Motivation

Motivation is an important inner impulse that causes a person to leave his comfort zone, to overcome difficulties for the prospect of possible happiness.

Motivation to learn is a rather fragile psychological "substance". For its awakening you need a suitable informational environment, interesting and understandable presentation of teaching material. To instill a love for the very subject of study, to find an individual approach - a difficult task in an average school, where each class has about 30 people.

When parsing learning motivation, several types of motivation should be noted. They work in a complex: external, internal, positive, negative. Intrinsic positive motivation is considered to be the most productive.

The best lessons, books, and materials in the world will not get students interested in learning and willing to work hard if they are not motivated.

Motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic, is key to students' success at all stages of learning, and teachers can play a key role in providing and encouraging this motivation in their students. Of course, this is easier said than done, as all students are motivated differently, and it takes a lot of time and effort to have a classroom full of children who are enthusiastic about learning, work hard, and strive to succeed.

Even the most educated teachers sometimes lack the skills to keep kids engaged, so whether you're a young teacher or an experienced one, you still have to be on the lookout for new methods to improve student motivation and motivate them to learn.

Possible reasons for lack of motivation and what to do about them:

Reason 1: The student doesn't understand why he or she needs specific knowledge

One of the questions students have is, "Why do I need to know this? I will never use this subject." This question is asked by almost every student, only about different subjects. Some abandon math - because there is a calculator, others abandon biology - I do not understand why learn the structure of the worm, and others do not understand why read the works of Russian classics. It is important at the time of these questions to be with a child and give him concrete examples of situations in which the resulting knowledge has its value.

Reason 2: Class/school has no one to communicate with or communication becomes the main goal

Motivation to learn is badly affected by a lack of communication in the classroom. If a student has no one to talk to, no understanding among peers, then the motivation to attend school gradually begins to disappear, especially if communication is an important area in the life of a particular child. There can be many reasons for this: from the lack of joint topics of conversation, to conflicts. Motivation to learn can also decrease if a student starts going to school only for the sake of communicating with specific people.

Both situations need to be dealt with in the initial stages, so that a situation is avoided in which the desire to learn disappears altogether, either because of a lack of communication or because communication comes to the forefront, pushing back learning.

Reason 3: Constant comparisons

"You got an F in one of your classes," or "My colleague's son is doing much better than you," are not always good ways to motivate a student to learn. For one student, such phrases will be an impetus to achieve positive results; for another, they are derogatory comparisons that discourage learning.

Try to engage the four components of motivation:

Student Interest - Show that as a teacher you are interested in what each student is doing in class and that you value everyone as an individual, regardless of their needs, accomplishments, grades, behavior, or character.

Relationship Model - Through a variety of engaging activities and exercises, determine which relationship model works best. It's important to find a balance between your authoritarian control and their freedom of choice.

Encouragement - Offer children tasks and activities that pique their interest. For example, hang a "wonder board" on the wall and ask students to write on it what motivates them to learn. You'll see, they'll immediately dive into thinking about their learning experiences and then give you a mountain of ideas and factors that influence their motivation.