While it is easy to look at underperforming students and label them as lazy, research indicates that most students lack motivation because of three fundamental factors:

  1. Students do not believe they can succeed even if they try.
  2. Students do not feel they have any control over their life choices.
  3. Students have a need to avoid failure.

Change Negative Mindsets: Be a Mind Detective

Teaching Strategies for Motivating Students

I was teaching high school and working with struggling learners. Many of my students were unmotivated, felt defeated, or believed they were stupid. So, I tried some teaching strategies I learned from a book titled Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder by Tamar E. C hansky, Ph.D. It is, by far, the most practical, common-sense solutions book available written in lay person's language on the topic of OCD. The author uses analogies, both verbal and visual, to help the reader understand how to approach the issue successfully.

For example, one analogy compares OCD thoughts to junk mail. Chansky suggests teaching youth to examine their thoughts. If their thoughts are negative, then they should label the thoughts as junk mail, or as something else the child could relate to. Having taught bullying prevention for several years at that point in time, I taught youth to label negative self-talk as "bullying thoughts." I encouraged them to look at their thoughts by suggesting that they "Be a mind detective."

I explained, "You've got thoughts going through your head. As a detective, determine: Are those thoughts negative? Are they positive? Are they telling you good things about yourself or bad things about yourself? What are they telling you? If they're telling you bad things about yourself, tell them to stop it. You are the one in control of your thoughts. You're the detective. When the detective tells you, 'They're saying these bad things,' you tell those thoughts, 'No! No more.' Instead, choose thinking that is positive, that helps you to feel smart and powerful."

Use positive self-talk.

Positive thinking is significantly related to youths' engagement, self-confidence, imagination, and optimism in the learning process. (Hong, Lin, & Lawrenz, 2012) It is not very different from visualizing success. You are changing your thinking. You think it; you feel it; you do it. I have done a lot of research on this type of reprogramming our thoughts, gaining much from the works of Dr. Albert Ellis (Ellis, 2007).

Not everybody subscribes to that psychology, but I do because it works. There's a significant body of research behind it as well as hundreds of years of spiritual teaching out of the Eastern philosophies. I realize that it is controversial in some religious circles and respect people's right to differ. I, however, cannot remain silent on something that has yielded concrete, positive results and thus freed people from emotional pain.

The best way to combat these negative beliefs and behaviors is to use teaching strategies that engage learners and support their experience of success in the classroom. That said, these strategies will work with most of your students, yet may not work with all of them.

Teach Students to Learn How They Learn to Find the Road to Success

Students who feel they are not capable of more need to get their power back. Yes, maybe the teacher gave a hard test. Maybe they did not study, or did not study enough. Or, maybe they need to think about how they learn, and not always try to do things the way somebody else says they should do them. Maybe they do their homework, but maybe they also do a little extra the way they like to do it.

That is a hard sell for some children. My son used to say, "My teacher says write it out three times in cursive, so that's what I have to do," even though he did not learn that way.

Why should he write it out three times in cursive and fail the test every week? By the fifth week, do you think my son was motivated to write it out three times in cursive? Do you think homework was something he looked forward to? No, not spelling or vocabulary homework. Was it helping him? No!

So, I came up with a compromise.

"Okay, how about you write it two times in cursive, just as the teacher wants, and I'll negotiate with your teacher to allow you to draw the word the third time." So, the third time, we printed the word on a flashcard, added a picture that represented the word and color-coded the word. We practiced five cards a day for the week before the test, just five of them at a time.

Every single time he made flashcards, color-coded with a visual image, and practiced a little bit every day, he aced the test. Finally, I stopped getting involved because he was doing it on his own.

And then one week I saw an 'F' on his test. I asked, "Honey, what happened?"

"I don't know."

"Did you do your flashcards?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Well, I was doing so good. I thought it was easy, I did not think I needed to do it anymore."

Every single time he chose not to use the strategy, he failed the test. Eventually, he figured out that he needed to honor the way he learned.

My son was one of those children who did not want any strategies that were different from what the teachers required and the other children were doing. In college, he still did not want to stand out as a different learner; however, he knew that to succeed, he would have to sort out a way to use his strategies discreetly. He knew how he learned, and he used it sometimes, but he would not tell anyone he was using a different strategy. That was fine. "I don't learn from the teacher," he said. "I go to class and I sit there to look good . I'm just in the chair so they count me when they take attendance, then, after class I get together with other kids in my class, or with the teacher's assistant."

In high school honors classes, he did not learn anything from his teachers. He will tell you that straight out, because they all lectured, except for his chemistry class. That lady let them blow things up – he loved that chemistry teacher! So, how did he succeed in honors and Advanced Placement classes? He went to a local coffee shop with his friends, or to somebody's house, and they taught each other.

My son learns best by peer tutoring, watching tutorial videos, and hands-on experiences. My daughter uses a variety of visual study strategies and loves to teach her friends as well. She would broadcast what she was doing to succeed; but my son is private. They are different children.

Tell students, "Choose how you learn. Learn how you learn, and choose to learn how you learn!" So many children know how they learn and won't do it because they don't want to look different.

Teaching Strategies that Foster Empowerment and Motivation

In a study by J. Nichols titled Empowerment and Relationships: A classroom model to enhance student motivation , the initial findings indicate that a classroom environment which is based on positive social relationships, while encouraging student empowerment, may be the first step toward improving student motivation and achievement. She describes a classroom environment that not only attends to the social and emotional needs of students, but also to learner-centered teaching as a critical factor (Nichols, 2006).

Learner-centered instruction is differentiated instruction. It is instruction that honors how students learn, utilizes teaching models that increase student engagement and thereby increases motivation and success.

Following are some simple, effective, easy-to-implement teaching strategies for engaging learners and differentiating instruction. Again, if you choose to teach using these strategies, teach students that the strategies that work for them are their strategies to use the rest of their lives. This is the essence of personalized learning.

Strategies That Support Success:

  1. Chunking – Chunk tasks for students so that they approach their learning challenges a piece at a time. Students who struggle in the classroom are best served by breaking assignments into manageable parts, with manageable deadlines, that focus on success. Chunking does not require teachers to reduce rigor. Imagine that you must clean a very messy, seven-room house. If you were to chunk the task of cleaning the house, you might tackle one room at a time, or first declutter, one room at a time, and then dust on another day. On the third day, you might wash and polish floors, then wash and clean the rugs. Eventually, if these tasks are spread out over a period of time, the house will be impeccably clean. Essentially, this is the same approach as chunking assignments in the classroom. Each chunk, completed well, is a success to be celebrated.
  2. Offer choices in academic assignments – Can our students and schools make the grade but still offer students some choices? No matter how strict your school-district mandates are, we must ask: Are there choices we can offer? Because choices empower, motivate, and foster critical thinking (Brooks & Young, 2011; Flowerday & Schraw, 2000; Simmons & Page, 2010). Offer students choices as often as possible to allow them to exercise control in their lives. Too often, students feel they have no control over their success or their emotions. They blame others for their failure, or attribute their success to good luck rather than their hard work and ability, or they blame themselves, using the excuse that they are stupid. When students have choices, they must exercise control to make decisions. Once they make a decision, it is critical that they accept the consequences of those decisions. They own it, for good or for bad.
  3. Ask students what went right – Focus on what the student has learned from an exercise or an assignment as opposed to what went wrong. Most importantly, encourage students to think beyond the grade and to understand that mistakes are an opportunity for learning. Recently, I observed a teacher handing back assignments and highlighting how many points the student had improved from the previous assignment. Students cheered for each other, acknowledging everyone who made gains. If there were students who did not make gains, that was handled discreetly because I never heard a negative number called out. It was exciting to see students and teachers celebrating even small successes. I used to think positive thinking was "fluff." I am not a touchy-feely kind of person, so I pooh-poohed it. But the research shows that, biologically, positive thinking literally builds neural connections in your brain. You are actually firing off neurons and dendrites that are releasing dopamine (Shohamy & Adcock, 2010), noradrenaline and other brain chemicals which, in fact, support successful learning. Negative self-talk releases too much cortisol, which is a stress hormone, and increased levels of cortisol impair working memory (Oei, Everaerd, Elzinga, Van Well, & Bermond, 2006). This is not psychological. It is biological.
  4. Create opportunities for students to exhibit their strengths – When assigning students to groups in a high school biology class, the teachers asked for five volunteers who could draw well. Three students quickly stood up. The teachers announced again that they needed five and asked for the rest of the class to share who they felt was good at art. Students quickly named two additional students. Each of those students was then assigned to a separate group. Now, each group had an artist to work with on the project. The teachers then went on to ask for excellent internet researchers. Five students quickly stood up. Those five students were assigned to five separate groups. Now each group had an artist and a researcher. Student individual strengths were celebrated so even students who may not have been outstanding biologists had an opportunity to focus on their success and how it contributed to the team.
  5. Students need personal goals – Ask students about their goals and frequently show the connection between what they are learning in the classroom to their personal goals. Be ready to answer the question, "Why do I need this?" rather than share careers that may be meaningless to specific students, try to find examples from a wide spectrum of interests and career paths so that students might see the possibilities and the light that is meaningful to them. (Hallenbeck & Fleming, 2011)
  6. Energize your class – Infuse your classroom with short musical energy breaks once or twice during a class period. Set a timer for 90 seconds, and crank up some Vivaldi, Mozart, or other Baroque period pieces that play at about 60 beats per minute. Then, have students stand, stretch, move, clap, stomp, or dance to the music. If you want to take that up a level, create an "I can do it!" chant to the beat of the music. (Brewer, 1995)
  7. Teach students how to learn – Allow students opportunities to study the way that they learn instead of the way you learn or way the teacher's manual dictates. Some students learn by writing what they hear. Some students learn by drawing pictures and labeling what they hear. Some write best from a traditional outline. Some write best if they start with a graphic organizer. Some work best standing or sitting on a Pilates ball. Some prefer the traditional desk and chair. Some memorize better by singing their notes. Some need to repeat what they have learned over and over again in a chant. Avoid forcing all students to learn the same way at the same time and at the same pace. There's no faster way to demotivate students than to fail to recognize their individuality.

Walk Your Talk: Do not Feel Like a Failure If You Cannot Reach One Child

It is important to understand that, as teachers, we should not give up on using engaging strategies because there might be a few students on our roster who, no matter what we do to reach them, we cannot reach. Just as we need to help students focus on their success, we as educators, also need to focus on our successes and not give up because our efforts are not 100% successful. As a teacher mentor, I see, all too often, that teachers will give up because they focused on the one or two students in the classroom that they cannot reach. Do not fall into that trap.

References:

Brewer, C. B. (1995). Music and learning: Integrating music in the classroom. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Arts in Education/brewer.htm

Brooks, C. F., & Young, S. L. (2011). Are Choice-Making Opportunities Needed in the Classroom ? Using Self- Determination Theory to Consider Student Motivation and Learner Empowerment. International Journal of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education , 23 (1), 48–59.

Ellis, A. (2007). Overcoming Resistance: A Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Integrated Approach (2nd ed.). New York, N.Y.: Springer Publishing Company.

Flowerday, T., & Schraw, G. (2000). Teacher beliefs about instructional choice: A phenomenological study. Journal of Educational Psychology , 92 (4), 634–645. http://doi.org/10.1037//0022-0663.92.4.634

Hallenbeck, A., & Fleming, D. (2011). Don't you want to do better?: Implementing a goal-setting intervention in an afterschool program. Afterschool Matters , 38–48.

Hong, Z. R., Lin, H.-S., & Lawrenz, F. P. (2012). Effects of an Integrated Science and Societal Implication Intervention on Promoting Adolescents' Positive Thinking and Emotional Perceptions in Learning Science. International Journal of Science Education . http://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2011.623727

Nichols, J. D. (2006). Empowerment and relationships: A classroom model to enhance student motivation. Learning Environments Research , 9 (2), 149–161. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-006-9006-8

Oei, N. Y. L., Everaerd, W. T. A. M., Elzinga, B. M., Van Well, S., & Bermond, B. (2006). Psychosocial stress impairs working memory at high loads: An association with cortisol levels and memory retrieval. Stress (Amsterdam, Netherlands) , 9 (3), 133–141. http://doi.org/10.1080/10253890600965773

Shohamy, D., & Adcock, R. A. (2010). Dopamine and adaptive memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences , 14 (10), 464–472. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2010.08.002

Simmons, A. M., & Page, M. (2010). Motivating Students through Power and Choice. English Journal , 100 (1), 65–69.

Paraprofessionals and Teachers Working TogetherWant more great ways to maximize the effectiveness of paras in your classroom? CLICK HERE Now!

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Paraprofessionals And Teachers Working Together in the General Classroom