Student MotivationJoin now to read essay Student MotivationMotivation in SchoolsThe topic I originally planned to look into for my Action Research Paper was the affect of reward systems on a student’s academic performance. My idea was that a student’s performance could be influenced by the presence of a reward system. I was interested in seeing if certain subject areas were more likely to use such systems than other subject areas. I strived to see if a student’s academic performance could mean more than just their exam scores and ability to complete assignments. I wished to see if a reward system could change the way a student was motivated in the classroom; to see if their overall attitude could be changed. I also thought to look into their attendance in classes where motivation was present. I wanted to see if they were less frequently absent and if they participated more. And lastly, I thought it would be interesting to see if students felt they could in turn change their “destiny” in education, or if they simply believed they are predestined for something else.
As I was looking further into my topic at hand, I decided to go a different way with my paper. I got away from the “reward system” and decided to look into student motivation as my topic, focusing on the teacher-student relationship. In high school, I can remember one teacher that changed the way I saw science and it affected me greatly. Before this teacher, although I was always in advanced science classes, I never achieved high grades. I always struggled to keep up with other students, and when I performed poorly on exams, my previous teachers never thought to why I had done so. She approached science in a way I had never seen before, and she offered recognition and praise. She set up the classroom in such a way that I never felt I was being left behind, and she encouraged us always to work up to our potential, and then some. I was motivated to do well and in a way I had never cared for before.
The Student-to-Student Interaction: A “Student-to-Student Problem” — The Relationship between Students and Professors
“The relationship between students and professors is one of the things that is a mystery. Why do I see students going to class on a given Sunday evening and not taking up the topic that I am interested in? But it is important to understand this in the context of the student’s social and professional environment and to understand how these two social connections affect students’ attitudes toward their professors. It is important for all students that their professors represent a diversity of perspectives and perspectives on a given issue, be it academic or personal. When I worked with students to develop and enhance their leadership and accountability on climate change, I saw a dynamic of students who felt that their professors were the best in society, who knew and respected the students’ interests, and whose interests are important too. What I have to do is put as much emphasis as I can on students’ real and tangible experiences, for all to understand how this dynamic impacts the way the students decide on what to think and think about this issue and how they do what they do.”
“Because we are all part of the same community and social group, it is important that professors teach students on climate change and climate change awareness, which together are tools that help them get from one issue at a time to the next, and to stay at one point in time to better understand the challenges faced by the students facing these challenges. I saw students from all over this nation’s colleges and universities, with every class, meeting, and discussion, getting their thoughts, and making good decisions that would contribute to future generations.”
“I understand that students are different because they are not going to be able to participate in the classroom or in an official setting. And as a professor, I believe that one of the most important things that I am teaching students in the next year if we are to provide them with leadership in their careers, is a culture of mentorship. If a student comes in with a question about the importance of science education for students who have gone elsewhere, that is a great opportunity for us to look at what other options for that education might be available, if they are interested in them. But if the students are looking for something else, this could be an opportunity to come teach in a campus setting and help them get something out of it. I also believe that many of the students, especially students and their peers, will come to see the importance of mentorship. They will also come to understand that this relationship, and how it shapes the careers of their professors, helps them better understand their potential and careers and what can go right for them when it comes time to make this contribution to the world.”
“Students also need more diversity in their professional and personal life. For many, this is not simply about one topic. There are students out there who have lost the ability to come to their classes and have a talk or a meal plan or get into discussion on the things that they love or feel strongly about. A student could lose the ability to relate with his or her peers or with the world. And it is not at all clear whether a student may have lost their ability to have a healthy sexual life or if there’s something that a scholar can suggest to teach them other things besides the issue of climate change. And to be clear: most people who deal with this issue in their own minds (
I chose to look from the student’s point of view, instead of talking only to teachers. I thought it would be more useful to see what the students thought, as I am pursuing my graduate education in Secondary Education. My ultimate goal, to be a teacher, could only benefit from the research I was setting out to collect. I wanted to know what circumstances student’s felt most comfortable working in. Also, I wanted to see what made them “tick” inside the classroom.
I had the opportunity to use some of the readings I had to complete for my SED 213 class for this paper. In that class, we used two textbooks which I felt fit my topics needs. The chapters on motivation proved useful to my paper, and even gave me ideas to look further into. In the chapter, it discussed a student’s need for affiliation and approval. By wanting to be a part of a group, a student might be motivated to perform in a certain way, in order to gain entrance to that group and in turn gain their approval. The idea of achievement motivation was also brought up, in which students need to excel only for their own sake without external rewards.
I found that Alfie Kohn, author of Punished by Rewards and many other books on education, feels that achievement motivation is most important to a student truly learning. He feels that authentic experiences in the classroom can only occur when the teacher leaves out all words of praise and punishment. He feels that praise can often be empty in nature, and in turn could actually do more damage to a student than good. Punishments are also damaging, because students could be turned off to learning because they constantly feel threatened by the teacher. He feels that if we want students to take responsibility for their learning, it is up to us to give them responsibilities. They will in turn learn to make good decisions by having the opportunity to decide what happens to them every day, and not by following someone else’s directions.
[Updated: 7:38pm] He also said the most important thing is the ability to make choices, not by talking endlessly and making endless promises. So, please, be patient. It is okay to be skeptical of your student because you know they will always be a student, but I don’t feel the same way if they are making the same mistake over and over again. I felt I should remind all teachers we are the ones who tell each and every student they are in the right to improve their reading, so instead I would encourage you to be patient to allow them to learn and to work through mistakes that you could use. And if you think that I am not up to the task of allowing a student to learn, please go back in time and give them the tools he needs to get better.
[Posted: 8:14pm]
And just for fun, here is a question from the professor: Do I see as much of a problem with that as he?
[Posted: 8:30pm]
And the response to this post: Thank you! [Posted: 9:35pm] So you would be correct to say you have been working on a different approach to teaching English (I think I need to revise) to a student than how i am currently teaching them. In fact, I think that there is room for the teacher to teach in several other places for students. I’m sorry, but what has changed from my position as a researcher to my teaching in ICT? It seems students are starting to talk about how our teaching methods need updating and that this needs to happen.
[Posted: 9:45pm]
The author (and I have to tell you this author is from the English community now) says a lot of these issues arise from people not using their experiences (or even the content of the writing), not understanding the problem, and ignoring the teachers’ experiences.
[Posted: 10:03pm]
He even went so far as to say our current teaching approaches are “not very meaningful, do they really work?”
[Posted: 10:28pm]
A big part of my job is to make the education accessible to all to teach. I have to have students make decisions for themselves based on what’s going around them. I want to make sure that learning by example and by means of listening and learning by actions also works. I find it very hard to continue teaching without an understanding for how to improve this. My classroom is different from many I teach and I try to do that by putting every issue in its place, taking into account all the different types of learners and learning experience and the way each can affect how a person has to teach. A teaching approach seems much more important to me than one that is taught by a professor who doesn’t know where to go from there.
[Posted: 10:54pm]
My second point is that in many ways the focus on learning is misguided and harmful. Learning is a process and students are different. While learning is the same thing in many different contexts, students need a different way of learning, both to improve their understanding and learn so we can be more honest about things when we work together. Having a teacher who not only teaches, but also teaches us to
Kohn also feels that traditional grades turns student’s creativity off and causes them to lose interest in what they are learning. He also feels that they lead students to avoid challenging tasks. He made a point of noting that most students feel the point of going to school is to get A’s, and not to really learn. It is this need to perform that poses a threat to the education of all students, and traditional grades are the ultimate cause. There is more to memorizing the right answers; because teachers haven’t completely done their job if the students don’t understand why those answers are the right ones.
Greg Michie’s book, Holler if you Hear Me, took the opposite approach to what Kohn proposed. He not only offered his students praise when he felt they deserved it, but he took the time to empathize with them. He knew nothing about their cultures, and in time he came to learn many things about them. In the courses