INSPIREMotivating Students to Learn

Terri BrockmannTeaching with Technology

ED 5700-01

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INSPIRE: verb

• to fill with an animating, quickening or exalting influence

• to guide

• to breathe in

Source: Dictionary.com

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Why Motivate?

• Enhance student’s natural motivational drive

• Fewer behavioral problems

• Inspire personal interest

• Aid academic success

• Create an “open-mind” for future learning

• Prepare for the global market

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Hear it from the experts...

•Malone and Lepper (1983)•“Intrinsic motivation in the classroom”• Providing explicit choices to students motivates

• Schiefele (1991)•“Interest, learning and motivation”• Two components of interest that motivate:

•Feeling-related•Value-related

•Csikszentmihalyi (1995)• “Emergent motivation and the evolution of the self”• Flow Theory:

•Students achieve success when challenges matches skill levels

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Hear it from the experts...

•Vygotsky (1978)•“Mind in Society”• Communication and collaborative instruction motivate & educate

• Malone & Lepper (1983)•“Making learning fun”• Feeling work is appreciated/ recognized is motivating

•Feeling-related•Value-related

•Tuner & Paris (1995)• “How literacy tasks influence children’s motivation for literacy”• Proposed 6 strategies for motivation: The 6 C’s

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Motivational Challenges...

• Student frustration

• Student fear

• Different ability levels in the same class

• Student personal issues

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The 6 C’s of Motivation

C CHOICEC CHOICE

C CHALLENGEC CHALLENGE

C CONTROLC CONTROL

C COLLABORATIONC COLLABORATION

C CONSTRUCTING MEANINGC CONSTRUCTING MEANING

C CONSEQUENCESC CONSEQUENCES

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• Provide explicit choices

• Students can choose tasks at their ability levels

• Students can choose tasks that appeal to their interests

• Schemas open…and students are engaged

• Choice is a motivator!

CHOICECHOICE

Source: Malone & Lepper; Schiefele

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• Zone of Proximal Development:

•Students thrive at tasks at or just beyond their skill levels

• Flow Theory

• If task is difficult = frustration & anxiety• If task is too easy = boredom• Tasks must match skill

• Constant feedback from students is needed

• Challenge is a motivator!

CHALLENGECHALLENGE

Source: Csikszentmihalyi

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• Involve students in the process!•Decision making•Organizing content•Choosing teams/ partners

•Makes students:•More responsible•More independent•More self-regulated learners

•Limit choices to prevent anxiety

•Control is a motivator!

CONTROLCONTROL

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• “Two heads are better than one.”

• Sharing knowledge = peer motivation

• Teach each other

• Must reward performance

• Must teach them HOW to work together effectively

• Collaboration is a motivator!

COLLABORATIONCOLLABORATION

Source: Vygotsky

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• Metacognition - understanding value of learning

• Set meaningful goals

• Use authentic activities & assessments

• Build a rationale for learning

• Creates a motivated student!

CONSTRUCTING

MEANING

CONSTRUCTING

MEANING

Source: Turner & Paris

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• Feeling appreciated & noticed is motivating

• Provide opportunities to brag

• Display student work

• Provide opportunities for all to succeed at something!

• Praise from you….the most motivating of all!

CONSEQUENCESCONSEQUENCES

Source: Malone & Lepper; Turner & Paris

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The 7th C ….

CONNECTING to Technology

The 7th C ….

CONNECTING to Technology

• Technology is a motivator itself!

•Keeps student attention

•Interactive

•Concepts become visual

•Dynamic medium

•Taps into visual learning styles

•Authentic and challenging

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A Lesson in Motivation!

WebQuest for TUCK EVERLASTING

http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/tuck/TUCKSG4.HTM

•Connected to 7th Grade novel about the fountain of youth

•Students must storyboard the life cycle

•Science concept related to symbolism in novel

•Incorporates literature, visual elements, research skills, science

curriculum and technology

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A Lesson in Motivation!A Lesson in Motivation!

CHOICE: Students can choose which animal is

included in their research

CHALLENGE: 3 sites to search (linked); students must use

multiple literacy/ research skills to complete

CONTROL: Site gives “Helpful Hints,” but no rules. Students must

decide how to handle the assignment on their own

COLLABORATION: Project is done with partners who can use

each others’ strengths to accomplish the project

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A Lesson in Motivation!A Lesson in Motivation!

CONSTRUCTING MEANING: Students must

research in science (life cycle) and then relate

knowledge to the book (water symbolism) in an

innovative way (storyboard)

CONSEQUENCES: Grading criteria is posted on the Quest

and “Samples” page give incentive for superior projects to be

“posted” for next year’s class

CONNECT TO TECHNOLOGY: Using computers, internet and

digital storytelling to enhance literacy skills

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Keeping Positive

• Positivity is infectious

•Be positive about content

•Be positive about activities

•Be positive about expected outcomes

•Be positive about students’ work

• Every day is a new day for you and your student

Source: Miss Brockmann’s Philosophy

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“The most important attitude that

can be formed is that of the desire

to go one learning.”

~ John Dewey, 1938

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Resources

Kelly, Melissa. “The Art and Craft of Motivating Students.” About.com: Secondary

Education. Posted: 2007. Retrieved: June 11, 2008.

http://712educators.about.com/cs/motivation/a/motivation.htm?p=1

Laliberte, Matthew. “Student Motivation and Technology.” Worcester Polytechnic

Institute. Posted: March 6, 2006. Retrieved: June 11, 2008.

http://users.wpi.edu/~cdrew/ARC/motivation_laliberte.pdf

“Motivating Students.” Vanderbuilt Center for Teaching. Vanderbuilt University.

Copyright 2008. Retrieved: June 11, 2008.

http://www.vanderbuilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/interactions/motivating.htm

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Resources

“Stories about Children.” Meridian: A Middle School Computer Technologies Journal.

Vol. 3, Issue # 1. Winter 2000. Retrieved: June 11, 2008.

http://www.ncsu.edu/meridian/winter2000/stories/stories3.html

Wang, Shaing-Kwei and Seungyeon Han. “Six C’s of Motivation.” Emerging

Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology. Posted: October 3, 2007.

Retrieved: June 9, 2008.

http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Six_C’s_of_motivation