share their recent academic skills/experiences and for the older students to share more about their life and work related experiences, which are all beneficial to the classroom diversity.
I find peer groups discussions to be a key component to class motivation and retention.
Sharing life experiences really get the student motivated and excited about learning. Their eyes get really big and you can see the excitement in their faces. This wants them to learn even more and get finished with their program so they can experience the same things or different things in the field.
Cheryl,
I think sharing life experiences help to make the course come alive and real for the students. They start to see what the potential is for them if they are willing to put forth the effort.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
One of the most successful tactics that I have used to be a "student motivator" has been continuous reinforcement. This consists of frequently referring to local surroundings, the current culture of the surrounding neighborhoods and things that affect the day-to-day lives of my students. Continuously sharing local small business and large organizational success stories give students a reason to keep pushing forward, and seeking success in their desired career path. By continuously reminding them of the end reward, they will see the true meaning behind the education that they have chosen, and how it will change their life going forward.
