Teaching Strategies: MOTIVATION

Introduction

v Now that you have a standards-based lesson plan that supports your case study’s development and learning, your lesson most likely will engage other students. However, what will you do if your lesson doesn’t engage ALL of your students? How will you motivate those particular students? Although unmotivated students may all look the same (they are off task), the underlying factors for that lack of motivation may be diverse.

o Instructor’s Note – Sometimes teachers and students refer to unmotivated students as “lazy.” Even the unmotivated student will refer to him or herself as lazy; however, it is important to note that this term is misleading and dangerous when it is thought of as a personality trait. Students aren’t actually born lazy, in fact, every student in your class has something that they really like to do and spend hours of their day doing that thing. The problem is that they just aren’t interested in what you want them to do for a variety of reasons.

o So, I caution you from describing any of your future students as “lazy” as if it were part of their permanent personality and there is nothing you can do about it. From an Educational Psychology perspective, all students will be interested in learning, if the learning environment is constructed to be positive, supportive, and meaningful to students. Although constructing such a learning environment can be challenging and requires ongoing reflection, it is worse for the student we label as “lazy” if we dismiss their lack of motivation as something we can’t change because it is part of their personality. When we do that, we essentially give up on the students whose life we could have the most impact upon.

v In this assignment, you will describe some of the underlying motivational factors that dictate your case study’s and other students’ motivational behavior and develop teaching strategies that will support and encourage your students’ learning to complete your standards-based lesson. AAT majors may include this assignment as part of their ED 295 teaching portfolio for HTSB Standard 2.

v Student example of this assignment is located in step 4.

Click here to watch a video on how to do this assignment

Instructions

Step 1: There appear to be several students below in your classroom who do not appear to be motivated in doing your standards-based lesson. To get a little more information on each student, click on the appropriate grade level for your lesson plan, view their picture, and read their student description.

· K-3^rd grade

· 4^th – 6^th grade

· 7^th – 8^th grade

· 9^th-12^th grade (use these students if working with adults)

1. Motivation: YOUR CASE STUDY

2. Motivation: Carmela

3. Motivation: Faith

4. Motivation: Marcos

5. Motivation: Mike

6. Motivation: Mayla

7. Motivation: Kentaro

8. Motivation: Patti

._____________________________________________________________________________

Step 2. Choose your case study, along with 3 of the 7 students above and describe their motivation challenges using the resources below

· Review the resources below to provide you with the research behind your description of your case study’s motivation (high or low) and the other students’ motivational challenge. You are welcome to use your own resources via other text, internet, etc., as long as you provide valid citations of where you got your answer.

o Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

§ Read Text: p. 375 – 380 – What is Motivation?

o Needs

§ Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

§ Self-Determination

· Teaching Strategies

o Read Text: p. 382 – Guidelines: Supporting Self-Determination and Autonomy

o Goal Orientations

§ Read Text: p. 383 - 387 – Goal Orientations

o Beliefs and Self-Perceptions – Casual and Attribution Theory, Self-Worth

§ Read Text: p. 387 – 392 – Beliefs and Self-Perceptions

§ Teaching Strategies:

· Read Text: p. 392 – Guidelines: Encouraging Self-Worth

o Meaning and Anxiety

§ Read Text: p. 393 –399 Interests, Curiosity, Emotions, and Anxiety

§ Teaching Strategies:

· Read Text: p. 396 – Guidelines: Building on Students’ Interest and Curiosity

· Read Text: p. 399 – Guidelines: Coping with Anxiety

· Read Text: p. 400 – 411 - Motivation to learn in school: On Target

· Read Text: p. 411 – Guidelines: Motivation to Learn

_______________________________________________________________________

Step 3: Describe in detail a teaching strategy for each individual child that you choose, including your case study specific for your standards based lesson plan.

· Use the text reading and course resources to find one teaching strategy for each child or adult, including your case study that you can use in your standards-based lesson plan that will motivate your students.

· When complete, include the following parts of your standards-based lesson – just copy and paste from your lesson plan.

· You might arrange your answer like this. The student example is located in the next step for a model:

Content Area:
Unit or Topic:

Grade Level:

PART 1. PLANNING THE LESSON

A. Select content standard (choose one only)

B. Select content benchmark (choose one only)

C. Identify the performance standard/indicator(s) specific to the assessment.

Student	Description of Motivational Challenge (In-depth please – beyond a few sentences)	Description of Teaching Strategy (In-depth please – beyond a few sentences)
YOUR CASE STUDY
Faith
Marcos
Patti

Step 4: Present and communicate your answers electronically and submit your answer to Laulima Assignment by the due date. You DO NOT HAVE TO PUT THIS IN YOUR STANDARDS-BASED LESSON PLAN. IT IS SUBMITTED SEPARATELY.

· Although a majority of you will defend your teaching strategy by writing a paragraph, there may be a few of you that may want to use other alternative media, and I want to support that and give you options to be creative. You may also use a combination of media to make your point. For example, you may combine some writing, with images, podcast, YouTube Video, PowerPoint, etc., to defend your teaching strategy. If you are in need of a videocamera, the AAT office has webcams available for your use during the semester. Just email me to let me know.

· Keep in mind that any presentation method is valid as long as it clearly communicates and supports your answer. My only criterion for the type of media used is that the media is electronic and can be placed or linked successfully in your paper.

· See Motivation Student Example #1 as a model.